Dead & Bloated

blasting the horrible nature of humanity seems to be the recurring theme of stp's album, "core." i.e. sex type thing - the macho attitude many men have toward women. sin - an abusive husband/father naked sunday - the hatred and violence that religious fanatics carry toward people of different faith creep - how people can be so cruel to others who dont "fit in"

keeping this theme in mind, i interperet "dead and bloated" as a reminder of how truly f'd up the act of war is. it can be argued that war will forever be a part of life, it is natural, and that killing in the name of war is a just act. this may be a reasonable belief, but i think scott isnt making that judgement. it seems he is asking u to put yourself in the shoes of young soldiers chased by the terror of death.

"i am smelling like a rose that somebody gave me on my birthday deathbed" - it is a tradition for some to place flowers on the grave of a lost loved one. would-be birthdays, christmas, the anniversary of his or her death, or in other strange, artistic words, the birthday of the death. the griever placed a rose on the soldiers grave.

"and she says its natural, i feel i've come of age, when she peeks i start to run"- many people, especially military, feel its heroic and "natural" to die for one's country. "she" is referring to the soldier's home country or in our case, the U.S....but maybe this really isnt a feeling we should have... a young soldier with his life ahead of him probably doesnt feel this warm fuzzy 'natural' feeling on the brink of death. the coming of age may refer to the history of the draft and our nation's belief that 18 is about the right age to start dying for your country. in some countries it is much younger. scott is probably personifying death with the lyrics "when she (death)peeks i start to run"..at a young age, it's much harder to face death for a cause he probably doesnt understand yet, so his nature is to avoid it or "run". scott's use of "she" could refer to either death or the U.S. since the U.S. commands the soldier, and therefore is the 'deathbringer'.
"i run through the world, thinkin about tomorrow"- war is worldwide of course, and if you could be killed any moment, what is on your mind? will i make it to tomorrow? "i am trampled under sole of another man's shoe, guess i walked too softly"- these lyrics are my favorite.is it his turn to kill, or be killed? fate can be so cruel... this soldier isn't lucky and is killed in combat. walking too softly refers to the fact that he isnt as great of a soldier as his killer and consequently meets his doom. when i hear this i sympathize with the young men thrown into combat destined to die. this song is a great reminder how tragic it is that the innocent die for another's greed.