Injection

i don't think this song has anything to do with drugs or medicine at all. i think it's how in our society we have all these things that we are almost brainwashed to want so badly, a new phone, perfect hollywood love etc, it becomes like an adiction but we can't see it, we know we aren't any happier but it's the choice to fight against it, we work to live and when we aren't working we can't think freely and just being bombarded with all this crap, that he wants rid of this machine controlling society to see what else is out there but he is scared as he is one of a few who seem to actually realise how plugged into the system people are

so as superficial as this sounds, i think it's actually about drugs. i could relate almost all of it to life experiences. just hear me out.

Do you spend your days counting the hours you're awake? And when night covers the sky you find yourself doing the same There's a burden you've been bearing in spite of all your prayers There's a light turned off inside your heart, can you remember what it's like to care?

in my experience, i found that the harder the drugs, the less responsive the abuser is to others feelings. most people don't fall asleep while they're on a high, and when you're a compulsive addict, you spend A LOT of time getting your kick

Knees are weak, hands are shaking, I can't breathe So give me the drug, keep me alive Give me what's left of my life Don't let me go

when you need a fix, you get jittery. anxious. some users would rather die than quit.

Pull this plug Let me breathe On my own I'm finally free Don't let me go

contemplating getting help? going to rehab maybe? trying to decide ultimately whether drugs or friends and family are more important?

The trail of crumbs you left somehow got lost along the way If you never meant to leave, then you only had to stay But the memories that haunt us are cherished just the same As the ones that bring us closer to the sky, no matter how grey

most kids have good role models growing up. they know the difference between what's right and wrong, but they still end up doing drugs. depending on your past, and how painful it is, some people turn to drugs to deal with it fully aware of the potentially fatal dangers of it all.

Yet I fall, through these clouds, reaching, screaming Give me the drug, keep me alive Give me what's left of my life Don't let me go

Pull this plug Let me breathe On my own I'm finally free Don't let me go

This grip loosens but it never breaks We carry nothing but a name you will forsake Your words are always there to break my fall In them I find the comfort to see through it all

relapsing. you think you've made it through rehab, but you snap. need a fix, badly. and no matter how many people you've lost because of your addiction, there's always that one friend that stuck by you the whole time, because they know that you have so much potential, and want to help you.

Guide me through uncharted waters Before we lose our way again Will you be my compass Until forever, until forever ends?

...self explanatory?

Knees are weak, hands are shaking I can't breathe so give me the drug, keep me alive Give me what's left of my life Don't let me go

Pull this plug Let me breathe On my own I'm finally free Don't let me go Don't let me go Don't let me go

I feel this is a song about being in the hospital hooked up to some machines. Counting the hours as time goes by. praying to be saved and feeling angry about fate. when your going through cancer treatment they give you drugs to keep you alive and you don't wanna die. Ya just want it to be over not hooked up to machines pumping life into you. You want to better on your own finally free from this pain.

I think everyone has the song meaning wrong. Sure it's open to different interpretations but I do think this song has a very clear meaning, the biggest hint being 'Injection'.

Why would this song be called 'Injection' if it was about drugs, relationships or whatever? It's so clear to me that by calling this song 'Injection' the artists are reffering to the lethal injection.

Do you spend your days counting the hours you're awake? And when night covers the sky you find yourself doing the same There's a burden you've been bearing in spite of all your prayers There's a light turned off inside your heart, can you remember what it's like to care?

Quite clearly someone has some kind of life breaking condition and is lying in a hospital bed, unable to move, lost the will to live etc etc.

Knees are weak, hands are shaking, I can't breathe So give me the drug, keep me alive Give me what's left of my life Don't let me go

Now read these carefully. He wants to be 'given the drug' yet that is meant to 'keep him alive'. If we take 'drug' to mean lethal injection then that doesn't make sense. The 'don't let me go' bit doesn't either. But I think the artists are saying that by assisting someone with suicide in that condition you are actually keeping them alive. You're not letting them 'go'. You're not going to watch them digress into a completely different person as they have no will to live and don't 'care' about anything anymore if they just continue in their current state. You're actually preserving their life for you and others and even the person in question. You're not letting them 'go'(go mad) by letting them go (die).

Pull this plug Let me breathe On my own I'm finally free Don't let me go

This verse makes more sense. Pull the plug to the machine keeping them alive. Let the person breath on their own. Let them be free and go to death.

This grip loosens but it never breaks We carry nothing but a name you will forsake Your words are always there to break my fall In them I find the comfort to see through it all

Guide me through uncharted waters Before we lose our way again Will you be my compass Until forever, until forever ends?

I'm not sure what this means. Possibly something to do with having to make the desicion to end someone elses life. 'Guide me through..." .... 'Will you be my compass until forever ends?'. Makes sense to me.

Overall I think words such as 'Injection', 'Pull the plug', 'Let me breath on my own' , 'Give me what's left of my life', strongly suggest that this song is about something more specific than dependancy on drugs/people and more about assisted sucicide or something of that nature!

This is my first crack at this interpretation thing.

This song always struck me personally, being a person with abandonment issues, and then one day while somewhere in the midst of reading Tim 'O Brien's "The Things They Carried", I paused and realized how relevant it was.

"The Things They Carried" is a VERY open-ended story about the Vietnam war, (which was a civil war in vietnam that the US just HAD to get involved in). Many of those in the Vietnam war were drafted and did not agree with the war and in this particular story they were extremely young. Ages 18-22, for vietnam war survivors, it was one of the worst wars in American history emotionally and many young people came back forever changed and mentally altered for the worst.

Do you spend your days counting the hours your awake? And When night covers the sky you find yourself doing the same.

Not only was the war experience traumatizing but, when troops returned they were not supported in their endeavors, in fact many Americans chastised them. Called them "Murderers" and "Baby Killers" as they were forced to kill men, women, and children, soldiers and civilians alike. Which fits the lines

"As a burden you've been buried, in spite of all your prayers. As a light turns off inside your heart can you remember what it's like to care?"

as well as

"We carry nothing but a name you will forsake."

Many young soldiers turned to drugs as their escape from the things going on around them.

"The trail of crumbs you left somehow got lost along the way, if you never meant to leave then you only had to stay." serves as an allusion to wartime and how many friends were made and lost to the war. "but the memories that haunt us are cherished just the same as the ones that bring us close to the sky." Goes to say that even though they faced inconceivable hardships and the memories of it haunted them for the rest of their lives and times where they almost died (brought them closer to the sky), they were also cherished as a time they could never forget with people that became like family to them but in the end, no matter what, it wasn't enough...

"No matter how grey, yet I fall, through these clouds, reaching, screaming, GIVE ME THE DRUG!" ...it wasn't enough and they always turned back to drugs, to guide them through the war, to find their way back home with as much sanity as humanly possible.

I know the vietnam war is extremely specific and was a long time ago, and this song could easily be about drug addiction in general but considering that Rise Against's M.O. is rising against oppression and often oppression involving US policies it kind of clicked and set in my mind as being about the Vietnam war. Not to mention the desperate tone of the song.

its about how it feels to be about to shoot heroin when it says "knees are weak hands are shaking i cant breathe" thats how it feels while loading the syringe with dope and the part "so give me the drug keep me alive give me whats left of my life dont let me go" is kinda like a prayer youre thinking while trying to find a vein and knowing that you are going to feel alive soon again but youre only half alive fueled entirely by dope but thats what youre life is so you pray to not feel so bad about using. the part "pull this plug let me breathe on my own im finally free dont let me go" means when youre pulling the needle out and the dope is starting to hit you can start to "breathe" (feeling the good dope blood)but yeah pull the plug in a song called injection obviously means pulling the needle out. the part "Do you spend your days counting the hours you're awake? And when night covers the sky you find yourself doing the same" is when your script runs out or have no dope the hours go by very slow and we always count the hours till more dope or days till doctor appointment again. and my favorite part "The trail of crumbs you left somehow got lost along the way If you never meant to leave, then you only had to stay But the memories that haunt us are cherished just the same As the ones that bring us closer to the sky, no matter how grey" means the track marks or breadcrumbs slowly go away but the memories of the high (the thoughts that make me want to get high again haunt me ) and finally i succumb to the urge and get high again its just a matter of time but the high is like grey clouds because they are pouring rain for me to drown in when i fall through the clouds (come down or crash)like it says "yet i fall through these clouds reaching screaming" meaning even though i didnt mean to get high i ended up doing it and inevitably i fall through the clouds reaching screaming for more because the whole time i was high in the clouds they were pouring rain(problems) on the ground making it one hell of an uncomfortable landing. like the physical withdrawls arent enough but all the time i was high i did all kinds of stupid shit and slacked off on responsibilities and didnt eat well and spent all my money etc... so it sucks to come down so i want more dope bad to lessen the pain of reality. and finally "Guide me through uncharted waters Before we lose our way again Will you be my compass Until forever, until forever ends?" means guide me to death (overdose) this time before i run out of dope (lose our way) until forever ends means dying before he gets sober and has to face the consequences or the shit. its very sad and depressing to be living this way on a life support of drugs because one day they run out unless you die first....... by th33dud3 thanks for hearing me out.

i think this song is a tribute to all of the patients in hospitals who no longer have the strength to live on their own and have to rely on drugs and machines to do it for them and how that isn't really living

I get the idea that the song is about death row or terminal diseases. Don't know why, it just gives off that vibe.

the song is actually called 'Done With the Compass'. great song and the new album is fucking amazing, can't wait to see these guys live at warped tour

Ah right, I got it when they let it out as an advance from Interpunk and the title they gave it was "Injection". Pretty sure that's what it'll be on the release, which I can't wait to get my hands on.