We Are 138

"Glenn Danzig never actually said what the song was about... he only said "It's about violence." People have been taking that to mean several things, like 138 is police code for something (it's not), or the movie THX-1138. But I think that the song means something different... It's about the Nazi leader Hermann Goering.

First off, Glenn has said in the past that he's studied a lot about Nazi Germany, including books like "The Occult Roots of Nazism," which he said that every schoolchild should own. So he must know about Goering, and the Nuremberg trial at which Goering was sentenced to death.

Gustav Gilbert was a psychologist that was assigned to interview all the defendants at the Nuremberg trial. He gave all of them IQ tests, in which Goering scored 138 (eskimo.com/~miyaguch/grady/nazi.html). Now, Goering was also the highest ranking Nazi that the allies caught after WWII and was highly unapologetic about the attrocites that were committed under national socialism. This factors in soon... Lets go through the lyrics.

Ignoring the "We are 138" that's repeated over and over, the lyrics are

"In the eyes of tigers" Goering was the official gameskeeper (jagermiester) of the third Reich, and kept lots of exotic animals, including, I believe, tigers. Also, Tiger 1 was a type of tank used by the Nazis.

"Do you think we're robot clean?" This could mean a couple of things. Robots only do what they're told, so they have no control over their actions. This adequately describes the defense of most of the Nazis on trial ("We were just following orders"). Or it could be a reference to Goering having kicked his morphine habit before the trial, and was fully mentally functional to stand trial.

"Does this face look almost mean?" Everyone who described Goering said that he had a disturbing, mean face and a cruel mouth.

"Is it time to be an android, not a man" His unapologetic nature, and his defense of an evil system, showed his sociopathic disregard for the atrocities. Almost like an android, cold, calculating, and intimidatingly cruel.

"The pleasantries are gone" He didn't have to be the bon vivant, showboating, cherubic face of national socialism anymore, and his public face didn't have to be magnanimous. He could be the political and military leader he always was in private.

"We're stripped of all we were" The highest ranking officials of national socialism, accustomed to the finest things in Europe, were now common criminals. Goering included.

Not to mention that a German Uboat designation was U-138, but that's just extra information for you all. ;-)

I may be giving too much credit to Glenn, though."

source: reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/1r5zb6/misfits_song_we_are_138_is_about_hermann_goering/