| Rise Against – Injection Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
This is my first crack at this interpretation thing. This song always struck me personally, being a person with abandonment issues, and then one day while somewhere in the midst of reading Tim 'O Brien's "The Things They Carried", I paused and realized how relevant it was. "The Things They Carried" is a VERY open-ended story about the Vietnam war, (which was a civil war in vietnam that the US just HAD to get involved in). Many of those in the Vietnam war were drafted and did not agree with the war and in this particular story they were extremely young. Ages 18-22, for vietnam war survivors, it was one of the worst wars in American history emotionally and many young people came back forever changed and mentally altered for the worst. Do you spend your days counting the hours your awake? And When night covers the sky you find yourself doing the same. Not only was the war experience traumatizing but, when troops returned they were not supported in their endeavors, in fact many Americans chastised them. Called them "Murderers" and "Baby Killers" as they were forced to kill men, women, and children, soldiers and civilians alike. Which fits the lines "As a burden you've been buried, in spite of all your prayers. As a light turns off inside your heart can you remember what it's like to care?" as well as "We carry nothing but a name you will forsake." Many young soldiers turned to drugs as their escape from the things going on around them. "The trail of crumbs you left somehow got lost along the way, if you never meant to leave then you only had to stay." serves as an allusion to wartime and how many friends were made and lost to the war. "but the memories that haunt us are cherished just the same as the ones that bring us close to the sky." Goes to say that even though they faced inconceivable hardships and the memories of it haunted them for the rest of their lives and times where they almost died (brought them closer to the sky), they were also cherished as a time they could never forget with people that became like family to them but in the end, no matter what, it wasn't enough... "No matter how grey, yet I fall, through these clouds, reaching, screaming, GIVE ME THE DRUG!" ...it wasn't enough and they always turned back to drugs, to guide them through the war, to find their way back home with as much sanity as humanly possible. I know the vietnam war is extremely specific and was a long time ago, and this song could easily be about drug addiction in general but considering that Rise Against's M.O. is rising against oppression and often oppression involving US policies it kind of clicked and set in my mind as being about the Vietnam war. Not to mention the desperate tone of the song. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.