The Song Interpretation Thread

[ThePretender]

Geki, I agree with you that the song's incredibly dark. Contrary to the lyrics, the music is soothing and, especially at the end, optimistic. It's kind of a journey. He sings about his current mental state in the first chorus, the second chorus concerns his attempts of getting out of his position (which is bittersweet because he was making an effort to push himself towards a better situation but he unfortunately failed) and he's saying that he's still searching for a solution in the bridge. The difference now is that he's hopeful. There is someone who can save him, and that person is himself. He, however, doesn't knows how.

 

The four lines from the first chorus relate to me. I was feeling very lonely, which resonates with the "nobody can save me now". But after a lot of thinking, I realized that everything I'm currently going through, I have to do it on my own. Only I can do this. Only I can save me. That's the thing which gives me strength and makes me think positive again.

[Geki]

Geki, I agree with you that the song's incredibly dark. Contrary to the lyrics, the music is soothing and, especially at the end, optimistic. It's kind of a journey. He sings about his current mental state in the first chorus, the second chorus concerns his attempts of getting out of his position (which is bittersweet because he was making an effort to push himself towards a better situation but he unfortunately failed) and he's saying that he's still searching for a solution in the bridge. The difference now is that he's hopeful. There is someone who can save him, and that person is himself. He, however, doesn't knows how.

 

The four lines from the first chorus relate to me. I was feeling very lonely, which resonates with the "nobody can save me now". But after a lot of thinking, I realized that everything I'm currently going through, I have to do it on my own. Only I can do this. Only I can save me. That's the thing which gives me strength and makes me think positive again.

Reading the comments here have made me look at the song in a different light - it's actually pretty optimistic when you think about it, as pointed out. It's cool that it has that message. Seems like a lot of One More Light was about optimism and overcoming your demons, etc.

 

I'd say the lyrics on MTM are probably the darkest from the band, since a good majority of them are about death and stuff. Mike even said once that it's a dark album, lyrically, even though the sound isn't metal. I think it was in the MTM Audio Commentary from the International Version.

 

It sucks that Chester's last album with LP was OML because like I said, it did seem kind of optimistic and about overcoming your demons and what not. Seems like Chester was trying so hard to overcome them in recent years, but he just couldn't. It's sad.

[Mesck547]

I'd say the lyrics on MTM are probably the darkest from the band, since a good majority of them are about death and stuff. Mike even said once that it's a dark album, lyrically, even though the sound isn't metal. I think it was in the MTM Audio Commentary from the International Version.

I agree with MTM having some of their darkest lyrics, but OML is up there with MTM and ATS as one the band's drakest albums IMO. I'm pretty sure Mike said in an interview that the album has a poppier sound because the lyrics are very dark, and they didn't want it to be too depressing.

 

Regarding NCSM, I feel like it's one of the darker tracks on the album. I always though of it as a song about hitting rock bottom. The first verse in particular seems to talk about being in a very dark place ("I'm hanging off the edge" is the first line that comes to mind) and feeling lost. The second verse has very hopeless vibe too. It discusses the reasons for the feelings described in the first verse ("Answers yet to come" and "false solutions". Not finding what they've been looking for, realizing their methods of coping with their inner demons were wrong). I also view the chorus as pretty dark. They're asking to be forgiven because their past mistakes haunt them, and the light they're holding up sounds to me like a hopeless effort against their demos, which are, at this point, stronger than them.

 

However, there is an underlying sense of postivity in the realization that only they can save themselves from their inner demons. Only they can pick themselves off the ground. This is the answer and the solution they've been looking for. Battle Symphony looks like a pretty similar song lyrically to me, almost like a continuation of NCSM. While NCSM focuses more on what got them to this point and the feeling of being lost and broken, BS focuses more on the fight and picking yourself off the ground. So I tend to view NCSM as darker and BS as more positive.

[Geki]

I agree with MTM having some of their darkest lyrics, but OML is up there with MTM and ATS as one the band's drakest albums IMO. I'm pretty sure Mike said in an interview that the album has a poppier sound because the lyrics are very dark, and they didn't want it to be too depressing.

 

Regarding NCSM, I feel like it's one of the darker tracks on the album. I always though of it as a song about hitting rock bottom. The first verse in particular seems to talk about being in a very dark place ("I'm hanging off the edge" is the first line that comes to mind) and feeling lost. The second verse has very hopeless vibe too. It discusses the reasons for the feelings described in the first verse ("Answers yet to come" and "false solutions". Not finding what they've been looking for, realizing their methods of coping with their inner demons were wrong). I also view the chorus as pretty dark. They're asking to be forgiven because their past mistakes haunt them, and the light they're holding up sounds to me like a hopeless effort against their demos, which are, at this point, stronger than them.

 

However, there is an underlying sense of postivity in the realization that only they can save themselves from their inner demons. Only they can pick themselves off the ground. This is the answer and the solution they've been looking for. Battle Symphony looks like a pretty similar song lyrically to me, almost like a continuation of NCSM. While NCSM focuses more on what got them to this point and the feeling of being lost and broken, BS focuses more on the fight and picking yourself off the ground. So I tend to view NCSM as darker and BS as more positive.

 

I agree that OML and ATS are dark as well. Actually, I thought ATS had some optimism on the album, with songs like Iridescent, The Messenger, Waiting For The End, and a few others. It was dark for sure, but just like OML, it was dark with optimism. MTM was pretty much just all doom and gloom except for maybe What I've Done, which had some optimism there, but that song could also be interpreted in a dark way, like wanting to just end life. LT and THP weren't really all that dark, and THP just had weird lyrics that really didn't connect with me at all. Meteora and HT of course had dark lyrics, but MTM takes the cake for darkest, IMO. OML probably close behind, and then ATS.

[xxHybridXeroxx]

 

I agree that OML and ATS are dark as well. Actually, I thought ATS had some optimism on the album, with songs like Iridescent, The Messenger, Waiting For The End, and a few others. It was dark for sure, but just like OML, it was dark with optimism. MTM was pretty much just all doom and gloom except for maybe What I've Done, which had some optimism there, but that song could also be interpreted in a dark way, like wanting to just end life. LT and THP weren't really all that dark, and THP just had weird lyrics that really didn't connect with me at all. Meteora and HT of course had dark lyrics, but MTM takes the cake for darkest, IMO. OML probably close behind, and then ATS.

Agreed, THP was heavy, but it really didn't connect with me emotionally. Final Masquerade was the only song that really connected with me... MTM is pretty dark and so is OML, I agree with your ranking... MTM is dark as hell...

[Geki]

What do you guys think Valentine's Day is really about?

I asked Mike what the song was about at the Meet & Greet for Holmdel 2014 and he told me that Chester wrote the lyrics to that one so he didn't know.

To me, it's about death. It has a LOT of death metaphors during the song but it's still written strangely to me. I remember Chester said to Kerrang in 2007 that it was a dark song but he didn't really explain it. Always been intrigued by the song and have had different guesses as to what it's about over the years, but the simple answer to me now is just simply death and missing someone you have lost.

[Justin]

What do you guys think Valentine's Day is really about?

 

I asked Mike what the song was about at the Meet & Greet for Holmdel 2014 and he told me that Chester wrote the lyrics to that one so he didn't know.

 

To me, it's about death. It has a LOT of death metaphors during the song but it's still written strangely to me. I remember Chester said to Kerrang in 2007 that it was a dark song but he didn't really explain it. Always been intrigued by the song and have had different guesses as to what it's about over the years, but the simple answer to me now is just simply death and missing someone you have lost.

I definitely think it's about death and losing a loved one. I always imagined it as losing a spouse/significant other.

 

"I used to be my own protection, but not now. Cause my mind has lost direction somehow" is a super dark line that I always took to mean that his grief has overwhelmed him to the point that he's losing his sanity to a degree.

 

 

OR an even darker take:

 

It could be about his depression/demons and how they caused him to push people away and isolate himself. The "black" and "heartless" wind being a metaphor for the demons inside of him that just wouldn't go away.

 

"A black wind took them away from site and held the darkness over day that night" = "I have pushed away everyone I care about and am now alone in my darkness/depression"

 

That still wouldn't explain the line about the ground growing colder really... but it's just a thought.

 

 

Side note: Valentine's Day is a very underrated song in my opinion. The lyrics are amazing and shows how great of a songwriter Chester really was, the music is great and compliments the lyrics perfectly... The atmosphere of that song is great in how it builds slowly and then explodes at the end.

 

Finally, with Mike saying that to you it makes me wonder if he actually did know but didn't feel that it was his place to try and explain something that came from Chester. I would respect that if that is the case. I might be wrong but I doubt that Mike never asked Chester what the song was about throughout the recording process.

Edited September 30, 2017 by Justin

[thedamian58c]

 

That still wouldn't explain the line about the ground growing colder really... but it's just a thought.

 

The way I would interpret that line in the depression kind of context, is that ground being life (ground as earth (earth being someone's life on earth), opposite of sky/heaven as death) is getting colder, so it is getting less pleasing/livable. In other words life is getting worse. The way I would interpret it in the context of losing someone, is simply the line meaning that somebody's just died, since a dead body is cold, thus its burial makes the ground colder (not really (because the body will get the same temperature as the ground has), but metaphorically) or that something cold (a dead body) has been buried in the ground.

[Soeffingnaive92]

MTM is really dark, I still struggle when I listen to Given Up... I just imagine Chester in his last moments of life..."tell me what the fuck is wrong with me?"

[Geki]

MTM is really dark, I still struggle when I listen to Given Up... I just imagine Chester in his last moments of life..."tell me what the fuck is wrong with me?"

Chester even mentioned Given Up during an interview talking about Heavy this year with The Sun news network. He said ''I was in a place where I was pissed that I didn't like my brain at the time. That was me giving up. That's where I was when I wrote Given Up from Minutes To Midnight. I was like fuck this shit. Put me out of my misery. This time around it was me saying fuck this shit. I'm just going to lay in a corner and die.''

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/4071964/chester-benningtons-sucide-agony-final-interview-linkin-park-frontman-giving-up/

 

So I guess Given Up and Heavy were Chester at his worst feelings.

Edited September 30, 2017 by Geki

[Justin]

Speaking of Given Up, Ive always believed that Leave Out All The Rest was placed after GU on the album intentionally given the lyrics of both songs.

Edited September 30, 2017 by Justin

[ThePretender]

Whoa. That's an interesting thought. The lyrics differ completely in subtlety, but they fit very well together.

[Justin]

Whoa. That's an interesting thought. The lyrics differ completely in subtlety, but they fit very well together.

Yeah definitely far different vibes, but LOATR could almost be seen as a calm reflection after the storm.

 

GU - "Put me out of my fucking misery! I've given up, I'm sick of feeling"

 

LOATR - "Pretending someone else can come and save me from myself, I can't be who you are. When my time comes, forget the wrong that I've done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed"

 

It's almost like LOATR is lyrically full of thoughts that occur after he's fully resigned to his fate and decided to "give up", pun intended. Some of the lyrics express similar sentiments found in Given Up.

 

In GU he's more angry and aggressive. In LOATR he's more thoughtful and almost apologetic with lines like "don't resent me".

Edited October 1, 2017 by Justin

[Geki]

LOATR is a dark song. Mike said in 2015 that ''it's literally about dying''. I take it as wanting people to remember you for the good things you did in life and not the bad. It's really not complex lyrically to decipher. But I also think it's about accepting fate in a way, like you said, Justin. The ''pretending someone else can come and save me from myself'' line pretty much says that to me. I also remember Mike saying in recent years that they intentionally made Minutes To Midnight drastically different with each song as you listen to the album, because they wanted to shock people with all the new styles, etc. Given Up into Leave Out All The Rest is definitely a drastic change in sound. Same as all the songs, really. God damn I could talk about MTM (my favorite album) for hours.

[Justin]

LOATR is a dark song. Mike said in 2015 that ''it's literally about dying''. I take it as wanting people to remember you for the good things you did in life and not the bad. It's really not complex lyrically to decipher. But I also think it's about accepting fate in a way, like you said, Justin. The ''pretending someone else can come and save me from myself'' line pretty much says that to me. I also remember Mike saying in recent years that they intentionally made Minutes To Midnight drastically different with each song as you listen to the album, because they wanted to shock people with all the new styles, etc. Given Up into Leave Out All The Rest is definitely a drastic change in sound. Same as all the songs, really. God damn I could talk about MTM (my favorite album) for hours.

Yeah I remember at the iHeartRadio 2014 show Mike mentioned that they intentionally sequenced each song to be totally different from the song before it in terms of their overall vibe. Thats a pretty cool touch.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Justin

[Geki]

Yeah I remember at the iHeartRadio 2014 show Mike mentioned that they intentionally sequenced each song to be totally different from the song before it in terms of their overall vibe. Thats a pretty cool touch.

 

Ahh yeah, that must be what I remember it from. But yeah, it is pretty cool. I think ATS flowed really nicely as well. But it was cool how MTM had that, where each song was different drastically, it makes it epic.

[GlassCastles]

I like to over analyze things and dive too deep into ideas that very likely weren't the intention or aren't really there at all. On the other hand, I view analysis as something that there isn't really a right or wrong answer to, so long as there's a compelling argument. Also bear in mind I tend to speak from personal experience with certain topics, so you may very well disagree with any ideas I present, which is fine! That being said, Powerless isn't about a failing relationship or watching someone close to you fall apart - it's about watching yourself fall apart.

 

The entire song is the duality of second and first person, indicating the protagonist is directly addressing some other being (wow what a deep thought). This "other being" is a characterization of depression or mental illness or whatever it is the protagonist is suffering from. The first verse sets up the dynamic between the two. As Heavy so accurately states "I wanna let go, but there's comfort in the panic". That idea is very present here. As mental illness is very much a part of you, it sees and knows all. It knows every aspect of your life, the positive and negative. You unwillingly open yourself up to it, and as time goes on, you become used to it being there. It becomes part of your routine, learning to deal with a voice in your head pointing out everyone of your flaws and mistakes. However, like Chester said in Heavy, there's a sense of comfort in that after dealing with it for so long. Any change to the status quo leaves us scared and uncertain, even if that change would likely leave us better off in the long term. So he clings to it. He "[wakes] the devil" inside because the thought of change is a terrifying. There's some very obvious self-harm imagery to close out the verse, as the "crimson soaking through" literally represents the blood from cutting, but also metaphorically just represents the history of what the illness is doing. The evidence is there, and the toll it takes on your mental health may not be physically apparent, but it's very prevalent to them. You promise yourself this is the last time you'll tolerate it, but, like I said before, it's much easier to cling to and revert to what you know than risk something unknown. Ten thousand promises, ten thousand ways to lose.

 

The chorus is simply the fall. There's almost a complete separation of the illness from the actual person here, pinning the fall entirely on the illness as the protagonist watches from inside his own head. It's a mix of feeling helpless and disdain, both for the illness, for actually doing it, and themselves, for letting it get this bad.

 

Verse two ties into the overall message of verse one a bit more but with a darker undertone. Even as he falls apart and feels that his life would be significantly better without the illness controlling his actions, he still feels the need to chase after it. That separation that was present in the chorus is undone here as the protagonist tries to maintain that status quo. Without it, he feels alone and scared, but with it, he feels useless. it's a toxic relationship, a push and pull that, no matter which side ends up winning, he loses.