Erie whispers
Trapped beneath my pillow
You won't let me sleep
Your memories

I know you're in this room
I'm sure I heard you sigh
Floating in between
Where our worlds collide

Scares the hell out of me
And the end is all I can see
And it scares the hell out of me
And the end is all I can see

And I know the moment's near
And there's nothing we can do
Look through a faithless eye
Are you afraid to die?

It scares the hell out of me
And the end is all I can see
And it scares the hell out of me
And the end is all I can see

It scares the hell out of me
And the end is all I can see
And it scares the hell out of me
And the end is all I can see



Lyrics submitted by Aerion, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 03:07

"Thoughts of a Dying Atheist" as written by Matthew James Bellamy

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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Thoughts of a Dying Atheist song meanings
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135 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:and i am not frightened of dying... anytime will do i don't mind.. why should i be frightened of dying? there is no reason for it you gotto go some time (Pink Floyd, the great gig in the sky)
    Flag majid6565on October 06, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I just saw this.
    I think I would be scared too if I did not have a purpose in life. What is the point of living, if a person is to vanish afterwards?
    I respect people's views totally. I am just glad I do not have that fear.
    Flag girl7on July 05, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I just saw this.
    I think I would be scared too if I did not have a purpose in life. What is the point of living, if a person is to vanish afterwards?
    I respect people's views totally. I am just glad I do not have that fear.
    Flag girl7on July 05, 2012   Link
  • +5
    Song Meaning:Being an agnostic atheist myself, I can really relate to this song.

    "Scares the hell out of me
    And the end is all I can see"

    Atheists don't believe in God or the afterlife. We believe that when you die, you die for good. You cease to exist. Evanescence. Everything you ever were, everyone you loved, every moment of your life all doesn't matter anymore. You're gone forever, just gone and nothing more.

    "Erie whispers
    Trapped beneath my pillow
    You won't let me sleep
    Your memories"

    The erie whispers are pessimistic worries and thoughts. "You" is referring to the whispers. They're keeping him up with the memories of all that he is (was) and how that will be no more.

    "I know you're in this room
    I'm sure I heard you sigh
    Floating in between
    Where our worlds collide"

    He's clinging onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, there is something more. He's deluding himself into thinking he's hearing ghosts and spirits, probably of a dead loved one. Also, the atheist is coming close to death, so maybe he's fading in and out, he's passing between the bridge of life and death ("where out worlds collide") and he thinks he's hearing the dead, like he's on the brink of dying.

    "And I know the moment's near
    And there's nothing we can do
    Look through a faithless eye
    Are you afraid to die?"

    There's nothing he can do to stop death. He knows it's hopeless. Looking through a faithless eye is having a non-religious perspective. He's saying, "What if there is no Heaven or Hell or reincarnation? What if we simply disappear?"

    I love this song so much. It describes my thoughts on death perfectly, and I too have been up at night hearing the "erie whispers."
    Flag DemiLuvon July 05, 2012   Link
  • -1
    Song Meaning:Being an agnostic atheist myself, I can really relate to this song.

    "Scares the hell out of me
    And the end is all I can see"

    Atheists don't believe in God or the afterlife. We believe that when you die, you die for good. You cease to exist. Evanescence. Everything you ever were, everyone you loved, every moment of your life all doesn't matter anymore. You're gone forever, just gone and nothing more.

    "Erie whispers
    Trapped beneath my pillow
    You won't let me sleep
    Your memories"

    The erie whispers are pessimistic worries and thoughts. "You" is referring to the whispers. They're keeping him up with the memories of all that he is (was) and how that will be no more.

    "I know you're in this room
    I'm sure I heard you sigh
    Floating in between
    Where our worlds collide"

    He's clinging onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, there is something more. He's deluding himself into thinking he's hearing ghosts and spirits, probably of a dead loved one. Also, the atheist is coming close to death, so maybe he's fading in and out, he's passing between the bridge of life and death ("where out worlds collide") and he thinks he's hearing the dead, like he's on the brink of dying.

    "And I know the moment's near
    And there's nothing we can do
    Look through a faithless eye
    Are you afraid to die?"

    There's nothing he can do to stop death. He knows it's hopeless. Looking through a faithless eye is having a non-religious perspective. He's saying, "What if there is no Heaven or Hell or reincarnation? What if we simply disappear?"

    I love this song so much. It describes my thoughts on death perfectly, and I too have been up at night hearing the "erie whispers."
    Flag DemiLuvon July 05, 2012   Link
  • +4
    General Comment:Only a true atheist can really understand why death would scare the hell out of one.
    Flag bmx3r101on October 26, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:I think it's what the title says and a love song of sorts.
    'your memories' I think refers to a dead girl who was the love of his(atheist) life and that he believes that those memories are gone.

    In the second verse he playes a little trick on himself: 'I'm sure I heard you sigh'
    We also find out she probably was a believer

    In the third and last verse he asks the ghost of her (in which we allready know he doesn't believe) if she is afraid to die. So he basically asks himself.

    In the end I think he misses her(her memories which made her who she was) as well as dreading losing his own being.

    just my two cents, please don't mind my spelling or grammar, oh and the sexes of above explenation could be whatever you like.


    Flag musinqon August 24, 2011   Link
  • +6
    General Comment:Being myself a non-believer, I can understand what the song means. Matthew Bellamy is also an atheist. I believe he just wrote what he thinks about the moment we die. In our opinion, there's no life or paradise or hell or anything after death, so Matthew wonders, while he is dying, if it is really as he thinks. Well, it is just a song about fears that sometimes, or often, catch us non-believers.
    Flagged CiccioDKon June 27, 2011   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:Being myself a non-believer, I can understand what the song means. Matthew Bellamy is also an atheist. I believe he just wrote what he thinks about the moment we die. In our opinion, there's no life or paradise or hell or anything after death, so Matthew wonders, while he is dying, if it is really as he thinks. Well, it is just a song about fears that sometimes, or often, catch us non-believers.
    Flag CiccioDKon June 27, 2011   Link
  • +3
    My Interpretation:I think eggorox is pretty close, though interpretations are subjective. It's most certainly a concept album about the end of the world, however the world is never defined. Maybe it's the earth, maybe it's a really fucked up relationship, maybe it's the loss of someone near to you, maybe it's an addiction consuming your life, maybe it's about war, etc... Any of those things can make life as you know it cease to be and make you feel that everything is ending. Just food for thought.

    I came to this conclusion after trying(and failing) and trying(and failing) again to end a destructive relationship. However I'll never say with any certainty that's what the album is about as it's highly subjective.

    As an aside, don't forget Fury. When you tack that onto the tracklist as the closing track rather than Ruled by Secrecy, the album gets really depressing, because it essentially leaves you knowing that whatever is causing your apocalypse will win in the end.
    Flag kardinalon May 20, 2011   Link

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