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Left of Center Lyrics
Are we a fantasy?
Swimming in theocracy
We are far from holy
The wholeness of one
Repeat after me
We lost the key of sight
Now blind we fear in flight
We are far from love
But silence is golden
Please observe
Fighting your empire
Defending your vampires
Far away, We're going to far
Bombing your ignorance
We're feeding your insolence
Far away, we're going to far
We're going to far
If today I die
I cannot deny
The life that I live
For what I say not
Befit myself in time
No time to die or dare
No structures of a pyramid
No train, horses to rise
Surmise my position
My words define
Fighting your empire
Defending your vampires
Far away, We're going to far
Bombing your ignorance
We're feeding your insolence
Far away, we're going to far
We're going to far
We go forward
We go backward
Living
Dying
We're dying
We're living
We're living
We're dying
We're crying
We're seeing
We're living
We're breathing
Dying
Seeing
Fighting your empire
Defending your vampires
Far away, We're going to far
Bombing your ignorance
We're feeding your insolence
Far away, we're going to far
We're going to far
Swimming in theocracy
We are far from holy
The wholeness of one
Repeat after me
Now blind we fear in flight
We are far from love
But silence is golden
Please observe
Defending your vampires
Far away, We're going to far
We're feeding your insolence
Far away, we're going to far
I cannot deny
The life that I live
For what I say not
Befit myself in time
No structures of a pyramid
No train, horses to rise
Surmise my position
My words define
Defending your vampires
Far away, We're going to far
We're feeding your insolence
Far away, we're going to far
We go backward
Living
Dying
We're dying
We're living
We're living
We're dying
We're crying
We're seeing
We're living
We're breathing
Dying
Seeing
Defending your vampires
Far away, We're going to far
We're feeding your insolence
Far away, we're going to far
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A few days ago I was watching to some Creation vs Evolution debate on TV, and then later that night I listened to this song. While I was listening, I realised that the lyrics fit the whole religious debate pretty well. Naturally, this may or may not be Serj's intentional meaning, but it my interpretation and feels right to me. Allow me to explain:
The song starts off pretty straight-forward. Theocracy, according to Wikipedia, is basically a government run in the name of some devine entity, like God. So are we just some fantasy, made up by and governed by some god?
No. We are far from holy - that is, we weren't created by a god. Instead we should believe in the wholeness of one, that is - in ourselves. That's what we are, essentially: We are living entities, and as such we are one, but not the creations of a god.
We lost the key of sight. We're so blinded by our religion that we're just being plain ignorant. We aren't loved by a god, far from it. He doesn't exist.
So what do we do when we're blinded by our religion? We fight wars, we kill, we debate, we go to great lenghts to destroy the opposition to defend our mythical creatures, or should I say: our vampires? We're bombing people (literally and metaphorically) for their ignorance of having the "wrong religion", and defeating their insolence. Is it going too far? I believe so.
Then what if a religious fanatic dies and realizes that the life that he lived for what he believed was a waste of time? What if there is no afterlife? Then we're clearly wasting our time doing something that doesn't matter. So what does it all boil down to? We're just going forward and backwards, we live, we breathe, we see, we cry and finally we die. The end.
Dude you have it all wrong Serj Tankian does not mean anything by that, he beleives in god he is armenian, he is Christian. "we are far from holy" thats pretty straight forward, we have lost our sight we think we are beleiving in god but we are just failing. And we certainly do not debate and declare wars because of religion or "false Religion" maybe you pulled that out of your ass because President Bush liked to think that God was his messenger or some bull shit, hes just a power hungry, tyrant who thinks he has a righteous...
Dude you have it all wrong Serj Tankian does not mean anything by that, he beleives in god he is armenian, he is Christian. "we are far from holy" thats pretty straight forward, we have lost our sight we think we are beleiving in god but we are just failing. And we certainly do not debate and declare wars because of religion or "false Religion" maybe you pulled that out of your ass because President Bush liked to think that God was his messenger or some bull shit, hes just a power hungry, tyrant who thinks he has a righteous cause to sacrifice lives.
“My religion is the same as the trees out there. It's the same inspiration. Whatever moves them, moves me. I believe that we're animals. I know we are because we die and we eat and we ****.” - Serj Tankian
“My religion is the same as the trees out there. It's the same inspiration. Whatever moves them, moves me. I believe that we're animals. I know we are because we die and we eat and we ****.” - Serj Tankian
I think the whole song is meant to talk about how mankind is fighting for the wrong cause. We are fighting wars that aren't meant to be fought, defending religions, ethnic differences, everything. But what really matter is being good to each other and to the planet, since we are actually destroying it day by day.
The one that he says on the song I feel is the Earth, and we are all members os ONE, we are the wholeness of ONE. We are the Earth and we are not fighting for her.
Simply gr8! Probably the best song serj ever made as a solo artist. Really deep lyrics, and sounds amazin 2.
There are some mistakes in that lyric, that's what he's actually singing:
Are we a fantasy Swimming in theocracy We are far from holy The wholeness of one Repeat after me
We lost the key of sight Now blind we fear in flight We are far from love But silence is golden Please observe
Fighting your empire Defending your vamparies Far away, we‘re going too far
Bombing your ignorance Defeating your insolence Far away, we‘re going too far We‘re going too far
If today I die And cannot deny The life that I lived For what I say now befit Myself in time
No time to die or kill No structures of a pyramid No trained horses to arise Surmise my position My words define
Fighting your empire Defending your vampires Far away, we‘re going too far
Bombing your ignorance Defeating your insolance Far away, we‘re going too far We‘re going too far
We go forward We go backward
Living Dying
We‘re dying We‘re living We‘re living We‘re dying We‘re crying We‘re seing We‘re seeing We‘re living We‘re breathing
Dying Seeing
Fighting your empire Defending your vampires Far away we‘re going too far
Bombing your ignorance Deafeating your insolence Far away, we‘re going too far We‘re going too far.
Definitely an anti religious song, but Singdongdingdong went WAY too far...interjecting his/her atheistic opinion into the lyrics. Your bias is unbelieveable. You gave more of a speech on YOUR feelings on faith rather than an interpretation of what the artist created. Perhaps you shoudn't have tried your hand at analyzing after watching such a television show. A "theocracy" is not run by 'like god'; rather God. With your next breath you show your bias and thus discredit yourself: "so we are just some fantasy." You just lost any credibilty with regard to objectivity that you may have had (MAY:) Then you state that because we are not "holy," we cannot be created by God. Haven't read the Bible much I see. We are His fallible children, and I have a feeling you do know the meaning of the word 'fallible." We aren't supposed to be holy! We're so blinded by religion that we're just plain ignorant, you say. So only the religious are ignorant. Wow, so much for tolerance and objectivity:) Funny, but I've met some awfully ignorant atheists, agnostics, and secular humanists. Hmmmmm...I like being "blinded" by my faith yet I fight no wars and I've killed no one. Geesh, believe in abortion as an Atheist? So you've killed or supported killing and yet you are not a person of faith? Hmmmmm again. Nope, not wasting our time if we truly believe in God and try to live the best life possible...forgiving others; feeding and clothing the poor; providing shelter to needy families; visiting the elderly and infirmed in nursing homes; etc etc etc. How quickly the Atheist (not all) forget all the good that those of faith do BECAUSE of their belief in that mythical god you ridicule. Do me a favor and open any phone book to see a listing of all the atheistic groups doing volunteer work in the community:) Well, you got one thing correct. We do all end. For your sake I hope there is no God. How 'bout next time you keep your ugly bias to yourself.
"Definitely an anti religious song, but Singdongdingdong went WAY too far...interjecting his/her atheistic opinion into the lyrics. Your bias is unbelievable."
"Definitely an anti religious song, but Singdongdingdong went WAY too far...interjecting his/her atheistic opinion into the lyrics. Your bias is unbelievable."
Understandably I may be biased and am interjecting my own views on life into my interpretation of the lyrics, as is pretty given with most personal interpretations. I wouldn't go so far as to say my bias is "unbelievable", taking an anti-religious song and reading what I see as anti-religious statements and metaphors seems pretty straightforward.
Understandably I may be biased and am interjecting my own views on life into my interpretation of the lyrics, as is pretty given with most personal interpretations. I wouldn't go so far as to say my bias is "unbelievable", taking an anti-religious song and reading what I see as anti-religious statements and metaphors seems pretty straightforward.
"You gave more of a speech on YOUR feelings on faith rather than an interpretation of what...
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"You gave more of a speech on YOUR feelings on faith rather than an interpretation of what the artist created. Perhaps you shoudn't have tried your hand at analyzing after watching such a television show."
That's true, but mind you that lyrics don't need to have one-sided rigid meanings that mean the same thing to everyone. A clear-cut and simple lyric can mean a lot of different things to different people with a different background and a different states of mind, whereas a vague lyric opens up a whole realm of possible interpretations. My interpretation is but one of the many that are possible. Serj himself states frequently that he prefers to have his lyrics open to personal interpretation.
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"A "theocracy" is not run by 'like god'; rather God."
You are wrong. The greek word "theos" means a deity or a god, and is not specific to YHWH, the Judeo-Christian god who is generally referred to as "God". Therefore, the word theocracy means "a government run by a deity", not "run by the Judeo-Christian god".
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"With your next breath you show your bias and thus discredit yourself: "so we are just some fantasy." You just lost any credibilty with regard to objectivity that you may have had (MAY:) Then you state that because we are not "holy," we cannot be created by God. Haven't read the Bible much I see. We are His fallible children, and I have a feeling you do know the meaning of the word 'fallible." We aren't supposed to be holy!"
Ironically, I could say the same thing about your biases in this statement. I was clearly not aiming for objectivity so it's hard to say I have lost any credibility, but if you were aiming for objectivity yourself, then you've thrown that out of the window. Ignoring that, as it is irrelevant to the interpretation, I'll explain more closely what I meant by this part.
If we believe we were created by God, we're really believing in nothing more than a fantasy. We have our hero and nemesis, our beginning, middle and end. We have pure good and pure evil alongside absolute moral truths. Our conception of the world is based on a bronze age fantasy book and he only thing holding this conception together is our suspension of disbelief, because the story is not factual and contradicts what is actually true. It is not true, it is a fantasy. If we are nothing more than characters in a fantasy novel, we are a fantasy.
You criticize my interpretation of "we are far from holy", because according the Bible humanity is fallible. I don't deny that, but holy here doesn't have to mean that humanity is infallible, just that there is no infallible being responsible for our creation. There is no holy creator behind our existance. Nothing we do is holy - holy is just a made up idea based on the assumption of there being a god. The way I see it, there is absolutely nothing holy about anything, hence "we are far from holy".
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"We're so blinded by religion that we're just plain ignorant, you say. So only the religious are ignorant. Wow, so much for tolerance and objectivity:) Funny, but I've met some awfully ignorant atheists, agnostics, and secular humanists."
You misconstrued what I said again. Clearly not only the religous are ignorant; most people are ignorant about most things. To name a few things we have political ideologies, personal bigotry such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. Religious ignorance is but one type of ignorance, but I'd argue that it's one of the worst type of ignorance. When reality comes knocking on your door, sometimes you have to let go of your cherished fantasies. The problem with religious ignorance is that there's no reality check, hence I connect this lyric with "Creation vs. Evolution". The scientific method has conclusively shown us that the creation myth as written in the Bible is empirically false, while mountains over mountains of evidence have been discovered that all support the theory of evolution. Reality has shown us what is true and what is false. Along comes religious ignorance; truth is ignored to sustain fantasy.
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"Hmmmmm...I like being "blinded" by my faith yet I fight no wars and I've killed no one. Geesh, believe in abortion as an Atheist? So you've killed or supported killing and yet you are not a person of faith? Hmmmmm again. Nope, not wasting our time if we truly believe in God and try to live the best life possible...forgiving others; feeding and clothing the poor; providing shelter to needy families; visiting the elderly and infirmed in nursing homes; etc etc etc. How quickly the Atheist (not all) forget all the good that those of faith do BECAUSE of their belief in that mythical god you ridicule. Do me a favor and open any phone book to see a listing of all the atheistic groups doing volunteer work in the community:) Well, you got one thing correct. We do all end. For your sake I hope there is no God. How 'bout next time you keep your ugly bias to yourself."
What you said here is completely irrelevant to the lyric and my interpretation of it and is really just a rant about how much you misunderstand and/or hate atheism. You start off with an anecdote: "I haven't killed anyone, therefore blind faith has never been used to justify wars". This is a logical blunder. Then you bring in a distinct moral debate (abortion), somehow manage to compare it with war, and use your own personal bias to try to make a point about the morality of a atheists. This is another logical blunder. Then you resort to more anecdotes to try to make another moral point about the religious vs. non-religious. This is yet another logical blunder and has been refuted by people more reasonable than myself. What you said here is really just your own prejudice against atheism speaking, so I'm very amused by your closing statement of keeping my bias to myself.
I really liked your interpretation of the song singsongdingdong, and i couldn't have said it better myself. Serj's music makes people think and i think even Serj himself would like people to come up with their own interpretations of his songs . As for ASweetPea or should i say ASourGrape, all you gave was ''Definately an anti religious song'' then gave a big rant about someone else's opinion. Maybe you shouldn't speak of ignorance.
I disagree, if anything its an anti-organised religion song. Honestly... Serj himself is a very spiritual man. he may believe all modern religions to be false, but he is still religous..
We are far from holy The wholeness of one Repeat after me
he is saying we are far from holy, because he have lost our spiritual connection to the world, universe, nature ect. - Tao wholeness of one = Tao, Great spirit, God, Universe - however you wish to look at it. hes saying everyone who is part of the One, repeat after me
( this song kinda connects with the meaning of Borders Are)
Anywho, i find this part very interesting because.
We are far from love But silence is golden Please observe
We are all one, one species if you will and what hurts one will hurt the rest of us hence we are far from love (love/compassion is The Key, to a brighter future)
silence is golden is an intersting thing to say, In Taoism silence have alot of meaning, its part of the Tao like everything is, but it is one of the words often used to try and describe the Tao, and adding ''please observe'' only adds to the fact that it may be of that which he speaks - but i guess one needs to understand what Taoism is to get what im on about xP lol
I doubt Serj is a Taoist, but Serj have stated himself what he believes, and from what i can tell Taoism comes very close to what he believes nevertheles - so makes sense it can seem like he speaks of the Tao.