The Catalyst

General CommentThis song has multiple meanings, but they tie together. One is a religion reference and the other is a nuclear war.

The first verse describes the plight of humanity. I can be that we have fallen into sin, or that we are about to blow each other up. The second half refers to a fate that we cannot escape.

The second verse can be either literally humanity burning for its sins (continuation of falling into sin lyrics on the first verse), or being annihilate by nuclear war. The "a thousand suns" reference can refer to a hindu holy text that was quoted by oppenheimer at the first nuclear bomb test (ties meanings together). It mentions the splendor of the god being greater than "the radiance of a thousand suns". This could mean humanity being punished by a religious figure for our sins, but since thermonuclear bombs basically work like suns, it could be us annihilating ourselves. Again, the sin lines tie in here because it would be our own fault we blew ourselves up.

The chorus parts fit these as well. The "radiance of a thousand suns" religious reference or the literal blinding light of a nuke fit perfectly with the second line. Closing the eyes could be shielding your vision, or closing your eyes to think solemnly about the end of mankind, or even praying. The next part refers to humanity becoming only a memory in cold space, as all evidence of our existence decays away and echoes off into space. Far from the world of you and I could be everyone moving on to the afterlife or the memory of humanity fading into the distant reaches of space, as our last radio transmissions echo away (this is more literal tho). Oceans bleeding into the sky can be the seas literally evaporating at the end of the world, or a metaphor the end.

Lift me up, let me go to me is a way of saying "save me." It could be a prayer (said when eyes are closed) to be saved and let into the afterlife, or a way to beg humanity to save itself and not blow everyone up.

This is just my interpretation, but i think it fits well.

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General CommentThis song is FULL of meaning.

"god save us everyone we are broken people living under loaded gun"
- refers the police state being constructed all around us, and the fact that the majority of the population has been lulled into submission.

"it can't be out matched, it can't be outdone, it cant be outfought it can't be out run"
- refers the NWO being worldwide and the ushering in of the new political and belief system of one world government.

"when i close my eyes tonight to the symphony of blinding light"

obviously referring the bombing of nations throughout the night (perpetual war in the name of "peace")


"memories in cold decay transmissions echoing away"
refers to free speech becoming a cold distant memory, especially online.

"far from the world of you and I, where oceans bleed into the sky."
a world we can't understand where anything destitute can happen... like a BP oil spill making the ocean floor literally BLEED and evaporate crude oil and other hydro carbons into the sky!

"god save us everyone will we burn inside the fire of a thousand suns?"
will we be engulffed by our own nuclear war we stared to destroy ourselves?


"for the sins of our tongue the sins of our touch the sins of our father the sins of our young"
the selfish, self fullfilling lifestyle of the past few generations, combined with the ignorance of the newest generation.


"lift me up, let me go" (repeated over and over!)
elevate your conscious, wake up, break free from the mind prison.



The entire song is a WARNING, meant to provoke a reaction and an awakening of the masses.
a "catalyst" by definition is the key component to begin a reaction, with significant results.


Cheers.

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General CommentSeems to be about nuclear war.

"We're a broken people living under a loaded gun"

We have long since accepted the potential for nuclear holocaust so much that it's no longer even that much of a concern, and nuclear arsenals can't be fought or escaped from.

''And when I close my eyes tonight''
''To symphonies of blinding light''
''Like memories in cold decay''
''Transmissions echoing away''

If we were annihilated by a nuclear exchange tonight, our old radio and television signals would be all that was left to say we were ever here. Which is of course an exaggeration.

''Far from the world of you and I''
''Where oceans bleed into the sky''

The point where the oceans "bleed" into the sky is the horizon.

"God bless us everyone" and "Lift me up/Let me go" are requests for divine intervention.

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General Commenti havent heard this song yet. i suppose its off the new album coming out this year. it sounds to me like its about the state of the world we are living in today. With all the war and violence goin on its iminent that it will eventually lead to nuclear war(Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns)if we dont stop all the violence. That was just a shot in dark :)

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General CommentThis has to be the best Linkin Park song to date.

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General CommentWell these are interesting. The stuff from linkinpark.com are good too. Interesting replies from the discussion. Everyone seems to have the idea, but a few with deeper understanding. Here's the link from LP: linkinpark.com/forum/topics/…

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General CommentThis is the climax of the whole album, second to last part of the 43 minute song (it's one continuous track, and it's a concept album about nuclear warfare) This is where the world is being destroyed and people pray for surivival. Can I get an EPIC?

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General CommentThis is difficult to interpret for me because on amazon.com, the page where you buy the cd has the following posted:

"On the eve of its completion, this body of work, assembled through unconscious inspiration and unmitigated exertion, has revealed to us notions both stirring and surprising. The album's personified imagery is neither dogma nor political premeditation. The emergent themes and metaphors illuminate a uniquely human story.

'A Thousand Suns' grapples with the personal cycle of pride, destruction, and regret. In life, like in dreams, this sequence is not always linear. And, sometimes, true remorse penetrates the devastating cycle. The hope, of course, springs from the notion that the possibility of change is born in our most harrowing moments."

So if they are saying that it's not dogma or political premeditation, how then does this song mean anything about environmentalism? I'm not saying that it doesn't, I'm just saying based on what I read on amazon...

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General Commentwow. total suspended animation, but Not in a state of bliss... not this time around. it appears that the end of the world has actually already come and gone–many times over. no matter how many times tragedy strikes we seem to have not been able to remember what we should’ve come to know. Can we surrender if lost? Is one lost if stagnant? Do we have the right to choose a marked fate? Do we have the will-power to even care? I'm presuming not. So we’ll spin into a doom- oblivion cataclysmic catastrophe--earth-collisions of masked Mardi-Gras chaos once again. Now Jump! And it seems to all taste the same in the end. Truth: Music will always rise to shatter the constraints of any burrier or time-latent glass lid confines. But we will react as our reflections serve to us gaseous illusions of distorted truths, and fractured by black-tar lies we’ll drown ourselves in, as worst enemies do. We treat our brothers no differently than how we evade ourselves, yet we struggle to remember a reality we don’t want to embrace or admit to experiencing, because that would mean having to take ownership. Perhaps once a stable, although dark congregation, we seem numbed, maybe lost to lucid clouds we wait on to break--only for a glimpse of such a defiant structure: our world as we know it, tangible in our darkest dreams, anyways. Thank you to the oil god’s and the struggles we’ve met and endured in order to create something to share with our foreign aficionados, like democratic order, in exchange for respect and honor for sacrificing our own waters for the fate of the all-mighty American Dream. Was this just a deterrent? Were we ever ‘built to last’? I can’t see you, anyhow, and air suspends us freely. Hello death. and open wide

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General CommentSo, given the entire album is rife with metaphor (or direct quotes) of nuclear holocaust, why are people spouting off about how this song is about "the police state being constructed all around us, and the fact that the majority of the population has been lulled into submission." and "the NWO being worldwide and the ushering in of the new political and belief system of one world government."


Seriously, the album opens with a quote from Openheimer and you think the "loaded gun" is a bunch of cops and polititians?

It's about nukes. Fits everything. They are the loaded gun, they can't be outfought/outwon/outdone/outrun etc, and with 10000+ of them still in storage around the world, we may well suffer the sins of our father and burn in the fire of a thousand suns.

Some of it is a bit more abstract. My best guess is the "twin symphonies of blinding light" are the only two times we've used nuclear weapons on a live target (japan). I am also GUESSING that the "transmission echoing away" is the fact that nukes release a huge amount of RF energy, they are theoretically "audible" across interstellar distances.

But yeah, this is a fine tune, but don't over analyse it. Nukes are bad, mkay?

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