To hear something new is
Hard and painful for the ears
We here the music of
Foreigners badly

I make the sounds that you can't understand
I make the sounds that you can't understand
Thus spake Me

My fingers, my voice
Slide into every orifice
My fingers, my voice

This is my critique
This is my subversion
This is my revolution
This is my revolution

I make the sounds that you can't understand
I make the sounds that you can't understand
You, I
Spake me

You, I own these words
This is friendship
That's what friends are for
You I own these words
I make the sounds you can't understand

I am Nietzsche
Thus spake me
I am Nietzsche

I am Nietzsche
I am Nietzsche
I am Nietzsche
I am Nietzsche
I am Nietzsche

1886 was a very good year
You and I know this to be true
Thus spake me


Lyrics submitted by d_lacy, edited by CommentFixer

I Am Nietzche song meanings
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  • +5
    General Comment

    1886 was the year of the first labor day or May Day organized by communists, anarchists and socialists in an effort to push for the 8 hour work day. The slogan was "8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for what we will".

    I mention this because the song after "I am Nietzche" is "Victory is Ours" on the record dance tonight revolution tomorrow. In the song "Victory is Ours" the lyrics end with the line "I am reborn red! red! red! red! red!" Rebirth is a central concept in Nietzsche's work.

    I don't think we should overlook the context the record's song order provides (originally it was only released on vinyl).

    With regard to name dropping. They knew they were doing it. And they wanted to make fun of themselves a little by applying a typical punk/metal/grind move of misspelling titles, to the names and authors of the work they were referencing. Their playfulness continues in The Panthers, the band the follows Orchid. Orchid's misspelled references also has the effect of underlining the song's meaning - that meaning is created by both the viewer/listener and author ("You (I) own these words"). It relies on the reader to look past was is written and focus on what is intended. It show participation, and forgiveness, possibly a desire for friendship to look for intended meanings.

    BTW While a school doesn't tell everything about a person, they went to Amherst on of the best liberal arts colleges in the United States.

    Nozickexperienceon April 30, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    wow, no one's commented, yet nietzche is so absorbing. this is an amazing song for both it's sound and words.

    shutupshutupshutupon June 14, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    _4xeno, yes it is, but it's the way it's spelt on the record too (as I just checked.)

    RyanMcGinnison December 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this is a brilliant song.

    nightingale!singon February 19, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    1886 was a very good year, and you know this to be true. thus spake me.

    thus spoke zarathustra did not come out in 1886, beyond good and evil did. i believe zarathustra came out before this.

    aftershockon December 23, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Orchid is amazing, I do think it is about time for them to reunite.

    flip the tapexXon December 24, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Not that it matters but

    Thus spake was originally released 1883-85, however it was split into 3 parts.

    in 1886 it was finally released as a single volume.

    However, I really doubt that was the frame of reference for the final lines of the song.

    attack art!on May 28, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Nietzsche is spelled incorrectly.

    _4xenoon February 12, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    HELP! WHAT DID HE SAY AFTER "THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS Are for." AND BEFORE "I AM NIETZSCHE!" PLEASE!! I WANNA KNOW WHAT IS HE SAYING??

    Emile95on April 08, 2011   Link
  • -3
    General Comment

    The misspellings that run throughout this band's lyrics, especially of major intellectual figures (Nietzsche, case and point), lead me to doubt the depth of Orchid's comprehension of their thought. I suspect that the namedropping is more just for effect. This is fitting, given that Nietzsche was, as Ricoeur pointed out, one of the foremost hermeneuticians of suspicion. Along with Marx and Freud, of course. Orchid sucks.

    TheLogicOfDisintegrationon October 14, 2009   Link

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