Come ride with me
Through the veins of history
I'll show you a God
Who falls asleep on the job

And how can we win
When fools can be kings?
Don't waste your time
Or time will waste you

No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive

No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive

No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive


Lyrics submitted by Jayknight, edited by Caliginous, Grifsgames

Knights of Cydonia Lyrics as written by Matthew James Bellamy

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Knights of Cydonia song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

174 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +5
    General Comment
    To quote someone else (a review of somekind): 'Knights Of Cydonia - The soundtrack to some medieval space battle with an intergalactic cosmic knight galloping at a million light years per second on a star horse, slaying space demons with wild swipes from his atom powered nuclear lightsaber.'
    Twozzokon June 09, 2006   Link
  • +5
    General Comment
    Dialectics is what this song is about Nobody teaches Dialects because rulers are scared of losing there power If everybody knew about Dialects there would be No Fools As Kings to begin with.
    BubblesBlisson March 26, 2012   Link
  • +4
    General Comment
    The music video gives more clues to the meaning behind the song. It is in reference to 1981 — “Continuity of Government” or “REX84” was brought to light at the Oliver north trial (Iran Contra) and silenced by Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye the now current President pro tempore of the United States Senate. He is second in line for presidential succession in the event both President and Vice are not able to carry out their duties. Readiness Exercise 1984, was a secretive "scenario and drill" developed by the United States federal government to suspend the United States Constitution, declare martial law, place military commanders in charge of state and local governments, and detain large numbers of American citizens who are deemed to be "national security threats", in the event that the President declares a "State of Domestic National Emergency". This plan was implemented at 09:59 on11 Sept 2001. The song title "Knights of Cydonia” is a reference to a region on the planet Mars known as Cydonia. Richard Charles Hoagland an American author and a proponent of various theories about NASA, lost alien civilizations on the Moon and on Mars and other related topics speculated that the Face of Cydonia was a Pyramid not unlike those found on earth and was possibly related. The woman being hung was a symbol of the truth of our origins and the intentional attempt to destroy that evidence by the institutional bureaucracy of our time. The statue of liberty half buried is the symbolic of the loss of our liberties after 1981. Cydonia - Pop: 143 is there blog. The Russian dolls represent the different levels of secrecy within government ie…a government within a government. The children throwing dung at the cowboy locked in the stockade symbolizes the corruption of our youth buy the media. The woman on the unicorn holding the CD represents and the kung fu master freedom of speech is our weapon and technology our medium. This whole song is riddled with cryptic innuendo. To sum it up, the song is about taking the power back from the shadow government that runs the world from behind closed doors. “Propaganda Due” - Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to 1981.
    aftermarketcrfon December 15, 2011   Link
  • +4
    Memory
    That intro... I mean DAT INTRO.... just sends me back to when I was 4, sitting on our T-0 apartment in Maputo - Mozambique, watching my father playing air-guitar, while listening to Jethro Tull. Which song, I cannot remember. The only thing I remember was me saying: "Pai, Pai, toca a música dos cavalos outra vez" (Daddy, daddy, play the horse song again). Today, 30 years later, I have a special USB pen, with ONLY this song on my car and I created a batch file on my PC, so that every time I switch it on, the song is played and all my problems are AWESOMED away. MUSE - the next best thing, after QUEEN!
    ruiduraoon October 20, 2012   Link
  • +3
    General Comment
    Crazily good track! Muse sure know how to sell the drama. I dig the mix of the galloping hi-ho-silver feel with the whole classic overblown Muse space madness. Lyrics are awesome too - I take them as an encouragement to fight against mediocrity.
    Trashazonon June 08, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    Actually, I think the first lines go: come light with me for your (something) of history i'll show you the god falls asleep on the job And damn, the studio version has trumpets and HORSES.
    iwasastoneon June 08, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    Supermassive Black Hole is far away from the best song on the album... this might be the one... So powerful! I want to see Muse live *cryyyyyiiiiiing (They made me listen to other music than heavy-metal...God i love muse..)
    inteon June 22, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    this song is another reflection on bellamey's intrest in the new world order conspiricy, here he speaks a message of people making their own decisions and fighting for their rights and liberation
    maximuspayne3on July 03, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    It just struck me... I've seen some the the theories as to the true meaning of this song... Some very interesting ideas... I don't know if someone has already mentioned the points i'm about to mention, but i think it sounds pretty logical... The title "Knights of Cydonia" itself is a huge clue... It seems to be a direct reference to the illuminati and freemasonry... Those who belong to these secret societies are ranked with different degrees... Some are given titles like the "Knight of Malta" or the "Knight of Eulogia"... So that's the "Knight" part... What about "Cydonia"? ... Well cydonia is a place on mars which is said to occupy pyramid like shaped objects on the surface... Pyramids are very closely linked with freemasonry... So i guess Matthew was just trying to be indirect, yet direct at the same time with his title... "When fools can be kings"... I loved that line!... I think it's a direct line referring to George Bush... A complete imbecile... How would someone like him became president? ... A few easy steps... One of which is, join the illuminati... Matthew seems to have written many songs about political conspiricies... I think the whole "resistance" album is based on the same foundation... Mk ultra is a classic example... The rest of the song is pretty simple and straightforward... Basically all he is saying is revolt!... Pretty much the same as Green Day's "Know your Enemy" track... We must fight to survive... Overthrow the government... At least mentally... Physically that may be impossible, or maybe not... But in reality, the governments have got every living creature in bonds and chains... We need liberation and right to freedom from this corrupt pyramid like scheme which only truly benefits those on top and not at the bottom... A world where child labour in china is supported by americ and even funded... Injustice has to end. But who can stop it?...
    StJimmy27on December 22, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    It just struck me... I've seen some the the theories as to the true meaning of this song... Some very interesting ideas... I don't know if someone has already mentioned the points i'm about to mention, but i think it sounds pretty logical... The title "Knights of Cydonia" itself is a huge clue... It seems to be a direct reference to the illuminati and freemasonry... Those who belong to these secret societies are ranked with different degrees... Some are given titles like the "Knight of Malta" or the "Knight of Eulogia"... So that's the "Knight" part... What about "Cydonia"? ... Well cydonia is a place on mars which is said to occupy pyramid like shaped objects on the surface... Pyramids are very closely linked with freemasonry... So i guess Matthew was just trying to be indirect, yet direct at the same time with his title... "When fools can be kings"... I loved that line!... I think it's a direct line referring to George Bush... A complete imbecile... How would someone like him became president? ... A few easy steps... One of which is, join the illuminati... Matthew seems to have written many songs about political conspiricies... I think the whole "resistance" album is based on the same foundation... Mk ultra is a classic example... The rest of the song is pretty simple and straightforward... Basically all he is saying is revolt!... Pretty much the same as Green Day's "Know your Enemy" track... We must fight to survive... Overthrow the government... At least mentally... Physically that may be impossible, or maybe not... But in reality, the governments have got every living creature in bonds and chains... We need liberation and right to freedom from this corrupt pyramid like scheme which only truly benefits those on top and not at the bottom... A world where child labour in china is supported by americ and even funded... Injustice has to end. But who can stop it?...
    StJimmy27on December 22, 2010   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Indigo
Of Mice & Men
This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”
Album art
System
Mel And Kim
Just listening for the 784,654th time....and it's just perfect in every way. Just incredible. The only reason it was remade was to scoop up a boatload of money from a more modern and accepting audience. But it is a completely different song than the other one that sounds slapped together in a few takes without a thought for the meaning. This song captivates me still, after 50+ years. Takes me to the deep South and the poverty of some who lived thru truly hard times. And the powerful spirit of a poor young girl being abandoned to her future with only a red dress and her wits to keep her alive. She not only stayed alive, she turned her hard beginnings around, became self sufficient, successful and someone with respect for herself. She didn't let the naysayers and judgers stop her. She's the one sitting in the drivers seat at the end. So, not a song about a poor girl, but a song of hope and how you can rise up no matter how far down you started. There is a huge difference between a singer who simply belts out a song that is on a page in front of them, and someone who can convey an entire experience with their voice. Telling not just a story with words, but taking you inside it and making you feel like you are there, with their interpretation.
Album art
X French T-Shirt
Shudder to Think
This song is timeless, and nearly 20 years after its creation, still possesses the mystique it did the first time i heard it ~1994. To me, at first blush, all those years ago, it had some kind of homo-erotic allure. The line "so that the others may do" tells of something which must be done for others to follow suit. It felt like like some kind of roxy-glam-pop invitation to sexual liberation. Upon further introspection I think the song may not have an intrinsic meaning, but simply represents a sort of "holding open the door" for people who otherwise might be affronted by this song/band's unusual style. I know, as a sort of armchair rock-historian, that there have been few bands so daring and so true to the sound that wanted to emerge from within, whether the creator wanted it or not. This band handled it with elegance and grace seldom, if ever, seen.
Album art
Alma Matters
Morrissey
The man has pseudo-friends who constantly criticize his actions. They moralize him, "teach" him and advise him to make a significant change in his life, because the way he is and what he does is not what they say it should be. They may find his life lame or immoral. They hold themselves up as role models. The man replies that he will make his own choices and decisions and he does not agree to unconditionally make himself under the influence of questionable quality advice. He justifies this by saying that there is always someone for whom he will be important, no matter what he does and no matter what he is. Although it is not said directly, I read it as meaning that he will always be important to himself in every way and he will always have his own support. "Everyone is different and maybe that's a good thing, but you exceeded that mark 1000 times" - I remember very well how sad the words I once heard (from my peers and it was in negative context) at school made me feel.
Album art
Nothing Like Me
Uncle Murda
This hard-hitting hip-hop track marks the first official collaboration between the two rappers. It is off Uncle Murda's latest studio album titled "Don’t Come Outside, Vol. 3", and was released on January 1, 2021.