Map of the Problematique Lyrics
I want to be free
From desolation and despair
And I feel like everything I sew
Is being swept away
Well I refuse to let you go
Get it right
Since I met you
When will this loneliness be over
So scattered and lost
I want to touch the other side
And no one thinks they are to blame
Why can't we see
That when we bleed we bleed the same
Get it right
Since I met you
When will this loneliness be over
Loneliness be over
When will this loneliness be over
For me, this song is about a man who is refusing to move on a failed relationship. He fears the future on his own, he fears losing her completely. He's become so overcome with fear, panic and anxiety that he feels that he's lost his sense of self. There is nothing left of him as he put everything into her. He feels that she is moving on, everything that he did for her is being forgotten in the process. He resents her for it because he doesn't want her to move on from her. He's holding on to her because that's all he knows.
"I can't get it right" is that he can't say the right things to fix it. Everything he does pushes her away further. This makes him more anxious and more despairing. "Since I met you" - he feels that he didn't do or say the right things from the start. He's pushed her away with his actions. He's blaming himself.
He wants her to come back. He wants his loneliness to end. He can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Can't see past this relationship.
He reflects on his life and can't find himself. He doesn't know where he begins. Losing all sense of individuality. He wants the pain to stop but can't see how. He's frustrated because she's blaming him and he's blaming her. They can no longer look objectively at things. He wants her to see that they are both hurting the same way. But she fails to do so.
Nothing he says or does makes any difference. She's moving on regardless. He goes back to despairing about his lost sense of self. Refusing to move on past her once more.
"He's holding on to her because that's all he knows." Charity. Makes a heart and loins tingle.
"He's holding on to her because that's all he knows." Charity. Makes a heart and loins tingle.
great song. someone above said bellamy had said that the album wasn't politically motivated? i'm very surprised to hear that. I myself think the album is very political, or maybe just based on strong morals. either way, excellent lyrics on this album. this song refers to war in my oppinion.
Right, here's my sort of a "try". Well it's how I think about the song. I'm a person with the Borderline Personality Disorder, and I can relate to some parts of this song, for example: " Fear, and panic in the air I want to be free from desolation and despair"
- BPD people always carry fear for being abandoned, yet when they finally find a person that they can get along with, they want to "be free from desolation and despair", just because they're desperate to keep that certain person by their side.
"well I refuse to let you go"
- You just CANT think of letting the person go, pretty simple
"I can't get it right Get it Right Since I met you"
- BPD persons need some attention and always NEED it, but on the other side they don't want anyone to get too close to them, this is why often when you fall in love, or whatever, with another person, you "can't get it right" due to an inner fight between both statements.
"Loneliness be over When will this loneliness be over?"
- If you're BPD, no matter how much people pay attention to you, it's NEVER enough. You always end up feeling lonely. I guess this would be some self-questioning, duh.
"Life will flash before my eyes So scattered and lost I want to touch the other side"
- 75% BPD people have suidical thoughts. I guess that refers to "life flashing before my eyes", since that's what usually happens when you want to kill yourself or something, you sum up your whole life in seconds. Touching the other side could mean finding out what's gonna happen after you die.
"And no one thinks they are to blame Why can't we see That when we bleed we bleed the same"
- Some people blame BPDs for their own faults, even tho BPD people are quite hard to find in a normal group of people. In the end they're just as human as everyone else, with some weird personality disorder.
I guess that's that. Cheers :)
PS: My fav. song on the new album, all the way!
Hey Zaph, extremely well put. Cheers from a fellow BPD.
Hey Zaph, extremely well put. Cheers from a fellow BPD.
I don't agree with people who try to say 'This is what the song means and that's that'. Great poetry and literature are able to take on many different interpretations. That's what makes it so good.
As for my interpretation. I take a political stance. I can see the relationship theme but for me, this album oozes with political themes.
When someone learns about all of the atrocities a government can commit and begins to question whether their government can be trusted, such ideas brings about a different perspective on life that most people do not want to hear. When I try to express my frustrations, it's as if I’m preaching to the choir. Everybody’s heard it all before, but no one wants to become a part of change. Being concerned and aware of what's going on in the world can become a very stagnant and disheartening place, thus causing one to feel like everything they "sow is being swept away." When he talks about someone he has met, he may be attributing characteristics to his newfound self-awareness of the world around him.
And my favorite part of the song: "Life will flash before my eyes So scattered and lost I want to touch the other side And no one thinks they are to blame Why can't we see That when we bleed we bleed the same"
Of all the problems our planet faces - world hunger, global warming, globalization, poverty, nobody wants to take the blame. By taking blame, one must take responsibility. Some don’t know how, some are ignorant, some are too busy, some don’t care. The list goes on. What people do not realize is that we're all connected; we're all human. By helping others, family and strangers, we are helping ourselves, not to mention the children whose future we had saved. The repetitive theme of loneliness denotes people are selfish. When he wishes for loneliness to go away, I think he's referring to the day people will come together as a community to make a difference. Everybody is “scattered and lost”, too busy to care about the problems that may deprive us of what human beings value most: freedom.
"I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself." -Aldous Huxley
Phobos And Demos or ''Fear And Panic'' are two of Mars' Moons, just tought it fits with the space theme.
fuck i love this song
could be from the point of view of an innocent iraqi who sees that they didn't do anything and that's being ignored. "when we bleed, we bleed the same" is trying to tell the non iraqis that they're all humans so stop killing us.
or it could be about how they keep having these scandal type things where they'll find out that Our Glorious Leaders(tm) have lied or done something completely fucked and we've cared for a while and then after a while it gets accepted. eg. it turns out the only reason most of the supporters of the war felt justified wasn't even true. and for a while everyone was really pissed but now everyone seems to have forgotten about it and nothing ever came of it.
I think this is one of the best MUSE songs ever! This music is amazing! Thank you MUSE for this masterpiece album!
Are you people sure it's "saw"?
I was so sure the line was "...everything I sow is being swept away"
To me this song is about depression. It is a song that can be easily manipulated/translated to relate to any person's life situation.
This song is so under-rated, especially compared to some of Muse's other songs like Knights of Cydonia and Supermassive Black Hole. It's one of my favorite songs of of all time