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Rabid Bits of Time Lyrics
You've been dead for years,
but you never knew.
And the rabid bits of time,
have been eating you.
No one knows where we go.
No one knows where we go
when we're dead or when we're dreaming.
And you've been dead for years,
but you never knew.
And the rabid bits of time,
have been eating you.
No one knows where we go.
No one knows where we go
when we're dead or when we're dreaming.
but you never knew.
And the rabid bits of time,
have been eating you.
No one knows where we go
when we're dead or when we're dreaming.
but you never knew.
And the rabid bits of time,
have been eating you.
No one knows where we go
when we're dead or when we're dreaming.
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Alzheimers? No way....
It's about the questions that we have no answers for. "when we're dead or when we're dreaming" think about that line alone. If we exist beyond just the physical and material aspects of this world then where does that leaves us when the physical part dies? Where are we mentally/spiritually when we dream?
to me the whole basis of the song is focused on a general way of being that human beings take on. The line "you've been dead for years, but you never knew," is an observation of a person who is going with the motions, who aren't really living. Sure physically, they are breathing, and eating, but their existence has become a repetitive routine, and those 'rabid bits of time' represent the regret that is the consequence of never actually living out everything you wanted to in the time you had, and that regret eats at you. What he seems to be saying is, there is no distinction between life and death when one is not truly living, and when one cannot accurately predict what happens when you die. You could have been dead the whole time you were living, you could have been dreaming, no body knows what it is, it could be right now...
I dont think this song has anything to do with 'truly living' or getting the most out of life as above poster suggests. That all seems a bit too mundane for Chad. I think the 'dead for years/ But you never knew' line means that the person who is dead doesn't know they're dead (as they're dead!), and its only in memories that they still exist, being constantly eaten away by rabid bits of time. I think that coheres reasonably well with what he says in the rest of the lyrics about dreams and life beyond death, and...
I dont think this song has anything to do with 'truly living' or getting the most out of life as above poster suggests. That all seems a bit too mundane for Chad. I think the 'dead for years/ But you never knew' line means that the person who is dead doesn't know they're dead (as they're dead!), and its only in memories that they still exist, being constantly eaten away by rabid bits of time. I think that coheres reasonably well with what he says in the rest of the lyrics about dreams and life beyond death, and whether such realms as memories and dreams constitute a plain of existence in themselves, beyond death. Maybe..
I don't know, maybe it's about alzheimers? That's the first thing that comes to mind for me.
I agree with jonnyrebel. When you put this song in the context of the rest of the album, you'll find that this song strikes at a perennial obsession of Chad's. He's one of those guys that really needs to know certain things that there's no way of knowing. For example, what the hell happens to our consciousness after our body dies? Chad plays with the uncertainty associated with this by including ghosts in a lot of his songs.
Jonny I don't think it's right that you just completely dismiss ARTIO's interpretation.
Nobody thinks this song is about masjor depression desorder, because, for me it's exactly what he means by saying "You've been dead for years", I mean...it's exactly what somebody with depression feels...to be dead inside; also, I think it's about the questions that somebody does when thinking about suicide (sorry for my english, but I am a spanish talker).
"Norman" led me here. :) I think this song is pretty straightforward right? Just the questions about whether afterlife really exists or not.