| Nine Inch Nails – Terrible Lie Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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"My head is filled with disease My skin is begging you, please I'm on my hands and knees I want so much to believe" For a while I wondered why his skin would be begging, or why his head is filled with disease. Then I started to consider that maybe Trent is singing from the perspective of someone with a terminal illness. To me that makes the song even more tragic, that his ailment has brought about his cynicism and loss of faith but at the same time he desperately wants to hold onto the idea of God and an afterlife because he knows he is going to die soon. |
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| The Who – Love, Reign O'er Me Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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On the movie Quadrophenia, I don't think Jimmy dies in the end. You only see the scooter fall off the cliff. And in the beginning as well, you see Jimmy watch the ocean for a bit and then walk away. I would like to think the scooter going off the edge symbolizes the death of mod Jimmy; he has given up on that lifestyle and has matured. The story from the album is a little bit different, with Jimmy stealing a boat and rowing to a rock rather than driving towards a cliff. The theme stays the same, with a feeling that suicide is the only way to give Jimmy some peace. The preceding song "The Rock" features all four themes again and ends with all four themes playing at once. This (along with songs like the title "Quadrophenia") is sort of like a duel between the four themes, each fighting for dominance and control of Jimmy's personality. This duel between the four personalities is the source of Jimmy's angst and violence, and it has escalated to the point where he hates himself. Then there's the thunder clap and it begins to rain. This song was influenced by Meher Baba's statement that rain is a gift from God. It can be interpreted, then, that the rain/love is God's gift to Jimmy, and he goes through a spiritual rebirth. The album references water being cyclical over and over again; rain is Jimmy's final stage in his cycle. When it starts raining, Jimmy learns to accept himself and embrace change rather than turn to violence and destruction. The "Love Reign O'er Me" theme, which seems to be an inner voice crying to be heard throughout the album (evidenced by its appearance in "I've Had Enough") essentially takes over. Whether he dies after this or returns to his home as a new man, I don't think it matters. I think what matters is that he found himself. I think this concludes a number of the story arcs in Quadrophenia at once. It's a maturing experience that turns a boy trying to fit in into a man who learns to stay true to his self. It's a peaceful end to a life of violence and destruction. And above all it's the end of Jimmy's inner duel of personality (causing that life of destruction) with a clear victor, learning to embrace change rather than react to it. This is probably my favorite song of all time. I love the theme of redemption, and how this ending can be taken so many different ways. What a powerful song. |
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| MGMT – Kids Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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You know, I always thought this was just another catchy dance song until I listened to it on my own, and realized how sad I felt suddenly. Then I watched the music video and realized it was something entirely different. Some of these comments are really great, but I maintain that it's simply about the loss of innocence; not only that which occurs in a child, but also the entire human race. The child version pretty much speaks for itself, it's about a kid being exposed to the world as it really is, and realizing the world is fucked up. And like everyone else, he eventually grows up and succumbs to being an adult. But it also shows how our society has lost it's innocence as well. No one in modern society is truly innocent, with everyone being portrayed as a monster and what not. And when the kid is in the car and sees the monsters outside and his mother turns on the TV with the weird looking puppets and colors... that just shouts media, pumping crap into our minds to distract us from important issues and the world around us. In the animation there's a dancing pig (innocent and cute) that explodes into ham and burgers and pizza, mass consumption and consumerism. And at the very end of the video, the child is running away from some kind of fiend in a hoodie and escapes into the giant hand of a massive Andrew VanWyngarden, and appears to wave to him trying to signal help, and Andrew just gives him this sad look and explodes into a multitude of monsters that swallow the boy and send him into darkness... With the quote at the beginning of the video (given to Mark Twain but really Nietzsche) I thought this symbolized how God has abandoned us (God is dead). As for the song/lyrics itself? I think it's just MGMT's best advice on how to deal with the loss of innocence: control yourself, be modest, do your best to maintain your own innocence (like a child would), take only what you need. Man, it really takes you back to a simpler time. |
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| Wolfmother – Vagabond Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Just my take: To me, this is a song about a guy who is certain he wants an uncertain girl. Its the classic little romantic story of he-knows-she-doesn't. The girl is unsure about her feelings for him, but he found his own answer just by "looking in her eye" and is confident he's right (take away this lonely man soon he will be gone). He is lonely, after all, as he says "I'll tell you everything about living free." He's telling her he knows what its like to be single and free, and he doesn't want that life anymore, he wants her, and is compromising his pride for her, beckoning her really (yes I can see you girl can you see me?) Also, the whole thing about going to see the sorcerer look into the ball, you may find the answer written on the wall indicates she's making something very simple more complicated, or perhaps waiting to hear something she already knows. The sorcerer and the wall... I can relate that to personal scenarios so incredibly well to a tee almost, but that's irrelevant. Unfortunately, all this bubbly happiness is from the perspective of the guy. The end of the story is hazy and even a bit eerie, with that long bit of an instrumental at the end. That combined with the "innocence lost" in the beginning tells me, at least, that this is a song about a one-sided relationship, one that the guy is tragically more involved in than the girl. That, of course, makes it a perfect song for 500 Days of Summer. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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With the overwhelming monotony of his daily life, the realization that he is responsible for the decline of his own life, and the loss of his ability to lose himself through sex and control all collapsing in on our protagonist, he reaches the bottom of the spiral, hence the name. Here, his only mentality is that suicide is the only way to stop Mr. Self-Destruct/the Ruiner/himself from causing himself any more harm. The beautiful downward spiral motif heard periodically throughout the album culminates in the first moments of this song. Its no longer an ominous, impending cloud of doom; this time, that cloud has reached him. So he picks up a gun, puts it to his head, and pulls the trigger. I've always imagined the part with the motif and the screaming and the lyrics to be that moment that he pulls the trigger and the bullet is going through his skull and then brain, his thoughts captured in super-slow motion. With one pull of the trigger (he couldn't believe how easy it was) he is done with what he believed to be his last option (problems do have solutions you know, a lifetime of fucking things up fixed) and there is no turning back (in one determined flash.) Finally, his mental pain numbs, the antagonistic Mr. Self-Destruct disappears, and everything spills out of his head. Only the other side of the spectrum, his humanity, his soul and essence that was long forgotten for the majority of the album, is left to ponder what he has just done to himself. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Reptile Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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For a while, I really couldn't put my finger on this song. I thought it belonged earlier in the album, closer to other songs like "Closer" and "Big Man With A Gun." However, I'm starting to realize that it makes a whole lot of sense. In my eyes, this is the conclusion to a sexual, conceptual trilogy in "The Downward Spiral." After every major event in the album, the protagonist turns to sexual control in an attempt to heal himself. In "Closer," our protagonist turns away from religion ("Heresy") and first uses sex and control as an escape from the horrors of his mind and his internal battle after whatever happened to him in "Piggy," quite possibly a breakup. The feeling of power provided a temporary escape, but ultimately it only advanced him further down the spiral. After the assault of Mr. Self-Destruct/the Ruiner/the antagonistic machine dark side in "The Becoming," he amplified his efforts to escape in "Big Man With A Gun," taking even more control over his partner, taking away the sensuality and emotion, and possibly resorting to violence. Scared and frightened after his realizations of responsibility and thoughts of suicide in "A Warm Place" and "Eraser," our protagonist turns to sex for a third and final time, but this time something is different. He isn't able to lose himself in the pleasure and the power, because this time he is aware of the decline in his life and he's aware that his partner is, frankly, a whore. He no longer feels truly in control now that he realizes he's paying this woman to do what he says, thus the lines "Oh my beautiful liar, oh my precious whore." The theme of STDs is highly present in the song, but I'm not so sure the protagonist actually contracts a disease as much as he realizes his own impurity in trying to get away from himself via sex and control. This is an album of concepts, after all; STDs are to "Reptile" as religion is to "Heresy," sex is to "Closer," sociopaths are to "Ruiner," suicide is to "Hurt," etc. The genius of it all is that Trent Reznor manages to string all of these concepts into a traceable plot. That all being said, upon realization of himself and his partners' true nature in bed, our protagonist is ready to take the final steps down the spiral. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Eraser Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Together with "A Warm Place," this is the first indication that our protagonist is nearing a conclusion to his mental battle of epic proportions with the Ruiner. This song demonstrates it in a very different way though. Something in the beginning of the song sounds like flies, as the final calm notes of "A Warm Place" fade away. I imagine waking up from a dream, and realizing that your life was a whole lot better there than it actually is. The loud, harsh drums - he rises to carry on with his boring, painful, dysfunctional life. Though his previous realization that he is responsible for himself once had hope, the combination of his own selfish self and the antagonistic Ruiner turns that in the opposite direction, into a depression. He feels worthless, used, weary. His life is collapsing, and at this point even just going through his monotonous life is having a corrosive effect on both him and his mental stability, hence the continuous "erasing" sounds. Slowly, there is an accumulation of more and more distorted instruments: he goes through his same routine day after day, his unending cycle of boring work and control-obsession, and each day, it gets worse. To me, this is the perfect example of Reznor's fine use of repetition; in this case, displaying the ordinary events of a man's life as caustic horrors eroding him into nothingness. And finally, the lyrics start. The first set, ending with the words "you," is our antagonist speaking: Mr. Self-Destruct/The Ruiner/the voice inside his head, whatever you want to call him. The selfish narrator envisions him as his ex-girlfriend, or anyone who has ever hurt him; a girl who used him up and left him. However, the sad reality is that the Ruiner is himself, which our narrator is now sub-consciously aware of in the little humanity he has left. He has hurt and broken himself time after time by allowing himself to fall this deep into the downward spiral. These sadistic lyrics also demonstrate the nature of the antagonist, as was previously done in "Ruiner." Notice how quiet the music is, and how calmly he speaks of destroying a person's life: he is a sociopath, it is his purpose to ruin, consume and ultimately erase. Finally, there is the last set of lyrics; this time it's our protagonist. By sharp contrast, the music is extremely loud and harsh, and the tragic hero's voice is flooded with emotion and desperation. The fact that Mr. Self-Destruct is himself, or his dark side per se, demonstrates that he has lost himself, he has lost his humanity. Instead of looking for it, however, he continues that he hates himself, he hates what he has become and he hates his life and his daily routines and everything. Furthermore, "smash me" becomes even more sad when he declares that as opposed to losing himself, the Ruiner (himself) has smashed his humanity, and finally, that the Ruiner has erased his humanity. This is important; there is a very significant difference between "erase me" and "kill me." In that second-to-last lyric, "erase me," he comes to believe that his humanity is completely gone, no longer lost or damaged but erased. "Kill me" is what he seems to think is his only solution left. Instead of looking, instead of repairing, instead of taking initiative and responsibility, he thinks the only way to stop Mr. Self-Destruct/The Ruiner is to kill himself and end the downward spiral. These are his first thoughts of suicide. The repetition of this, and the endless distorted guitar riff getting progressively more and more distorted, goes to show his desperation getting stronger, getting the best of him, and him actually believing this is the only way to fix everything that has happened to him. Just as a side-note, I heard somewhere that the last few times he says "kill me," the distortion turns it into a barely recognizable "help me." IF that's true, it could be his barely existent humanity making a call for help, trying either get someone else to help him out of the spiral or trying to get the protagonist to realize he won't be completely lost so long as he lives. In any case, I think this is one of the most important songs on the album. Amazing how much emotion can be captured in so few words, and how applicable it can actually be to everyone's internal conflicts and ordinary lives in some cases. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – A Warm Place Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I really couldn't have said it much better than The Numpty. This together with Eraser is probably one of the most crucial points of the album, which is why I left these last bits alone for quite some time. The opening lines "the best thing about life is that you put it together" is a quiet realization by the little bit of humanity left in the Ruiner's assault; he comes to terms with the fact that he is responsible for where he is, not his ex-girlfriend or his boss or anyone else he ever feels hurt him. The fact that this song is so quiet and humble in extremely harsh contrast to the rest of the album makes me think it must be post-something: perhaps after his sexual control rampage in "Big Man With A Gun," he comes home, lies down, and reflects. We've all been there, those moments where you fall down in bed either after a long day or a long night or a significant event and you forget the outside world for a little bit. He is scared of how much the Ruiner/Mr. Self-Destruct/his machine half has come to control his life, but its this song that he realizes its an internal conflict that he must end. The end of the song provides hope for some sort of solution to that. The only problem is that he has no idea how, which leads to Eraser... |
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| Foo Fighters – Best Of You Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This is about dealing with the hardships of life, and recognizing things that do us more harm than good, whether we like it or not. The music video says a lot for it, especially one particular moment towards the end right before the chorus where you see a lioness mid-pounce attacking a vulture trying to fly away. I think that refers to letting go of the things that weigh us down. Of course, a one-sided relationship is a pretty common scenario (and probably the one I can relate to most) with the confessions of being someone's fool and then not a fool at all, but it can really be applied to anything: love, addiction, abuse, depression, even life in general. Its amazing how applicable this song can be, and how its almost reassuring that you're not alone in whatever you're going through. | |
| John Frusciante – Leap Your Bar Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I disagree. I think we are the beloved cars; we go where we go in life, but do we actually go or are we sent by some outside force? Perhaps John used cars as an example as they can move, but they must be driven. He's contemplating whether our fate controls us or we control our fate. That's a concept expressed numerous times in this album, and this climactic song really drives it home. | |
| Fugazi – I'm So Tired Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Reminds me of my ex. She makes me break my back trying to win her back again, but keeps on dancing away every time I get close. For so long I decided to keep fighting, but its never to any avail. Now I really am too tired, drained of all energy and patience for her. I'm not sticking 'round. Now that my rant is over, I think this song is about the same concept, but tired of life rather than love. Protagonist (singer) is emotionally exhausted, and is tired of trying to trudge through it all, its come to the point where he doesn't care about coming out of his depression anymore. Clearly he's been trying for a while (in spite of everything I've learned/no more struggle). Very sad. I love how it does a lot with a little. |
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| Incubus – Nice To Know You Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Your interpretation is awesome, but you seem a little egotistical. I think music can be interpreted any way the listener wants it to be. For you to say that everyone else is wrong and you're right is very narrow-minded. I'm glad you're clean, but try to respect other people besides yourself. | |
| John Frusciante – The Real Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| The end of a relationship, one that very clearly meant everything to him. Love blinds us sometimes, especially when that love isn't returned. When things started, he fell in love, and was almost positive she loved him back. Now things have changed, and he is facing the reality (hence the title); all along, it was one-sided. This is him differentiating that reality from what he thought he had (first two lines). He can't see the reason for heartbreak, even though it is real. You can never know for sure how somebody feels about you (any time I can read your thoughts, some of them yours and some I thought up). He's disappointed that what they had wasn't all that he made it out to be (its no good saying you'll always be mine, these jokes life's playing they make me so tired/and all the while there's a false face etc), but no matter how much he tries, it'll always be in vain (every mile I walk is five, I'll get where I'm going in the next life). This is post-euphoria, post-love when "the real" comes along and smacks you, and the emotional aftermath and tears that you have to deal with, no matter how much you want it back (this constant longing for what's gone). | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Capital G Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Does anybody else think its not a coincidence that in the last chorus, when he echoes "Stand for something" for the first time, it almost makes the line sound like "Maybe you're afraid to stand for something"? As much of an attack this is on corruption and government, it also very indirectly and cleverly condemns us. There is a lot of corruption inside every last one of us; as he says, we're just afraid to see, its in our nature to think we're right. Along with that is the follower instinct, comparing people to sheep who just listen and obey and are too scared to stand up for what they believe in. This all ties into the entire Year Zero concept to me; the entire album ends with the line "and all we ever were, just zeros and ones". Just my thoughts. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Every Day Is Exactly the Same Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This song is one of the saddest, in my opinion, and tells a story of itself. Think of someone with no one in their life, sustained by only a boring office job. They pretend to be happy and content, but the monotony and boredom in their life is crushing and overwhelming, enough to make them go insane. Over the months, years, however long this routine has been going on, the person has lost all feeling, be it love or pain. Eventually it becomes so big and long that the person is lost (I am still inside here) the ending seems to imply suicide, but the album continues in the further stages of the loss of self-identity. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Love Is Not Enough Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This is the second stage of thoughts for a harsh break-up, the first being All the Love in the World. You feel betrayed, as the person you gave everything left you for a reason you cannot see or understand. You wanted to try and go further with them, but they were the first to recognize whatever went wrong and cut it off, and now you are left trudging. "Love is Not Enough" refers to the newfound belief that even if you are in love, its not enough to sustain a relationship. Its a loss of faith. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – The Hand That Feeds Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This song doubles as a cry against the government (many of NIN's songs have such double meanings), yet it also influences the course of With Teeth, if you will. The song is about pretending you're happy when you're not. This is the inner feeling and desire to bite the hand that feeds... but we don't. Even though we see everything we're holding onto is a lie, we hold on because it temporarily makes us feel safe and secure, and we don't want our collected feelings (see The Collector) to blow up. However, in the end, we're only making it worse for mental stability and self-identity. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – The Collector Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Everyone can relate to this song, we are all collectors at one point or another. He is collecting feelings, as he says, and they accumulate and start to drag him down. Blindly, he keeps on trudging through, trying to swallow all the feelings rather than embrace them and move past them. This is simply bottling up all your emotions and experiences and pretending they don't exist. Its only waiting to explode. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – All the Love in the World Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This song is the genesis of With Teeth, a post-painful event mood that sets our stage for the loss of self-identity. I think of a break-up, someone who you gave all the love in the world, everything you had to offer. Its not healthy to do such a thing, considering the reliance you build, and once its gone and you are separated from that amazing person by whichever means, you're basically lost. This particular song represents the immediate aftermath of wandering around and painful memories. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – You Know What You Are? Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This is the inciting force to the downfall in With Teeth. The entire album is about a loss of self-identity, and this is the start. The repetition is genius (remember where you came from, remember what you are) Its the crushing belief that you must fit a certain persona and cannot be anyone or anything else, that's where you belong and you MUST be there, no matter how you feel or what you want. | |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Otherside Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I believe the term "other side" in this song has a double meaning. The song is primarily about drugs and the band members' (particularly Kiedis) struggles with addiction, but it could also be the "afterlife", a metaphor for death (slit my throat its all I ever had), and I think it focuses on the relation between the two (the line "once you go you can never go back" would then be appropriate for both getting high and death). The music video shows a young man going through a series of trials: the first and most literal is being taken to a hospital and getting relief, after which he is attacked by a monster in a cave, but is given a ladder and climbs out. Once he is "safe", however, his shadow (inner demons?) attacks him and they engage in something like a sword fight. After being disarmed by the shadow, he flies away, only to be attacked by a crow, who pushes him off a cliff where he appears to die. Notice how in every scenario, the protagonist does not kill or vanquish his attacker, but instead flees and runs away. These attackers are the addiction, and the message is that they cannot be killed (I yell and tell it that its not a friend I tear it down I tear it down and then its born again). Ultimately, the only definitive escape from an addiction you could possibly have is death, which is what the protagonist appears to suffer in the end, either by overdose (Hillel Slovak) or by suicide, depending on your interpretation. However, there is some degree of hope that I think is often overlooked; the man allegedly dies in the exact same position that the music video starts off in, where he suddenly opens his eyes before being taken to a hospital. Not only does this show that addiction can be a cycle of sober and relapse, but also gives the idea that it is possible to break out completely, as Kiedis appears to have done since 2000, ironically right in the realm the album Californication and this song was released. Oh, and just as a side note, Frusciante does a breathtaking backing vocal that fits beautifully with Kiedis not only because it just sounds wonderful but also considering both of them have had rough struggles with addiction. This is probably my favorite Chili Peppers song as well. Just outstanding. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Zero-Sum Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This song makes me very sad and disappointed. You always hear about all the bad things humanity is doing, and how its not too late, how we can make a difference if we do this, but no one ever does it. Its just in our nature; we really WERE doomed from the start. And at the eleventh hour, when we are finally punished, everyone realizes the shit we've been doing, or even the shit we HAVEN'T been doing, and we feel shame. We realize our mistakes, we feel remorse, we cry because the consequences are now right around the corner. But of course its too late for that, we're at God's mercy. Which is not much to hope for, because as he says "our dirty little hearts". Its like asking someone for forgiveness after you killed their family. We are all guilty. However, the narrator does leave a little hope, that possibly we have a better existence to look forward to. But you can't ever know for sure whether we'll be zeros or ones, but in the end, that's what each one of us added up to individually. We're all zeros and ones. It depends on how you lived your life I guess. But obviously, the overall sum wasn't good enough, considering 1) the apocalypse is here and 2) the name of the song is "Zero-Sum". Trent sure is a one. I'd like to think I'm a one too, but how can you really be sure. I guess I'll figure out when this actually happens to us. Man. We really are all guilty aren't we. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Hurt Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Haha I'm sorry, I had been listening to this album over and over again interpreting and reinterpreting and what not. I was obsessed. Then I decided to take a break, and I never really got back around to it for a while. I'll put them up soon though, don't worry. I just wanna make sure I fully understand the songs and believe in my interpretation beforehand. | |
| Yes – And You And I Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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In my opinion, this is the ultimate love song, a kind of purity that can't be matched. What's funny is that "I love you" (or even the word "love" for that matter... could be wrong on that one but I'm pretty sure I checked it all over) isn't even spoken at all. Cord of Life starts out with the "protagonist" of the song (I like to think of it as a guy since I'm a guy but it could be either gender I guess), who is possibly conflicted, meeting the love interest - its not necessarily "love at first sight", but slowly and surely their world starts coming to life as he/she becomes attached to their partner more and more. Eclipse seems to be an epic representation of the sheer power generated by their love. The Preacher, The Teacher is about the conflict within the protagonist - the preacher being the spiritual side of him, the teacher being the logical side of him. Before he/she met their partner, these two factions were warring and still continue to conflict with each other perhaps, but they "agree and immortalize" upon the fact that this person is their life, and that's all that matters. They realize how lifeless their world was without this person, and how much more beautiful it is united with that person. The entire "Coming quickly to terms of all expressions laid, as a movement regained and regarded both the same, emotion revealed as the ocean maid, all complete in the sound of seeds of life with you" segment reflects upon this core belief that the protagonist's life is completed and filled with life with this person. Finally, there's Apocalypse... I don't think that's necessarily about the end of the world, but represents how once these two have bonded, their love for each other and unity is undying, reaching to legendary extents. They're soul-mates. After they die, their passion transcends Earth into the heavens and eternity. What a beautiful song. |
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| Yes – We Have Heaven Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think this song is a little bit more simple than some of the other suggestions. We Have Heaven, to me, starts a story section of the album, starting with a small little community/family/whatever that is completely happy and content as shown here in this song. However, one certain individual is tired of the repetitive nature of his home here, and yearns for adventure (Roundabout and Cans and Brahms seem to be foreshadowing to this individual's choice). The door slam and running away signifies him finally running away from his home to discover the rest of the world. He quickly discovers the wonders and dangers of the outside world in South Side of the Sky (which is about an Antarctic expedition when you look at it without the rest of the album). The rest of the songs seem to document his ventures, with him getting a bit homesick in Long Distance Runaround I think, perhaps for a love back at his home (maybe Roundabout was about her?) Finally, in Heart of the Sunrise, he has reached the end of his journey and is weary, and feels lost, but enlightened at the same time. The pause at the end at first leaves us a bit in the dark, but finally the door opens up again and the reprise of We Have Heaven sounds; he has returned at last, and can finally truly appreciate his peaceful home having seen the rest of the world. That's just my personal take on the album. It could have no story at all and just be all individual songs, but I always liked to think of the entire album as being about travel and adventures, walking into the unknown. The album cover always gave me that impression. |
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| Tool – Sober Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| As numerous people have said before, yes, the chorus is a double-negative. "Why can't we not be sober" is the equivalent of "Why can't we just be drunk". I don't know if anyone else said this already, but I think Maynard was being clever with this song; the narrator is a drunk and a selfish hypocrite. Yes, he is an alcoholic. The shadow behind him is his CONSCIENCE. It follows him everywhere no matter how much he drinks and "points every finger at him" (AKA he knows he is responsible for his own faults, but will not accept it). "I just want to start this over" refers to his excuse for drinking, he wants to lose himself in the liquor and "start over", or in reality act like all his problems don't exist. He knows he is just a worthless liar, and is not willing to do anything about it. Everyone who has ever cared about him, he only made their lives more complicated by causing them the pain of watching his addiction consume him; they trusted him to take care of himself, but he let them down (trust in me and fall as well). The people who loved him watched as he destroyed himself (I will find a center in you, I will chew it up and leave), and despite numerous attempts at rehab, no matter how good things looked, he always reverted back to drinking (I will work to elevate you, just enough to bring you down). "Trust me" is a contradiction to what he clearly says earlier (trust in me and fall as well), he tells other people to trust him, that he can take care of himself, when clearly he cannot. "I want what I want" reinforces how selfish he is, he doesn't care that he's hurting others by hurting himself, he wants to drink and he will continue to do so. Its a sad story in my eyes. There's lots of people like that in real life I think. Of course this is just my interpretation though. All music is interpreted differently by different people. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Big Man with a Gun Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This is Closer amplified. The protagonist still retains his insecure desire for control and comfort through sex and violence, but now that Mr. Self-Destruct has taken over, these desires have gone completely out of control. Generally speaking, I also think it mocks any insecure man who feels better by being macho, making others feel inferior, and having a big dick. I know too many of those assholes. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – I Do Not Want This Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I find this song to be a cry for help from the protagonist, and for once, it is a physical calling. Perhaps he has called his ex who left him in Piggy, or an old friend, or he is trying to get therapy. He describes how he feels, what Mr. Self-Destruct/the Ruiner/the voice has turned him into. Unfortunately enough, the combination of his own selfishness and Mr. Self-Destruct's influences cause him to lash out when the person on the receiving end of his pleas tries to help (don't tell me that you care; don't you tell me how I feel). Thus, he only succeeds in going further down the spiral, as he only isolates himself more by driving off other people, which highly benefits the Ruiner. Finally, in the last part of the song, he expresses his discontent for his life at an all-time high. His mental stability has gone to hell, his life is boring, he does not want this, but he's only making himself sink faster. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – The Becoming Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This song is a turning point in the album. Mr. Self-Destruct/the Ruiner/the villain of the story launches a massive campaign to completely take over the protagonist. Once he has the controls, he can run the character's life into the ground. He has already been weakened enough throughout the events of all the preceding songs, and now is when he makes his move. The protagonist slowly begins shutting down everything that makes him human. The mechanical voice keeps assuring that the human side of him is broken, wounded, gone forever. However, the human side of him is still there, as shown by the acoustic sections of the song (hiding, backwards inside of me) but it feels like its at an all-time low and may disappear soon (I might just slip away). However, the voice inside his head doesn't let up, it wants him dead. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – March of the Pigs Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Judging by the violent nature of this song, I think its told from the perspective of Mr. Self-Destruct, and his first true interaction with the protagonist. He picks him out (I think he's losing it) and decides now is his chance to destroy him (I want to watch it come down). After these violent outbursts, the villain actually begins putting ideas in the protagonist's head (All the pigs are all lined up, I give you all that you want, take the skin and peel it back, but doesn't it make you feel better). The piano segment represents the protagonist's viewpoint, how he thinks these thoughts are just things he considers as he goes to sleep. Little does he know their corrosive true nature, expressed in the violent, intense sections of the song. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Heresy Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Of course, this serves as a cry against Christianity from Trent, but its is also the first step in the crumble of the protagonist. Following his personal tragedy in Piggy (which I believe to be a very harsh breakup) he decides God does not care about him or anyone else, and turns his back on the religion he's been following his whole life (God is dead-HIS God is dead). In the first verse (He sewed his eyes shut) he is talking about himself, about who he used to be, whereas in the second verse (He flexed his muscles) He refers to God himself. I'm probably over analyzing, but I think the voice in the background on the last chorus (Your god is dead! - drowning in his own hypocrisy) is Mr. Self-Destruct himself, putting these ideas in the protagonist's head. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Piggy Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This song introduces our protagonist, who will ultimately become the victim of the villain introduced in Mr. Self-Destruct. The protagonist represents the type of people who give in to Mr. Self-Destruct, those who are too weakened to put up a mental defense and keep their humanity. When I think of this specific protagonist, I think of a regular guy with a boring office job, and his girlfriend has just left him, leaving him weak and broken.... the perfect victim for Mr. Self-Destruct. He refers to her as "Pig" because he is disgusted at how she left him for "something new". However, he is not a complete victim: "black and blue and broken bones" leads me to believe he abused her. Thus, he is selfish for thinking that she alone is responsible for his pain. This will contribute to his downfall. Instead of embracing his emotions, he tries desperately to shrug it off, claiming "nothing can stop me now cause I don't care anymore". The second verse is interesting, as this is the first time the Downward Spiral Motif plays. Mr. Self-Destruct already has the protagonist in his sights. He had it all planned out, but she ruined it, and he wants to understand her reasoning for leaving, what she thinks he's supposed to do now that she's gone. The drum solo to me is a raw representation of the confusion and turmoil inside his head (yes, I know the story of how Trent was doing a drum sample and just decided to keep it because he liked it, but I like to piece everything together). Great song overall. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Self Destruct Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This song acts as the introduction of one of the greatest villains in my opinion, Mr. Self-Destruct/the Ruiner/the distorted voice in his head/whatever you wanna call it. Mr. Self-Destruct is symbolic, the embodiment of all our sins, our dark side if you will. To me, this is general: he exists in ALL of us, not just one person, and we all fight him on a daily basis. Indeed it is tempting to let him take over, everyone wants to embrace their alter-ego in one way or another (you let me do this to you, I am an exit) and when we give in, he gains more control over us. All the verses describe everything he is, essentially, all the elements of the sins he cashes in on. Ultimately, his motivation is to "drag us down and use us up", pretty much run our lives into the ground. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Closer Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I agree with most of the first definitions. The protagonist is insecure and finds temporary comfort in having sex. It doesn't matter who with, as long as he's in control. Relative to the story of the album, he views this sex as a refuge from the terrors in his mind, especially after another victory from "the Pigs". However, this is something that the mechanical voice inside his head wants: he wants the protagonist to run away. The protagonist has fallen for the trap, and is advancing further than ever into the spiral. This is signified to me by the theme from the song "The Downward Spiral" showing up towards the end of the song, in the middle of the intense instrumental. The intense music signifies the sex he's having, but in the back of his mind (and after the sex) he knows he doesn't feel any different and it hasn't helped. This second victory for the mechanical voice opens up into "Ruiner", further elaborating on the destructive voice we know to be lurking inside his head. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Hurt Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Looking at the plot of the album, I believe this song could be an anthem to the victims of suicide. In the preceding song "The Downward Spiral", the protagonist shoots himself in the head to escape the torture of the Ruiner/Mr. Self-Destruct/the mechanical voice in his head... which is exactly what the Ruiner wanted. The goal of the Ruiner is to make your life miserable and take it, and he is in every one of us. Our protagonist finally gives in and shoots himself, and suddenly the Ruiner is gone, but so is his life. Almost immediately upon taking his life, he (his ghost/soul/whatever) regrets it. He was selfish and weak in thinking suicide was the only solution to something we all fight subconsciously. "You were someone else, I am still right here" is him talking to himself. He was being someone he wasn't, while the human side of him is still there, just now robbed of life. He let down the people who loved him and hurt them ("I will let you down, I will make you hurt"). And if he had any chance to go back and start over, he wouldn't commit suicide, and he'd find a way to deal with the Ruiner by any means possible ("If I could start again, a million miles away, I could keep myself, I would find a way") finally there's the very loud noise that comes with the last line.... I think that's him transcending to Heaven or Hell, depending on how you look at the album. And finally once the noise goes away, there's nothing left behind. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Ruiner Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| While I do think it alludes to things like a sociopath and religion and abuse of power, I also think it plays a significant role in the story of the album. The Ruiner is Mr. Self Destruct, the mechanical voice inside his head who was introduced in the first song on the album. The way I see it, this song is almost like an ominous prelude to what the Ruiner is going to do to our protagonist, almost like a preparation. You get a feel for what the Ruiner does to people, and nothing can stop him. Though everybody has this voice inside their head, the Ruiner cashs in on depressed, desperate people, like our main character. So when his self-esteem and mental defenses begin to crumble, the Ruiner becomes more powerful, and nothing can stop him. Then in the next song, The Becoming, the Ruiner begins to take over. | |
| Yes – The Gates of Delirium Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| What an epic song. I think its clearly ABOUT a war, but it sounds kind've like some sort of revolt or revolution. It starts with unrest among the common people, and that whole concept grows and expands throughout the beginning of the song...... then you have the battle, which is just incredible. Its seismic and awesome. Finally there's Soon, which is a beautiful portion of the song. The war might not even necessarily be over; whether it is or isn't, the people hope that what they've been fighting for this long will come, and the entire war will pay off. It offers hope. What a great song. | |
| Rush – Xanadu Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Here, Neil Peart embraces a few themes in a short story. A lot of it has to do with travelling I believe, with the description of remote places far from humanity's grasp and the overall exotic feel to it. I think the main character is based off Marco Polo. The traveler, in this story, is seeking immortality, represented by "Xanadu". Xanadu was indeed an actual place (as twenty other people said before me), the summer capital of Kublai Khan. I think the idea of immortality and the inspiration/urge to achieve it alludes to ancient Chinese emperors who obsessed over becoming immortal so they could rule their kingdoms forever. The mention of Kubla Khan kinda embellishes that theory, but I'm not sure if Khan was one of those who wanted immortality. All that aside, and our traveler discovers Xanadu and achieves immortality. However, after "a thousand years" come and pass (or a generally long time I guess) the immortal traveler is wishing he HADN'T become immortal. He goes insane from a variety of possible factors: watching those he loves die, no growth in any way whatsoever, and, simply put, boredom. He goes so far to even describe how time itself is gone, yet he remains. He now prays for the world to end so he may end with it. This is a classic example of a folly of man. We are not meant to live forever. The world is a cycle, and we're part of it (just an idea). Of course, immortality is impossible (as far as we know), but who knows, they could've been alluding to any particular thing the human race isn't "meant to have". Overall, great song, great story, great lesson. |
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| Rush – Closer to the Heart Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Everyone can have different opinions, but I think we all get the general gist of the ideas presented. As for me, I think its a celebration of the arts and the emotional side of humanity. It is things like creativity, philosophy, all of these wonderful things that make us human and unique. I think Rush encourages people to embrace this side of humanity and become "closer to the heart", or take in all of these beautiful gifts we have, with the possible dream of men uniting over these arts. In a sense, I also feel like it relates to the Renaissance. Whether it is or isn't about it or anything I just said, I have no idea. I think everyone's interpretations on this page are awesome. | |
| Pink Floyd – Echoes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I believe this song is a timeline of some sort. The "ping"s in the beginning represent the universe coming into existence, and the first verse refers to the first organisms on Earth.... everything was "green and submarine", peaceful, it was enough, but something drove some of those organisms to seek a new life on land, something drove them to journey into the unknown. Fast-forward millions of years later to the Cro-Magnon.... Perhaps by complete coincidence, two of these early humans see each other and recognize themselves. They are the same, or the same species rather - "I am you and what I see is me". These two specific cavemen go on to try and cooperate for protection, hunting, shelter, etc. They work together. The following guitar solo documents the evolution of man, and all his accomplishments AND follies. The groovy part right after that reflects modern society, and how its kinda fast-paced, stressful, and there's a lot of sleaze that comes with civilization. In the haunting, graveyard-esque portion that follows, I THINK it singles out one man in this society, a very depressed man for whatever reason. He feels he's trudging through life, and its a living hell for him. However, he soon somehow feels he's breaking out of that hell...... maybe its a dream, or his life is turning around, something of that sort.... he feels he's ascending towards heaven and escaping from everything that has ruined his life. But just when he's on the brink, he "wakes up" (the last verse) and reality dawns on him. He quickly falls back to where he once was. He is alone. But something inside him, just like what drove the first organisms to leave the ocean and what drove the Cro-Magnons to work together, drives him to continue trudging through life, in hope that he will find someone or something to live for soon (and so I throw the windows wide and call to you across the sky. This is just my interpretation, and I think any song or work of art can be interpreted a thousand ways. Whatever its about, this song remains my favorite song of all time.... the entire song as a whole is surreal. Every time that guitar cannon we all know bursts in moments before the last verse, I feel like I'm ascending to a new level of consciousness. Pink Floyd (who is also my favorite band) was, and will always be, awe-inspiring. |
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