Cosmonaut

this is a really really really really really really really really good song.

I love this song. To bad At the Drive In broke up.

great song, great band. just a thought... i may be off on this but this song has always reminded me of arthur c. clarke's book 2001: a space odyssey. title: cosmonaut (multi-national crew) references: monolith (the artifact found on the moon), floating in a soundproof costume (spacesuit), am i supposed to die alone (dave's the only one left at the end), deficit attention program and aeronautics hacked (HAL 9000 becoming aware and taking over), and of couse all the book references.

lol I don't get what's with people all over this site always talking about "this song is about THIS and nothing more.", its so lame.

anyway I agree with the general space/culture/media conspiracy vibe to a certain extent. yeah the lyrics make pretty clear allusions to the government 'changing history'/censoring/filtering what the public sees, and sure, 2001: ASO may have been a big influence on Cedrichere -- I know that movie inspired the shit out of me when I finally 'got' it. but the thing that strikes me most about this song is in the music itself, and that's the sheer frustrated sound of it all; just listen to the intro, and Cedric's screams throughout. it's ATDI's most intense and energetic song and to say that its about ONE particular event just seems really narrow-minded. to me "Cosmonaut" captures the feeling of realizing how much bullshit we're fed by those in power, and what a suffocating and hopeless landscape it creates for any free-thinking person . you could say that, besides the Soviet/Stalinist conspiracy and the space connotations, the 'cosmonaut' represents any individual who is constantly seeking the true nature of things, and is aware of the horrors that a dishonest authority brings. hence the sound of the music. it feels like nothing mankind does to better itself and achieve peace matters at all, because the people at the top are going to keep everyone down in their little game for as long as possible. they're going to keep lying, causing the deaths of countless innocents, suppressing the truth where it rears its ugly head, and continue getting away with all of it. the line "am I supposed to die alone?" sums up all the feelings of hopelessness and isolation caused by all those things. a cosmonaut (as I described) would feel like he's dying alone -- nobody cares about what's really going on beneath it all or how the world can achieve peace, only for their instant gratification, just as the government intends it so that they can keep on with their hidden agenda without worry

I've always felt this was about the Lost Cosmonauts conspiracy theory - i.e. the claim that the Soviet Union had several human space missions fail and the cosmonauts die, but covered it all up.

The lyrical imagery of censorship, crashing and 'dying alone', plus the title of the song, would all fit in.

yah they broke up, but sparta, with three of the old atdi members is just as good, if not better. i'm seeing em the 23rd, can't wait.

im seeing sparta today, too bad i have to see them with that crying bitch dashboard and the worn out weezer who were good 6 years ago

dashboard isnt a crying bitch!i luv him! i saw im in concert,maybe that concert will make a fan out of you,lol. theyre amazing in concert

once again, i love this song, n once again i fink it shud b sung in space. an evil lifeform that is like a gas has taken ova part o the ship, trappin one of the crew. if the gas is hevier than air, then it is the alien and he must die, but the get him out and live happily ever afta!!!!!!!!!!!! i pretty much space obsessed rite now

ehhh, I thought it was about censorship. It may be too much of a Rage-like idea for them (especially since they have to crawl out of Rage's shadow due to alleged similarities), but the censorship theme is still fairly eminent in the earlier portions of the song.