In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
End of passion play, crumbling away
I'm your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear
Leading on your death's construction
Taste me, you will see
More is all you need
Dedicated to
How I'm killing you
Come crawling faster (faster)
Obey your master (master)
Your life burns faster (faster)
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Needlework the way, never you betray
Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery
Chop your breakfast on a mirror
Taste me, you will see
More is all you need
Dedicated to
How I'm killing you
Come crawling faster (faster)
Obey your master (master)
Your life burns faster (faster)
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
(Master, master, master, master)
Master, master, where's the dreams that I've been after?
Master, master, promised only lies
Laughter, laughter, all I hear or see is laughter
Laughter, laughter, laughing at my cries
Fix me
Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason
Never ending maze, drift on numbered days
Now your life is out of season
I will occupy
I will help you die
I will run through you
Now I rule you too
Come crawling faster (faster)
Obey your master (master)
Your life burns faster (faster)
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
I'm your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear
Leading on your death's construction
Taste me, you will see
More is all you need
Dedicated to
How I'm killing you
Come crawling faster (faster)
Obey your master (master)
Your life burns faster (faster)
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Needlework the way, never you betray
Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery
Chop your breakfast on a mirror
Taste me, you will see
More is all you need
Dedicated to
How I'm killing you
Come crawling faster (faster)
Obey your master (master)
Your life burns faster (faster)
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
(Master, master, master, master)
Master, master, where's the dreams that I've been after?
Master, master, promised only lies
Laughter, laughter, all I hear or see is laughter
Laughter, laughter, laughing at my cries
Fix me
Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason
Never ending maze, drift on numbered days
Now your life is out of season
I will occupy
I will help you die
I will run through you
Now I rule you too
Come crawling faster (faster)
Obey your master (master)
Your life burns faster (faster)
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
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
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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.
To me it is clear. The song is about drugs and how they control you.
The song starts with a junkie on some sort of drugs. During the song the junkie has had enough. He silences the voice in his head(the master) by refusing to do drugs any longer and because he is now clean his life becomes silent and peacefull(the silent part of the song).
Unfortunately the beautifull part doesn't last forever. As time goes on he becomes more and more desperate and he calls out for the master "Master, master, where's the dreams that I've been after? Master, master, you promised only lies Laughter, laughter, all I hear and see is laughter Laughter, laughter, laughing at my cries"
He is not completely free from the master's grasp and he is once again captured when he shouts: "Fix me"
The we have the fast solo. It is faster and harder than the other parts of the song because he has been clean for some time now and he has gotten used to being clean.
After the solo he is addicted once again and he eventually dies at the hands of the master(thus the laughter at the end).
That's the most accurate interpretation i've seen. Nice work, terosan, you've nailed it!
This is excellent, though "junkie" is a bit derogatory. Also your example of being clean and then addicted once again needs to be understood... Once an Addict ALWAYS an Addict. Some Addicts bounce around from drug to drug or gambling or sex or even food to confuse and trick their minds into believing that they have control over one particular addiction only to revert back into the same visciouis cycle but just a bit more intense than the previous encounter. Its a repetitive, tormenting life to live but it sounds as though you'll be just fine.