Lyrics for Born of a Broken Man as interpreted by piesupreme

Born of a Broken Man Lyrics
My fears hunt me down
Capturing my memories
The frontier of loss
They try to escape across the street where
Jesus stripped bare
And raped the spirit he was supposed to nurture
In the name of my
In the name of my

Born of a broken man
But not a broken man
Born of a broken man
Never a broken man

Like autumn leaves
His sense fell from him
An empty glass of himself
Shattered somewhere within
His thoughts like a hundred moths
Trapped in a lampshade
Somewhere within
Their wings banging and burning
On through endless nights
Forever awake he lies shaking and starving
Praying for someone to turn off the light

Born of a broken man
Never a broken man
Born of a broken man
But not a broken man

My fears hunt me down
Capturing my memories
The frontier of loss
They try to escape across the street where
Jesus stripped bare
And raped the spirit he was supposed to nurture
In the name of my
In the name of my

Born of a broken man
But not a broken man
Born of a broken man
Never a broken man

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deltajoy
01-22-2002

Rated 0 
This is the story of Zach de la Rocha's father, Berto, who, as an artist, of the group Los 4, suffered great emotional stress. His works were often politically-charged social commentaries, and this probabaly served as a catalyst for Zach's political awakening.

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supersprm57
03-10-2002

Rated 0 
THIS FUCKEN SONG ROCKS.. me and my band we covered it and we had the croud screaming ... the song has really good guitar riffs and its very easy to play.. 1hour to learn

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OxygenWastingLoser
03-18-2002

Rated 0 
indeed this song does rock,RATM is the only good rap-metal(i hate that term so much)some of their best lyrics


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OxygenWastingLoser
03-18-2002

Rated 0 
indeed this song does rock,RATM is the only good rap-metal(i hate that term so much)some of their best lyrics


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Mermaidtree
04-10-2002

Rated 0 
Yeah, this song is about Zack's dad, and I guess the only information that I can really add to what deltajoy wrote is that Zack had a hard time singing this song live (when he was still with Rage) and that it took him years to finally write it in the first place. I'm glad I got to see them perform it live (which I think they only did a handful of times) before they broke up.

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Michael
05-31-2002

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I'm wondering why it mentions Jesus if it's about his dad. Unless his dad's name is Jesus?

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TornadoNHS
07-09-2002

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it probably mentions jesus as it is saying zach blames jesus for the pain his father went through(raped the spirit he was suposed to nuture)

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Michael
08-31-2002

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I don't get how he figures it that way... :-(

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DTD123
09-17-2002

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Now I don't agree with what Zack says because I'm a proud follower of jesus Christ and can't really indentify with this, but here's what he means. As stated above, Zack's father made some incredible, politically charged paintings. But then his father found religion. He decided to completely devote his life to christ. He forced Zack to fast for days and burn the paintings(I'm guessing as an offering to god? Not sure though). Zack loved the paintings. But he also had to stand by and watch his father crumble mentally. He wasn't really working so he could no longer pay the bills, etc. In saying that "jesus raped the spirit he was supposed to nuture", he's saying that jesus helped in the metamorphisis of his father into a person that was nothing like what he used to be.

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eddog29512
05-01-2003

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Dude, when I first heard this song I thought it was a Christian song...Lemme splain...Throughout the whole song he's talking about somebody suffering, whom I assumed from the line about Jesus, was Jesus suffering. To me it seemed that the song was a story of the crucifixion, where Jesus suffered and Zach was trying to say that even though he (Jesus) was suffering, he was never broken.

Can anyone see where I'm coming from, or am I by myself on this one?

By the way, I'd never heard the thing about his dad, that's why it never occurred to me.

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profskett
06-01-2003

Rated 0 
that sounds like a cool interpretation, but judging by some of Zack's other lyrics it's kinda unlikely he actually wrote the song about Jesus.

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Apathetic Tragedy
06-09-2004

Rated 0 
i think its about christ.

but then again i think its about someone whos so tortured he just wants to die. "His thoughts like a hundred moths
Trapped in a lampshade
Somewhere within
Their wings banging and burning
On through endless night
Forever awake he lies shaking and starving
Praying for someone to turn off the light"

may be christ might not be.

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ArcArsenal101
06-13-2004

Rated 0 
this song is about zacks father who was in a group of artists who were not liked so they decited to draw there art on the walls of the city, his father was religious man and finally when he found out it was a sin it destroyed him so zack blames religion for his dad never being the same.

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meursaultsrevolver
09-21-2004

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you ****ing christians make me sick! if something has the word christ in it, it must be about your religion right? WRONG! de la is a MARXIST and more importantly an ATHEIST (the best religion in the world) - if he is describing jesus as raping something, i somehow don't think it is about him suffering, do you?
it's about the destruction of someone by the one thing that was supposed to love them. Maybe Zack feels that his dad's religious obsessions nearly destroyed him? anyway, i feel it's a song i can identify with a lot, seeing as my own dad could be described as broken and i have resigned myself to never giving up, no matter how much i sometimes wish someone would turn out my light.

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meursaultsrevolver
09-21-2004

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you ****ing christians make me sick! if something has the word christ in it, it must be about your religion right? WRONG! de la is a MARXIST and more importantly an ATHEIST (the best religion in the world) - if he is describing jesus as raping something, i somehow don't think it is about him suffering, do you?
it's about the destruction of someone by the one thing that was supposed to love them. Maybe Zack feels that his dad's religious obsessions nearly destroyed him? anyway, i feel it's a song i can identify with a lot, seeing as my own dad could be described as broken and i have resigned myself to never giving up, no matter how much i sometimes wish someone would turn out my light.

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Mr.Graves
12-19-2004

Rated 0 
truth is, Zach's mother is the reason the lines with jesus are in this song. She was a religious fanatic and his dad was a political artist, they split up, and Zach stayed with his mother, she became more fanatical to the point where he couldn't take it anymore, and went to stay with his father.

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OpinionHead
01-05-2005

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I thought it was about Jesus...if it isn't, I won't chide the writer for not following Jesus. The cruficixion is in essence "a raping of the spirit that he was supposed to nurture". Jesus' torture on his way to Calvary signified the redemption of human nature. Since human nature is imperfect, it falls short of the grace of God. That's how I came to think this song was initially about Jesus.

Speaking of Marxism, take a look at the book of Acts in the New Testament. The original Christian community in that text had a communist spirit to it. Now tell me that Marxism and Christianity don't have anything in common.

But, if you disagree with me, that's fine. To each his or her own.

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oKySP
01-22-2005

Rated 0 
Christianity is a communistic religion and a cult to boot (due to Jesus being alive....think about it), but that has nothing to do with this song. Zack was born of his father, a broken man. His father is a very political man and one who believes in God. His father is mentally destroyed by the life that he leads and for having a voice. Zack is only saying that Jesus is supposed to nuture people thru thier hardships and his father's soul was raped anyway. It is as if Zack is justifying is reasoning for being Atheist (which is not the best religion for it is not a religion but the lack of one, idiot.) The song is about the painting burning incodent and Zack remembering his father's reaction to this event. The event broke him and his soul.

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OpinionHead
01-29-2005

Rated 0 
Still there best song in my mind...I like it very, very much. I don't care what the exact meaning is.

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meursaultsrevolver
02-02-2005

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woah woah woah, fuck face, hold the phone, yes i'm talking to you oKySP - you mean you DIDN'T realise i was taking the piss when i called atheism a religion, boy are you dense. go find out how to recognise sarcasm and irony you fuckwit, then come back and try to challenge some one who is intellectually superior to you, no wait, don't come back, just jump off a bridge. fucking morons.

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El Cato
02-03-2005

Rated 0 
This is about Zack and his father. This one's fairly clearcut as I see it. And could we not have so much abuse of each other in her? It's pointless.
Beto, Zack's father had a nervous breakdown and 'went Christian', and due to the Commandment that 'thou shalt not make engraven images', Beto stopped painting, the creativity which had inspired Zack for so long was gone, leaving his father a Broken Man. This, in Zack's view, was the fault of Christianity, especially easy to blame as he wasn't fond of it anyhow, check out 'Ashes In The Fall' s "priest that fucked you as he whispered Holy things". So there!

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El Cato
02-03-2005

Rated 0 
Ha, I meant "could we not have so much abuse of each other in HERE" not "her".
^_^

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insignificant2all_5
02-28-2005

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to Meursaultsrevolver you really need to take a pin to that huge head of yours, you angsty pile of teenage shit.

First of all, in case you hadn't noticed, we're talking on the internet, so sarcasm is a little hard to pick up. Secondly it's people like you who give other young people a bad reputation. Intellect is nothing special, believe me, you're born with the potential, you foster it with a few books and now fuckwits like you think you're king shit.

A true intellectual (if such a thing exists) doesn't berate others for a lack of understanding. Grow up, get a pair and suck up your angst you smacktard.

Personally i thought this was about Christ as well, and how we're all born of a broken man, but not broken ourselves-"Born of a broken man, never a broken man"

I myself am not Christian, but a non-practicing Buddhist. However this song paints a hellish picture and it fucking rocks, i'd jump at the chance to make a filmclip out of this

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funky_bass_guy
04-05-2005

Rated 0 
Personally I think the lines:

'They try to escape across the street where
Jesus stripped bare
And raped the spirit he was supposed to nurture '

Is using Jesus as a metaphor for the society we live in, the raped by the spirit he was supposed to nurture refers to how the 'plus points' of our society end up being the very things that destory it.

For example free speech is supposed to be allowed in America but in reality if you express views that the government disagrees with you will be silenced.

Your comments would be welcome.
(insignificant I agree a film clip would be awesome!)

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meursaultsrevolver
04-13-2005

Rated 0 
let me just get this straight, you're calling me an immature teenager and you manage to include in that insinuation the word 'smacktard' and the phrase 'get a pair'. yeah very mature oh and original too. also, you managed to point out a few times your opinion that i am 'angsty' and your name is 'insignificant2all'. well done. you've excelled yourself. finally, i thought i'd look up the exact meaning of the word angst, just to see if it's as bad a thing as you like to make out in your staggering generalisations; A feeling of anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression.
yes clearly a bad thing, i mean the world is a perfect place right? no need for anxiety here. what the fuck are you talking about? you like the song born of a broken man including the lines 'my fears hunt me down', 'the frontier of loss' and 'praying for someone to turn out the light'. i'm thinking perhaps you're either an idiot, or you haven't yet come to terms with your own angst. oh and about me coming on here and berating people of lower intelligences, let's just take a look at what provoked me into making my previous statement - 'which is not the best religion for it is not a religion but the lack of one, IDIOT'. well i emphasized the main attraction of that little declarative, but i think i'll let you ponder it out.

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