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Exercises in Futility VI Lyrics
As if you didn't know how it feels to lose
As if you didn't know how it feels to lose at dice with fate
At least have some dignity
As if it wasn't a lifetime spent on connecting the dots
There was no pattern
As if the irony was more than a defense mechanism
And we could actually laugh for a change
As if steel hooks in our backs were more than a nuisance
And we could actually feel something
Self crucified - missed the right tree
Tore the wrong eye out
The hissing of hellfire
Self crucified - missed the right tree
For this I have gained a victory
I burn as I ought to
As if everything was to be made right one day
Dreams don't come true for people like us
As if the gods were bored with peace in our hearts
And their fingers are itchy
As if we never broke people out of sheer boredom
And slept calmly among the wastes
And then we see bright and clear
As if we would be someone else
While mindlessly wandering through the mountains
As if we would be someone better
Expelling purgatory in Latin alphabet
Self crucified - missed the right tree
Tore the wrong eye out
The hissing of hellfire
Self crucified - missed the right tree
For this I have gained a victory
I burn as I ought to
As if all this was something more
Than another footnote on a postcard from nowhere
Another chapter in the handbook for exercises in futility
As if you didn't know how it feels to lose at dice with fate
There was no pattern
As if the irony was more than a defense mechanism
And we could actually laugh for a change
As if steel hooks in our backs were more than a nuisance
And we could actually feel something
Tore the wrong eye out
The hissing of hellfire
Self crucified - missed the right tree
For this I have gained a victory
I burn as I ought to
Dreams don't come true for people like us
As if the gods were bored with peace in our hearts
And their fingers are itchy
As if we never broke people out of sheer boredom
And slept calmly among the wastes
While mindlessly wandering through the mountains
As if we would be someone better
Expelling purgatory in Latin alphabet
Tore the wrong eye out
The hissing of hellfire
Self crucified - missed the right tree
For this I have gained a victory
I burn as I ought to
Than another footnote on a postcard from nowhere
Another chapter in the handbook for exercises in futility
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There's some killer references to Norse mythology in here:
/ Self crucified - missed the right tree / /Tore the wrong eye out /
Odin hanged himself on a tree with a spear in his side to gain knowledge. He also gave up an eye to drink from the well of Mimir, also to gain knowledge.
The writer here is using this image to say that he tried to gain knowledge and wisdom about the world/his existence, but that he learned all the wrong things - hanged from the wrong tree, tore the wrong eye out. He is saying that the things he learned are meaningless, or disturbing, or that like Pandora's Box, once opened cannot be restored.
/ For this I have gained a victory I burn as I ought to /
Now with this knowledge of stones better left unturned, he will suffer until the end of his life about the world, existence, and the futility of humankind.
Very fitting as the closer to an album about exercises in futility.
@diligentia thank you for writing this, I didn't understand this reference before!
@diligentia thank you for writing this, I didn't understand this reference before!
"As if the irony was more than a defense mechanism"
Really interesting line, since all the lines starting with "as if...." including this one, are actually pretty ironic...or should I say cynical?
As already pointed out by dilligentia, it's about realising the futility of humankind and it's existence. But in my opinion the writer also wants to show the cruelty of humans:
"As if the gods were bored with peace in our hearts And their fingers are itchy"
If that would be the truth, "the gods" (whoever this is) would be responsible for all the cruelties and bad things caused by humans, and it wouldn't be our fault. They are bored by humans living in peace so they formed humans to be brutal and hostile. But as all the other lines, this statement is meant cynical and actually it's the opposite way:
"As if we never break people out of sheer boredom, And slept calmly among the wastes"
This is the actual truth: There are no gods, therefore humans are 100% responsible for their actions. The cruelty of this world isn't caused by some ferocious gods that are bored, but by ferocious and bored humans. It's part of the human nature. Furthermore humans either try to deny this responsibility and blame the gods instead (shown by the use of irony/negation in the line) or they aren't aware of it, which is why they can "sleep calmly among the wastes" without even feeling guilty.
The second-last verse would also support this:
"As if we would be someone else While mindlessly wandering through the mountains As if we would be someone better Expelling purgatory in Latin alphabet "
First sentence means that humans try to hide their real nature behind a peaceeful mask.
Second sentence again shows the true nature: "purgatory in latin alphabet" is obviously the bible: Humans a) are generally hostile so they try to put themself over another through different ways (in this case religion) and b) deny their own responsibility and true nature by blaming god.