Straws Pulled at Random

i think you guys are both way off. it's about death, and how we don't have control over when we're going to die, it's completely random, like straws being pulled. when you get the short one, you die, are "ground into dust," "reclaimed by deceiving time"

big one: "drawn back into the origin vortex"...origin being, where we came from, which is...we don't really know, an origin vortex, as he says.

the lyrics are constantly repeating ideas of death and not having control. it's pretty obvious.

I think that this song is about not being able to change where we go, as if everything has already been chaotically decided.

And if fate governs over everything in our life, people lose the will to change things for themselves.

"Must I die to escape the scanning eyes of death?" I think that says it all right there.

I have to wonder, though, the theme is so depressing, so what's the deal with the song's transformation at the end? Maybe it's death gently embracing us? Or maybe it symbolizes the acceptance and understanding that we, as humans, are completely insignificant, and being okay with it.

A very strong song.

I think the beautifully harmonic part at the end of the song could represent the essential sadness and grief that one would experience upon realizing that death is all, we are nothing, we came from nothing and whatever actions we make it means nothing. The invevitable nothingness at the end makes us futile.

To me, this part of the song indeed sound like tears falling.

I think the above poster somehow confused Meshuggah with Morrissey.

Anyway, going off of what's already been said: humanity is governed by the all-encompassing force known as Chance. Fate is arbitrary and indifferent, and cares not for human concerns. Our lives are subject to "destiny-claws"; we are torn from existence as if merely a straw pulled at random.

The anguish expressed over this sense powerlessness reminds me of a great quote from Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat":

"When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples."

Our rage is impotent; we are utterly unable to control or escape Fate/Nature/Chance.

I think sortilegus has it right on the money. This song is about how death can hit us at anytime and how we have no control over it. This might be a personal account about how frustrating it is to not know when it's going to happen and how noone ever chooses to be here to be subject to such a cruel situation. This is song ties in great to the whole connection of the album. We as humans are Nothing (the title of the album) and each song shows us a different chapter of why that is. Tomas Haake is a genius at showing us our own human defects. This album dives into the subects of addictions, emotions, mind, and sickness. Meshuggah bleeds misanthropy and I love it.

I think this song basically says:

If we are all destined to our own fate, then life is meaningless without control over ones own life, the will to go on is diminished

I think all meshuggah songs give off the whole "your world is collapsing around you and you cant do anything about it" vibe, its pretty powerful. especially in "I" and both "in death" songs

or

"you are falling into a void of nothingness, and as you reach for the walls of this solemn well in a pitiful attempt to escape your own fate, your hands only shrivel and turn against you, if only to make you feel even more hopeless than before."

This song kicks all forms of ass!! I dont know exactly what it means but I think it could be about someone who's life takes a huge fall for the worst out of nowhere(as if fate picked him out at random, hence the title of the song) and it never seems to get better

I agree with you Korn, that the song is basically a guy having a real bad string of bad luck and he's practically at wits end wanting to know what he can do to stop bad things from happening...

At 3:05 the song transforms beautifully into a graceful butterfly...Ok bad analogy, but at this point it seems the melody gives a hint that he finally did find something to turn his life around...

Yeah, now that I read more into the lyrics I see that your meaning sounds better than mine.