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Stapled shut, inside an outside world and I'm
Sealed in tight, bizarre but right at home
Claustrophobic, closing in and I'm
Catastrophic, not again
I'm smeared across the page, and doused in gasoline
I wear you like a stain, yet I'm the one who's obscene
Catch me upon all your sordid little insurrections,
I've got no time to lose, and I'm just caught up in all the cattle
Fray the strings
Throw the shapes
Hold your breath
And listen!
[Chorus: x2]
I am a world before I am a man
I was a creature before I could stand
I will remember before I forget
Before I forget that!
I'm ripped across the ditch, and settled in the dirt and I'm
I wear you like a stitch, yet I'm the one who's hurt
Pay attention to your twisted little indiscretions
I've got no right to win, I'm just caught up all the battles
Locked in clutch
Pushed in place
Hold your breath
And listen!
[Chorus: x2]
My end
It justifies my means
All I have to do is delay
I'm given time to evade
The end of the road is my end
It justifies my means
All I have to do is delay
I'm haven't time to evade
The end of the road!
[Chorus: x3]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh!
Stapled shut, inside an outside world and I'm
Sealed in tight, bizarre but right at home
Claustrophobic, closing in and I'm
Catastrophic, not again
I'm smeared across the page, and doused in gasoline
I wear you like a stain, yet I'm the one who's obscene
Catch me upon all your sordid little insurrections,
I've got no time to lose, and I'm just caught up in all the cattle
Fray the strings
Throw the shapes
Hold your breath
And listen!
[Chorus: x2]
I am a world before I am a man
I was a creature before I could stand
I will remember before I forget
Before I forget that!
I'm ripped across the ditch, and settled in the dirt and I'm
I wear you like a stitch, yet I'm the one who's hurt
Pay attention to your twisted little indiscretions
I've got no right to win, I'm just caught up all the battles
Locked in clutch
Pushed in place
Hold your breath
And listen!
[Chorus: x2]
My end
It justifies my means
All I have to do is delay
I'm given time to evade
The end of the road is my end
It justifies my means
All I have to do is delay
I'm haven't time to evade
The end of the road!
[Chorus: x3]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh!
Lyrics submitted by NeutralPunkGuy
Track duration: 04:39
"Before I Forget" as written by Nathan Jonas Jordison, Corey Todd Taylor, Paul Dedrick Gray, James Donald Root, Michael Shawn Crahan, Christopher Michael Fehn, Mickael Gordon Thomson, Sidney George Wilson, Craig Alan Jones
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This seems to be what people are confused about:
"I am a world before I am a man
I was a creature before I could stand
I will remember before I forget
Before I forget that!"
Most people have interpreted it as being about evolution xD... LOL SlipKnoT's songs are almost always very 'personal' or based on feelings alone. It CAN be interpreted that way, but it has too many loose ends. I should mention first that evolution is -very- similar, metaphorically, to a human being growing up. In my opinion, anyone who has just reached 'adulthood' from adolescence (your teenage years), can come to realize what that meant, and it's really something:
"I was a creature before I could stand" = Easily interpreted: When you were a baby, you were self-centered, self-indulgent, and didn't necessarily 'think', you just did what you felt like, no matter what it was. 'Creature' is a metaphor for this. I've mentioned this first because it's just plain obvious.
"I am a world before I am a man" = This one's my favorite from this song, and to be honest, it's one of my favorite quotes, ever. I know I sound far-fetched here, but seriously this one line perfectly describes through metaphor: you growing up into an adult, and what that really means. When you're an adolescent (teenager), you have a psychological trait called 'tunnel vision', which isn't actually a tunnel-limited vision, but a way you perceive the entire world around you. All adolescents have this, and it makes you feel as if 'life would last forever', and you don't understand that life is in fact 'short' until you lose this trait when you become an adult. In this case, "world" is a metaphor for how you see yourself as an adolescent: you feel as if you WILL be exactly what you want to be in life (this one varies, and at least a few do), and you're constantly 'image-conscious' and 'self-conscious', wanting to 'have a certain identity', and wanting to be recognized as "someone" rather than "no one". Most of all though, you have your very own, opinionated perception of the "world" around you. (I'm aware I'm describing a rebellious teen, but seriously, this is a Slipknot song). In other words, you're a 'world' as a teenager, but anyone who has actually 'grown up' definitely knows that to be a "Man" in the modern world, you eventually need to 'let go' of those thoughts and accept the system: now you're no longer a "world", you're PART of it :].
To be honest, this song's helped me understand what it takes to -actually- grow up, and everyone's gotta check this out, if you still doubt the meaning I've given:
It's got a VERY similar name, and pretty much -exactly- the same meaning xD...
------------------------------------------------------------
Mudvayne - "Forget To Remember"
What have I done?
Where have I come from?
When I burnt the backs with the sun through a glass did I seal the loss that's become me?
Feeling undone
What have I become?
When I turned my back on you I turned my back on myself and became this machine
Thoughtlessness
Selfishness
Hopelessness
Arrogant
I feel it on the inside
Twisting and contorting
Memory has shaped me once again
Still feel you on the inside
Biting through and stinging
Will I ever forget to remember?
Shadows in the sun
Filter through us
Still wrestle the demons that arrested me as a child
Confession rejected
We grow up
To give up
People step on the cracks for wounds owed paid back
Through the words of surrender
Emptiness
Loneliness
Listlessness
Worthless
I feel it on the inside
Twisting and contorting
Memory has shaped me once again
Still feel you on the inside
Biting through and stinging
Will I ever forget to remember?
Can you save me?
From myself
From these memories
Can you save me?
From myself
From these memories
Surrender
To the shadows
Haunting inside
Bleed through you
Surrender to the secrets...inside
Lies within you
I feel it on the inside
Twisting and contorting
Memory has shaped me once again
Still feel you on the inside
Biting through and stinging
Will I ever forget to remember?
Can't feel you on the inside
Set down the bag and left it
Lost memory has left me
One again
Open up the inside
Admission for the cleansing
Now that I've forgotten to remember
------------------------------------------------------------
Compare them and see for yourself:
"Before I Forget"/"Forget To Remember"
"I am a world before I am a man, I was a creature before I could stand. I will remember before I forget."
"What have I become? When I turned my back on you I turned my back on myself and became this machine."
"Memory has shaped me once again. Still feel you on the inside. Biting through and stinging. Will I ever forget to remember?"
"Still wrestle the demons that arrested me as a child
Confession rejected
We grow up
To give up"
..."I am a world before I am a man"
:]
"I'm ripped across the ditch and settled in the dirt
And I wear you like a stitch, yet I'm the one who's hurt
Pay attention to your twisted little indiscretions
I've got no right to win
I'm just caught up in all the battles"
"I'm smeared across the page and doused in gasoline
I wear you like a stain, yet I'm the one who's obscene
Catch me up on all your sordid little insurrections
I've got no time to lose
I'm just caught up in all the cattle"
----- Similar to what's mentioned almost directly in "Forget To Remember", he wants to convince himself to 'stay away' from his teenage thoughts, along with his childish thoughts, and that he has no time for them, he's just 'caught up in all the cattle' and 'caught up in all the battles' of the 'real' life he leads now. In this case, 'you' refers to his teenage self, and it would tie in perfectly with the chorus, along with:
"My end, it justifies my means
All I ever do is delay
My every attempt to evade
The end of the road and my end
It justifies my means
All I ever do is delay
My every attempt to evade
The end of the road!"
...What I mentioned before is actually a very common example ("All adolescents have this, and it makes you feel as if 'life would last forever', and you don't understand that life is in fact 'short' until you lose this trait when you become an adult"). He mentions that "the end of the road and my end, it justifies my means": this means that the knowledge of his impending death has given his life some 'purpose' ("it justifies my means"). It's almost as if the whole song's about a man who's having some kind of midlife crisis and is beginning to feel some angst, like he did as a teen, but doesn't want to. He's using his memories and feelings to try and reassure himself that there is some meaning to his life.
I agree that when corey sings that he was a 'creature before I could stand' that he is referring to being young and then growing up. I think is more talking to emotional maturity and that when he was young he was a lot younger emotionally. Once he chronologically began to mature the way he interacted with the world matured also
If the first line of the chorus is viewed with this in mind it takes on s slightly different meaning to yours. Perhaps 'I am a world before I was a man' is referring to the lyricist becoming aware that his actions have a large effect on his surrounding world. This displays emotional development as the lyricist is beginning to understand the effect his choices of the world around him. Therefore they are thinking more about how they are part of the world first before they are a man
When I listen to this song this line is almost all I hear because I can't stop thinking of the meaning after the first chorus. I "AM" a world before I "AM" a man... they're both in the present tense so I don't see them so much as an evolution from one to the other but a choice between the two. I've recently become a dad and I think to your child (especially in their early stages), you ARE their world. Without you they're helpless so really as a parent your actions determine the 'world' of your child. The reason I like this so much is because it's a powerful way to remind you to choose being a world (important) over being a man (selfish).
Whenever there's some sort of dad duty that I don't want to do or feel put out by, I just hear "I am a world before I am a man" and it takes away any thought of yourself and inspires you to give everything you've got to your family. I'd love to get this quote as a tattoo for this reason.
I think this song is about evolution of you...the dark metaphors...
Stapled Shut
Inside and outside world
And I'm sealed in tight
Bizarre but right at home
I'm claustrophobic
Closing in
And I'm catastrophic
Not again
or darkness, but not now...not anymore. Because you're smeared in the tenacity, even though obscene....to
have others catch the sordid dusts...of you...because you're not giving up.
I'm smeared across the page and doused in gasoline
I wear you like a stain, yet I'm the one who's obscene
Catch me up on all your sordid little insurrections
I've got no time to lose
I'm just caught up in all the cattle
you're also evolving into a star: with your own 'luck'
which is why you have no time to lose...
Fray the strings... Throw the shapes... Hold your breath... Listen!
I am a world before I am a man
I was a creature before I could stand
I will remember before I forget
Before I forget that!
you were just a baby before an adult...
with confidence finally found after you realized that you were more than just a person.
you will remember..
I'm ripped across the ditch and settled in the dirt
And I wear you like a stitch, yet I'm the one who's hurt
Pay attention to your twisted little indiscretions
I've got no right to win
I'm just caught up in all the battles
this is the downfall to when you are depressed...which is measured with
My end, it justifies my means
All I ever do is delay
My every attempt to evade
The end of the road and my end
It justifies my means
All I ever do is delay
My every attempt to evade
The end of the road!
'My end.'
This is like the symbolism with the dark metaphors and why you should disobey their existence..but not all the way. you should disobey the fact that they hurt you...so you can move on. because if you consider darkness death than death will consume you some day.
My end, it justifies my means
All I ever do is delay
My every attempt to evade
The end of the road and my end
It justifies my means
All I ever do is delay
My every attempt to evade
The end of the road!
all of the dark metaphors seem to tie in with this, because you have to evade every speck of darkness..especially when the end is near. This could be the problems of light and what happens when you refuse to face the simple truth. This is why I believe there is symbolism in this song. The symbolism seems to be wrought in metaphorical term, to express every figment of your being. How NOT to disobey yourself, because the end could be tomorrow.
I am a world before I am a man
I was a creature before I could stand
I will remember before I forget
Before I forget that!
In my mind this is the thank-you to the fans.
I am a world before i am a man - All they are are what the fans built them up to be. Famous worldwide. And they recognize this before they would take any credit or to be cocky about it.
i was a creature before i could stand - Before the band could strongly stand with the fans support, they were local. This is pretty self-explanatory.
I will remember before i forget - Again, very self explanatory (well, in my mind), They will remember where they came from, all of their struggles, hopes, let-downs, successes and fails, and they will remember what the world has done for them, before they forget it all, and get lost in the glory.
Stay true maggots.
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"stapled shut inside an outside world"--"outside world" means things that r common in normal society (looked it up ^^") so they're sayin they're forced in a sort of stereotypical and materialistic kind of society... "bizzare but right at home" may mean they think it is strange but they were raised in this society so its home... too much shit around him (pressure, and what not) and this will be their soon destruction (perhaps finacially). I like this next part: "smeared across the page and doused in gasoline I wear you like a stain yet im the one who's obscene catch me up on all your sordid little insurrections i've got no time to lose, i'm just caught up in all the cattle" (sorry for the run on verse, i kno its up there^^")but to me this means they think they're disposable in history (the page part) and they are being cruely judged (the stain part; i think this part is funny) let them kno about your petty rebellions, it doesnt matter; they are just doing them... thats my take on the 1st part...