I'm sending you a letter
Because I don't think there's much time
Time to clear the cobwebs
Time to bear the crime

It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets
It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets

I'm lying on a stretcher
They're lying to my face
There's no-one left to help me
I'm just a waste of space

It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets
It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets

It's a matter of moments
I'll be dead before you've read
There's blood on the table
And my back is full of lead

It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets
It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets
It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets
It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets


Lyrics submitted by Ministry, edited by sidkul2k

Synesthesia Lyrics as written by Steven John Wilson

Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Synesthesia song meanings
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9 Comments

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  • +5
    General Comment

    I think I've got it, and I can't believe I'm the first to make the connection between the name of the song and the lyrics. Synesthesia is basically people giving meanings or having emotional attatchments to numbers. Here, Steve refers to the statistics of deaths during a war, how soldiers are listed as a number, and they become a meaningless statistic with no resonance. So the message in the song is that the death of a soldier is not just a number, that the number means something - hence the title "Synesthesia". It reminds me of the saying "One person dies, it's a tragedy. Ten people die, it's a statistic." The song is a brilliantly unique play on meanings, like a lot of Steven's older songs.

    SquishypuffDaveon December 09, 2008   Link

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