Lyrics for The Pretender as interpreted by intothegrinder2

The Pretender Lyrics
Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all began

Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones come marching in...again
They need you buried deep
The secrets that you keep are at the ready
Are you ready?
I'm finished making sense
Done pleading ignorance
That whole...defense

Spinning infinity, boy
The wheel is spinning me
It's never-ending, never-ending
Same old story

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

In time our soul untold
I'm just another soul for sale... oh, well
The page is out of print
We are not permanent
We're temporary, temporary
Same old story

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

I'm the voice inside your head
You refuse to hear
I'm the face that you have to face
Mirrored in your stare
I'm what's left, I'm what's right
I'm the enemy
I'm the hand that will take you down
Bring you to your knees

So who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?

Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
(You know they all... pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays
(You know they all... pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?

So who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?

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sillysoz
01-10-2008

Rated 0 
these are the right lyrics:

'Done pleading ignorance
That whole...defense
Spinning infinity, boy
The wheel is spinning me
It's never-ending, never-ending
Same old story'

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hellotractor_
01-11-2008

Rated 0 
the chorus just makes me think;

YOU'RE LYING GO HOME.

oh men.




other than that, it's a wickedddd song (Y) good job

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RS085
01-21-2008

Rated 0 
Dave has admitted that there are many songs that have a political meaning or inspiration to them (especially on the last two albums). He's reluctant to say that the Foos are a political band because they're not, and he wants to keep a universalism in the meaning of the music, so it means something different to everyone. This song though, is definitely about our government, and its fucking spot on. Dave's from DC, I find it hard to think he wouldn't include something political in his songs.

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fsm
01-22-2008

Rated 0 
Ok, I know this doesn't have much to do with the meaning, but...

"The Pretender" is easily the most kick-ass song of 2007.

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chilibeans66
01-31-2008

Rated 0 
I agree with all the political things, but I really really like Cixel's take on this song. It's really interesting. This is basically one of the greatest songs ever, & the video kicks more ass than I could have imagined!

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s0ck_ninja
02-04-2008

Rated 0 
The song means what you want it to mean; nobody's right or wrong on this board. That's the whole point: discussion. Stop trying to decimate each other with words and start listening. Everyone making points about the song being non-political has interesting ideas behind it, and everyone saying it's very political is just as well-supported.

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anonymous86
02-06-2008

Rated 0 
after looking at the lyrics, this song is probably directed at president george w. bush, especially having looked at the first few lines of the song. having seen the film clip, to me this is saying that i've had you tell me things or said things to others that are false and untrue, and that you are fake and i'm not putting up with it anymore, and i don't give a shit that you outnumber me and are more bigger or more intimidating. so who are you, really? this song rocks, i can listen to it over and over and over, another piece of sheer brilliance from the foos!

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allred
02-22-2008

Rated 0 
I think it's directed at the music industry, from the moment I first heard it.

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scottyp
03-06-2008

Rated 0 
This song is not about politics. It's a message to the media saying you're going to have to face me, I am here to stay.

The beginning is about them keeping him in Kurt's shadow, "keep you in the dark and so it all began." Then it talks about them bringing up his past, "send in your skeletons."

The next part of the first verse is about him letting go, he's not going to continue to act like he doesn't know he's in Kurt's shadow. "Done pleading ignorance, that whole defense." Then it tells them to keep writing it, the "same old story."

The chorus and next verse is about him outlasting the writers and telling them he's not going anywhere. "I will never surrender..." And even though they say he will never be anything "Another soul for sale... We are not permanent," he says it's all BS "same old story."

Then the breakdown is about him getting in their face and saying here's what I am, I'm here to stay, so who are you.

I love the second use of the intro because then it explodes into him yelling at them saying he'll never give up. And by the end he's saying this is who I am and SCREAMING "who are you?"

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lake079
03-07-2008

Rated 0 
I. LOVE. THIS. SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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RS085
03-24-2008

Rated 0 
scottyp, you're an idiot.

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BigBalls
03-29-2008

Rated 0 
I always just felt like he was getting in someone's face and telling them to stop "pretending" and face reality, because he's representing an unsympathetic reality. For example, here's my interpretation of my favorite part of the song:

I'm the voice inside your head
You refuse to hear - I'm the reality you're in denial about
I'm the face that you have to face
Mirrored in your stare - I'm the fact that you have to face the real you, outside of all the lies you've told yourself to make yourself feel better
I'm what's left - (here's me being philisophical and not just viewing them as left and right, I think of these lines as very poetic) I'm what's left after your fantasies are taken away
I'm what's right - I'm "the right thing" that you know you have to do
I'm the enemy - you view reality as the enemy...
I'm the hand that took you down
Bring you to your knees - which is why reality comes down so hard on you.

So who are you? Really now. Some people don't know who they are once all they're little fantasies and "plays" are stripped away from them, they're the pretenders. That's why the song screams "who are you" at them for a while then goes back to the chorus which reminds them of what they are. I guess this could be easily applied to the political thing a bunch of you are talking about. Am I making sense to anyone but me?

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BoNh
04-04-2008

Rated 0 
It’s a killer song; I just hate the idea that it’s politically aimed. I mean really if it’s meant to be a slam on Bush, then why say “What if I say I’m not like the others”? Lol if your making a statement against Bush then your just like the others. For real now, how many pro Bush statements have been made by celebrities recently?

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himselfe
04-11-2008

Rated 0 
BoNh makes a great point, another line that's worth mentioning is:

"Keep you in the dark you know they all pretend"

I don't see many anti-war protesters pretending to like Bush or the war. xD

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RockywRight
04-15-2008

Rated 0 
When I first heard this song I thought I was hearing that sesame street rhyme. Like the first time I heard that foo fighters song The best of you sounded like a commercial for gillete. Then it made sense that is someone getting the best of you.

I think The pretender is about a pretender among other pretenders OR one kept in the dark by the others. The one knows that the secrets are no longer secret, and the skeletons go marching in again. There are a few of the others that made certain that the one was exposed as a pretender, and now the one labeled a pretender becomes a contender of his own conscience. I'm whats left could be all that remains in the aftermath. I'm whats right could be the one convincing himself that he is corrected now as more than just a name. I'm the enemy could be that the one is an ememy to the others and even an enemy to himself for having few or no alliances among the others because of his own past. So it all begins and its never ending. The others know about the one as the ultimate pretender and it brings forth the question who are you really? WHO ARE YOU? I'll never surrender Dave! Great song!

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alexandrea987
04-16-2008

Rated 0 
ha yeah this song is kickbutt but duhhhhh BOOSTERGOLD:p
it DOES NOT beat everlong acoustic or regular.
cause everlong is the shizz/best love song ever
but yeah this song rocks and i do get a political vibe when i listen to it
foo fighters are the bomb hands down__♥

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alexandrea987
04-16-2008

Rated 0 
oh and doesnt the beggining guitar part kinda sound like "stairway to heaven"??

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rmmuir
05-02-2008

Rated 0 
I'm with Shhsnitches ("I love how they sampled the sesame street song: "One of these things is not like the other." hats pure genius.") and Azaael23 (""One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song? "

Please someone tell me i am not the only one who keeps hearing this song. Sesame St & Foo Forever")I don't think that's what the lyrics are, but I definitely think of Sesame street every time I hear this song.

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neversurrender
05-07-2008

Rated 0 
Heard this song on CSI Miami, great song :)

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TEK3
05-08-2008

Rated 0 
This song, if you watch the Music Video, is actually about a tyranical govenernment who rules with an iron fist. The skeletons are metaphors for those who listen without question. He is saying that he is not another one of the governments skeletons.

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himselfe
05-10-2008

Rated 0 
TEK3: You keep telling your self that, meanwhile back in reality the video concept was actually dreamed up by it's director Sam Brown, not the band.

The video is an abstract visualisation of power struggle and conflicting forces. It is an allusion to themes present in the song, not a literal interpretation.

People are free to take what meaning they want from the song, just don't impose your desperation for pretentious political activism as the truth or you're no better than the tyrannical government you so evangelically froth about.

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raptors fan
05-11-2008

Rated 0 
i think the lyrics are Done bleeding ignorance
at your defense.

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Harusame
06-01-2008

Rated 0 
Okay, so I don't care how nerdy I sound, but whenever I listen to this song all I see in my head are two of my characters for a book I'm writing talking to each other, using the lyrics as their dialogue.

So kickass.

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dmbixby
09-12-2008

Rated 0 
This song is definitely just anit-conformity, doing your own thing, not caring what others say. Standing up for what you know is right

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cplspiderpig
09-15-2008

Rated 0 
woo! foo fighters rock!

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