Lyric discussion by SOADdict 

Cover art for Ego Brain lyrics by System of a Down

i think ''i am just a man fighting other man for land while i turn to sand'' is all about war. Where do the bodies of the dead soldiers go after they die? They sometimes get buried and therefore turn to sand... There is a minor mistake in the lyrics, instead of:

Ego brain That makes shame, shame love after it rains

Its: Ego Brain Man-made shame.

War is nothing but egocentric. It is created from fear... fear of loss of money, power, obsession. The system teaches us that we are nothing without money. I think the first verse is a very important teaching

Life is but a dream Drifting on a stream, a stream Consciously it seems

The many minds that are dominated by the system, believe that life is real. But what is reality and how can we tell real from fake? If anybody has deeply analysed 'The Matrix' then they might understand what im talking about. The verse:

You see my pain is real Watch my world dissolve and pretend that none of us see the fall

could possibly be about the pain created once an individual realises the fabrication of the world. Pretending that "none of us see the fall" is about the way people live their lives pretending to know what life is all about. I dont know the purpose of our existence and i honestly dont know what keeps my alive but im probably just insane. Oh and one more thing, if serj believes life is a dream, then when are we awake? When we die?....hmmm....interesting.

I really like your interpretation of the song. Serj seems to have some strong political views that often intertwine with his symbolism in songs. SOAD is great in the way that you can have so many different perspectives on their songs and still feel pretty justified in your viewpoint. I think to add on to what you say about "life is but a dream drifting on a stream, a stream consciously it seems" he could also mean that we make our own perception of what life is and live in our own fantasy, and as we live with our own...