| Archive – Bullets Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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This is my interpretation of the song lyrics... Let me know what you think! :) *Come touch me like I'm an ordinary man Have a look in my eyes Underneath my skin there is a violence It's got a gun in its hands* These first lines highlight the individual’s potential for violence, hidden beneath the socially acceptable facade of an ‘ordinary man’. The existence of this potential to create a bold, tangible impact on the unclear world is what makes it so alluring. He feels guilty of this dark attraction, and craves for someone to assure him that he is still human. *Ready to make sense of anyone, anything* This line reveals the individual’s desperation to resolve the confusion he has about the world around him. He sees violence as a means of dealing with that which he doesn’t understand, penetrating the murky surface of reality with clear, obvious destruction. He feels reassured by this idea. *Black holes living in the side of your face Razor wire spinning around your (blistering sky)* The ‘black holes’ imagery could allude to physical weakness (frail bodies often have hollow cheeks), giving the individual another reason to idealize the physical dynamic required to commit violent acts; he feels too insignificant to have any influence on his environment unless engaging in violence. Black holes are a force that draws things in and obliterates them, similar to how the individual absorbs his environment through his senses and destroys them with the violence under his skin – his dark, ravaging thoughts. The ‘razor wire’ line of the song describes a barbed wire fence wrapping around the horizon (the edge of the ‘blistering sky’), similar to that of a military camp. However, the use of the word ‘spinning’ creates a feeling of disorientation and uncertain boundaries. The obvious meaning here is confinement, where the individual feels restricted by something that is vague and undefined. *Bullets are the beauty of the blistering sky Bullets are the beauty and I don't know why* These two lines are significant to the overall concept of the song: in a world of ambiguity, violence is the only source of clear, determined action, therefore providing beautiful relief. Unlike bruises (a wound from the past), blisters are a present wound cause by friction or repeated damage. This is similar to the way individuals are continuously probing for meaning in an innately meaningless existence. The added ‘and I don’t know why’ almost ironically establishes the individual’s uncertainty of the one thing he believes to be certain. *Personal responsibility* Another important aspect of the overall concept is the repetition of this line, almost like a mantra, which identifies itself as the only thing restricting the individual from letting loose the violence underneath his skin. It is the voice of reason and sanity, and a melancholy warning of the consequences that come with free will. From Wikiquote, “Personal responsibility is the idea that human beings choose, instigate, or otherwise cause their own actions. A corollary idea is that because we cause our actions, we can be held morally accountable or legally liable.” *Confine me, let me be the lesser of a beautiful man Without the blood on his hands* Like the opening lines of the song, the beginning of the second verse carries a similar theme. A ‘beautiful man’, derived from the same meaning of ‘beauty’ in the chorus, is a man who possesses as much clarity, directness and willpower as bullets – a symbol of violence. The individual is asking permission to be less than this, by confining him with personal responsibility, hence ‘without the blood on his hands’. He is experiencing an internal conflict between morality (personal responsibility) and his desire for clarity through destruction. *Come and make me a martyr, come and break my feeling With your violence with the gun on my head* The individual is hoping for someone to inflict violence on him before his self-control breaks. He realizes that there are only two possible outcomes: either his desire for destruction is satisfied by someone forcing a violent situation on him, or he will initiate a violent situation on another. He would rather be a pure, tragic martyr than a killer. *Ready to take out anyone, anywhere* Even that which the individual refers to – ‘anyone, anything’; ‘anyone, anywhere’ – is indistinct. It also portrays the randomness of violence when it strikes, contrasting the uncertainty of its timing with the certainty of its nature. It’s as if he is warning of his own random potential (and the random potential of any other individual) to suddenly forget personal responsibility and lash out with violence. |
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