Long Hard Road Out Of Hell

MechanicalAzoz: Well, you've got to remember that all myths are symbolic, so Jesus never used his powers for hedonistic adolescent means. Still, I understand what you are saying...If most of us had the power to turn water into wine, most of the earth's population would be dead from alcohol poisoning... ^^ Heh.

This song is quite depressing, and I agree that it portrays the innate suffering of adolescence very well. There is also the homosexual theme, with those two women and the flower... hmm, I wonder what that is supposed to represent... And Marilyn Manson does an excellent job crossdressing in the video, not to mention the scenes of him bent over on the couch wearing nothing but thigh-high socks and an agonized expression. ^____^ This gender ambiguity fits perfectly with the theme of adolescent suffering: It is a time in life where things are not this or that. Also, it is opposites coming together: feminine and masculine. The name he chose for himself also fits this perfectly: Marilyn (Monroe) (Charles) Manson. Two opposites. This ambiguity is not a bad thing, especially when done with artistic intent, like how Marilyn Manson does.

Being a teenager is probably the lonliest time in a person's life. It's just after you've lost your innocence and ignorance and just before you grow up, sell out, give up your ideals and give in to society. Everything is in question. You can either have the ignorance of childhood or the ignorance of adulthood, but you can't keep that reality inbetween without selling your soul on the way. You want to love and live for something greater, but it's a long hard road out of hell. Very few make it out.

Oh Marxism! YAY!

This song is probably about a gay teenager, but the chorus and the closing line fit perfectly into the Spawn storyline about the main character fighting his demonic nature and rejecting Satan's control.

Wow. What a great concluding sentence. It almost looks speech-written.

Though it's quite obvious, Mary would be the virgin Mary, and then "faith to make me numb" is probably the idea that people use religion as a substitute for drugs, a means of escapism.

I also get, along with the video, a kind of homosexual theme in the chorus, "I wanna live, I wanna love, but it's a long, hard road out of hell." With the video conveying a lot of gender ambiguity and homosexual sex, it seems to be the case. The narrator seeks to avoid what he has been taught will cause damnation in order to be "holy", but the result scars him emotionally.

A side theme, to be certain, but a present one nevertheless, I believe.

I'm on this road out of hell. Hell was 4 months ago when I was trying to kill myself multiple times. Depression^2. Then my friends saved me. But it won't be awhile before I finally escape this shit.

I think it's about someone in a bad place because they made their own decisions and how this person is looking back the way they came from wondering if they made a mistake. That "Mary, Mary" part is the narrator saying aloud that they might not be strong enough to live with their choices (whether or not it was their choice, 'cause with Manson, it's almost always up for interpretation). Mary is a motherly figure who could make all the hurt go away.

The way I feel when I hear the song is, for a few minutes at least, the way I felt as a young person leaving Christianity. There were times when, as an Atheist, I felt like I made a mistake, that all I had to do was repent and go back to church and I'd be saved from my misery (actually thought of lying and joining a church any ways so I could at least have some friends).

Yes, isolation is Hell, but . . . It's a long hard road out of it. A road that does eventually have an end. And to a young person (or teenager) it always seems longer.

Very, very cathartic.

yes, what people said before - tough time of adolescence and really want to live out fantasy, lust, whatever but at the same time having the church or parents inside your head with prohibitions and being caught in this tension, then going ahead anyways and suffering. Makes you never want to be a teenager again, the pressure drives one to seek a way out alternatives like suicide. it seems there is no good answer.

If I could talk to my younger self today i would say just take it easy. Be yourself. Relax, this time will pass. When you get older it will be clearer to you how to be, so don't worry so much about peer pressure from anybody. The church or your parents. Journal for yourself, be yourself, help others. This is a time of learning. forgive yourself and just keep learning, this is a time to learn how to live and think for yourself.

Some of this has already been covered very well in previous comments, but I love this song so much I can't help but add my two cents.

I want to fly into your sun When Icarus flew too close to the sun, lost his wings and drowned in the sea, it was the enjoyment of flying that led him to folly. This protagonist however, has a conscious desire for this. Love is like this, a folly that can burn and drown us and yet also pursued with intent.

Need faith to make me numb Live like a teenage christ Im a saint, got a date with suicide That is indeed a reference to Marx, but also the way many young people are raised to believe they must project and internalize the image of normalcy and perfection their parents, peers, and perhaps even teachers and religious leaders expect of them--which can lead to disastrous consequences when it comes to bear that this is not who they are.

Oh Mary, Mary To be this young is oh so scary Mary, Mary To be this young im oh so scared Coming of age can be a terrifying time for anyone. So much uncertainty. So much confusion. Your body and your mind go through changes no one can prepare you for, not the least of which is establishing your social identity. Complicate that with the notion that you might not be the kind of person you're "supposed" to be, and you get real horror.

I wanna live, I wanna love But its a long hard road, out of hell Sometimes I just want to scream these lyrics out at the top of my lungs, anywhere, any time. If you've ever had to dig your way out of depression, you may know how I feel. That desperate need to get your feelings out and to be an actual person when all you can do is curl up in a sad little ball of darkness. Although the rest of the song is clearly about coming of age, this part is as timeless as depression is incurable.

You never said forever, could ever hurt like this This part I don't really get; it matters who the protagonist is addressing and we can't really tell who that might be, nor what is "forever", it also doesn't align with the coming of age theme in the rest of the song, unless the protagonist is contemplating living a life to the end of their days that is not true to who they are, which does align with the following lyric.

Spin my way out of hell, theres nothing left of soul to sell "Spin spin sugar" was a contemporary Sneaker Pimps hit, and this might be a reference. It's also the protagonist saying they faked their way out of the depression and identity crisis they are experiencing, probably pretending to be the person others want them to be and losing themselves in the process.

Live fast and die fast too How many times I do this for you? Again, we don't know to whom this is addressed, nor what in particular the protagonist does for them. Perhaps the protagonist is lamenting the things they have to do to keep up their fake persona and how it's killing them from the inside out, which may have something to do with the last line in the song.

Sell my soul for anything, anything but you Perhaps "you" is not another person, but another self. It may be that the protagonist is the internal identity of a person who's depersonalized their fake, social identity. This identity is desperate to get out, to assert control over their life, loathes the person they have to be in public, and yet also has very little self-worth because of all the fakery and the internalization of society's condemnation for who they wish they could be.