My interpretation of the song is that is 100% about Islamic suicide bombers from their perspective. I mean the name is Hexagram...It's the star of David. That's a great place to start as an overall vibe for the song, but I'll break it down even further and tell you what I take each line to mean.
Paint the streets in white (I take this to mean two things...predominantly I take it as white being the symbol for purity...so he is in a rather hard to explain way...make even the dirty ground pure and holy...it also could mean with ashes. When you burn something for a long time the ashes become white.)
Death is the standard (Everyone is doing it..it's common place)
Breach for a complex prize (Breach could mean one of two things here...to breach, as in breach into America or breach as in breach a whole in the towers...for a complex prize...there heavenly eternal reward)
I think it's sweet of you (Chino understands why they are doing it)
and your parents are proud (it brings a lot of honor to them...it's a big deal this is a big moment)
But I would expect anyone now to protect life's indigenous sound (BUT he would have thought that by now people the world over would be trying to protect life instead of killing people...indigenous sound meaning something similar to the circle of life... on the word choice of indigenous -
2.
innate; inherent; natural (usually followed by to ): feelings indigenous to human beings. )
Worship. Play. (Pretty self describing here...that's there life. The reason it repeats so much is not only does it fit musically, but it also adds the idea that this is there life. Worship and play. And it makes you think too...they play. They are human just like we are.)
This second verse took me a while to understand or at least draw my conclusion in my mind. I have no way of knowing if it is right or not other than feeling. But this is the part where the moment starts coming together. They have been planning it for a while now and now there is a great celebration.
How the streets they swell (There are a lot of people in the streets...everyone is out to see this)
While the animals make there way through the crowds (the martyrs is what he is referring to here. Kind of comparing them to animal sacrifice which is funny because that was a big part of Islam. So they themselves are a sacrifice. and they are going through the crowds of people.)
If you keep listening you can hear it for miles (I think this ties in to the other parts of the song referring to sound...at the beginning with life's indigenous sound..land the end "It's the same sound"...he is referring to the celebration of people. Just crowds of people celebrating.
And trust everyone quicker with every faint smile (He is nervous about all of this but his friends, family, and people cheering him on reassures him that he is doing the right thing...peer pressure in a way. But it comforts him a little. He knows he is about to die and it will be scary but on the other side he is rewarded greatly for what he is doing. Every faint smile is his for sure and possibly the smiles of the people around him. It's a light and nervous smile.)
And the crowd goes wild (They praise and cheer him and his fellow martyrs)
And the camera makes you seasick (someone takes pictures of them and it makes him sick to his stomach...he thinks about a lot...this is probably the last picture anyone will ever take of him...these are his final moments...it all sinks in and hits him hard. Also when he hears the camera he hears the bomb going off and thinks about it. )
God it's so sweet of you and I know you are proud/ you know I'm proud (It's sweet...he thinks he is doing the right thing..it makes sense to him...He is proud..his family is proud..everyone is proud for him doing the "right" thing...and Chino commends him for the positive things because he understands the situation from his perspective. It is a brave and honorable act to them.)
And the car bomb hits quick click click click faint smile.. ( This is the moment where he dies. The smile is the kicker here. He has a faint smile...he is about to go to heaven and get his reward. He was so confused and now it's happening and in this moment he feels peace about his decision...and then he is dead...along with whomever else he died with and murdered.)
It's the same sound ( It's the same sound as the camera...and he just took lives that were the same as him...human...)
It's the same sound
...
We are human...they are human...we are killing each other...it's wrong.
Chino does such a great job of getting you to think about the situation from their perspective. It takes a good deal of understand, heart, and empathy to write lyrics like these. It takes someone that cares a lot. And it's reasons like this that Deftones are my favorite band. I only hope I didn't butcher the meaning of the song.
Also...After listening to that song...think about the dark side and cruelty of religion. It really seeps in. Go look at a star of David while listening to this song and just think about this huge event unfolding and taking place from the perspective of a suicide bomber.
My interpretation of the song is that is 100% about Islamic suicide bombers from their perspective. I mean the name is Hexagram...It's the star of David. That's a great place to start as an overall vibe for the song, but I'll break it down even further and tell you what I take each line to mean.
Paint the streets in white (I take this to mean two things...predominantly I take it as white being the symbol for purity...so he is in a rather hard to explain way...make even the dirty ground pure and holy...it also could mean with ashes. When you burn something for a long time the ashes become white.)
Death is the standard (Everyone is doing it..it's common place) Breach for a complex prize (Breach could mean one of two things here...to breach, as in breach into America or breach as in breach a whole in the towers...for a complex prize...there heavenly eternal reward)
I think it's sweet of you (Chino understands why they are doing it) and your parents are proud (it brings a lot of honor to them...it's a big deal this is a big moment)
But I would expect anyone now to protect life's indigenous sound (BUT he would have thought that by now people the world over would be trying to protect life instead of killing people...indigenous sound meaning something similar to the circle of life... on the word choice of indigenous - 2. innate; inherent; natural (usually followed by to ): feelings indigenous to human beings. )
Worship. Play. (Pretty self describing here...that's there life. The reason it repeats so much is not only does it fit musically, but it also adds the idea that this is there life. Worship and play. And it makes you think too...they play. They are human just like we are.)
This second verse took me a while to understand or at least draw my conclusion in my mind. I have no way of knowing if it is right or not other than feeling. But this is the part where the moment starts coming together. They have been planning it for a while now and now there is a great celebration.
How the streets they swell (There are a lot of people in the streets...everyone is out to see this)
While the animals make there way through the crowds (the martyrs is what he is referring to here. Kind of comparing them to animal sacrifice which is funny because that was a big part of Islam. So they themselves are a sacrifice. and they are going through the crowds of people.)
If you keep listening you can hear it for miles (I think this ties in to the other parts of the song referring to sound...at the beginning with life's indigenous sound..land the end "It's the same sound"...he is referring to the celebration of people. Just crowds of people celebrating.
And trust everyone quicker with every faint smile (He is nervous about all of this but his friends, family, and people cheering him on reassures him that he is doing the right thing...peer pressure in a way. But it comforts him a little. He knows he is about to die and it will be scary but on the other side he is rewarded greatly for what he is doing. Every faint smile is his for sure and possibly the smiles of the people around him. It's a light and nervous smile.)
And the crowd goes wild (They praise and cheer him and his fellow martyrs)
And the camera makes you seasick (someone takes pictures of them and it makes him sick to his stomach...he thinks about a lot...this is probably the last picture anyone will ever take of him...these are his final moments...it all sinks in and hits him hard. Also when he hears the camera he hears the bomb going off and thinks about it. )
God it's so sweet of you and I know you are proud/ you know I'm proud (It's sweet...he thinks he is doing the right thing..it makes sense to him...He is proud..his family is proud..everyone is proud for him doing the "right" thing...and Chino commends him for the positive things because he understands the situation from his perspective. It is a brave and honorable act to them.)
And the car bomb hits quick click click click faint smile.. ( This is the moment where he dies. The smile is the kicker here. He has a faint smile...he is about to go to heaven and get his reward. He was so confused and now it's happening and in this moment he feels peace about his decision...and then he is dead...along with whomever else he died with and murdered.)
It's the same sound ( It's the same sound as the camera...and he just took lives that were the same as him...human...)
It's the same sound ...
We are human...they are human...we are killing each other...it's wrong. Chino does such a great job of getting you to think about the situation from their perspective. It takes a good deal of understand, heart, and empathy to write lyrics like these. It takes someone that cares a lot. And it's reasons like this that Deftones are my favorite band. I only hope I didn't butcher the meaning of the song.
Also...After listening to that song...think about the dark side and cruelty of religion. It really seeps in. Go look at a star of David while listening to this song and just think about this huge event unfolding and taking place from the perspective of a suicide bomber.