Forgotten things remembered
The tigers eat their young
The body stayed but inside the head
The mind was on the run
Conspiracy of silence
The only way out of pain
Is turn around and run through it man
Too wet to come in from the rain,
Tell them...
I know they were doing it to you
But don't try doing it to me
Let me show you, how I love you
It's our secret, you and me
Let me show you how I love you
But keep it in the family tree...
The secret of the family tree
When you hear them saying "Trust me"
Don't wait to see what's next
Thrown to the wolves
Forever trusting
Raised in a form of living Hell
Sing a one note song of rage
Live and die within your heart
So beware in the shadows
Your family tree waits in the dark
I say...



Lyrics submitted by elmoz

Family Tree Lyrics as written by Dave Mustaine Dave Ellefson

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Family Tree song meanings
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  • +1
    My Interpretation

    I believe this song is based off of parental incestuous rape (or child molestation), because there are a lot of hints this song gives off.

    "Forgotten things remembered The tigers eat their young "

    This is supposed to depict a former victim of child molestation, and how his parent(s) betrayed his trust and forced them to do things he was uncomfortable with.

    "The body stayed but inside the head The mind was on the run "

    This also talks about how his body was unaware of what they were going to do to him, but his mind knew something bad was going to happen. He wanted to make a run for it, but it would only end up in failure.

    "Conspiracy of silence"

    This also meant that his relatives knew about the incident, but pretended to not care about it for the sake of the molester's safety.

    "The only way out of pain Is turn around and run through it man Too wet to come in from the rain,"

    He's trying to run away from his problems, but he realizes that it doesn't work, so he runs at it and tries to fight against it as hard as he can.

    "Tell them... I know they were doing it to you But don't try doing it to me "

    Like as said for conspiracy of silence, but the thing is, he/she had a son/daughter regardless of their molestation. His/her offspring fear that they will repeat that same trauma that has affected him/her.

    "Let me show you, how I love you It's our secret, you and me Let me show you how I love you But keep it in the family tree... The secret of the family tree "

    This literally gives it out. What the lyrics meant by "let me show you, how I love you" it means how their parent(s) are really molesting them due to sexual frustration. Also, "It's our secret, you and me" is common among those that the molested victim heard before he/she has been inappropriately touched by his relative(s), including parent(s). "But keep it in/The secret of the family tree" is supposed to mean secrecy and the elusive behavior of the family itself and how cautious and forgiving the family members may be.

    "When you hear them saying 'Trust me' Don't wait to see what's next " This means that after the incident, the former sex abuse victim could not trust his own family or his relatives because of their knowledge of the incident and failed to prevent it from happening.

    "Thrown to the wolves Forever trusting, Raised in a form of living Hell " Before and after the incident, the victim was abused/harassed by family members, and it didn't seem to stop until he got older.

    "Sing a one note song of rage Live and die within your heart " The victim grew up to be a musician, and has felt agony and pity deep inside when he remembers of the incident.

    "So beware in the shadows Your family tree waits in the dark" This is supposed to mean that the victim has taken extreme caution in order to prevent minimal contact with any family members, while his family members stalk him without his knowledge.

    REMINDER: This is just my interpretation. I may be wrong, though.

    AhPawCohLypseon July 05, 2017   Link

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