This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
There's a boy in crimson rags with a grimace and a spoon, and a little sullen
Girl face-up staring at the moon
And there's no one around to hear their lonesome cries
Then they pass away alone into the night
Why do we pity the dead?
Are you churned by emotion from voices in your head?
(are you scared of the logic that swirls within your head)
Look at all the living and you'll ask yourself why
Oh why do we
Pity the dead?
Pity the dead!
Well, you've seen the disease, suffering and decay,
And you whisper to yourself blissfully "it's okay"
And you still refuse the possibility
That the dead are better off than we
Tell me what you see, tell me what you know
Is there anyone who lives a painless life?
If there is show me so
The destitute and famished, demonic and the
Banished, dejected and the ostracized, the
Brainwashed and the paralyzed, the conquered
And objectified, the few who see the other side
Tell me what you see! It's a mortal wretched cacophony
In the end you may find there's no guiding subtle light,
No ancestors or friends, no judge of wrong or right
Just eternal silence and dormancy
And a final everlasting peace
Girl face-up staring at the moon
And there's no one around to hear their lonesome cries
Then they pass away alone into the night
Why do we pity the dead?
Are you churned by emotion from voices in your head?
(are you scared of the logic that swirls within your head)
Look at all the living and you'll ask yourself why
Oh why do we
Pity the dead?
Pity the dead!
Well, you've seen the disease, suffering and decay,
And you whisper to yourself blissfully "it's okay"
And you still refuse the possibility
That the dead are better off than we
Tell me what you see, tell me what you know
Is there anyone who lives a painless life?
If there is show me so
The destitute and famished, demonic and the
Banished, dejected and the ostracized, the
Brainwashed and the paralyzed, the conquered
And objectified, the few who see the other side
Tell me what you see! It's a mortal wretched cacophony
In the end you may find there's no guiding subtle light,
No ancestors or friends, no judge of wrong or right
Just eternal silence and dormancy
And a final everlasting peace
Lyrics submitted by Mandurang, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Pity the Dead Lyrics as written by Greg Graffin
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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You guys are all a bunch oh hypocritical sycophants. You realize that this is not a new concept, right? This song just reflects a sentiment first written in Ecclesiastes (the Old Testament, you know, the pre-Christian part of the Bible) about 3,000 years ago. Look it up. Or better yet… “1 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed– and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors– and they have no comforter. 2 And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. “ — Ecc 4:1-2
MissNeurotic, “yeah, religious people are fools. Death is scary, 'cause after that there's nothing but dreamless sleep forever and ever... ”
Can you even REALLY fathom the concept of endless, dreamless sleep? I don’t think so. That’s why it’s scary, as you admit. In fact, who’s to say that’s what it is? Even BR leave an opening for the possibility that there is something more in the wording they use. These guys aren’t as dumb as that. No, instead, they say, "In the end you MAY find…”, not WILL find. And then they go on to ask “Why”
Noimnot “Why do we pity the dead? I think this is a question posed to religious people. For example, a good christian who has passed away should be enjoying their afterlife in heaven by now, correct? Then why, christians, do you pity them? Why do you wish they were back in this place, with all its "disease, suffering and decay"? The "logic that swirls up in your head" would refer to realizing that the ones who have passed away are not experiencing anything anymore. As modern_man mentions, the fact that the dead now experience nothingness is a reason for us to pity the dead, and I believe that Greg does pity the ones he has lost. However, people who believe in an afterlife contradict themselves by having pity for the dead”
Again, this was a question posed BY a religious person over 3k years ago, the fact that you don’t recognize that immediately means you are rushing to judgment on something that you don’t even understand. This is further proven by the fact that, ...NO, Christians don’t believe that their loved ones who have passed are already in paradise. Most EDUCATED Christians who have read the Bible (crucial point there) believe that none of the dead will see paradise until judgment day, or the day of the Rapture, when all of the saved will be taken at once. If you admit that you think that GG probably has pity for the ones that he’s lost, Why? Is it because he misses them? Don’t confuse pity for the dead with sadness for the loss that their life causes in your life. I don’t know a single TRUE Christian who would ever say that they pitied any of their deceased loved ones who were saved before dying. I’m guessing they might miss them a lot, and feel sadness for the loss in their own lives, but are comforted by the knowledge that they will see them again one day in Paradise. No, instead they pity those who passed away before being saved, who they would consider an eternal loss, and thus pitiable. If I believe in an afterlife that requires certain parameters to attain paradise or otherwise suffer an eternity in Hell, how exactly am I contradicting myself by pitying those who I loved but know weren’t saved? In fact, I would be remiss if I didn’t pity them.
This question is posed to you and other atheists/agnostics. So ask yourself, “Why do We Pity the Dead?” It’s not titled we do they pity the dead! Why is it scary? Why DO you pity them? In all of my research, meditation, thinking, reading, praying (whatever you want to call it and in every combination) on the subject, the best answer I’ve been able to come up with was given by the first man that ever posed the question. “10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart…” — Ecc 3:10-11.
Take the “God” part out for a second, and take the last part of that for what it’s worth. That eternity was “written” on the human heart. This would explain why religion, as a generality, has been persistent and universal throughout human culture since recorded history and before. We fear the unknown and thus we try to cling to what we know. Life. Then you just need to decide why you think it is that we, as humans, almost universally and throughout history have had eternity written on our hearts? Why? Now, put God back in the statement and quit being a robot who mindlessly repeats what they heard “someone say” and start learning to make some decisions of your own, based on your own experience, research, thoughts, and beliefs. All of you!!!
Do you really think GG wants you as his robot army? Maybe, after all, he did say “I want to conquer the world, give all the idiots a brand new religion….”