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The Stage Lyrics
So I arrived, naked and cold
A welcomed change from the abeyance of a ghost town catacomb
No need for counsel I appreciate the time I’m not alone
(Why don’t you get my lawyer on the phone)
There were days these child eyes
Would overlook the ugliness and fantasize
I found my heart for the first time and I awakened in me
I left myself to navigate… and oh I felt control
(It appears these sheep have quite an appetite)
Who is the crowd that peers through the cage,
As we perform here upon the stage?
As the boy became a man
In came a calm sophistication I can hardly understand
So lost in ego, didn’t notice when the time had slipped away
(Yeah, Everyone’s got a sob story)
Jesus Christ, was born to die
Leave it to man to levitate his own to idolize
We’re simply sociopaths with no communication baby
I see your angle but we differ from our points of view
(So, what’s your cross to bear)
Who is the crowd that peers through the cage,
As we perform here upon the stage?
Tell me a lie in a beautiful way
I believe in answers
Just not today
Hope my wheels don’t abandon me now, seein’ that I’m out here alone
I’m runnin’ out of fight
And the wind speaks a comforting voice, guiding me to her arms
Mother, I’m alright
It took the birth of sin to snake-rattle the mind
Before a blow to the head by the gavel of time to wake up
Won’t you wake up?
When did the walking apes decide that nuclear war
Was now the only solution for them keeping the score? Just wake up
Can’t you wake up?
(You do know this is just a simulation, don’t you?)
Who is the crowd that peers through the cage,
As we perform here upon the stage?
Tell me a lie in a beautiful way
I believe in answers
Just not today
A welcomed change from the abeyance of a ghost town catacomb
No need for counsel I appreciate the time I’m not alone
(Why don’t you get my lawyer on the phone)
Would overlook the ugliness and fantasize
I found my heart for the first time and I awakened in me
I left myself to navigate… and oh I felt control
(It appears these sheep have quite an appetite)
As we perform here upon the stage?
In came a calm sophistication I can hardly understand
So lost in ego, didn’t notice when the time had slipped away
(Yeah, Everyone’s got a sob story)
Leave it to man to levitate his own to idolize
We’re simply sociopaths with no communication baby
I see your angle but we differ from our points of view
(So, what’s your cross to bear)
As we perform here upon the stage?
Tell me a lie in a beautiful way
I believe in answers
Just not today
I’m runnin’ out of fight
And the wind speaks a comforting voice, guiding me to her arms
Mother, I’m alright
It took the birth of sin to snake-rattle the mind
Before a blow to the head by the gavel of time to wake up
Won’t you wake up?
When did the walking apes decide that nuclear war
Was now the only solution for them keeping the score? Just wake up
Can’t you wake up?
Who is the crowd that peers through the cage,
As we perform here upon the stage?
Tell me a lie in a beautiful way
I believe in answers
Just not today
Song Info
Submitted by
ghostaroo On Oct 13, 2016
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The setting is that of an audience coming to see a puppet-show. This skit/song then goes through a historical timeline: from the primitive ages, moving into medieval times, and then to the World Wars. The skit reveals the brokenness of the world we live in, and how there has been times where there was hope for change (like after WWI), but that hope was short-lived and futile. We find ourselves WATCHING the audience, and appalled by their reaction to the brokenness. They are thoroughly entertained by history and have no intention to learn from its mistakes and downfalls.
At the end of the timeline however, we find the audience now on the stage. The audience's ignorance (or even apathy) towards history only meant that they are now the next "symbol of brokenness" in the timeline. And now, we are WATCHING them. We are the NEW audience, watching the OLD audience on the stage, and the poignant question to us is whether we'd be the next ones on stage for a new audience to scorn.
Quickly, the second plot twist is revealed: that the audience ended up on the stage because of the hands of a few higher-ups. Our fate, it seems, rests ultimately in the hands of a greater government, and we are told to wake up before we find ourselves bending the knee to a government that would REALLY end us up on the stage for a future audience.
A very apt song for a very present reality.
@anonymousity Hey I find your interpretation very similar to mine, with one exeption. I think the stage itself is a symbol for mass manipulation (like the central theme of the song Goddamn in the same album). If we look at the lyrics ''Who is the crowd that peers through the cage, as we perform here upon the stage'' and even ''you do know this is just a simulation, don't you?'', I think that the stage here represents the place for a social show, the crowd peering through the cage being like you said an allmighty government, pulling the strings of...
@anonymousity Hey I find your interpretation very similar to mine, with one exeption. I think the stage itself is a symbol for mass manipulation (like the central theme of the song Goddamn in the same album). If we look at the lyrics ''Who is the crowd that peers through the cage, as we perform here upon the stage'' and even ''you do know this is just a simulation, don't you?'', I think that the stage here represents the place for a social show, the crowd peering through the cage being like you said an allmighty government, pulling the strings of the puppets the masses are made to be, and making the masses (us) ''perform'' all this social bullshit that is ironically, as ''the fantastical history of the world'' show lets us see (name from music video) our human history. So the idea of a stage is to me such an amazing perceptive use of literary imagery to portray this idea of manipulation, while at the same time criticizing our society with all the bluntness Avenged Sevenfold is awesome for having. I also have a hypothesis which I am not sure of but here goes : the narrator of the song might be Satan ? I think this might be valid from a certain point of view, for example with ''so I arrived, naked and cold'', which COULD symbolize Satan arriving on earth, and could explain why the narrator talks about the human race with direct association with it.
my apologies, my last sentence doesn't make sense : i meant WITHOUT direct association with it
my apologies, my last sentence doesn't make sense : i meant WITHOUT direct association with it
I think this song starts off a bit with a young man growing up and experiencing/seeing things he did not see when younger. The history of this world is extremely violent every step of the way and it's not something we think about when we're younger. The chorus reminds me how one can be so cynical about society and skeptical towards authority.
I think the second half of the song is about how we evolved as a species. We formed societies. We created governments. We conquered lands and expanded through violence. We created religion and we used it to justify horrific acts throughout history. I think a major point we're supposed to take away from the song is that the human race was corrupted long ago and has progressively become more evil throughout history. We are at a point of time where we should know the history, but here we are still making the same mistakes across the world.