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Pilgrimage Lyrics

(Instrumental)
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Submitted by
cherub Rock On Aug 06, 2002
31 Meanings

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Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

I added this so everyone can discuss what it means to them, even if it doesn't have lyrics. Me and a friend came up separately with the idea that this makes you think of (especially the second half) a faceless army of evil marching in time to the song. It sounds very dark, and it reminds me of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" -- an army of pigs, or whatever, all utterly senseless and evil. "The Fragile" has often been compared to "The Wall."

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

It does remind me of an army as well (and btw I think that it's cool that you'd add an instrumental song to discuss the feelings people can get from them). I've looked at it as the government or the nazis after the innocent, with senseless massacre along the way. It's defenitely not a lullaby.

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

I get the same feeling (army marching)... odd that it's called "Pilgrimage." Makes me think of the crusades.

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

ahh the best insturmental on the fragile by far. It also reminds me of an army marching especially when the trumpets come into play.

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

THis song reminds me of the circus and how everyone cheers like nazis at the curlty which they witness. This is song envokes feelings of hate, rage, remorse, and even love. I don't quite know why though. Anyways this is what i think.

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

The "evil marching band" feel I get from it is awesome. . . it's very pressing and tension-related. Very beautiful, in a twisted and chaotic way.

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

I get the same massive army images. However it's foggy and shadowy... the army is a huge mass of vaguely human forms.

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

The voyage across the desert... I can picture people lost, wondering around, aimlessly. The song does have an evil sound to it, but also has the sound of victory towards the end. Think of the middle song as a turning point in a war, where victory is a head.

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

I have come to think that this track is based off of Dante's Inferno. I know nothing about if Trent was inspired by it or not. What sways me is the song title: Pilgrimage. If you have read the Inferno you will know that the narrators quest is referred to as a pilgrimage and that he is sometimes referred to as a pilgrim. The song makes a lot of sense when viewed in this light. Imagine it as a chaotic descent into the bowls of Hell with all the souls and demons imprisoned there shrieking out their torment at once. Significantly, at the end of the song we hear three seperate screams. At the center of Dante's Inferno Lucifer sits weeping in a frozen lake of ice forever chewing the souls of Brutus, Judas and Cassius. After which we here a gradual increase in tempo as the narrator and his companion Virgil near The fallen one, for in order to leave Inferno they must scale the body of the beast itself. The music of Hell gradually fades to an echoeing drumbeat as they leave.

Cover art for Pilgrimage lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

Tindalos, that is by far, the best visual for this song. after reading your post, it makes perfect sense, the way you explained it.

 
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