Digital Witness

I'm not 100% sure of what I'm stating here, but I'd say that "Digital Witness" is all about the hyper-socialized society in which we live, especially regarding internet social networks. We have this constant need of glorifying ourselves by saying that we do such and such, and waiting for the approval of our peers (i.e. "our friends" on these social networks), which leaves us with virtually no proper personality.

I think the video for the song is pretty enlightening regarding this reading of the song, since people are shown doing useless things all in the same way: there are people walking on empty streets with a very military-based rhythm, people rolling what seems to be a piece of chalk on a notebook in the exact same way, etc etc. Moreover the places in the video are pretty "sterile," with their pale colours and very few variations, giving this idea of a waste land, in a way.

Going through the lyrics, I think the first stanza defines the kind of superior power that the digital era embodies: it tells us to "get back to [our] seats," leaving us powerless if we agree with it, because it wants "all of [our] minds," symbolizing very clearly the brainwash that it produces in us.

The part that sounds like a chorus is also very important for my interpretation of the song, given that it states this necessity of being watched and approved. "What's the point of even sleeping?" the narrator asks, since if s/he "can't show it, you [we?] can't see it." It goes to a sort of climax, describing how people go far beyond their limits in order to be noticed by society, with this image of someone "jump[ing] right off the London Bridge," which is way too dangerous but seems like a very casual thing as stated here.

Finally, the very last line is very important, with the narrator shouting out "Won't somebody sell me back to me?" Now that we've sold ourselves to society and become something generic, who is going to help us get our former, truer self?

Media, television, and digital means consume all of your mind. They brainwash you, and suppress your consciousness.

I think that all of the songs on St. Vincent's self-titled album are a commentary about the conditioned state of our advanced society. If the media consumes your mind, how can you question anymore?

Why sleep if you're already sleeping when you're awake? The TV looks like just like a window- its a prism to view life with, but via synthetic means. It ends up distorting the world around us because we expect it to conform to the false reality we're immersed in.

We've been sold so many things at this point- how do we buy ourselves back? You can gnash your teeth at it and sit down quietly because we've all become complacent, therefore we don't revolt against our suppression (which is all-consuming and ever present). You can witness it, but it's not possible to take action against it.

Action would have dire consequences, but man must be freed from his prison of zeros and ones.

I'm not 100% sure of what I'm stating here, but I'd say that "Digital Witness" is all about the hyper-socialized society in which we live, especially regarding internet social networks. We have this constant need of glorifying ourselves by saying that we do such and such, and waiting for the approval of our peers (i.e. "our friends" on these social networks), which leaves us with virtually no proper personality.

I think the video for the song is pretty enlightening regarding this reading of the song, since people are shown doing useless things all in the same way: there are people walking on empty streets with a very military-based rhythm, people rolling what seems to be a piece of chalk on a notebook in the exact same way, etc etc. Moreover the places in the video are pretty "sterile," with their pale colours and very few variations, giving this idea of a waste land, in a way.

Going through the lyrics, I think the first stanza defines the kind of superior power that the digital era embodies: it tells us to "get back to [our] seats," leaving us powerless if we agree with it, because it wants "all of [our] minds," symbolizing very clearly the brainwash that it produces in us.

The part that sounds like a chorus is also very important for my interpretation of the song, given that it states this necessity of being watched and approved. "What's the point of even sleeping?" the narrator asks, since if s/he "can't show it, you [we?] can't see it." It goes to a sort of climax, describing how people go far beyond their limits in order to be noticed by society, with this image of someone "jump[ing] right off the London Bridge," which is way too dangerous but seems like a very casual thing as stated here.

Finally, the very last line is very important, with the narrator shouting out "Won't somebody sell me back to me?" Now that we've sold ourselves to society and become something generic, who is going to help us get our former, truer self?

I think it's "I can't, but I don't care"

Like she's saying that she's as hooked on the internet as anyone else, she's guilty of what she's criticizing

I agree with twoplanets. The song isn't just talking about social media, but mass media in general and how it influences our way of thinking and lifestyle.

Feel free to suggest corrections to my misheard lyrics. I think it's about Youtube,