Muse – Knights of Cydonia

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Come ride with me
Through the veins of history
I'll show you why God
Falls asleep on the job

And how can we win,
When fools can be kings
Don't waste your time
Or time will waste you

[Repeat x3]
No one's going to take me alive
Time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive

Send "Knights of Cydonia" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by Jayknight, edited by Caliginous

Track duration: 06:07

"Knights of Cydonia" as written by Matt Bellamy

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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Knights of Cydonia song meanings
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  • -1
    My Opinion:It might only be me, but since I'm such a Doctor Who - obsessed freak, every lyric reminds me of DW...

    Come ride with me through the veins of history - Traveling through time and history in the TARDIS with The Doctor)

    I'll show you how God falls asleep on the job - Going through time to save the world/other worlds from aliens/rthings that aren't meant to be, because "God fell asleep on the job" by not correcting these things himself.

    And how can we win, when fools can be kings? - The Doctor asking how it's possible to win when such corrupt people are allowed to be leaders (ex: The Master).

    Don't waste your time, or time will waste you - When traveling to different places with The Doctor, don't just stand around and waste your time, because if something's not right there, then you need to help him as best as you can, because there's danger, and you wouldn't want to let time waste you (fail).

    No one's going to take me alive, time has come to make things right - The Doctor Won't back down when it comes to protecting time and making things right; he'll stand his ground and will only let himself be captured by death.

    You and I must fight for our rights, you and I must fight to survive - You and The Doctor must fight for your lives and with your lives for justice.

    ...Yeah, I don't know, maybe I'm just crazy (anyone who doesn't know what Doctor Who is/doesn't watch it would probably think the same). But the moment I heard those lyrics, I was just SO reminded of DW... And hey, maybe someone else shares the same opinion. c:
    Flagged tigers1535on January 22, 2013   Link
  • +1
    Memory:That intro... I mean DAT INTRO.... just sends me back to when I was 4, sitting on our T-0 apartment in Maputo - Mozambique, watching my father playing air-guitar, while listening to Jethro Tull. Which song, I cannot remember. The only thing I remember was me saying: "Pai, Pai, toca a música dos cavalos outra vez" (Daddy, daddy, play the horse song again).

    Today, 30 years later, I have a special USB pen, with ONLY this song on my car and I created a batch file on my PC, so that every time I switch it on, the song is played and all my problems are AWESOMED away.

    MUSE - the next best thing, after QUEEN!
    Flagged ruiduraoon October 20, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • -2
    General Comment:God's not falls asleep on His job,
    but nice music,
    Flag armanke13on September 04, 2012   Link
  • +3
    General Comment:Dialectics is what this song is about
    Nobody teaches Dialects because rulers are scared of losing there power
    If everybody knew about Dialects there would be No Fools As Kings to begin with.
    Flag BubblesBlisson March 26, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I think it may be a reference to Plato, 'when fools can be king' may be a reference to the Philosopher-Kings in The Republic, and the Philosopher-Kings are in control of the state as they are all-knowing and so essentially replace God, the last part is more complicated but may be related to Socrates (the main character in The Republic) who was forced to kill himself by drinking Hemlock after being found guilty at a trial, but could have escaped. He didn't in order to preserve the dignity of the state as a whole, but Bellamy may be claiming that he actually did have the right to not drink it as the individual is more important than the state.
    Flag spreadbettingon January 02, 2012   Link
  • +3
    General Comment:The music video gives more clues to the meaning behind the song. It is in reference to 1981 – “Continuity of Government” or “REX84” was brought to light at the Oliver north trial (Iran Contra) and silenced by Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye the now current President pro tempore of the United States Senate. He is second in line for presidential succession in the event both President and Vice are not able to carry out their duties. Readiness Exercise 1984, was a secretive "scenario and drill" developed by the United States federal government to suspend the United States Constitution, declare martial law, place military commanders in charge of state and local governments, and detain large numbers of American citizens who are deemed to be "national security threats", in the event that the President declares a "State of Domestic National Emergency". This plan was implemented at 09:59 on11 Sept 2001. The song title "Knights of Cydonia” is a reference to a region on the planet Mars known as Cydonia. Richard Charles Hoagland an American author and a proponent of various theories about NASA, lost alien civilizations on the Moon and on Mars and other related topics speculated that the Face of Cydonia was a Pyramid not unlike those found on earth and was possibly related. The woman being hung was a symbol of the truth of our origins and the intentional attempt to destroy that evidence by the institutional bureaucracy of our time. The statue of liberty half buried is the symbolic of the loss of our liberties after 1981. Cydonia - Pop: 143 is there blog. The Russian dolls represent the different levels of secrecy within government ie…a government within a government. The children throwing dung at the cowboy locked in the stockade symbolizes the corruption of our youth buy the media. The woman on the unicorn holding the CD represents and the kung fu master freedom of speech is our weapon and technology our medium. This whole song is riddled with cryptic innuendo. To sum it up, the song is about taking the power back from the shadow government that runs the world from behind closed doors.
    “Propaganda Due” - Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to 1981.
    Flag aftermarketcrfon December 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Such deep intretations. I especially enjoyed the George Bush reference:) Not sure what this song is about, but it sounds like a simple anthem about two people fighing for something after a perceived wrong. Queens "We Will Rock You" comes to mind since it was played whenever my school team took on another team in basketball. I like the band, but it's not my favorite of theirs.
    Flag FatBottomedGurlon September 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The whole album is themed about a war made by stupid leaders and how one city takes posetion of another. Knights of Cydonia is about the end of the disc and takes part when people of the captured city are fighting for their lives and for freedom.
    I think all Muse's albums since 'absolution' have a theme.
    Flag Jrkidon August 30, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Honestly, I think the song lyrics are meant to have a different meaning to everybody. I don't think there's a 'certain' meaning he meant for everybody to get through the song.

    For me, I believe it's talking about the four horsemen of the apocalypse. If we look at the cover, you see four men sitting around a table representing the four horsemen, with the horses on the table. They're on a planet that perhaps represents Mars or like a cowboy scenery. If you look in the sky you see planet earth. Okay so I think the song is talking about how there once was life on Mars (Cydonia) but because Mars' God 'fell asleep on the job' the four horsemen of the apocalypse caused the apocalypse on Mars which is why there is no life there anymore.

    'Come ride with me' - The four horsemen?
    'Through the viens of history' - Mars' history?
    'I'll show you a god who falls asleep on the job' - Mars' God
    'And how can we win, when fools can be kings' - Slight reference to God being a fool maybe, because they can't win against the four horsemen because their 'king' is a fool.
    'Don't waste your time or time will waste you' - Don't waste away your life because eventually the apocalyse is going to come to us too.

    'No one's going to take me alive' - The apocalypse isn't here just yet
    'Our time has come to make things right' - A second chance, Mars blew their chance, we have ours now.
    'You and I must fight for our rights, you and I must right to survive'

    That's just what it means to me, I know Matt's an athiest, but that wouldn't harm him to look into some biblical things. There's galloping in the song, and a horseman and a horse in the video, again linking back to it being about the horsemen. I don't think it's anything to do about on Earth so much, I think it might be Matt having a little fun writing about his theory on why life was once on Mars but now there isn't. Linking up the 'apocalypse' to the small government (Exo politics, City of delusion) hints also ties Absolution with The Resistance lyrics wise.

    Again I think the lyrics are different to everybody. He might be referring to the government but to me it makes more sense it being about the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and he's just writing one of his little theories down into a song.
    Flag louise2011on July 30, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Well in the beginning, i think they are talking about showing where the world was in turmoil and where problems happened:
    "Come ride with me through the veins of history
    I'll show you where God falls asleep on the job
    How can we win when fools can be kings?

    Then the next line about time could be how no one tried to fix anything, so no one wins.
    The chorus, i think, is how he wants to change everything about his world: The time has come to make things right.
    Flag Dabadoobop12on July 14, 2011   Link

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