Shoot It Out

I wonder if by "feeding the wolves" the band is referring to the Native American legend, of the grandfather who tells his son about two wolves that are battling within the heart of every man (I checked online and you can goggle the story). The annotated version is basically one wolf contains all the bad qualities within us, and the other all the good. "The one who wins", the grandfather tells his grandson, "is the one you decide to feed." This song I believe is about how as we grow older, and through much of our lives society slowly kills the optimist, the idealist, the dreamer in most people and forces, in essence forces people to feed the wolf that feeds of the negative energy in us. When for example he says “suffocate integrity till I’m not breathing” probably points to the fact that we often feel that something is missing, and upon closer inspection it is sometimes realized that it the part of us we let people, and society suffocate. In the end we “never even know what for.” For some people however, they succumb so much to this pressure that by constant repetition the cynic becomes the guiding force from the shadows of the “subconscious”.

Phrase: "Feed them, fucking starve them, keep begging a little more I'm not gonna be your whore Load it, cock it, pull it, refuse to be ignored I'm not gonna fight you war All the distractions kill the compassion Suddenly, fame has lost its attraction" Describes the dilemma that, in order to get the things in life that society holds in esteem, we are often expected to embrace cynicism and "suffocate integrity." The mechanisms by which we are enticed by the world are prestige, fame, success, sex, etc. and we are told that if we do what they want then we will get these things and be the envy of others. This phrase Is the singer’s rebellion to what is demanded of us by society. When he sees all that he will be giving up, “fame has lost its attraction,” to succumb would be to become their “whore.”