Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Don't remember where I was
I realized life was a game
The more seriously I took things
The harder the rules became
I had no idea what it'd cost
My life passed before my eyes
I found out how little I accomplished
All my plans denied
So as you read this know my friends
I'd love to stay with you all
Please smile when you think of me
My body's gone that's all
A tout le monde
A tout mes amis
Je vous aime
Je dois partir
There are the last words
I'll ever speak
And they'll set me free
If my heart was still alive
I know it would surely break
And my memories left with you
There's nothing more to say
Moving on is a simple thing
What it leaves behind is hard
You know the sleeping feel no more pain
And the living are scarred
I realized life was a game
The more seriously I took things
The harder the rules became
I had no idea what it'd cost
My life passed before my eyes
I found out how little I accomplished
All my plans denied
So as you read this know my friends
I'd love to stay with you all
Please smile when you think of me
My body's gone that's all
A tout le monde
A tout mes amis
Je vous aime
Je dois partir
There are the last words
I'll ever speak
And they'll set me free
If my heart was still alive
I know it would surely break
And my memories left with you
There's nothing more to say
Moving on is a simple thing
What it leaves behind is hard
You know the sleeping feel no more pain
And the living are scarred
Lyrics submitted by Novartza
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No Surprises
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“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.

Trouble Breathing
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While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.

Indigo
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This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”
On Feb. '93 Megadeth was booked to play the Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan. A few days before leaving for Japan, they played a show in Eugene, Oregon. During that concert Mustaine was a disaster, at the time he was still struggling with addiction and alcoholism. And to make matters worse, the barricades at the front of the stage suddenly broke and the fans rushed the stage and started a riot. Mustaine and the rest of the band left the venue but shortly after, Mustaine collapsed from the alcohol and drugs in his body.He was rushed to a hospital, but upon arriving at the emergency room Mustaine died. Dave WAS resuscitated at the hospital. After that, he was sent to a rehab center to get over his addiction. That's how he got the inspiration to write this amazing song. Dave wanted people to know loved them in case he doesnt have a chance to say it then he dies:
"What it is, it's, you, it's when people have a loved one that dies and they end on a bad note, you know, they wish that they could say something to them. So this is an opportunity for the deceased to say something before they go. And it was my impression of what I would like to say to people, if I had say, 3 seconds to do so in life before I died I'd say to the entire world, to all my friends, I love you all, and now I must go. These are the last words I'll ever speak, and they'll set me free. I don't have to say I'm sorry, I don't have to say I'm going to miss you, or I'll wait for ya. You know, I'll just say I loved you all, good, bad, indifferent, I loved you all."
-Dave Mustaine
You should read dave's auto biograpy... it explains the whole being dropped of MTV thing and how it was 1st perceived as a song about suicide... Its not, dave has said as much in the book. This is one of the most sincere metal songs ever written, this guy is singing with his heart on his sleeve (to use a well clichèd line).
i dont mean to bitch... but slashess was close with the translation. The closer one is:
to all the world to all my friends i love you all i must leave
I have to leave<br /> doit means being in the debt to do something, not an obligation like must.<br /> The meaning is softer, he doesn't tell he is oblied, he says it is her time to go
No, Slashess is right, "tout le monde" means everyone. All the world is a direct translation, but the french language was not ment as a direct translation from english.
i think it celebrates and lets everyone know,death is not an option,it happens and let it be....dont grieve that im gone remeber what i was
p.s. "moving on is a simple thing,What it leaves behind is hard" on of the deepest and truest lyrics i have ever heard
Many people in the discussion for the original version (better or worse? I say just different) say that is song is about suicide. I don't necessary disagree, but I think that's to narrow minded. I really think it's about accepting one's own fate. I've made the request of my brother that if anything should happen to me on my upcoming deployment to Afghanistan, that this song be played at my funeral.
I think just the voice is not as elaborate as the new version, but the voice from Cristina Scabbia does not match it well in my opinion.<br /> they are two very different versions, but both of them are great<br /> hope nothing happens to you at afghanistan. good luck
The song was written when Dave Mustaine returned from the dead after taking an overdose before writing the album Youthanasia, was killed a few minutes and resuscitated in the emergency room, the song is about his experience and his reasoning after his affair with death.
"A tout le monde /A tout les amis/Je vous aime /Je dois partir" literally translates to "To everyone, to all friends, I love you, but I must leave."
its about dave mustaine when he tried to overdose on valium during the symphony of destruction tour
dave mustaine did have a hard time with drugs and addiction at one time, but he never tried to o.d. on anything. plus this song was written after mustaines dad died, and i believe it was a song that he wrote to express his feelings.
I don't believe it is a suicide note at all, but a song to celebrate a persons life after they died. It is very beautiful and I'm sure thousands of fans have played it at funerals of their loved ones lol