Linkin Park – The Little Things Give You Away

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  My Interpretation:Like many people I think its about Katrina.
  
  "Water grey, through the windows, up the stairs"
  Houses got flooded during the hurricane.
  
  "Chilling rain, like an ocean, everywhere"
  
  Fits with the hurricane/flooding theory.
  
  "Don't wanna reach for me do you?
  I mean nothing to you, the little things give you away"
  
  This is telling. LP has known liberal leanings, so this would be a commentary on the governments poor reaction time.
  
  "And now there will be no mistaking, the levees are breaking."
  
  Again, hurricane reference.
  
  "All you ever wanted, was some one to truly look up to to you."
  
  Could be talking about the government, or even Bush himself.
  
  "Now six feet, under water, I do."
  
  Bush surveyed the scene from his helicopter. This could be an Ironic statement from the point of view of a hurricane victim.
  
  "Hope decays, generations disappear.
  Washed away, as a nation simply stares."
  
  Another hurricane reference. And more on the poor reaction to the crisis.
  
  "All you ever wanted, was some one to truly look up to you.
  And six feet under ground now I do."
  
  More Irony. "six feet under ground" a reference to death.
  We failed to act in time.
  
  So, those are my thoughts.

  Flag metalgraceon September 08, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:The first thing I thought of was Hurricane Katrina (and hurricanes in general for Fringe147), but I also thought of an abusive relationship with a stepparent. My stepmom only married my dad because he had us kids and situations like that could fit with the "truly look up to you" other parts of the song can fit with the abuse theory too. "generations disappear"- Abusive relationships have been going on for a long time. "As a nation simply stares"- Many abuse occurences aren't reported and the ones that are don't always end with the abusive person getting jail time. For example, did anyone see that newspaper article a few months ago about a teen who reported an abusive mother and the investigation turned up nothing? threeish months later the mother shot the girl and her brother for "misbehaving."

  Flag Medley868on February 02, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:Its pretty Obvious... Their just saying that we can do simple things to help others. and then when it says "All you've ever wanted is someone to truly look up to you" its saying all we want is to feel good inside. To feel comfort. And maybe even to be honored. Or just to feel special. The lyrics pretty much speak for themselves, its obvious their talking about and describing everything going on and i think the central message is that helping other in their time of need like in situations of natural disasters, its as easy as grabbing someones hand and pulling them. By simply donating money or helping causes. And thats when they "Truly look up to you" all the people that have suffered and have had damaged. Other than that everything else means what it says basically.

  Flag FuZiioNuRon July 18, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:I didn't fully get this song until recently, when it suddenly got a whole new meaning for me. Obviously it's about a relationship of some sort, but many of the lines didn't seem to fit in it. Now I realize those lines are about society and how it influences how we relate to one another. It's about relationships between people in general, with this one particular relationship just being a reflection of it. The people in the relationship didn't really love each other or want to love each other, but just wanted to be loved by the other. They were competing for each other's respect while giving nothing real in return. And by extension, our whole society works like that, especially in America, to the point that we completely leave each other to our fate. Obviously, it's influenced by Hurricane Katrina as an example of that indifference we have for one another. The whole American Dream is about winning others' respect, because respect is the only kind of love we ever knew how to get, and as much as most of us will ever get. We call that respect love, but beyond the facade we do our best to put up of meaning the best to the other, it's the little things that betray our real intentions of wanting to be seen as better by the other. In a word, it's about competitiveness and the lack of love that comes with it.

  Flag Oneiromanceron February 05, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:What is up with everyone posting the same stuff over and over? I feel that this song is about the death of all the hurricane victims anywhere. Even if they specifically said "Hurricane Katrina" it can apply to any hurricane disaster.

  Flag Fringe147on November 23, 2010   Link

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  Song Meaning: Here's how I see it (doesn't mean I agree though):
  
  "Water grey, through the windows, up the stairs
  Chilling rain, like an ocean everywhere
  Don't want to reach for me do you?
  I mean nothing to you"
  
  The nation doesn't care about you when your in trouble.
  
  "And now there will be no mistaking
  The levees are breaking"
  
  The way the nation acted during Katrina keeps this from being deniable.
  
  "All you've ever wanted
  Was someone to truly look up to you
  And six feet underwater I do"
  
  The government just wants you to look up to them. The victims of Katrina did, and lots of good it did them when they already drowned.
  
  "Hope decays, generations disappear
  Washed away, as a nation simply stares"
  
  During the hurricane, most people where sad about it, but all they did was watch. Most people just sat at home watching it happen on TV instead of trying to get out there to help.
  
  "The little things give you away"
  
  The little things the nation does reveals what type of people we really are.

  Flag sak777on October 11, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:Think about it...The little Things Give You Away..
  
  GOd??
  
  6 feet under ...i look up 2 u??
  yeahh it may talk about katrina,,
  it also has a meaning of America reuniting
  an helping those poor innocent people there..
  am i right?

  Flag MasterGioon September 21, 2010   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:This song being about hurricane katrina makes more sense than what I always thought of this song, all things considered. But I've always imagined something different, a bit more sinister/creepy. This is just my own view of the song, I don't pretend it's accurate.
  
  When I heard this song, I imagined the singer as either a very, very close friend or a lover to an extremely controlling person. The lover/friend tries to reach out time and time again to this person, but always gets slapped or screamed at. This person doesn't want to be close to anyone, because they don't want to lose control or start feeling helpless, but the friend/lover stand stand seeing them so sad.
  
  The friend/lover comes over to the controlling person's home. The controlling one leaves the bathtub running and goes to answer the door. They go inside. This controlling person overreacts to some kind gesture the friend/lover has done(it might be a present, it might be confort/consolation after someone dies). The controlling one, in a panic, drowns the friend/lover in their bathtub(and leaves the water running for hours). He/she runs away and the story becomes national news, but the murderer is never found and the story is forgotten after a week.
  
  As for the lyrics of the song itself, the murder victim knows that the murderer was sick, and doesn't regret trying to reach out to them.
  
  This little story ran through my mind listening to the song, and still does. Perhaps I am a bit morbid...

  Flag terikaesuon February 21, 2010   Link

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    0

    I agree. Pretty close to what I felt when I first heard this song too.

    Flag Rockrox4everon April 27, 2010  

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    I also agree, I feel like this when I listen to this song.
    Great (but morbid) story, by the way.

    Flag noah933on August 21, 2010  
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  General Comment:I interprate it as youve been chasing a girl for so long and she realizes that shes hurt you so much that she wants to try and force herself to like you but little things start to give her away not wanting to kiss you, not wanting to lean on you, always to lazy to do anything with you, and hes starting to realize it. (Yes i know it is actually about katrina but im just saying this is how i look at it

  Flag valentineshooteron February 15, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:"Water grey" the way I heard it was "water craved," which makes more sense. In fact, I just listened to it, it's "water craved." He just enunciates really softly.

  Flag germandeathkittiezon December 27, 2009   Link

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