Metal Heart

This just might be my favorite Cat Power song. I think it's about, at least to me, is not following your dreams, your calling, just going through the motions of life, locked up in a "sad sad zoo", pretending it doesn't bother you, and the danger in doing that, how it can change you... God, I need to get out of this office.

i'm not really a cat power fan, i just have a couple of her songs that people sent me and i've listened to them only once or twice. i have to say tho, it didn't hit me how great this song was until i gave it another proper listen when i was really down in the dumps.

i think it's about freeing yourself of the self-restraints you put urself up to to protect yourself. and the way i see it, she's somewhat chiding herself for putting up all these defences, altho she understands that it may be necessary to protect yourself, to cushion yourself from the possible hurt (damned if you don't, damned if you do). but i see this as her reaching a moment of clarity where she decides 'i'm not gonna be all closed-up anymore', because she finally sees how self-destructive that can be. ("how selfish of you to believe in the meaning of all the bad dreaming")

A lot of people seem to have found their meaning in this song as something introspective. For me though, this is a song being sung to someone else. It's like, when you are in a relationship, or starting to get into a relationship, the way people complicate things.

The voice is directed towards a part of someone else that is stopping them from giving themselves fully to you, even though it is what you both want. The part of someone that holds them back, maybe out of fear, sometimes fear of being hurt themselves, but more often, fear of hurting or disappointing the other person. The song is saying, please, surrender yourself, there is no need to hold anything back. If you keep a part of you just for yourself, then some part of you will never be fully realised.

It's saying that, by holding back, so as not to hurt me, all you are really doing is denying me from fully realising myself in you, denying us from finding ourselves in each other. To the metal heart, you are selfish because you are standing in the way of the love that could be between these two, living, beating hearts.

It's a love song, it's a plea. It's a happy song because it is full of hope for a love that is so close, you can almost reach out and touch it. It is a beautiful song.

"losing a star without a sky losing the reasons why you're losing the calling, you've been faking"

i think this is about making up an image of you or something you supposedly believe in that isn't really true or worthwhile... and you get so wrapped up in trying to convince others and yourself of this so-called truth that you even forget what it was supposed to mean, why you did it...

"oh hidy hidy hidy what're you trying prove? by hidy hidy hiding you're not worth a thing" again... if you forget to be yourself and just focus on this image (what are you trying to prove by doing it, who are you trying to impress, it doesn't make sense to try this), then that's when you stop being worth all that...

"how selfish of you to believe in the meaning of all the bad dreaming" and sometimes you give up on people or projects because you imagine it may all go wrong and then you believe it. it's like ending a relationship for fear of being hurt, and thus, hurting the other person. selfish.

one of the most beautiful, most melancholy, most post-disillusionment songs i've ever heard.

I think this song is about being in love with someone who's in love with something else, a passion or a dream, a job maybe. And in a way he's putting her aside for the sake of his own interests, but she can sense that he's faking it and that maybe his passion/job/dream is just something to hide behind because he can't show his true feelings and that he loves her. He has a metal heart. So she's saying: Be true, to yourself! And if you're hiding and if you can't love me then you're not worth a thing.

"sew your fortunes on a string and hold them up to light blue smoke will take a very violent flight and you will be changed and everything and you'll be in a very sad sad zoo"

For me, these lines mean that there are no absolutes, in life you have to take chanses and go with it all because things can change quickly, life can pass you by without you having loved or been honest and true. Also that you can't plan everything and you really can't afford to be cold hearted and afraid. So she is saying: "Sew you're fortunes on a string and hold them up to light!" see if anything happens, if you're lucky.

And then in the end she realizes that maybe he's not hiding, that maybe he's just not able to feel anything for her. And so she's mad and blames it on his metal heart, that's not worth a thing.

"I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see you"

She really loves him.

To me, this song is about someone trying to be someone they are not. They are trying to do the things other people want them to do because they think it will make them happy, but it really is making them miserable. The metal heart represents the separation of the person from his/her own true feelings.

i love this song.....

"be true, 'cause they'll lock you up in a sad sad zoo" does she mean the funny farm? hmmm.

huh, i sorta related to this song when i first heard it. i keep all my feelings and emotions bottled up because in a way, it's apart of my culture. but one day, i'll snap and end up in a "sad sad zoo" unless i do something about it.

this must be one of the saddest songs out there, imho.

This song always reminds me of my things with my parents. We basically disowned eachother. & this song just helps let it all out at times. It's so beautiful though.