| Black Sabbath – Buried Alive Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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While there's definite parallels to religion and adopting a faith only to find it now acts as a chain, I think it also has some potential for interpretation as a metaphor for corporate work culture and the soulless humdrum of life under capitalism. "You're just another number. Cross it out whenever you don't behave" because your boss doesn't care about you, you're just another number, expendable, replaceable. "Someone get the doctor, he knows what to do. Throw some bones and mumble, the devil's inside of you" because if you're not happy living like this, they won't admit it's because it sucks, it must be a you problem, it's a mental health issue "Get back in your tiny boxes, even if you can't we say you can" because even if you apply for disability because you're unable to work, they might just decide yes you can, back to the cubicle with you "When you thought you were free you didn't need a reason to survive" because back when you hadn't found yourself in this situation you were just looking forward to the promise of what life might bring, but now it only disappoints, and you need it to mean something, or what's the point? "Another day has turned to ashes" because day after day is lost to the daily grind of merely keeping your head above water, when you wanted to pursue your passions, and every day you get closer to death feels wasted I don't know if that was at all in Ronnie's mind when he wrote these lyrics, but given heavy metal's history with the struggles of the working class, and how much it would apply to my own life if it was, I like to think of it as that |
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| Black Sabbath – Too Late Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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The song is clearly about someone making a deal with the devil, but I think it goes a bit deeper than that. These are Ronnie James Dio lyrics, and if there's one thing Ronnie loved doing with his lyrics, it's using magical and supernatural themes as a metaphor for something very real. I think this is about the more general theme of doing things that you regret and having to deal with the consequences, a metaphorical "deal with the devil", which is very on-brand for Ronnie. Maybe you were being emotional at the time or didn't know any better, maybe you were scared and would have done anything to escape, maybe you were hurting and just wanted to make the pain go away, maybe you were angry and wanted to hurt the one responsible, maybe you were just lashing out and didn't mean it really. Maybe a lot of things. But it's too late. All the regret in the world can't undo your past actions, no matter how much you wish you could go back and do things differently, no matter how much you didn't really mean it at the time, no matter how much you thought it was just a bit of fun, no matter how sorry you are. We've all done things we regret, I know I have. I carry the guilt of the people I've done wrong by, and it eats me up inside every single day. That guilt is the Hell we condemn ourselves to with our actions, and now we have to live with it forever. The only thing we can do about it now is learn from it and try to be better in the future, be more considerate and thoughtful, make fewer mistakes, but even that won't erase the things we've done and the hurt and damage we've caused along the way. Maybe people suffered, maybe we threw away something we should have cherished and can never get it back. I'd give anything to be able to go back in time and stop myself from doing some of the things I've done. But it's too late. |
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