Grendel

"Grendel" is such a great book. You can't just read "Beowulf." Grendel will definitely distort your point of view on heroes and stuff. It's sad how just because the warriors didn't understand Grendel, they hated him. That idea connects to read life, too. When we don't understand something, we fear it and hate it. I guess that's what this songs about: trying to find acceptance amongst people who don't understand you. You'll just eventually destroy yourself in the process.

this song is so fucking emotional and powerful. just hearing enigk scream and moan in the background on the greek portion of the verse..............while that beautiful wall of guitar builds around his voice.

these guys crafted excellence every time they picked up their instruments. fact.

I think it's about the book "Grendel" which is Beowulf as told from Grendel's point of view. Anyway, he wants to be like the warriors but he can't so he hates them and eventually through his destruction of everything he destroys himself.

Suppose it's about the monster Grendel? From Beowulf. The hero of the story kills this monster, but the fight is written from the monster's point of view.

There's a situation right before the monster is killed, where the hero's party is outside the hall where he lives. They're talking and eating before challenging the monster. The monster is all alone.. "I wanted to be them"

Grendel has to fight the hero, even though he knows he will lose. He has no choice but to instigate the fight... So he does, and he dies. "destroyed myself.."

Let's assume it's not about Grendel: I love that line, and how it fits so ... cryptically. "The rain was there to wash away my tears / I wanted to be them, but instead I destroyed myself" Did the subject want to be the rain, or the tears? Who knows...

Okay, so get this. Jeremy or Dan or someone has a fight with someone they care about. They have a bit of a bad side within them.. and the just let it come out because they felt they had no choice. This person they fought with was someone who could fix every single character flaw and every problem Dan or Jeremy or whoever has... the perfect love. Perfect friend or somethin. So they fight with this person about something, and it was the final fight, and the person leaves. Then DanJaeremyPersonOrWhatever says to themselves "jeez, I feel like a monster.. I feel like Grendel."

I'm really not sure which one of these, but they're prolly all wrong. Just seems right to me.

In the epic Grendel "destroys himself" by attacking the hall of Hrothgar. He sees the Dane's happiness and wishes to destroy them, since he assume they won't accept him.

In Beowulf, Grendel is a pretty ambiguous figure. Unlike the dragon at the end of the book, he is describes as human, and with a tinge of sympathy. Yet he was born a monster, outcaste. He wanted to take part in the merriment of the group, but knew he would not be accepted. He started hating the group, killing everyone.

Beowulf does not actually challenge the monster per se, he lays, pretending to sleep until Grendel comes across him during one of the monster's nightly killing sprees. Beowulf tears off his arm in combat, at which point Grendel flees. He runs back into the nearby mire where he lives, to die alone.

This may be following Beowulf too litterally, but in the book, the warrior elite doesn't actually hate Grendel at first. Grendel " destroys [his] chance" by attacking the group with no provocation outside of his own mind. He broods about his loneliness and his feelings worthlessness and "monstrosity" and then blames an outside source for his feelings. He is the one who labels himself an outsider, and it is he who attacks first. He is the one who sits in a murky swamp, thinking up the differences between him and them. In the end, it is his own self loathing which end up destroying him, I think, not his want to be accepted. In the same vein, the person whom this song was written about seems to be expressing more self-pitty than hatred toward the other group. He aknowleges that it is his fault he is unhappy.

I'm usually pretty far off the mark, but whatever.

I know this comment is too long already, but does anyone have an idea why the switch between "I Wanted To Be Them" And "I wanted to see them"?

The Rain Was There To Wash Away My Tears

 The Rain Was There   *
 To Wash Away         * Sung in Greek
 My Tears             *

 It's Raining Tonight * 

 I Wanted To Be Them
 But Instead I Destroyed My Chance
 Suede Scars And Time Is Right
 I Wanted To See Them
 But Instead I Destroyed Myself
 ??? And Time To Run

 [?Stole The Kiss From My...?]

 The Rain Was There   *
 To Wash Away         * Sung in Greek
 My Tears             *

 It's Raining Tonight * 

 I Wanted To Be Them
 But Instead I Destroyed My...
 Suede Scars And Time Is Right
 I Wanted To Be Them
 But Instead I Destroyed My...
 Suede Scars...

 Why
 ???

Closest I can find to official lyrics for this

hey, what the heck happened to my comment. i like grendel the monster...too bad beowulf had to be an ass and kill grendel and his mom.

i definitely think it has to do with grendel in beowulf. however, i think the song has more to do with acceptance, sung from the perspective of whoever is not being accepted. the rain/wash away tears line is ambivalent, because rain i usually considered bad, it is usually used to symbolize tears. maybe it's his own tears that washed away his tears? first time i heard this song, in all my high school going self i thought it was about trying so hard to fit in to some other group that you are someone you're not, thereby destroying yourself. although the first part i think is right, the second has to be dismissed. good job desciphering his lyrics though, even if i believe the second time in the chorus it should be "I wanted to be them" rather than "I wanted to see them"

i think the song is about grendel from beowulf. he longed to be like his counterpart, beowulf and the human race in general, and was bummed out that he was what he was. im sure it's not literally about grendel, but more of an analogous comparison to some real event that happened to jeremey or some other band member, but it sure sounds like somebody being bummed out for being what they are and not being accepted, much like grendel, the misunderstood "monster."

"The rain was there to wash away my tears. I wanted to be them, but instead I destroyed myself."

He can't be his own answer. That's the meaning. How? "the rain was there to wash away my tears.." This line means that the rain symbolizes resolve to his pain or tears. "I wanted to be them.." means he wants answers to his pain. Too many times we try to solve our own problems when we can't. And the last part, "..but instead I destroyed myself." is the tragic way in which he tried to deal with his own pain. Maybe suicide? Maybe he means that his attempts were in vain. The title of grendel is an obvious reference to the story of Beowulf. Maybe he's his own monster.