I'm the man in the box
Buried in my shit

Won't you come and save me?
Save me

Feed my eyes
(Can you sew them shut?)
Jesus Christ
(Deny your maker)
He who tries
(Will be wasted)
Oh, feed my eyes
(Now you've sewn them) shut

I'm the dog who gets beat
Shove my nose in shit

Won't you come and save me?
Save me

Feed my eyes
(Can you sew them shut?)
Jesus Christ
(Deny your maker)
He who tries
(Will be wasted)
Oh, feed my eyes
(Now you've sewn them) shut

Feed my eyes
(Can you sew them shut?)
Jesus Christ
(Deny your maker)
He who tries
(Will be wasted)
Oh, feed my eyes
(Now you've sewn them) shut


Lyrics submitted by Ice, edited by Liqwd10shn

Man In The Box Lyrics as written by Layne Staley Jerry Cantrell

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Man In The Box song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

162 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +16
    General Comment

    This song is Layne's prayer, important to note that he said he was very wasted when he wrote it.

    I'm the man in the box Burried in my shit -

    He is comparing himself to animals who lives their life in a box and can never get out unless it is to die. Animals like this are buried in there own shit, raised in a box, not seeing anything in the world but what their fed (Pretty obvious from the video).

    He is calling himself the man in the box because of his drug additions. To quote him, "I'm not using drugs to get high like many people think. I know I made a big mistake when I started using this shit. It's a very difficult thing to explain. My liver is not functioning, and I'm throwing up all the time and shitting my pants. The pain is more than you can handle. It's the worst pain in the world. Dope sick hurts the entire body."

    He is bound by his addition just like animals are confined to their box.

    This is where his prayer starts...

    Won't you come and save me, save me - you is referring to God or anyone that can help

    At this point in the song it is important to note that his prayer continues only with what he sings...

    Feed my eyes — This is his way of desperately pleading “please God give me hope, something to look forward to in life, some sort of light, something I can see, something I can live for.

    Can you sew them shut — Asking layne if he can take all the hope away - sung by a different person because it represents a different person or thing like the drug.

    Jesus Christ — Proof that he is crying out to his God for help.

    deny your maker — The drug or the addiction is telling him that God cannot save him. (once again not his voice singing or part of his prayer)

    He who tries — (this is no longer part of his prayer) He listened to the voice that told him to deny his maker and realized that in the past the millions of times that his has tried to stop using his drugs he has failed. He is thinking about what will happen if he tries to stop using the drug and then the voice or the drug says... will be wasted

    will be wasted — he chose the word wasted to represent when people use drug they are “getting wasted”

    Feed my eyes now — means the same thing as before, but as you will notice when you listen to the song he is no longer crying out the same. He is crying out with less passion, he is giving up and giving into the drug addiction thus the drug (which rules his life) then tells him

    Now you've sewn them shut — The drug makes Layne feel like shit for giving into the drug again. His eyes are sewn shut because at this point he has lost all hope.

    I'm the dog who gets beat — he compares himself to a hopeless animal who is in pain again Shove my nose in shit — talking about the addition again.

    JohnHale6on February 01, 2010   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.