DLZ

Stay out of my territory

I read all the comments and there's a connection with some of them. I think it's, like the band himself stated, critique on the corruption of science in general. I found out about the song and also the band through Breaking Bad which I only recently started watching, so my thoughts are necessarily colored by the series' premise, and.. honestly, it's incredible how much of the lyrics directly connect with the story in that episode. If I didn't knew better, I'd say the song was made for Breaking Bad specifically. But there are some things that make me think it's about science in general. 100 years ago (consecutively, steampunk "setting") people were convinced science would give them near godlike powers, and Earth would be transformed into paradise. Optimism was great - the "modern" period. Then everything bad in 20. cent. happened - two WW's, economic crises, pollution... Science didn't solve problems, it just made new ones, great suffering and disparity still remain a problem for many people. Ours are the post-modern times. And stance on science changed. It became almost corporate entity, almost everything is for the money. Profitable researchers and projects acquire funds, those that don't make money, just "academic" ones don't, wither and die out. How deep have we fallen from one Tesla, Galilei, or Aristotles to falsifying research data to bring a drug on market quicker than competition, how many researches work on petty aesthetic surgeries vs. obscure disease research/NASA, how much resources does military research devour, etc, etc, etc..

tl;dr: So after that long rant, here are my clues for corruption of science theory: First two strophes have many verses with the same structure - first a broad scientific term (trying to reconstruct the air, oxidation, forcing a fire, methods, vacuum..) and directly opposed to them something negative ( trying to reconstruct something, forced compromises, falsifying deeds, disconnection from all creeds, fortune (opposed to scientific certainty).. Also the whole this strophe: Eternalised. Objectified. (scientist's job) You set your sights so high. (see e.g. A.C. Clarke's scientific optimism, or general stence to science on the beginning of century, or in the 60.) But this is beginning to feel like the bolt busted loose from the lever (overuse, Oppenheimer's "I have become death, destroyer of worlds", our scientific knowledge expanded, but our ethics, psychology and empathy remained the same caveman-like)

Never you mind Death professor Your structure's fine My dust is better Your victim flies so high All to catch a bird's eye view of who's next (reference on drugs maybe. Many of today's illegal drugs emanated from common medical drugs - cocaine (from south American coca plant which natives chewed and used as anesthetic and for blood-clothing), opium for antidepressant, LSD, meths, and not to forget medical weed)

Never you mind Death professor. Your shocks are fine, My struts are better. Your fiction flies so high, Y'all could use a doctor Who's sick, who's next? (psychology maybe; unnecessary shock treatments in 50. and 60., self-help/10-step industry which offers quick solutions to great psychological problems and so in the long run doesn't help a lot if at all.. and earns tons of money in the process, reality ruled by political correctness, politeness and similar buzzwords, but actually inhumane, distant, cold and somewhat crazy - movie American beauty comes to mind - you/we all could use a doctor)

According to me the subject of the song is the title of the album "dear science" the one that is creating better bombs for our good. the one that provides us with all those things we should not be able to live without but that are killing us for sure. the one that is feeding us with GMOs, stamping a copyright on the living, and for which life is just another adjustment variable.

the "death professors": the leaders of the industry covered by the lies of governments who sell us happiness in a can and make us believe that it is progress

Here are some of the definitions I found for DLZ: DLZ Drop Landing Zone DLZ Designated Launch Zone (military aviation)

"This is beginning to feel like the dawn of the luz of forever"

the final light, the Great Atomic End engineered by the Geniuses of our Time what is your 65% oxygene 18% carbon 10% hydrogene body worth as compared to their "big steps for Humanity"?

"Never you mind Death professor Your structure's fine My dust is better Your victim flies so high All to catch a bird's eye view of who's next"

English is not my first language so I may be wrong. This is however how I feel this song. for the moment at least. Hope it makes sense.

For me this song simply describes the natural flow of our ordinary lifes, making use of a scientific language, using chemical terms, playing with it to give the song the raw feel of our fate and our condition. I don't think there's anything related to any war, or any political view, and i dont see how i would think it has to do with any of these things. When he talks about oxidation, i think he's making a reference to the chemical process of aging. I'd say it's about our audacious attempt to change something we don't quite understand, even if we are in fact just living our lifes during the process. there are astonishing reactions happening every second, that will lead to the complexity you can testify and make the everyday world. When he talks about fiction, i think he's talking about how much we fantasize over the universe, how much we abstract over the little bit we know about things (creating religion, societies, moral, behavior, culture, etc)

“DLZ” (‘Deals’) by TV on the Radio is a song that deals with “evil” and how it spreads. The first half of the song describes how a loathsome protagonist rises in power; the second focuses on his impact. Right away, the song hits you with a massive scale of sound, a crooning arriving from the highest dimensions of the cosmic sphere — the song is profound long before learning what’s being sung. This elaborates the scale of the protagonist’s misdeeds, as if to suggest this is a dictator, high-end arms dealer or Walter White from Breaking Bad. When the song closes, all that’s left is a quiet chanting, “This is beginning to feel like the dawn of a loser forever”. While every human is mortal, one’s impact lives on longer than their life — good and bad. If we take up “loser” characteristics, they may be passed on, forever.

Indirect metaphor is painted over “DLZ”’s lyrics like a coating. Taken as a whole, however, all these symbols paint but one color — an angry crimson. Furthermore, the paint is being thrown in frustration against the canvas, as if the painter has been remaking the same painting over and over, growing weary with the process. Indeed, the first line of the song, “Congratulations on the mess you made of things,” is sung with condescension and jest, summing up the song’s tone in half a sentence.

“To reconstruct the air” is impossible and the protagonist fails in his attempted reconstruction (making “a mess of things”). Oxidation is a process in which electrons are lost — this may seem out of place until you make the connection that he’s poetically describing the loss of the soul in three sentences. For going against what’s natural (“reconstructing the air”), you’ve dug yourself into a hole from which you cannot escape (the “mess you’ve made” / “compromise you owe”) and now you’ve lost your soul (the soul representing the electrons lost in oxidation). Ironically, it’s beginning to feel like the dog (the loathsome protagonist) wants a bone (is starting to feel guilty / wants a break).

If the first verse provided exposition into how the protagonist turns evil, the second describes why he remains evil. He “forces his fire” then “falsifies his deeds” — his malicious wishes are subjected to the world and when it’s time to answer consequence, he covers up ever being involved in the first place. The song implies not only does the protagonist avoid accusation; he becomes rich off of his misdeeds.

Unfortunately, no amount of fortune could ever fill the vacuous void of his soul; regardless, the protagonist still tries to feed this emptiness with further wealth and power. This is the beginning of the end, the point of no return — when evil becomes impossible to sustain with a sane mind (“This is beginning to feel like the dog’s lost her lead”). Again, the song is implying the protagonist has found great success, perhaps even admired by many, but has lost the spark (oxidation/soul) which made him admirable in the first place.

It is now when Tunde cries out “This is beginning to feel like the long-winded blues of the never” — this is beginning to feel like there is no going back. There is no hope, escape or plan-B. The protagonist is so consumed by greed that he’s essentially dying (“curling up slowly”) and now looks to bring the rest of the world down with him (“finding a throat to choke”). He descends down this self-made spiral so fast and with such reckless abandon, it could be compared to a train running itself off the tracks (“barely controlled locomotive”).

At this point, the only thing in his future is downfall — with a tunnel-vision, he ignores all outside perspective and hope (“consuming the picture”). Again, the song references the protagonist’s desire (“static explosion”) to pass along his disease to whomsoever gets in his way (“devoted to crushing the broken”) so that they too will suffer in the same hell (“shoving their souls to ghost”).

What’s the result? Eternal admiration; his likeness objectified into stone (“eternalized; objectified”). His “sights” were set powerfully upon the top and the song has revealed the extent of his success. However, this is where he begins to face criticism, as Tunde once again observes, “This is beginning to feel like the bolt’s busted loose from the lever” — he’s gone mad with power. Unhinged, derailed, insane — the public is catching on.

The narrator now enters the song as a second character, the antagonist in this case, and asserts how impossible it would be to ever fall victim to the protagonist’s evil nature (“Never you mind, death professor! / Your structure’s fine; my dust is better!”) This insult about “dust” seems to say “Regardless how massive or complex these structures are (“eternalized; objectified”), there’s more substance to be found in the dust from my footprint, however small it’s impact may be.” Additionally, in the same stanza is a jab toward those who are “weak” enough (“your victims”) to be swayed by the promise of power, to the point where they give everything to reach it (“fly so high”) only to realize that at the lowest pit of hell, there’s nothing to do but drag others down with you (“all to catch a bird’s eye-view of who’s next”).

Swept away in hatred for the protagonist, the narrator continues preaching upon his soapbox. “Love is life! My love is better!” Tunde declares. It’s emancipation from any remaining connection the narrator has to this narrative of evil. He theorizes if more people weren’t “confused with who’s next”, our “eyes could be the diamonds” — our transcendent focus would astound all, the same way a diamond’s shine would catch anyone’s attention.

He elaborates -- “Your shocks are fine — my struts are better” — while power’s hypnotism is profound, the ability for the narrator to cast it aside allows him to rant (“strut”) with superior ease. Yet, there’s another reference to how many are swayed by twisted promises (“Your fiction flies so high”) and how these people are past the point of self-correction, for they are tumbling down the spiral (“Y’all could use a doctor / who’s sick? / who’s next?”)

Pen-ultimately, the narrator sings how his love is electric, crystalizing into the psyches of everyone whom experiences it. Thus, the impact will last longer than any statue or monument. Promising how “all could be the diamond fused with —” the narrator interrupts himself: “–who’s next?” Does he question who is next to rise, or fall? The song ends soon after.

Though filled with abstract metaphor, the song’s overall tone is quite simple to grasp. From here, you can translate this general narrative into something much more specific. It is easy to fixate on the song’s phonetic title, “Deals”, as if to say this is a song about the power structure in our society and how TV on the Radio have an antidote — musical expression (“electrified — my love is better!”). However, the narrative I have described could be as applicable to trust issues in a relationship as it could to something as extreme as a critique on organized religion. Regardless what you choose to read into and what you choose to exclude, the ending of the song is very much about liberation and the mentality one develops. What you are being liberated from, is up to you as a listener to decide.

[ houseofxen.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/lyrical-analysis-dlz-by-tv-on-the-radio/ ]

Could "death professor" mean our scientists, who have lost the point of striving science. Science should make life easier and equal for everyone, make humankind evolve and help to understand the big questions of life...not be on the leash of monetary system or war machinery.

Death professor = scientist gone wrong?

What do u thing?

c'mon CoySmileExposes... that's just not TVotR's style. that sounds like a line from some shitty screamo band.

i think this song is about how screwed up the world is today and how everything is slowly falling apart, and we are the reason it has become this way. "But this is beginning to feel like the bolt busted loose from the lever"

i believe luz means light in portuguese

don't speak a word of portuguese myself, but Benfica's stadium is called Estadio da Luz and it's translated as the Stadium of Light

Lulz=The Corruption of LOL