|
This song has alot of meanings to me seeing as how I've listened to it, analyzed it and pondered over it countless times as I do with every Metallica song seeing as I'm a Metallicaholic. First of all you have to listen to the "Unforgiven" before listening to this song. In the "Unforgiven" there is a lyric that goes; "this whipping boy done wrong". . .a whipping boy is someone who is used to take the blame of someone and is often actually "whipped". Princes used to make these out of servants of theirs, they would blame something that they did on their servant and he would be whipped. Or it also means a slave, a scapegoat, someone that is punished for the misdeeds of others. So the boy that the "Unforgiven" is about is obviously some sort of slave or servant. He is abused all of his life and knows nothing of compassion. So therefore in the end he makes a list of all the people that he hates, all of the people that made his life a living Hell and he dubs them all "Unforgiven", hence the lyric "So I dub thee Unforgiven." He is a bitter man due to all that he has endured. Now on to the "Unforgiven II". In this song it still focuses on the man but it has another character in it. It focuses on the same "whipping boy" but it also has a woman involved. This man is asked for help by the young woman, and he asks her "tell me what they've done", but then he realizes that she is one of the people he swore to never forgive, "or are you unforgiven too?" He rubs it in her face that he hates her and that she never helped him. He goes on and tells her why he is the way he is "What I've felt what I've known. . .So sick and tired I stand alone!" but he gives her a small amount of help. But it comes to be that she is in love with him "She loves me not, she loves me still, but she'll never love again. . .She'll be there when I'm gone." he knows that she loves him and he also uses this against her. He is pretty sure that no matter what he tells her she will put up with it due to her love, and she does. He won't let her into him, he hates her and he is just tolerating her presence, "The door is locked now. . .Should I open it for you?" He leads her on and then he still comes back to "Or are you Unforgiven too?" He eventually ends up hurting her, very badly, this can be interpereted as emotionally, mentally or physically. You can tell he has hurt her 'cause he asks 'Tell me what I've done.' I can imagine her being bed-ridden or forced into a coma due to shock, "the door is closed so are your eyes." He probably influenced her to commit suicide because he wasn't returning any love to her. You can also tell her that he has fallen in love with her fafter he hurt her because he starts to care for her with the lyrics "But now I see the Sun. . .I take this key and bury it in you." He tries to impart himself in her because he loves her now. But when she "awakens" or realizes how cruel he was she dubs him "Unforgiven". She no longer has any love for him and she comes to adapt his philosophy of pessimism and then she starts to hate him. You can deduce this from the lyrics "Never free, Never me! ("Cause you're Unforgiven too!)" The man cries out that he is never free and never happy, in a sense, but then the girl says "cause you're unforgiven too". Now that he has finnally decided not to be an asshole anymore she's not having anymore of it. When you listen to the song and hear the last lyrics imagine the boy shouting "Never free, Never me!" and the girl yelling "Cause you're unforgiven too!" and just leaving him by himself. Now he is the "Unforgiven", that's why it's called the "Unfogiven II" because now he is the second unforgiven, he is unforgiven too or as well. So basically the song is about people who are mean and hatefull and who are obviously loved, but end up pushing the people who love them away from with their hate. Sorry to give you such a deep analysis hope you enjoyed reading this, that's the best definition I can give for this magnificent song. |
