| System of a Down – Chop Suey! Lyrics | 24 years ago |
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This song strikes me as being sung from two viewpoints - the "victim" or person contemplating suicide, and the accusor. There are two rhythms to the song - fast, chaotic, jangly, and slow, questioning. "Why'd you leave the keys upon the table," and "Here you go create another fable," seem to point to someone who has dealt with a situation before, and is pointing out similiarites. This is backed up by, "Hide the scars that fade away the shake-up." A shake up, emotional turmoil, dealt with by the victim attempting suicide - the "scars" perhaps being on the wrists? Cover them up and pretend nothing has happened, but still the suicidal behavior is, the "clues" which potential suicides leave, are very apparent. The repeated refrain, "You wanted to ..." could easily mean this potential suicide is almost emotionally blackmailing those around themselves. The accusor is pointing out the signs being left, but, in no uncertain terms, letting the potential suicide know it's a mean, ugly game to play. The slower, more deliberate parts of the song revolve around the phrase, "I don't think you trust in my self-righteous suicide." The wording of this strikes me as being rather whiny and manipulative. Self-righteousness is not a phrase associated with sincerity, is it? Almost as if this person is pouting about being "caught out" by the accusor. This is backed up by the phrase, "I cry when angels deserve to die." Who could be *more* blameless than an angel? Yet the suicide is almost blaming angels because of the sadness in their own life. Again, not very sincere or introspective, is it? Almost like a petulant child. This person is not taking responsibility for themselves. Instead they're emotionally blackmailing those around them, crying wolf, so to speak. It's a back and forth dialogue between these two people - one basically saying, "Yeah, you say you're going to kill yourself, but all you're doing is leaving little clues so everyone will pay attention to you. You hide your scars, but you don't /do/ anything to make it better," and from the "victim", "You don't believe me, I'm going to do it this time." Towards the end of the song is the "Father ...." bit. The placing of this verse right after, "I don't think ..." would suggest the same person is responsible for the verse since it is a different type of voice then we've heard so far in the song and it's basically talking about death. I believe this might be part of the Last Rites performed for Catholics, which would make perfect sense. The "victim" is now agitated, having basically been told they're unbelievable in their threats to kill themselves. Now the "victim" is angry and going one step further, perparing to hand their spirit to God. But even now, at the point where they could be killing themselves, they're still accusatory - going first from angels to God himself. "Why have you forsaken me?" This is, as has been pointed out, a direct quote from Jesus on Calgary, but the songwriter is almost indubitably of the opinion that (the idea of) Jesus is but another martyr, leading people towards a bogus, insincere ideal of humanity and unselfish giving. After the two verses of "I don't think ..." and "I cry when ...", to bring in this new voice which is an angry and off-balanced version of the "victim"'s voice would seem to point up to the escalation of emotion and instability in the "victim". The song ends with the same refrain, calm again now, "I don't think .." and "I cry when ..." It feels as if there's no getting through to this person. As if the accusor has tried, has done his best to point out the incongruities of what the victim is saying (I'm going to kill myself) and actually doing (Blaming, acussing and hiding). The voice is again calm, steady, suggesting that the brief time the "victim" might have seen what they were doing to those around them, "Father, father .." is closed off again and inaccessible. They're cemented off from the world, encased in their own grave of martyrdom, insincerity and emotional blackmail. It's a fucking excellent song. |
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| Tool – Swamp Song Lyrics | 24 years ago |
| A warning. Get out because, "this bog is thick and easy to get lost in". The warning is not taken seriously so, "I hope it sucks you down". One of the easier ones, I'd have to say., | |
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