The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Conversion, software version 7.0
Looking at life through the eyes of a tire hub
Eating seeds as a pastime activity
The toxicity of our city, our city
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder? Disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
More wood for their fires, loud neighbors
Flashlight reveries caught in the headlights of a truck
Eating seeds as a pastime activity
The toxicity of our city, of our city
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder? Disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder?
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
When I became the sun
I shone life into the man's hearts
When I became the sun
I shone life into the man's hearts
Looking at life through the eyes of a tire hub
Eating seeds as a pastime activity
The toxicity of our city, our city
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder? Disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
More wood for their fires, loud neighbors
Flashlight reveries caught in the headlights of a truck
Eating seeds as a pastime activity
The toxicity of our city, of our city
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder? Disorder
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
You, what do you own the world?
How do you own disorder?
Now somewhere between the sacred silence
Sacred silence and sleep
Somewhere, between the sacred silence and sleep
Disorder, disorder, disorder
When I became the sun
I shone life into the man's hearts
When I became the sun
I shone life into the man's hearts
Lyrics submitted by F4RiD, edited by chrisliving13, MissingUser
Toxicity Lyrics as written by Daron V. Malakian Serj Tankian
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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This song has a simple, but emotional meaning... It was written when SOAD were in touch deeply with their Armenian side...
'Eating seeds as a pastime activity' - literally, in Armenia, US/Armenian places, you would see people eating sunflower seeds to pass the time, in public places there's often trails leading to groups of Armenians.
'Do you own disorder' - There is alot of disorder in Armenia. There's no jobs, police are corrupt, the goverment are connected to the mob and the Armenian race, to some point, has given up. THis is why the US seems like a heaven compared to Armenia.
'Sacred silence and sleep' - With there being no jobs and the country going to the dogs, having something to pass the time (Like eating sunflower seeds) is ideal. Silence occours because nobodys really, genuinely happy; thus silence is created. People have nothing much better to do than eat sunflower seeds and sleep to pass time.
'Looking at life through the eyes of a tire hub' - This means you don't care how fast you're moving through life, you only see a fraction of what's out in the world.
'When I became the sun, I shone life into mans hearts' - this means he used to be really happy, social and doing what we would consider normal activity, until the toxicity (danger, poverty, disorder) caught up and took over. 'The toxicity of our city' was also explained there.
I first heard this song today because i was looking for acoustic mandolin material out of the norm. I was pleasantly surprised! (youtube acoustic mandolin collab W chris 1999876) I have, with interest & facination enjoyed the many different meanings submitted. Thanks for all who took the time!<br /> Lets think about this.<br /> Maybe the song in general IS talking about mankind's pursuit of highest technology, or the best of everything, but how, actualy, we're worse off now than ever.<br /> 1st line=thirst for higher tech, better ways to control & organize<br /> 2nd line=(am I mistaken? everyone seems to think this is talking about a "tire" hub, the lyrics say "tired" hub, which would mean an exausted center of great activity or interest! thus=we have lost interest in the REAL meaning of life.<br /> 3rd line=seeds;Luke 8:11 "The seed is the word of God" are religions passivly or inactivly applying this message? are the historical mistakes & advances in mankind's history,being the "seeds" we've sown, not been taken seriously. Poison!<br /> Man has, and probably will always (until intervened by a higher source)try to own the world. What has been accomplished is DISORDER. Man can not own the world without disorder.<br /> Sacred=Holy,Sleep=Death, somewhere in between,disorder, confusion, lack of civic guidance.<br /> More wood=material gains. Loud neighbors=lack of respect for fellow man.<br /> Flashlight reveries=a flashlight is impulsive & only shines so far. Reveries are dreams...only to be brought down by the inevitable when lit with a flashlight that can only see so far!<br /> Last verse= of course Jesus, who simplified all this with two laws:You must love God(a higher source)and you must love your neighbor, on these two commandments the whole law hangs....(thus, the solution to disorder)<br /> Well, what do YOU think?
"There's no jobs, police are corrupt, the goverment are connected to the mob and the Armenian race, to some point, has given up. THis is why the US seems like a heaven compared to Armenia." You realize you just described America?
@MetalJackson eating seeds where I come from Gopnik eat the seeds when they kicking after rolling or what not mb...just eating seeds as oral fixation not smoking cigarette, there are armenians sometimes in russia where gopnik. so thas what i thoughts.. and sacred silence and sleep i digress to inform the bleeping fbi who no longer hold any values sacred including privacy like to disturb ppls sleep by rambling on...the uncultured swine..sleep deprivation is a classic form of torture..it also could relate to the homeless in our city...try napping like that and in general mb the "toxicity" refers to the actual toxicity , pollution and waste that people create..it teaches us to have emotional values because without them we are just waste and nothing more.
Well...I hate to end the arguing, but heres the answer from the source itself....Mr Serj.
Found in the August 18 2001 issue of Kerrang Metal magazine, taken from the first impression of the album "Toxicity" Kerrang did with Serj and John of SoaD.
John: It's about your poisonous content. Your toxicity level. But toxicity doesn't necessarily mean the toxicity of a person, it can be the toxicity of a city. Or the toxicity of a nation. The toxicity of a speech. It's just toxicity in general or whatever.
Who knows what the song means? None of us, obviously, so why don't we stop bickering amongst each other and get down to the real point of which is: what the song means to us: not one person will share the exact same views as another, so stop caling each other idiots and just listen to the music. Music is the brainchild of a person who understand themself. Listen and Feel.
I agree with mo0stah to an extent. Yes we should stop bickering, and yes we should stop calling each other idiots. However, debating the the meaning the of the song can help 2 build on one's opinion of the meaning. That being said, ToWn Wizzard's post was unnecessarily rude, and added no value.
My interpretation of the song is about the same as Rave's so I'm not going to repeat it, but there was one line in the song that I thought was very interesting. "Flashlight reveries caught in the headlights of a truck." He's talking about someone falling asleep behind the wheel of a car and turning into oncoming traffic. The driver hits a truck head on because, in a dream, he saw the headlights of the truck as flashlights. This could mean that Serj thinks technology is dulling our sense of reality (and that we're constantly stuck in a state between silence and sleep?), or it could be just an example of the disorder that is going on around us.
In my opinion you hit it right on the head. I think what he is trying to say is that the world we are living in is between the real world and the fake one (internet, technology). The ending stanza ("When I became the sun I shone life into the man's heart") is perhaps referring to Plato's allegory of the cave. Which somewhat follows the same theme of this song. Actually the more I think about it, it really follows along the same lines. ("More wood for their fires, loud neighbors") The puppeteers in Plato's story use the fire to create shadows which create, in it's entirety, the people's (our own?) reality. And all people do is sit there and eat seeds (maybe popcorn?) and enjoy the show.
@Ben0008 I am not sure about that. Because Serj opened an art exhibit where you can use a smartphone to listen to music and learn more about the painting. I could be wrong though
I think he's asking the capitalists out there how can they own everything, when certain things will never have a price tag (disorder and rebellion).
Interesting. Have you ever seen Bill Still's movie "money changers". It's about people who actually do own the world.<br /> <br /> Here's link<br /> video.google.com/videoplay#
I think the song is about the government and how the controll us, and he's asking them "how do you own disorder". they have the power over the things we can do, thust controlling us. also the deffiniton of "Conversion Disorder" is being impaired in some way like being blind, so he's saying "how do you have the power and controll over what we do. that all i could really brake down.
I love it when songs sound like they had thought put into them.. anyway. Toxicity. I think it’s about greed, pollution and destruction poisoning us as a society. A toxic city. “Software version 7.0” – that’s a little extreme. After all, there’s only so much you can add; for instance, I haven’t noticed one significant difference between AOL 2.0 and 7.0. They could be mocking AOL or just technology in general, but either way they’re pointing out that we go to excesses in pursuit of the best we can find. We narrow our focus, and see life from a tire hub; if you’re looking out from a tire, all you can see is the street flashing by. All you care about is how fast you’re going, but you never notice what you’re passing.
I think the reference to eating seeds, in context of the whole song, means that things have gotten so out of hand that we have to pump ourselves full of foreign substances just to feel alive. We’ve become corrupt and greedy. Instead of developing relationships with our family and friends, we spend time with our software. Instead of keeping our environment clean we carelessly pollute. We have to take extreme measures just to distract us from the mess we’ve created out of our lives. It hadn’t occurred to me, but I agree – I think sacred silence means death. I have no clue what he means by ‘somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep’. But I get this weird sense he means insanity. That or he could mean an overall lack of consciousness. Makes sense, sleep is the lightest form of being unconscious, death is obviously the ultimate form.
The interpretation of the truck hitting oncoming traffic is very interesting. However, I just don’t get that impression from ‘flashlight reveries’. It sounds more like a cult gathering to do their rituals, only instead of candles or torches they use flashlights. The idea of using technology in a way that seems wrong fits with the song. Also ‘more wood for their fires’ and ‘loud neighbors’ obviously could relate to the cult idea. I don’t know where the headlights come in though.
I also definitely agree with whoever said he was mocking Christ. He might blame Christ for evil things that have happened in society; for example, the Holocaust and the witch trials. Or he might think that Christ’s appearance led us to technology somehow. “Shone life into the man’s hearts”.. somehow motivated us to create a more complex society.. maybe. I can see a remote connection there. Mainly though I don’t think the ending is supposed to be optimistic, more sarcastic.
Call me crazy but I actually see thi song as more environmental. And I'm not an environmentalist in any sort. <br /> <br /> But "eating seeds is a past time activity, the toxicity..." as in we can no longer grow plants suitable for eating condition. <br /> <br /> "new how do you own the world. How do you own disorder" is referring to the governmen system, obviously, on how can try own something that is far beyond their control. Just an idea, I could write more but I'mat work. I'm sure y'all could play around a little with this though
This Sums It Up: After a toxicity song in concert, serj tankian( Lead singer) said "We are hear to nurture our plantet, not fucking destroy it.
These are the lyrics from the end of Toxicity Live @ Big Day Out 2002 found off of YoutTube :
10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. an new way of thinking was developed. one that involved totalitarian agriculture and now ...
good by blue skies, good by blue skies, good bye (background singer continues this refrain)
We've fallen asleep as people, as animals on this planet. We are here to nurture our planet. We are hear to help guard(garden?) this fucking place, not destroy it for god's sakes!
I am sick and tired of unequal globalism. I am sick and tired of fascism ... of this type of people.
Here's the link : youtube.com/watch
To me it means:\n\nConversion Software 7.0 (excessive updates) But we are the ones being programmed from TV news and our electronic devices.\n\nLooking at life through a hub - so quickly we are taking in media and being programmed, with each flip of the channel or click on a link.\n\nEating seeds- Again we are being programmed by media little by little like seeds that continue to grow into toxic ideas; thus we live in the toxic- city.\n\nYou, what do you own the world- this is to the powers that be- who control the media to make us conform to their world view, by showing us dysfunction and disorder, constantly on the news ( every waking moment - between sacred silence(death) and sleep) so that we will fear and fall in line.\n\nMore wood for their fire , loud neighbors ( showing the worst of humanity on the news to further implant these ideas into us) Most people you actually know are decent regardless of their politics, but the media is dividing us where we agree, so we think the worst about good people)\n\nFlashlight reveries- entertainment and distractions on our tvs and screens, so we don’t see we are headed (headlights of a truck) in a dangerous situation of viewing us vs them philosophy. Because Democracy is supposed to be about what the people want, the powers that be, are sowing seeds of of disorder, thus making life toxic and and distrustful of average people so that we cannot come together to to make positive change democratically.
i got sick of reading all this shit quite quickly.
kylie.