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

I'm going to ignore all the previous views and take a fresh (not religious or historical based) perspective on these lines by analyzing them as a standalone text (which they are not, although they certainly are good enough to be)

Lets take thoughts to literally mean thoughts, the line "their wings banging and burning" can mean pain and "on through endless nights" can mean lengthy periods of time, possibly sleep interrupting. The metaphorical lampshade is the lyricists mind and the light is awareness, awareness of the suffering, horrors and abhorrent acts committed daily by man unto himself, others and mother earth. Now i certainly know that with my awareness of the world and what i know of what we are doing i find myself wishing that i could "turn off the light" meaning to lose my awareness, return to the bliss of ignorance, although knowing that this is impossible i know the closest thing i can achieve to that feeling comes with awareness.
judging from other lyrics from RATM the Zach is all about awareness, this stand alone section could be reference to the suffering brought through awareness.
that's my two cents worth, i wonder how that will go down in the community and if ill get flamed for not following the last 3 pages of status quo.

kingsofleonrule
that was a fucking epic explanation! are you zack?
how did you know all that about his dad?
where did you find the info?

kingsofleonrule
that was a fucking epic explanation! are you zack?
how did you know all that about his dad?
where did you find the info?

meursaultsrevolver
im not sure that zack is a marxist, i thought he was all for the ezln? isnt that why rage have a star as their symbol?

and why are you abusing christians? if you have a good reason fair enough, it just seems unfounded. it looks like the only person here who got it right DTD123 is a christian. (im not)

is their anything to be said about how zack wont make mistakes his father made?
"born of a broken man, but not a broken man"

I love rage, but if this song is about Zack being atheist and blaming religion for his father's "broken glass in himself," then the song is really dumb. I thought this because then the song uses circular reasoning. Zack would be saying that Jesus raped his father's sprit, but if he is Atheist there is no Jesus. Right?

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

Who is "They?"

And the person doing the raping seems to be they, not Jesus because rape is in past tense. It sound like this if it was Jesus doing the raping

"Jesus stripped bare
And raping the spirit he was supposed to nurture"

Oh and Meursaultsrevolver is filled with angst haha

I love rage, but if this song is about Zack being atheist and blaming religion for his father's "broken glass in himself," then the song is really dumb. I thought this because then the song uses circular reasoning. Zack would be saying that Jesus raped his father's sprit, but if he is Atheist there is no Jesus. Right?

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

Who is "They?"

And the person doing the raping seems to be they, not Jesus because rape is in past tense. It sound like this if it was Jesus doing the raping

"Jesus stripped bare
And raping the spirit he was supposed to nurture"

Oh and Meursaultsrevolver is filled with angst haha

1 Reply

I love rage, but if this song is about Zack being atheist and blaming religion for his father's "broken glass in himself," then the song is really dumb. I thought this because then the song uses circular reasoning. Zack would be saying that Jesus raped his father's sprit, but if he is Atheist there is no Jesus. Right?

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

Who is "They?"

And the person doing the raping seems to be they, not Jesus because rape is in past tense. It sound like this if it was Jesus doing the raping

"Jesus stripped bare
And raping the spirit he was supposed to nurture"

Oh and Meursaultsrevolver is filled with angst haha

I think this song is about Zack's father impregnanting his mother despite having had a vasectomy. which seems to suggest that Zack thinks of himself as some sort of miracle or something. sheesh...ego!

Berto De La Rocha was a Mexican American (Chicano). Berto was in a Los Angeles art group called the ‘Los four’ who painted pictures describing the Chicano life, the problems they face and their fight for rights and identity. The members were Carlos Almaraz, Frank E Romero, Gilbert Lujan and Berto (Appendix 2 image 1). Some of the group’s best pictures where the 200 ft long ‘Return of the Maya’ and the ‘Great Wall of Los Angeles’ (Appendix 3 images 1, 2). In 1974 the Los four were the first Chicano Art group to have an art exhibition which was held at the Los Angeles county art museum. When Zach was about 1 year old Berto divorced his wife Olivia. The pair split over their difference in opinion over political issues and other problems in their relationship.


Berto then had a mental break down and began to take on his religious beliefs to the extremes. Berto applied religion to every aspect of his life. Berto interpreted the 2nd commandment “thou shall not make graven images” as a reason to stop painting. He believed he was idolizing his art and putting it ahead of god. He thought his would make god angry so he destroyed and burnt all his canvas art. Berto would fast for days and sit in a dark room with the curtains closed and the door locked. According to Almaraz a former member of the Los Four, "he (Berto) left the group under very, very terrible circumstances. He ended up going on 40-day fast and ended up at the psychiatric ward at the L.A. County Hospital, and came down with various illnesses dealing with the fast, and never really recovered. The last I had heard was that he was burning his work and basically denouncing art as being an act of the devil and not an act of God”.

Though there may have been underlying mental health issues I believe there were many things that contributed to Berto’s mental breakdown. The first reason was the pressure he had placed on himself and by the Chicano people to represent them and his fight to give the Mexican people a name. The next contributing factor was the break up between him and his wife. As Berto stopped painting he could no longer financially support him self and fell in to financial problems. The final reason was the fact Berto could no longer express him self through painting and vent his anger and frustration, which may have led to a build up in emotion, eventually sending him over the edge. It is important to note the effect this had on Zach, for he too lost the paintings which had a lot of importance in his link to his heritage and his sense of self. The pictures and his dad’s influence had established an identity for Zach. Berto was a very important influence on the development of Zach’s political views and his spirit, he showed Zack it’s good to stand up for who you are and what you believe.

After examining the lyrics of ‘Born of a Broken Man’, I believe the content of these lyrics is strongly linked to Zach’s father’s breakdown and his consequent turning to Christ and religion. Perhaps Zach viewed this as the core reason for his father’s destructive behaviour.

This is a break down of the lyrics in the song line by line.

My fears hunt me down capturing my memories
This line is talking about how his fears haunt him and they’re stalking him. Some how his fears are out of control and he remembers them even if he doesn’t want to. His fears are those of his dad and how Zach is scared of turning out like him.

The frontier of loss
This is the first big loss he has experienced. Zach was about 13 when his dad had the breakdown and felt a big loss when his father had gone, and destroyed his paintings. Zach associated a sense of identity with the paintings and felt he lost a part of his identity when the paintings were gone.

They try to escape across the street where Jesus stripped bare and raped the spirit he was supposed to nurture.
This is one of the most powerful lyric in the song and sparked the most debate amongst listeners. I interpret this line as a part in Berto’s life then he turned to Christianity. Zach talks about Jesus or god and religion destroying his dad. People say Jesus is supposed to nurture, comfort and forgive people. Religion did none of these things for Berto but instead lead to his break down. As Berto took his religious beliefs to extremes he destroyed his paintings as he believed it was a sin to paint and idolise anything but god. Although Berto’s religion wasn’t the main reason he went crazy Zach saw this as the main reason and blames religion.

In the name of my.
This lyric could be talking about how the community destroyed his dad “in the name of my lord” All though I couldn’t find any evidence of the community being against his dad and his political paintings it is quite possible they where. If the American people living in Los Angeles had had enough they could have used the strong religious community beliefs to aid them in getting rid of him.

‘Born of a Broken Man’ but not a broken man
‘Born of a Broken Man’ never a broken man
All of Zach’s songs have a strong point or a part where he shows us his point of view on the issue. In ‘Born of a Broken Man’ the chorus is the part of the song where he shows us his view and his usual fighting sprit. The first line Zach is saying my father was broken but I’m not. Next he is saying my father may have been broken but I will never be. This is a part in the song where Zach is almost promising him self he will never turn out like his dad.

Like autumn leaves his sense fell from him
Slowly his dad is losing things he once used to have. The things Zach knew his dad for where slowly dying like leaves and falling. Eventually his dad was stripped of every thing like a tree and went insane.

An empty glass of himself Shattered somewhere within.
This line talks about how his dad has nothing and is shattered. He uses an empty glass rather than just a glass. This implies the fact that the glass was once full but now it’s not. Saying the glass is shattered is a better adjective then just saying his dad was broken. The way he links the lyrics together is also clever.

His thoughts like a hundred moths.
The next few lines are a great way of letting you see the feelings his dad must have felt and the frustration he experienced. 100 moths lets you imagine how much chaos and confusion must have been going through his head. This makes you feel how out of control his thoughts and emotions must have been.

Trapped in a lampshade Somewhere within
His thoughts are trapped in his head and he can’t express himself. I think this line relates to his dad and the fact he couldn’t paint. An artist like his dad would be a very creative person with lots of ideas. When his dad stopped painting his ideas where bottled up and he couldn’t get them out.

Their wings banging and burning on through endless nights
This tells us the burning pain his dad felt and the banging noises he heard from his thoughts. It all so relates to the moths at the start. At times Berto would just sit in a room he wouldn’t talk, eat and at times he wouldn’t sleep. His thoughts probably kept him awake all night.

Forever awake he lies shaking and starving.
This describes the effect that the mental illness had on his physical side. The starving line refers to how his dad would starve him self in some sort of twisted offer to god.

Praying for someone to turn off the light
This refers back to the lamp shade line mentioned earlier. It’s a little play on words, then he says praying it’s another way religion affected him. Turning off the light could only mean one of two things the first may have been his dad wanting his life to end or him wanting to get over his illness.

Jesus stripped bare
And raped the spirit he was supposed to nurture

^It's simply saying that religion (christianity specifically) ruined who his dad was. Religion was supposed to promise good things to those who follow, but in Zac's dads case, it destroyed him. Also, its not Zac saying that all religion is a joke and a hoax and a cult like some of you might be thinking, its just Zac giving his reason to justify his decision to be an atheist. I dont practice any religions, but I can't stand when other people bash the concept of religion. It is a plausible concept seeing as nobody knows what to expect after death. What I'm really saying is, it does absolutely nothing to say "You ****ing christians make me sick!" Don't go telling people what is right and wrong, just worry about your own opinions. This website is for people to say what they think so other people can draw their own conclusions about the meaning of a song.

This song is about Zach's dad. He was an artist, a political artist I think, and went through a religious awakening and became Christian and destroyed a bunch of his works because he found them offensive to his new faith. Thats what Zach meant by the whole raping thing. Dunno if someone said that or not, but I didn't feel like reading through 3 pages of arguing to find out =3

o and by pretty sure i mean 100% sure lol

um im still pretty sure your wrong _Z, but i no it aint cool to go off on other peeps opinions like that so srry man

WTF _Z? WAT PART OF THIS SONG COOD POSIBLY B ABOUT GAY RITES? i got an idea, actually read the lyrics to the song b sayin some crazy crap about gay rites ok?

way to handle things, _z

__z you have a verry complicated way of translating things. IS THERE ANYWHERE in the song that has to do with gay rights??? u R RETARDED

Its about zacks dad who had a emotional breakdown that took heavy impact to zacks childhood

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

BUT about Jesus raping the spirit i really don't know somebody help

the song is about gay rights !!!!!!! all of you are stupid fuckarrooooooossssssssss

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys r such dumb shits! You all clearly DO NOT know what born of a brocken man is all about. The song is clearly about the gay rights movement in New York City during the 1970's. JESUS..... Sort your shit out and get it right da first time....... peace out

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys r such dumb shits! You all clearly DO NOT know what bombtrack is all about. The song is clearly about the gay rights movement in New York City during the 1970's. JESUS..... Sort your shit out and get it right da first time....... peace out

belief in nothing is still belief. in order to believe in nothing you must first believe that nothing is something. atheism is in fact just as much [religion] as any other belief.

If you know about Zachs life you'll realise that his father did have a breakdown so you'd think that was the point of this song, but this ong was written by drummer Brad Wilk if you look at the credits on the album, so i would hav to lean more towards the christ-related metaphors

tobelieve is right, atheism is not a religion, he just explained so i need not do that, you can just read his statement.

religion isn't just a belief in something. It is the more specifically the belief in a supernatural or divine power. Seeing as how atheists do not believe in anything or believe in nothing atheism is not a religion.

" when was atheism EVER synonymous with bigotry?" there he goes with the sarcasm again =P.

"I just read through this whole argument, and it really was fucking pointless. Revolver, i'm with you on the religous side, i beleive the whole of religion is a fascist disgrace to control any one ignorant enough to listen. However, being atheist is not a religion, but neither would i describe myself as a atheist because i do not like to be associated with religion, beleiving it or not beleiving in it, as it does not exist. And some advice, if like me, you want people to wake up from the ignorance of religion, then the best way is to not talk about it with them. It seems that religous people always want to convert more people by talking to them, so just refuse and annoy the fuck out of them!" -vodkalix

if atheism isn't a religion, then what is a religion? i've been looking for an atheist to enlighten me. everyone believes in something. even if that something is nothing. religion is belief. atheists always pin "religion" on anyone who doesn't believe in nothing. your "religion" has been sold out as a cheesy cliche just as much as mine has.