Happiness

of course songs like the ones from IAMX are up for a lot of personal interpretation, but i felt the need to dissect this song's lyrics and share what i personally got from them, which is probably also something that can have a lot of other personal interpretations thrown into it.

i know i'll never feel the same i know i may never accept the change, but i want happiness

according to Chris, he's changed A LOT as a person in between this album and the last, thus being why he named this new album Metanoia. this indicates that he has indeed changed, even if he hasn't entirely accepted the fact that he has, and even though he may (or may not) have changed for the better, he still has yet to obtain true happiness.

staring blank at my screen waiting for a sign, waiting for a smile to come to me happiness

this bit is pretty straight-forward: he's waiting for a sign that something is changing or will change, or even for something to spontaneously begin making him happier, whether or not it's a result of him trying different things to make himself happier.

every day the news is death you power-drunk fuckers are filling my head with despair not happiness

he believes that the news and media in general has a large tendency to focus on negativity, and that it's only filling people's heads, including his own, with this negativity and despair that says the world is only getting worse. this is, obviously, something that would deter something such as happiness.

he then begins to call them (news anchors, reporters, people in control of the media, etc.) liars; maybe not them entirely, but with an emphasis on them in this case. this could be referring to many things, but the main one for me is the way they beef up news to make it more interesting for their audience, but less truthful.

maybe i became too clean maybe the drugs are the only way to be free oh happiness

he's questioning if it was a good idea to stay away from drugs or not, for they offered him a form of happiness, even if it's only an illusionary and/or temporary happiness. what kind of "drugs" he's referring to is left up to the listener: medications, alcohol, illegal substances... you name it.

no breaking the anxiety the man that i tried to but could never be faded out with happiness

this next bit appears to be filled with quite a bit of despair. he wanted to be a better man at some point in time; one that was happier and not so anxious. but he has come to the conclusion that his anxiety is nearly incurable, and the man that he tried to be has faded away, along with the happiness that came with it.

every day hypocrisy i see the zombies walking down the street and it kills me their happiness

this final bit has a lot of different things that can be interpreted. he sees these so-called zombies, or bystanders, walking around on a normal basis, and feels hatred and/or sorrow in seeing the happiness (either genuine or fake) that they all have. he feels hypocritical for feeling the way he does about their happiness.

these "zombies" he refers to can be many things, from shallow people that are absorbed in little things that don't matter, to people that are just as mentally unstable as he is, but put on a mask that makes them appear to be happy. he then begins to call these people liars; again, maybe not them entirely, but with an emphasis on these people. depending on who these people are, he can feel they're lying about being happy when they really aren't, or that they're spreading the lies of an artificial happiness.

for a summary of my personal interpretation, i believe that the song is about not only him wanting to come across true happiness, but true happiness v. artificial happiness. this artificial happiness is like a placebic drug (or state of mindless mentality) that is being widespread by the media, and turning people into what are practically mindless zombies. or at least, that's one thing to get from it..