My interpretation is that the character woke up to a more truthful reality, in a close parallelism to the Allegory of the Cave by Plato.
The world has been crushed by a populism wave, more particularly some countries in Europe and the USA, where radicalized people have come to power. People get contaminated by their inflamed speeches, ideas and the fear they raise (contagion) and enter in a state of euphoria (venom in mania) that blinds them into following the populist leader/system (the deceiver). The populist leaders/systems want people to follow them blindly and that's what empowers them; so they manipulate and censure information, specially by raising fear among the population:
"The deceiver says, he says
You belong to me
You don't wanna breathe the light of the others (the knowledge of the ones that are not contaminated)
Fear the light, fear the breath
Fear the others for eternity".
The character is finally being able free himself from the system (immunity long overdue) and see a different reality; a reality that is not affected by the deceiver:
"But I hear them (the ones that aren't caught in or part of the system) now, inhale the clarity (reality outside the cave created by the deceiver)
Hear the venom (the lies, the fear created to rule), the venom in
What you say inoculated (what affected people end up preaching when they've been injected by the poison of the deceiver)
Bless this immunity (the character is thankful to being able to see through the deceiver's manipulation)".
In the chorus, the awoken character, that is now free from the influence of the deceiver, cries for people to throw away the venom in them ( Exhale, expel) and to be preachers of the truth against the deceiver (Recast my tale).
Actually, the chorus is an actual cry for the real humanity as the writer asks for us all to continue passing along his message - the message he puts out through a sad fable (allegorical elegy) - while making it stronger by doing it all together (weave).
"Enumerate all that I'm to do
Calculating steps away from you (planning on how to escape the web of the deceiver)
My own mitosis (planning how to make more and more people see the light as he/she did, like a cell divides itself in two equal ones and those divide themselves, spreading)
Growing through delusion from mania (being able to break free of the state of euphoria that the followers of the deceiver are in due to it's venom, like a drug addict is for drugs)"
The bridge of the song is the character liberating himself from all the evil of the deceiver and telling others to do so too.
"Unveil now, lift away (marks the moment to set free, get all together and go against the deceiver)
I see you runnin' (the deceiver doesn't have the support of the majority so it lost all its power and has to run away)
Deceiver chased away
A long time comin' (it's about time to expel the deceiver already, we've waited too long)"
I interpret this song as being very closely related to politics, ideology and even religiousness, more concretely being a cry for those that were able to set themselves free from the herds of followers to unite and fight against the deceivers of the world.
@RJSA populism? No, I was thinking more like all the mainstream media bias, slant, slander & lies fuelled by the desire to pump Fear & Division into the Public.
@RJSA populism? No, I was thinking more like all the mainstream media bias, slant, slander & lies fuelled by the desire to pump Fear & Division into the Public.
@RJSA excellent interpretation. The allegory of the cave is an interesting point. I'll have to check that out. It's so fun to decipher Maynard's lyrics. I'm very excited to be doing this again. Keep it up!
@RJSA excellent interpretation. The allegory of the cave is an interesting point. I'll have to check that out. It's so fun to decipher Maynard's lyrics. I'm very excited to be doing this again. Keep it up!
@RJSA I absolutely agree. Taking into consideration the album art and name hints and this as well. To me, the art deco like font represent the 20s 30s, the time when populism and hate spread throughout Europe and gave rise to populists and fascist regimes. The song and album names also hint on a spread of hatred and violence by politicians. The twisted snake on the album cover might represent ouroboros a snake eating its own tail which could have several meaning but to me the most likely one si cycles. We can all see that western society is fractured...
@RJSA I absolutely agree. Taking into consideration the album art and name hints and this as well. To me, the art deco like font represent the 20s 30s, the time when populism and hate spread throughout Europe and gave rise to populists and fascist regimes. The song and album names also hint on a spread of hatred and violence by politicians. The twisted snake on the album cover might represent ouroboros a snake eating its own tail which could have several meaning but to me the most likely one si cycles. We can all see that western society is fractured and a lot of people hits at similarities between the time before WWII and our age. Also, the next song on the album Pneuma speaks "(We) Go round one foot nailed down" which might again hint at repeating our past mistakes. And then the chorus of the songs goes
"Wake up remember
We are born of one breath, one word
We are all one spark, sun becoming"
To me, this is Maynard's way of calming us down and reminding us that our differences are only minimal.
@RJSA it's not populism that made california comparable with a third world country and it's also not populist media that claim it's the best thing ever. But hey, what do i know
@RJSA it's not populism that made california comparable with a third world country and it's also not populist media that claim it's the best thing ever. But hey, what do i know
My interpretation is that the character woke up to a more truthful reality, in a close parallelism to the Allegory of the Cave by Plato. The world has been crushed by a populism wave, more particularly some countries in Europe and the USA, where radicalized people have come to power. People get contaminated by their inflamed speeches, ideas and the fear they raise (contagion) and enter in a state of euphoria (venom in mania) that blinds them into following the populist leader/system (the deceiver). The populist leaders/systems want people to follow them blindly and that's what empowers them; so they manipulate and censure information, specially by raising fear among the population:
"The deceiver says, he says You belong to me You don't wanna breathe the light of the others (the knowledge of the ones that are not contaminated) Fear the light, fear the breath Fear the others for eternity".
The character is finally being able free himself from the system (immunity long overdue) and see a different reality; a reality that is not affected by the deceiver:
"But I hear them (the ones that aren't caught in or part of the system) now, inhale the clarity (reality outside the cave created by the deceiver) Hear the venom (the lies, the fear created to rule), the venom in What you say inoculated (what affected people end up preaching when they've been injected by the poison of the deceiver) Bless this immunity (the character is thankful to being able to see through the deceiver's manipulation)".
In the chorus, the awoken character, that is now free from the influence of the deceiver, cries for people to throw away the venom in them ( Exhale, expel) and to be preachers of the truth against the deceiver (Recast my tale). Actually, the chorus is an actual cry for the real humanity as the writer asks for us all to continue passing along his message - the message he puts out through a sad fable (allegorical elegy) - while making it stronger by doing it all together (weave).
"Enumerate all that I'm to do Calculating steps away from you (planning on how to escape the web of the deceiver) My own mitosis (planning how to make more and more people see the light as he/she did, like a cell divides itself in two equal ones and those divide themselves, spreading) Growing through delusion from mania (being able to break free of the state of euphoria that the followers of the deceiver are in due to it's venom, like a drug addict is for drugs)"
The bridge of the song is the character liberating himself from all the evil of the deceiver and telling others to do so too.
"Unveil now, lift away (marks the moment to set free, get all together and go against the deceiver) I see you runnin' (the deceiver doesn't have the support of the majority so it lost all its power and has to run away) Deceiver chased away A long time comin' (it's about time to expel the deceiver already, we've waited too long)"
I interpret this song as being very closely related to politics, ideology and even religiousness, more concretely being a cry for those that were able to set themselves free from the herds of followers to unite and fight against the deceivers of the world.
@RJSA populism? No, I was thinking more like all the mainstream media bias, slant, slander & lies fuelled by the desire to pump Fear & Division into the Public.
@RJSA populism? No, I was thinking more like all the mainstream media bias, slant, slander & lies fuelled by the desire to pump Fear & Division into the Public.
@RJSA I agree, but I think there is definitely some reference to marijuana here, and its ability to alter concepts
@RJSA I agree, but I think there is definitely some reference to marijuana here, and its ability to alter concepts
@RJSA I think this has absolutely nothing to do specifically with politics.
@RJSA I think this has absolutely nothing to do specifically with politics.
@RJSA excellent interpretation. The allegory of the cave is an interesting point. I'll have to check that out. It's so fun to decipher Maynard's lyrics. I'm very excited to be doing this again. Keep it up!
@RJSA excellent interpretation. The allegory of the cave is an interesting point. I'll have to check that out. It's so fun to decipher Maynard's lyrics. I'm very excited to be doing this again. Keep it up!
@RJSA I absolutely agree. Taking into consideration the album art and name hints and this as well. To me, the art deco like font represent the 20s 30s, the time when populism and hate spread throughout Europe and gave rise to populists and fascist regimes. The song and album names also hint on a spread of hatred and violence by politicians. The twisted snake on the album cover might represent ouroboros a snake eating its own tail which could have several meaning but to me the most likely one si cycles. We can all see that western society is fractured...
@RJSA I absolutely agree. Taking into consideration the album art and name hints and this as well. To me, the art deco like font represent the 20s 30s, the time when populism and hate spread throughout Europe and gave rise to populists and fascist regimes. The song and album names also hint on a spread of hatred and violence by politicians. The twisted snake on the album cover might represent ouroboros a snake eating its own tail which could have several meaning but to me the most likely one si cycles. We can all see that western society is fractured and a lot of people hits at similarities between the time before WWII and our age. Also, the next song on the album Pneuma speaks "(We) Go round one foot nailed down" which might again hint at repeating our past mistakes. And then the chorus of the songs goes "Wake up remember We are born of one breath, one word We are all one spark, sun becoming"
To me, this is Maynard's way of calming us down and reminding us that our differences are only minimal.
@RJSA it's not populism that made california comparable with a third world country and it's also not populist media that claim it's the best thing ever. But hey, what do i know
@RJSA it's not populism that made california comparable with a third world country and it's also not populist media that claim it's the best thing ever. But hey, what do i know
@RJSA i think your interpretation is spot on and i doubt i could have put it clearer myself. My hats off to you good sir, carry on.
@RJSA i think your interpretation is spot on and i doubt i could have put it clearer myself. My hats off to you good sir, carry on.