| Metallica – All Within My Hands Lyrics | 6 days ago |
| This song kind of highlights the contradiction of control: control over oneself is pure love, but control over others is void of love. I think James is kind of speaking to the irony of the inescapable anger and hate that manifests in those who seek control over others. That is, people who seek control over others are fooled into the perception that controlling others is necessary for love, when the exact opposite is true. The desire to control others comes from a victim mindset, and only self-empowerment can bring love and peace. | |
| Tool – 7empest Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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This is one interpretation that makes sense to me, but I have others that are contrary to this one in some ways.... so whatever. Also, sorry about the formatting of the copy/pasted lyrics. It didn't look like that when typing. "Control, your delusion Insane and striking at random Victim of your certainty, and therefore your doubt's not an option Blameless, the 7empest must will be just that So try as you may, feeble, your attempt to atone Your words to erase all the damage cannot" I think this song is about the one particularly common response to fear: self-defense that manifests through the judgement of others. The "7empest" is the vicious cycle created by the victim-perpetrator complex. Problems sometimes make people fearful. To resolve the fear, people logically look for a cause to the problems. But sometimes logic goes out the window. People may only look at the surface level when searching for the causes of problems. This leads them back to judging and blaming others, rather than finding the deeper root causes. The "delusion" is the incorrectly identified root cause (other people). This is essentially insanity that leads the delusional individual to "strike at random." When you are a victim and you point the finger at your supposed perpetrator, you make a victim of the perpetrator as well. The new victim (the old perpetrator) now responds in kind by redirecting blame to someone, perhaps back to the original victim or someone else entirely. The cycle continues until the chaos of the 7empest reigns. If everyone is convinced (or certain) that someone else in the vicious cycle is to blame, then we become "victims of our certainty." In order to address the deeper root causes, we must learn to cooperate, and we can't cooperate if we're certain everyone else is to blame -- "therefore, your doubt is not an option." In reality, "the universe is hostile, so impersonal." We are trying to consciously tame our little place in that universe (tame the 7empest) for our benefit, but if we keep blaming each other for problems largely created by the conditions of scarcity placed upon us by the universe, then the "7empest will be just that." Given that explanation, the rest of the lyrics fall into place easier for me. "Keep calm Keeping it calm Keep calm Fuck, here we go again Heat lighting flash, but don't blink. Misleading Tranquility ruse You're gonna happen again That's what I think Follow the evidence Look it dead in the eye Your darkness Trying to lull us in, before the havoc begins, into a dubious state of serenity" The person who constantly blames others is predictably chaotic, like a storm, but they can't see their own predictability or role in the storm itself. "Acting all surprised when you're caught in the lie We know better It's not unlike you It's not unlike you We know your nature Blame it all on the bastards when you're blowing out Shame on you Shame on you now No amount of wind could begin to cover up your petulant stench and demeanor Calm as cookies and cream, so it seems We're not buying your dubious state of serenity" When you "act all surprised when you're caught in the lie," it is merely another defense mechanism when your hypocrisy is made clear to you. And again, this behavior is predictable. You constantly blame the "bastards" as a fight response to your fears. Maybe the "shame on you, shame on you now" line is sang in a different tone to sort of mock the person who shames others. Mocking is a form of shaming in itself, as is the next line: "No amount of wind could begin to cover up your petulant stench and demeanor." "Acting all surprised when you're caught in the lie We know better It's not unlike you It's not unlike you We know your nature Calm before the torrent comes Calm before the torrent comes Calm before the 7empest comes to rain all over Disputing intentions invites devastation A 7empest must be True to its nature A 7empest must be just that A 7empest must be just that A 7empest must be just that A 7empest must be just that A 7empest must be just that A 7empest must be just that A 7empest must be just that A 7empest must be just that" To "dispute intentions" means to question the purity of someone else's intentions. When the victim points the finger at the perpetrator, it may imply to the perpetrator that the victim assumes their intentions were bad. This is part of what makes the perpetrator into the new victim, "inviting the devastation" of the 7empest. Overall, I think the song is calling for more humility, forgiveness, empathy, and cooperation for one's own sake. Many Tool songs have this theme. For example, Descending really harps on the need for cooperation, perhaps in a much more direct way. |
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| Stone Temple Pilots – Naked Sunday Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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I think it's speaking of the nature of duality. You can't have light without dark or love without hate. The depths of evil we endure is the very thing that gives us the capacity to feel the peaks of love, and they are kind of one in the same from a certain philosophical viewpoint. Perhaps the "been waiting awhile to meet you for a chance to shake your hand, to give you thanks for all the suffering you command" speaks of some creator who has the wisdom to understand that pain must be experienced to experience love, whereas, the alternative really would be no experience at all. Alternatively, it could also be interpreted as sarcastic praise of the creator, critisizing the commanded suffering. And maybe the writer believes there is a way to experience love with hate. In truth, I can't say I know. |
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| Rise Against – From Heads Unworthy Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| To me, this song is about the common experience of the younger generations struggle to deal with the vicious cycles of inequality and hate in the world, competing with the human experience of love. The older generations created a mess, and they won't take responsibility. But they will die, and power will move on to someone else. We have to fight to make sure that power falls into the right hands, but love is distracting from that battle. The writer decides to take the righteous step to ultimately sacrifice an easy, but cowardly existence that forces one to become numb to the pain they see around them to justify it. Rather than hiding from the problems and falling in love to distract themselves, they decide to take the painful, difficult path. "It's happens almost never, but it happened once to me." He is chosen to do it because he feels he is chosen, and that's all the evidence he needs to fight. The flip switched in his mind and didn't flip back as it so often does. | |
| Slipknot – Psychosocial Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Was never a fan until I read the lyrics to actually understand what he's saying. Song hits hard after that. It's made it's way into my workout playlist. It's about the state of society in the US. This is clearly represented by the song title "psychosocial." We are sick. We vote for war-mongers that start wars for oil. Americans citizens then save money on the oil and turn their head away from the innocent people killed in the process. They than stuff their face while millions starve... Cognitive dissonance. We are shamed if we question the status quo-"psuedo-sacrocanct perversion." Lyricist is pissed off about it, he's done, he's not the only one that's done. Anger and consciousness around the sacrosanct perversion is growing, and that hints at revolution. "And the reign/rain will kill us all"~This greedy imperialistic game will kill us like it killed Rome. It could be reign or rain and imply the same thing. Either the imperialistic "reign" causing collapse kills us, or "rain" is the collapse itself that kills us. "No one else can else can see the preservation of the martyr in me"~It implies that the actions of the martyr who refuses to endulge in the selfish behaviors of modern society are actually preservative for society in the long run, even if not for the individual. "Oh, there are cracks in the road we laid But where the temple fell The secrets have gone mad This is nothing new But when we killed it all The hate was all we had" ~This challenges the "psuedo-sacrocanct perversion." The foundation is faulty. But it's always been faulty. We've seen these same mistakes made before, and the results of those mistakes collapsed empires. When the empire collapses, the hate we had for each other is all that's left standing and chaos ensues~"the reign/rain will kill us all." Who needs another mess? We could start over Just look me in the eyes and say I'm wrong Now there's only emptiness Venomous, insipid I think we're done I'm not the only one ~Why are we doing it again? We could fix this if we actually wanted to. We just have to challenge the sacrosanct bullshitters. Lyricist implies we're done-that it's too late to turn this mess around. He's not the only one who thinks we're done. Again, he suggests that the complex psychosocial factors have made us sick. "Limits of the dead"~Perhaps suggests that when you truly think we're done and when you believe everything is going to hell, a part of you dies. When that happens, you might as well be dead. When that happens on a wide scale, overall morale drops and entire empires die. So in other words, "the limits of the dead" is the point of no return of a collapsing empire. The first sign of death is decreasing morale. When you have too many people who've given up, they drag the entire thing down. Once an empire is dead, in hindsight, the first sign is dropping morale. Fake anti-fascist lie (psychosocial!) I tried to tell you, but (psychosocial!) Your purple hearts are giving out (psychosocial!) Can't stop a killing idea (psychosocial!) If it's hunting season (psychosocial!) Is this what you want? (Psychosocial!) I'm not the only one! ~Don't have an opinion on the meaning for the antifascist line in particular. Lyricist warns us that the purple hearts and other combat veterans are turning against the nation that left them behind. Just another hypocritical behavior that highlights just how far the cognitive dissonance has gone. The peons are too stupid to vote out the rats. We just can't stop killing. He's not the only one who wants the killing to stop. |
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