Come waste your millions here, secretly she sneers
Another corporate show, a guilty conscience grows

And I'll feel a guilty conscience grow
And I'll feel a guilty conscience grow

She burns like the sun, and I can't look away
She'll burn our horizons, make no mistake

Come let the truth be shared, no one ever dared
To break these endless lies, secretly she cries

She burns like the sun, and I can't look away
She'll burn our horizons, make no mistake

And I'll hide from the world behind a broken frame
And I'll burn forever, I can't face the shame

And I'll hide from the world behind a broken frame
And I'll burn forever, I can't face the shame


Sunburn song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    the piano in this is amazing.

    to me it's about loving a girl who completely makes everything else disappear, blinding you to the rest of life... and you know that in the end, you're both going to go down in flames because that's a destructive kind of relationship to be in... so he runs away and hides because he can't face her enough to break it off but at the same time he feels shame over running away. life is never easy, is it?

    this is my favorite of theirs. =P

    delialon July 28, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This song is clearly about a woman who is married to a guy just for his money But she feels guilty about it, because even with all this wealth she is unhappy about herself being involved in a relationship just for it, and her guilty conscience grows towards him and herself. The artist feels her guilty conscience grow as well, maybe by noticing she is unhappy in life

    [Come waste your millions here, secretly she says
     Another corporate show, a guilty conscience grows]

    'She burns like the sun, and i can't look away, she'll burn our horizons' may refer to the fact that he can clearly see her burning of unhappiness or simply because of the fact that it shows that she is just because him for his money. This way she is burning both their horizons, in view of life expectations and future life. Because there is more to life than money, and she is missing crucial things because of this money obsessed relationship.

    'Come let the truth be shared, no one ever dared To break these endless lies, secretly she cries' may refer to the fact that both of them know that their relationship is a lie, but their lives started to cross each other and none of them talk about their emotions towards each other.

    'And I'll hide from the world behind a broken frame And I'll burn forever, I can't face the shame'

    Artist is too proud to admitt that he fell for this woman, and that she is just with him for his money. He is probably succesfull and doesn't want to admitt that he failed her and himself. That is why he chooses to continue this facade 'behind a broken frame', something that looks good but is broken inside. This way he will 'burn forever', in my opinion is this relationship and 'endless lies'.

    vdbon November 30, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Gold fever. The sun is gold, money, fame, kapitalism even. It makes a man into a unfeeling robot. As soon as he gives in to the temtation of being really rich and famous, he spends more and more money to meaningless things while other people don't even have enough money to buy themselves food. That's what the guilty feelings are about.

    The struggle against capitalism: Come let the truth be shared, no one ever dared To break these endless lies, secretly she cries

    marijndevalkon May 02, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Isn't it "Secretly she sneers"?

    dannyboy579on January 30, 2009   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning

    Sunburn is a truly great song with the deepest of lyrics which are not so easy to miss, even though most do.

    It's about the deceptive internal system resulting in a life of mediocrity that eventually overwhelms each of us as a result of lies/deception, necessarily promoting a debilitating 'guilty conscience' which slowly destroys us from within and also our surrounding relationships.

    "Come waste your millions here, Secretly she sneers"

    "She" is such internal deception feeding person's greed - wasting everything in trying to reach the unattainable (lie) - via grabbing that "new gadget" - or whatever deceptively promises happiness. So a "guilty conscience grows" within, which "burns (me) like the sun", but even though "she'll burn our horizons make no mistake", yet we "can't look away" to save ourself. So we "never dare" "to break these endless lies" by letting "the truth be shared" - even with self.

    Eventually, we "can't face the shame" so "hide from the world Behind a broken frame" (of myself) - and "burn forever"

    Museoydon January 21, 2010   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning

    To me the meaning of this song is crime and guilt and keeping the shame trapped inside. For those of you who haven't seen the video it's a babysitter that goes around the house stealing jewellery and the key to the house while nobody knew then Matt appears to her in the mirror as if he was her conscience and makes her feel guilty for what she is doing.

    To break these endless lies, secretly she cries-lying about stealing and being innocent but inside she is guilty and she knows that she has done wrong and she keeps it locked up.

    And I'll hide from the world behind a broken frame And I'll burn forever, I can't face the shame-shows she is trying to hide the bad deed from everyone and not being able to face what might happen if she owns up.

    She burns like the sun, and I can't look away-impiles that inside her mind she is burning because the guilt is building up and that it becomes obvious for other people to see.

    But in a more realistic term this song could be talking about love and when your feelings get hurt by the person you love or they betray you and you have wasted your time and the person who hurt you feels guilty and doesnt show it which makes even more friction.

    meashamon January 30, 2010   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning

    I've heard that Muse is really into conspiracy theories and stuff.. I think this song is about that. There are some theories about mass mind-control experiments and projects, including beliefs that the media is being used to brainwash ppl by sending subliminal messages through music and tv etc. The fact that mirrors are a big part of the video also fits into this, because mirrors were a "control" used in mind-control experiments.

    At the beginning when she says "Come waste your millions", I imagine an artist who's been willing to become a part of this mind-control project, in exchange for the promise of wealth and fame. The millions being the money ppl will spend on CDs, etc. But then because she realizes she's become a part of something deep and dark, she begins to feel guilty. But, she realizes too late that she's trapped in it, she's become a puppet. She cries out silently (wishing) for the "secret" to be revealed, the truth to be told to the fans who adore her; she wants the truth out so she can escape.

    In the end, where it says "I'll hide behind a broken frame", it reminds me of another symbol that was a part of mind-control: sunglasses and dark shades. They are supposed to represent a mind that is already being controlled, that is blinded. She's become a victim of the experiment herself.

    I dunno, this is what it sounds like to me... anyone??

    saidieon December 15, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Great song.. I love the piano

    ronativon January 15, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    hmm. i love the piano in this song as well. i think it's about fame... she being fame. living the self indulgent life of a rockstar and feeling somewhat guilty, but revelling in it.

    i don't know how accurate i am, but that's my interpretation.

    simplepixelson May 28, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think it's about mans attraction to confidence. Even the most beautiful women have insecurities, but are only unearthed when you see beneath the facade of confidence. False confidence is unattractive, giving a guilty conscience.

    (She burns like the sun, and I can't look away) Her confidence makes her popular to be near to.

    (To break these endless lies, secretly she cries) She has insecurities and uses false confidence to protect them.

    Muse perhaps should have been born the 18th century and wrote classical music with Beethoven and Mozart.

    Mainstreeton June 02, 2002   Link

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