| Emilie Autumn – 306 Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I like to break down a song a few sentences at a time. I try to look into what the song may have meant to the songwriter. Sometimes I derive my own interpretation in there too. So this is my conclusion. I've read a lot of comments others have posted on here that helped me see this song with new light. Also there are many good points everyone has made that I agree with, so if your idea is in here reply and give yourself credit. I'll try to bump a few ratings as well. There are so many posts about this song that I've read I might miss you on accident, so feel free to reply if I used your idea and give yourself credit. Thanks for helping me figure out what the song means to me. "Three hundred and six In only six years If it was an accident Where are the tears?" <-- Three hundred and six may be the number of days leading up to the tragedy. I am unsure about the numbers, maybe it took six years leading up to the event. Or there was three hundred and six suicides in six years due to the same events, she was one of them. Explained further on down. No one morns her death. She is a shame to the church and her family. Catholics look down upon suicide, basically you are damned to hell if you commit suicide and you are a Catholic. Catholics used to bury suicides behind the church in numbered graves. Maybe her number was 306. "I am still unidentified Behind the cathedral Is where my body hides But I'm not inside Just one of sixteen In early one day If it was a game Why couldn't I play?"<-- Unidentified goes back to my theory of her name not being on her tombstone, just the number 306. Perhaps it means they did not know who she was, but that wouldn't go with the rest of my interpretation. She is buried behind the cathedral (hence, back of the church where most of the suicides where buried. That would put her behind the cathedral. Her body hides there, but her soul is no longer inside. She wanders the earth watching and regretting. "If it was a game why couldn't I play?" She is one of sixteen who committed suicide. I think she possibly went to a Catholic's School. Her parents maybe pushed the religion on her, and she just wanted to be like every other teenage girl. Maybe the school/church was strict, maybe she didn't believe in the teachings from the church/school. She saw no other way out. Her and 15 other girls planned to commit suicide to "escape". seeing it as an "only way out". It wasn't a game, in fact it was horrible. Being young and feeling trapped she made a bad choice. "I am the abandoner But still I remain And my frozen pulse quickens As the black plot thickens" <-- She abandoned her body and this world, but yet she remains damned to wander the earth in agony reliving her mistake. She wants to warn others against this maybe. "The black plot thickens". The plotting and planning with the other 15 girls, she has no pulse because her body is dead. Still she wants to tell her story. "Like the story I heard A lifetime ago Where a girl (and this is funny) Took her life And what she doesn't know Is how long it takes for the water to rise And the breath to stop fighting And the cold to close her eyes" <-- She's telling her story. Dieing is not easy, no matter what means you choose. I think this is a death by drowning. I agree with other posts here. It takes a long time to drown (not like what we see in the movies). A horrible way to die. "Morality plays On stages of sin The easy way out Or the easy way in I am still over-glorified My reasons to live Were my reasons to die But at least they were mine" <-- "Morality plays on stages of sin..." She's talking about the church. She feels the teachings there are wrong (this is not reflecting any of my views on this subject, just what I think the song means. Although I am full of opinions. So no offense to anyone intended). The easy way out is what most people call suicide. To her it was going to be the easy way in and away from the false teachings from the church/school which may have rendered her harsh punishments if she disobeyed. Be it by her parents or the church/school. She feels somewhat over glorified because she is still talked about; the scandal, and the possible fact that 15 other girls did the same thing for the same reasons. Her reasons to live was her reasons to die, but at least they were hers. She lived in misery because she longed to be free, so her reasons to die were the same. At least they were her reasons. Everyone tried to control her actions, her thoughts, finally her decision to commit suicide was of her own thinking. The one thing she felt she had control of. "Now I'm freedom unbound Cut the laces of life The pistol The poison The noose Or the knife I have chosen my instrument And said no goodbyes And my frozen pulse quickens As the black plot thickens" <-- She is going to be free now (so she thinks). She thinks of different ways to do it. She chooses drowning, or perhaps it was a joint decision between her and the other 15 girls. Most suicides don't say good-bye. If someone threatens it it should not go unnoticed, because they are thinking of it. I'd say most people have thought of it. I tried it twice and said no good-byes. The most you'll get from the one who silently contemplates it is a note if your lucky. I've known a lot of people who succeeded, they did not say good-bye and showed no warning signals. I think the ending music is how long it took for her to die. Different people can hold their breath longer or shorter underwater. In the end I think she's saying DON'T commit suicide. |
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| Emilie Autumn – What If Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Everyone has their own personal opinions on what a song means to them. That is what makes it a good song and well written one. I have my own meaning of what this song means to me, but I always try and see what it could possibly mean to the artist. What was Emilie thinking of when she wrote this song? No one can really answer this but her. However, I try to get into the artist's head and see the song through his/her eyes. I love this song so much that I have it arranged to be played at my funeral. Anyway here's my perception of what Emilie may have been thinking when she wrote this song. "Here you sit on your high-backed chair Wonder how the view is from there I wouldn't know 'cause I like to sit Upon the floor, yeah upon the floor" <-- I'm thinking a psychiatrist. "Here you sit in your high-back chair..." She is the patient, but refuses to lay on a tradional couch. She's different than the norm and she's proud of that. "I wouldn't know 'cause I like to sit upon the floor." "If you like we could play a game Let's pretend that we are the same But you will have to look much closer Than you do, closer than you do" <-- She's saying here that she is different and she'll play his game, but if he really wants to know who she is he's going to have to look closer instead of treating her like "just another case" he's going to have to see her as a person. This is what she wants from him or she'll never let him in. "And I'm far too tired to stay here anymore And I don't care what you think anyway 'Cause I think you were wrong about me Yeah what if you were, what if you were" <-- His ideas are all wrong about her. She's not crazy, she's actually smarter than he is (She knows what he's trying to do). She's getting tired of his lack of trying to understand her, even though he thinks he has her figured out. She no longer cares what he thinks or what his opinion of her is anymore. So, she's deciding to play a different game with him. Time to show him he is wrong. "And what if I'm a snowstorm burning What if I'm a world unturning" <-- What if she contradicts everything? Defies the laws of gravity? What if she is both hot and cold, what if her world doesn't turn like most people? She is different than most people, especially him. "What if I'm an ocean, far too shallow, much too deep What if I'm the kindest demon Something you may not believe in" <-- What if she is both shallow and deep. Perhaps she is smart enough to be anything you want her to be (or what he wants her to be). What if she's a kind demon, most people don't look at demons as being kind. However, with some thought...I figured the word angel means messenger. A demon is nothing more than a fallen angel. What if Mr. Psychiatrist has no belief in such things. Meaning he doesn't believe in her. "What if I'm a siren singing gentlemen to sleep" <-- Most people don't believe in the true legend of the Siren either. Perhaps he seems uninterested in thier "sessions", maybe she feels like she's boring him to death. Could be a double here...also meaning her ability to sing and create unworldly music. "I know you've got it figured out Tell me what I am all about And I just might learn a thing or two Hundred about you, maybe about you" <-- Once again afirming that she knows he thinks he has her figured out, but she's tired of playing his game. She does know all about him because she pays attention, when he only sees what he wants to. When he tries to tell her what she needs, she succeeds in making it a point to learn about him. "I'm the end of your telescope I don't change just to suit your vision 'Cause I am bound by a fraying rope Around my hands, tied around my hands" <-- Since she's tired of playing his game, he's going to play hers. She tells him now that she doesn't change just to be "what he wants to see". Her boredom with playing his game makes her want to take it in a different direction...her direction. Time for her to amuse herself by shattering everything he thought he knew..."she is bound by a fraying rope tied around her hands". "And you close your eyes when I say I'm breaking free And put your hands over both your ears Because you cannot stand to believe I'm not The perfect girl you thought Well what have I got to lose" <-- He doesn't want to see or hear what she's saying/doing. He had his mind made up about her, and thought he had helped her. His idea of "perfect" was fixing her "problems". He thought he had acomplished this. She is far from insane (most geniuses, artists, singers, writers, musicians have been dubbed with having some kind of mental problem, who is to define what is sane or insane? Define normal. We are all mad to an extent.) She is different than most people, she is more on top of things than he is. She figured him out. "And what if I'm a weeping willow Laughing tears upon my pillow What if I'm a socialite who wants to be alone" <-- She is confused about herself...maybe. Perhaps she's a little bit of both sides of the coin or neither. A good example; I could use myself here. I am a writer/songwriter/singer. I am in the public eye all the time. I love it, but I also want to be alone. This line gets me everytime. "What if I'm a toothless leopard What if I'm a sheepless shepherd What if I'm an angel without wings to take me home" <-- How can a leopard survive without teeth? What reason would there be a shepherd without sheep? She's always contridicting herself. "What if I'm an angel without wings to take me home?" this goes back to my demon/angel senario earlier. An angel is a messenger...demons are fallen angels. In this case she explains why she is a kind demon. She has fallen and lost her wings. "You don't know me Never will, never will I'm outside your picture frame And the glass is breaking now You can't see me Never will, never will If you're never gonna see" <-- She's saying here that he will never figure her out. She's outside of his frame of mind, she's beyond his way of thinking. "What if I'm a crowded desert Too much pain with little pleasure What if I'm the nicest place you never want to go" <-- She's saying here that she is a place that does not exist "a crowed desert". She has a lot of pain inside her that he would never understand. Very little pleasure she has enjoyed. He wouldn't understand, but possibly she is the "nicest place he'd never want to go". Most people don't want to get to know someone who is "different" or outside thier veiw of "the norm". Perhaps if people would take time to get to know these people it would be beyond rewarding." "What if I don't know who I am Will that keep us both from trying To find out and when you have Be sure to let me know" <-- Sometimes she doesn't even know who she is, but she's daring him to try and figure it out. Question is: is he brave enough to try? "What if I'm a snowstorm burning What if I'm a world unturning What if I'm an ocean, far too shallow, much too deep What if I'm the kindest demon Something you may not believe in What if I'm a siren singing gentlemen to sleep Sleep... Sleep..." <-- See my thoughts on this in my first post. Perhaps on the last here, she is a siren singing him to sleep, because he is bored or really don't care. What does this song mean to me? All of the above except the pyciatrist is the world's view of me. |
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