Chop Suey!

The song is about suicide.

Another commenter noted that the song was originally called "Suicide" but the record company made them change it. I was thinking about that...

So what did they do? They "chopped" the word in half so you just had "Sui" or "suey" for phonetics sake. The exclamation point, in my opinion, was icing on the cake saying to the record company, "look, we did what you told us, we made a happy! song...eff you." Even right before the song starts, you know how one person in the band tells the other members what song they're playing next? You can hear either the drummer or lead say "okay..Suicide" like he's giving the cue,"okay, we're going to play this song now."

With that said, I agree with the commenter who quoted the lead singer "the song is about how we are regarded differently depending on how we pass. " Suicide will not get you into heaven. But any other way that you can die, is okay. Why can't someone be saved AND commit suicide?

So you have this guy, putting make-up on what I think, are cutting scars on his arm. The first stanza describes what he goes through to keep this hidden. Maybe he uses a swiss army knife on his keychain or the keys themselves to cut.

Second stanza, he's replaying what he does and other's responses over in his head like:

Other: Why are you using make-up? Him:..I wanted to Other: Why are you putting it on your arms? Him: I wanted to Other: Uh why did you leave your keys on the table?
Him: Shit, I have to think of a reason for me to have left them there (create another fable).

The next part, he's being a little sarcastic when he says "trust in my self-righteous suicide" and that it makes him cry to think that just because "I'm depressed, why does that make me deserving to die and not go to heaven?" Other than wanting to kill himself, he is an angel in every other aspect.

At the end, I think he's praying. He's asking God to save him "I commend my spirit." But he feels God has forsaken him by creating him, giving him feelings, and ultimately, depression. He feels forsaken because the Creator will let everyone else into heaven, who commends their spirit to Him as long as they don't kill themselves. That's the only caveat...be saved, you're okay. Be saved and commit suicide, you're screwed.

That's just me personally...I'm interested to see what other people think of my interpretation.