I was born into money,
And sold down the river.
I was choked by the jailor
And fucked the gorilla.
I ran through the country ahead of my time.
I escaped through a keyhole before they erased me
I married the beetle and learned to be graceful
It's why all this warfare pours out of my eyes.

Now I see just what you mean
It hurts too much to breathe
All alone in this plastic jungle
Sometimes I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get la la la la la

She told me loved me
I didn't believe her.
The son of a junkie is ancient Korean
But don't blame the girl she's out of her mind

Now I see just what you mean
It hurts too much to bleed
All alone in this plastic jungle
Sometimes I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get la la la la la

Sometimes I wanna get
Sometimes I wanna get
Sometimes I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get slain
I wanna get la la la la la la la la la


Lyrics submitted by 5oclock

Plastic Jungle Lyrics as written by Christian Karlsson Andrew Wyatt Blakemore

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Downtown Music Publishing

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Plastic Jungle song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    ok, i think the song is about him living an evil life or a life of crime and wants to be killed b/c of it.

    being "born into money" can make a person spoiled and commanding. his family abandoned him b/c of his evil ways. he might of committed a crime to be sent to jail, where he was "choked by the jailor". "fucked the gorilla".... i think gorilla is referring to the army, and gorilla warfare of the Vietnam. so he refused the draft. he "ran through the country" escaping prison. "ahead of his time"... time to die or get caught by the army. "escaped through a keyhole"... to escape through a keyhole you would have to be very small and it would be vary difficult b/c of all the mechanisms that are in a keyhole. i think that symbolizes a very narrow escape from the army, probably to canada. "before they erase me" they would erase him by sending him off to Vietnam to die.

    we then go back to the c male beetles have to kill other male beetles in order to win over the female beetle. "I married the beetle" means he had to kill people in order to mary a very high class woman. "learned to be graceful" to fit in and hide his past from the other high class people. "It's why all this warfare pours out of my eyes." he obviously hides his evil past and grotesque deeds in his actions with his gracefulness, but if you look into his eyes you see his evil soul.

    "now i see just what you mean" someone must have warned him early on in life not to go down the path of evil. "it hurts to much to breath" it basically means its hard to live. now "plastic jungle"... plastic as in synthetic, this jungle he is talking about is man made and created by the human society. and a jungle ecosystem is vary harsh in the fact that it has a lot of predators and is very violent. so in conclusion, a plastic jungle is a man made society of violent predators, in witch he is all alone in to fend for himself. when he says he wants to be "slain" he is saying he wants to die, but he DOSE NOT want to commit suicide. he has to much pride in himself. he wants someone else to come along and "Slay" him. he says "Slain" and not killed of murdered for a reason. in story books that take place in mediaeval time, the knight in shining armor SLAYS the EVIL dragon. he is hinting at the fact that he knows he is evil and he wants to be slain b/c of it.

    "she told me she loved me"... its obvious that she loves him and she can come out and say it to him. "i didn't believe her"... he cant believe her b/c he believes there is to much evil in the world for love to exist. "son of a junkie" she was born lower class. "is ancient korean" so she was born in korea, and this time period is during or shortly after the vietnam war, witch came after the korean war. so being lower class she had to fight her way up to the top in order to come to canada, so she too is vicious. "but don't blame the girl she is out of her mind" living with this man and loving him has driven her insane.

    and the chorus repeats again.

    im either really good at decoding the meaning of songs or i read into things to much. i think its the second one.

    ag093on December 30, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    The chiptune sounding synths in this song make me think that this isn't meant to be about a literal experience or a real suicidal desire. Instead, it's a dramatization of a feeling one gets playing video games where the game is too easy and the player starts doing tactically/strategically stupid things in the hope the game will return to being a challenge, or at least end, putting a cap on the mediocre experience. Lines like "born into money" and "son of a junkie is ancient Korean" probably serve to obfuscate/universalize the emotion and take some of the inherent lameness away from singing about what it's like to play a video game.

    Ayavaronon December 09, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i have no idea what it's about, but i love it. in fact, i thought it was 'i wanna get sane'. i thought it was myaybe about mental illness. but no! oh well, i'll love it anyway.

    theribenakidon January 06, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I almost hate to say it, but you just might be onto something.

    allourviceon February 21, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Ayavaron I mean.

    allourviceon February 21, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I feel like this song is about life experiences and it might possibly be a nod to suicide, being a "whats left to do now" kind of curiosity. With all the overdramatized references to things he claims to have done it seems hes left with a feeling of boredom with life in general. Not quite sure what the second verse is about though. I could be 100% wrong here and I actually like the video game theory myself.

    mathleticismon June 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It could be about a vide-game, but I thought it was more referencing his life at the fantasy level. Nothing is real and practical in his world of money. I took it lyric by lyric. He was born into money, his parents shipped him off somewhere. I assumed he made hell with some authoritarian and took off literally cross-country without anyone (ahead of my time). Etc. Etc. I think it just captures a guy's life that hold no/little meaning to him. The chorus I don't think is a real suicide thought as much as boredom with the life. He want to be slain because he is bored and alone, the keywords that make this an empty threat is that he won't say it the last time replacing it with 'la la la' and that he says 'sometimes'. So I agree with Mathleticism.

    Sunshineshineon November 14, 2010   Link

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