In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Funny, how you turned red
When I first said
Let's join the dead
Funny, I was driving by
Feeling really high
It made me cry
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Funny, there were swastikas
On Santa Monica
Where they were scarred
Funny, that no one said
that you were dead
and painted red
Where do you go when you fall on your face?
It's a place that you never should know
Is there a reason why people should change
And they changin' the way that they go
If I was there with you for long
Would you be singing me this song?
I'm holding on...
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Where do you go when you fall on your face?
It's a place that you never should know
Is there a reason why people should change?
And they changin' the way that they go
If I was there with you for long
Would you be singing me this song?
I'm holding on...
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Wooooohhhhhh.....
Ahhhhh...
When I first said
Let's join the dead
Funny, I was driving by
Feeling really high
It made me cry
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Funny, there were swastikas
On Santa Monica
Where they were scarred
Funny, that no one said
that you were dead
and painted red
Where do you go when you fall on your face?
It's a place that you never should know
Is there a reason why people should change
And they changin' the way that they go
If I was there with you for long
Would you be singing me this song?
I'm holding on...
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Where do you go when you fall on your face?
It's a place that you never should know
Is there a reason why people should change?
And they changin' the way that they go
If I was there with you for long
Would you be singing me this song?
I'm holding on...
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Wooooohhhhhh.....
Ahhhhh...
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I'm pretty sure this song is about suicide.
"Funny, how you turned red When I first said Let's join the dead"
Turning "red' clearly means bleeding. Him suggesting they die, might be him having suicidal thoughts, but he feels so out of himself that he feels like he's talking to a different person. So he might be referencing dissociation.
"Funny, I was driving by Feeling really high It made me cry"
He's having trouble coping with life. Even drugs aren't helping him.
"Funny, there were swastikas On Santa Monica Where they were scarred"
Can't really get the meaning out of this line.
"Funny, that no one said that you were dead and painted red"
Either he's talking about how no one would care if he died, or he wouldn't care himself if he died.
"Where do you go when you fall on your face? It's a place that you never should know Is there a reason why people should change And they changin' the way that they go"
This is where the idea of this song being about suicide becomes very prominent. He's talking about where do you go when you've hit rock bottom. He's saying how horrible it is. How it changes you every step of the way.
"If I was there with you for long Would you be singing me this song? I'm holding on..."
He might be saying that music is the only thing keeping him alive. That it's all he has left. It's the only thing he has to hold on to.
Just my interpretation.
@Somefag If that helps to know - When he played it live once Daron said it reminded him of his two cousins who were like a brother and sister to him, and he even cried while playing the song.<br /> <br /> Source: youtu.be/KKqpX7arJJo
@Somefag woops broken link<br /> youtube.com/watch
Isn't the swastikas on Santa Monica "where the were SCARred" the story behing "Scars on Broadway?"
reminds me of lost in hollywood
I don't know whether he's referring to 2 different persons ( is the 'you' in the first verse different from the other 'you' ? ) or not, but I think he's clearly talking to someone who's dead, maybe an old friend/lover/some family.
The person was murdered/genocided, and there are swatiskas on its grave. People never change.
But I still can't get the meaning of the first strophe of this song. ( anyway let's join the dead means let's go to the graveyard imo ).
I touht first line was like about suicide - but why whould he turn red :S
Where do you go when you fall on your face? It's a place that you never should know
People (american) can't face some defeats because the are not used to it...
Is there a reason why people should change And they changin' the way that they go
Society overall ( a lot to write about ) ...
The other parts I have no idea what are about..
Maybe the you is himself, he'd be speaking to him.
i dont think the first line is about sucide i think that daron coined up the term elcet the dead which when he told serj didn't like it that much but when system of a down split serj used the idea for himself funny how you (serj) turned red when i (daron) first said lets join the dead. i think the whole song is about the split of soad and birth of serj and scars on boardway
Serj&daronrock I think hit it on the head. I was going to give an interpretation but mine doesn't even work anymore his was so good.
Considering how Daron mentioned in a live show that the song reminds him of his two cousins and then shed some tears, I'm pretty sure the song is him visiting their graves and talking to them. ("Let's join the dead" - going to the graveyard?)
"Funny, I was driving by Feeling really high It made me cry"
Not even drugs can help him feel better about it.
"Funny, there were swastikas On Santa Monica Where they were scarred"
Some vandals like to put swastikas on graves, wich would explain this line.
"Funny, that no one said that you were dead and painted red"
Sounds like he hadn't seen his cousin in a while and nobody told him that he/she died when it happened. At least one of his cousins may have died by suicide considering the refrain in particular, not sure about it though.
"If I was there with you for long Would you be singing me this song?"
He's wondering if his cousin would feel the same way/sing him this song if he would have been with them, again implying that he wasn't there around the time they died. And on another side may also saying that he could be dead instead if that was the case (considering the topic of this song).
If that becomes clear it pretty much explains itself.
I'm pretty sure that i've hit it
This song's probably about Daron's cousins(ty ppl in comments for pointing on live concert moment) These guys were veeeeeery close to Daron and after they were murdered by some radicals he was in a huge depression. He remember his feelings and his behaviour in this song
So, firstly he was feeling so bad that he thought about suicide: 'when i FIRST said, let's join the dead', but he refuses to do it and turns red. In this case it's embarrasment, not suicide.
After that we have some thoughts about life and death Where do u go when u fall on ur face -> what happens with a person after death OR what happens with person's soul after death? The answer is that we shouldn't know it (because it can hurt?) Also: if u fall on ur face then u got hit in ur back. Like someone knifed u and u were unable to do anything against it (referring to 3rd strofe)
Should we change ourselves and change way we go? U can be the best person in the world but who cares about this if u can accidentally die in accident. I feel here like his cousins were really cool people and they got such a stupid, undeserved death.
Last part: if he got in this situation, would they help him? He hopes that the answer is 'yes'. And he holds on...
That's all, sry 4 bad eng sometimes :)