At first I see an open wound
infected and disastrous
It breathes chaotic catastrophe
it cries to be renewed
Its tears are the color of anger,
they dry to form a scab
To the touch, its stiff and resilient,
underneath, the new skin breathes
As outwardly cliche as it may seem,
yes, something under the surface says,
"C'est la vie"
It is a circle, there is a plan
dead skin will atrophy itself to start again
Look closely at the open wound
see past what covers the surface
Underneath chaotic catastrophe,
creation takes stage.
Its all been saved
with exception for the right parts
When will we be new skin?
Its all been seen with exception for what could be
When will we be new skin?
Fallacious cognitions
spewed from televisions
do mold our decisions.
So stop and take a look,
and you'll see what I see now



Lyrics submitted by Idan

Track duration: 03:51

"New Skin" as written by Brandon Charles/einziger Boyd, Alex/koppel Katunich

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

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New Skin song meanings
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42 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment:Great song! I wish current artists would address issues similar to those Brandon focused on in S.C.I.E.N.C.E. rather than hide behind the clichés of "brutal realism."

    This song is Brandon's attempt to question when our society will recognize/realize, learn and grow from the fallacies of our traditional modes of thinking and operating. He compares the outside of a wound (scab) to our contemporary society. Underneath the new skin (and for that matter, our adapting society) breathe and grow to eventually replace the "chaotic catastrophe" (scab) residing on the outside. Brandon is saying that this change is natural and almost expected..."it is a circle, there is a plan." Regarding the needed recognition of our ill-fated attempts at perfection (or more appropriately, our current society), Boyd extends a hand and offers some advice to those willing to listen and receive..."Fallacious cognitions spewed from televisions do mold our decisions. So stop and take a look!" Keep your heart and mind OPEN but wary of influence. After all, life (and by extension, reality) is inevitably going to change. Hell, until the 20th century, most the world believed that only white light (visible light) existed... I would love to see them face OUR reality with our talking stones (cell phones if you couldn't pick that one up) using radio waves... and microwave ovens using LIGHT to heat up and cook our food! If reality can be turned on its head as fast as it has in the past 200 years can you imagine what we'll be seeing in the near future!?

    On behalf of the hibernating human animals, we deeply thank you Brandon (and the rest of Incubus) for being our vitamins...

    :)
    Flag newskin2012on August 26, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:alsomness im listen to it now
    Flag lola73c2on July 24, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I believe this song is specifically about 2012.
    Flag calgone47on April 16, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Christ_0808,

    This song is about society, silly. I advice you to ," see past what covers the surface."

    "when will we be new skin" we = humanity

    Maybe if you would "stop and take a look" "you'll see what I see now."
    Flag triliothon August 08, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is the bands best song. But the meaning is not that hard... Brandon didnt feel like deep thinking this day and wanted to make a song that rocked as so he whipped out some sort of science book and described what happens when a scab forms in his own way... then threw the lyrics over to Mikey and told him to make it rock ass.. which it does.
    Flag Christ_0808on January 01, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:We repeat things over and over again because we don't learn from our mistakes, not only from a societal perspective, but more importantly from a personal perspective. I think that part of the song MistaTwista mentioned that was left out is very important. We are conditioned to think that what we see is all there is to anything via television, politicians, you name it. If we can see beyond this illusion, we can be free of it. Kind of a metaphysical perspective (opinion) on the song. My favorite Incubus song.
    Flag blackiswhiteon December 12, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:no it can't just be about a scab brandon had now ur thinking too simple the S.C.E.I.E.N.C.E album is like a whole social comentary well some of the tracks but new skin i think is about how the future is the new present and how it's happening before are eyes and nothing is a reality anymore it's all artifical and "when will we become new skin" it's like out with the old in with the new when will we be wiped out and replaced that's what i think for the most part.
    Flag MudSchismSavioron August 07, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:no it can't just be about a scab brandon had now ur thinking too simple the S.C.E.I.E.N.C.E album is like a whole social comentary well some of the tracks but new skin i think is about how the future is the new present and how it's happening before are eyes and nothing is a reality anymore it's all artifical and "when will we become new skin" it's like out with the old in with the new when will we be wiped out and replaced that's what i think for the most part.
    Flag MudSchismSavioron August 07, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:oi everyone i think that u look to deep to find the meanings of songs. like for all we no Brandon could have sat down to write a song and might have a scab on his hand and so he decided to write a song about it. im a fellow musician and sometimes its the bests songs that a written about small things like scabs. "Look closely at that open wound,
    see past what covers the surface.
    Underneath chaotic catastrophe,
    creation takes the stage. " is u look underneath a scab with a microscope it is so chaotic. creation is taking a stage and showing what it can do.
    Flag im696on April 15, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:oi everyone i think that u look to deep to find the meanings of songs. like for all we no Brandon could have sat down to write a song and might have a scab on his hand and so he decided to write a song about it. im a fellow musician and sometimes its the bests songs that a written about small things like scabs. "Look closely at that open wound,
    see past what covers the surface.
    Underneath chaotic catastrophe,
    creation takes the stage. " is u look underneath a scab with a microscope it is so chaotic. creation is taking a stage and showing what it can do.
    Flag im696on April 15, 2005   Link

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