Wrecking Ball

This song weaves two narratives together, neither of which could exist without the other. It tells the story of a lonely individual who keeps trying to run from his problems because he's unable to forgive himself for his mistakes, and the story of the loneliness of modern society, as our world becomes increasingly self-destructive to avoid making peace with the actions of our ancestors and accepting responsibility for the world we've created.

The first stanza starts with a metaphorical explanation of the crisis of modernity:

-Tear down the bearing wall -Put up a picture window -Something to look through -At the bastard colors -Burnt sienna

In our pursuit of individual freedom, we rebel against the traditional systems which had held our societies together for millenia ("the bearing wall"), and replace those solid structures with the abstract dream of something better, which is ultimately nothing more than a window to look through. The world we create through that window is twisted, in bastard colors. The grass actually isn't greener on the other side, and the modern world appears a dull brown, devoid of the depth of color traditional life had. But we tell ourselves everything is fine by hiding behind euphemisms like "burnt sienna".

Many individuals in the society of the late 90s recognized the falsity of this promise, and saw the way in which progress had made us more miserable and lonely. A common response, one the protagonist engages in, is to mirror these self-destructive actions to try and access the true sorrow hidden behind the lies we tell ourselves.

The song continues with a call to action:

-Put down the wrecking ball -Who has a friend who needs one?

That is, don't self-destruct, you can solve your problems by casting your concerns outside yourself, and trying to help other individuals who might be lonely, instead of solely focusing on your own loneliness. Someone needs to take the first step, and helping someone else be less lonely will make you less lonely too.

The next stanza shows where the pursuit of being a free individual has led him instead:

-I've got a way to get to work in almost any city -Doesn't matter where -Take a needle I won't be there -Privileges forsaken there -Liberties I've taken take me nowhere

He has the freedom to work anywhere, but no matter what city he lives in, he feels just as unfulfilled. He uses drugs to escape, giving up all of the privileges of modern life by forsaking even control of his body. He wryly notes that all the freedom he has has not satisfied his desire to escape - taking liberties has taken him nowhere.

The next verse places the focus back on the world at large:

-Put down the wrecking ball -Don't let a childhood linger -They'll take the world apart and break my baby brother's finger -So he can't shake my hand

He notes that our pursuit of individual freedom has become a wrecking ball, and that it's time to grow up from this naive view and accept reality as it is instead of continuing to entertain our childish fantasies. Here his criticism is aimed specifically at feminism, which by the 90s had begun pursuing its unattainable goal using any means necessary. As he notes, the movement is willing to take actions which actively hurt the next generation of men, so long as they can prevent them from inheriting the attitudes of their forebears. By his time, the battle of the sexes had already gotten pretty bad, and as a member of the next generation, his baby brother, it often feels like my whole hand is broken.

The next two lines come back into the individual's frame of view:

-Guard the dead against my legacy -And lack the wound no more

He is ashamed of the life he's led, and knows his ancestors would not be happy to see the world they've created. And in imagining his ancestors disavowing him, mirroring the way feminists and other postmodernists disavow them, he's able to bring that dull sense of meaningless to the surface, and to actually feel the pain he's been asked to hide away.

The next line is the song's thesis, finally tying together both the individual and societal narratives:

-Run from nowhere, nowhere follows you

In his life, the protagonist keeps running away for the sake of running away, and that sense of emptiness keeps following him. And within society, the more we rebel against our ancestors for the sake of rebelling against our ancestors, the emptier and less fulfilling our lives become.

The protagonist then imagines playing out the most extreme form of rebellion, seeking to finally achieve true individual freedom:

-Burn down the house -Make sure the family is inside -Nothing more to tether you

But then realizes this would only make things worse:

-Also no one there to catch you crying -Nothing but my famous pillow

Truly, being an individual is lonely, and no matter how much we may blame our ancestors, our family, for all of the problems they cause, we cause problems too, and we need others to forgive us just as much as they need us to forgive them.

-And my father's rocking chair -Get a sliver when you sit there

And no matter how alone, how independent we may tell ourselves we are, we still feel those connections, if not in our minds, then in our bodies.

-Every mess I make I make a run from nowhere -Nowhere follows you

And while it's our first impulse to toss it all and start over every time the going gets rough, if you never face up to your mistakes and accept them, you'll be running forever.

So the next time you feel ashamed, feel lonely, remember that every human throughout history has felt that same way, and that all you need to do to get people to connect with you is to take the first step and try to connect with them.