Lyrics for Guitar Hero as interpreted by iggy1110

Guitar Hero Lyrics
i can't get them up at all
hey ho let's go

good morning killer king you're a star
that's gorgeous hold it right where you are
the weather's kinda lousy today
so what oh what oh what'll we play

stratocaster strapped to your back
its a semiautomatic like dad's
he taught you how to pause and reset
and thats about as far as you get

so whats the use of going outside
its so depressing when people die in real life
i'd rather pick up right where we left
makin' out to faces of death

and i could save you baby
but it isnt worth my time
and i could make you chase me
for a little price is right

it's a hit but are you actually sure
the targets in the crowd are a blur
the people screaming just like they should
but you don't even know if you're good

so tie them up and feed them the sand (ha! nigga!)
try to tell us using your hands
a picture's worth a million words
and that way nobody gets hurt

and i could save you baby
but it isnt worth my time
and i could make you chase me
for a little price is right

you're my guitar hero

x marks the box
in the hole in the ground
that goes off at a breath
so careful don't make a sound

x marks the box
in the hole in your head
that you dug for yourself
now lie in it

shut up about all of that negative shit
you wanted to make it and now that you're in
you're obviously not gonna die
so why not take your chances and try

how are you going to turn this thing off
this isn't at all like the ones back at home
you shut your eyes and flip the cassette
and that's about the time that they hit

what the fuck is up with this shit
it's certainly not worth getting upset
his hands are gone and most of his head
and just when he was getting so good

i could save you baby
but it isn't worth my time
and i could make you chase me
for a little slice of life

you're my guitar hero

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 39 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
sheela_l
11-08-2007

Rated -1 
What comes to mind when I listen to this song is a person addicted to video games to the point they find their x-box live teammates more important than their girlfriend/boyfriend/family members/dog/hamster/squirrel. S/he has dug a proverbal hole by his/her actions and only knows how to reset a game life, but can't reset their real life after all the damage has been done.

The song is saying (obvious) that a game simulating playing a real instrument isn't a replacement for the real thing.

Log in to reply
MrsO426
12-19-2007

Rated -1 
I'm not going to take the time to analyze every line.

It sounds like a kid who spends so much time playing video games, like Halo and Guitar Hero, that he forgets reality. He can't actually play guitar. He can't actually shoot people. It's all just a game, and that is what he is used to. Then this kid gets sent off to war, and he goes crazy because the real death, the real world, is difficult for him to conceptualize.

Log in to reply
addnamehere
03-11-2008

Rated 0 
I've always thought that this song was about a game addict (specifically Guitar Hero). When the time comes and he's become a famous rockstar he can't fake it anymore, he can't turn it off, it's the real thing. And at the end of the song he loses his mind hence the "His hands are gone and most of his head."

In a sense, it sort of relates to Britney Spears. Way back when she was all the talk on every corner. She used to dream, sing in her bathroom, blah blah blah. Then one day she becomes famous, but everyone finds out she's lipsyncing (OH NO!), and her life just starts spiralling downward from there. Everyone loved her, and just when she was getting so good (fooling everyone into loving her MORE) she loses it. You know, with all the Dr. Phil stuff about her being a schizo.

Although many people say it's about the war in Iraq, Amanda has given clues about it being about war. Not specifically in Iraq, but war fo sho (on the box).

Log in to reply
zoolah
07-26-2008

Rated 0 
i sort of agree with MrsO426. I can see that.


She said it was inspired by people she toured with who would play guitar on stage all night and then go play guitar hero. And how she thought that was just so magical.

Log in to reply
Poop_Face
08-02-2008

Rated +1 
To me this song seems like it's about video games and how people become so obsessed with them. And take veerything tehy see in it literally.
Like they see someone in a video game kill somebody so they think it's ok as well.
"how are you going to turn this thing off
this isn't at all like the ones back at home"
^ they find a real gun and do the same thin, except with real people.

"it's a hit but are you actually sure
the targets in the crowd are a blur
the people screaming just like they should
but you don't even know if you're good"

Another example of that. They take an actual gun and start shooting their school up or something. All the people are screaming, maybe that's how it was in the video game as well. And you don't even know if your good means there's no point system or anything because this is actually real life.

"you shut your eyes and flip the cassette
and that's about the time that they hit"

Maybe he was listening to music while doing it, maybe even the music from the video game.


And in all aspects of their life, the video games control them. I took the "You my guitar hero" as being they're way of telling a friend or gf that they love them. They don't know any other way to express themselves becasue they've become so wrapped up in their technology.


In the actual song... the last line sounds like "And I could save you baby but there's a million more in line."
But, that's just how it sounds to me. I'm pretty sure the lyrics on this page are a little bit wrong

And if that^ is actually the line then...
I think it means there's no point in trying to stop anybody becasue the next generation is just going to do the same thing.

Log in to reply
Poop_Face
08-02-2008

Rated 0 
This song could also be about, like zoolah said, the musicians going out on stage every night and playing guitar then coming back and playing MORE guitar.

"how are you going to turn this thing off
this isn't at all like the ones back at home"

Log in to reply
daretheghost
08-10-2008

Rated +1 
I think this could definitely be about war (in general, although there seems to be a reference to Iraq here). There are a couple of double-meanings here.

The Guitar Hero motif plays on the notion of being a "hero": in the game and in real life (or being a hero of your country at war). It seems the player wanted to go to war ("you wanted to make it and now that you're in") which could also lend itself to trying to get into the top rankings of the game.

The part that makes me think "Iraq" is the seemingly random inclusion of "nigga!" One of the more prevalent derogatory slurs for Iraqis or people of Middle Eastern descent is "sand nigger." This makes me think that the close proximity of the two words used in the song is no random occurrence.

Unfortunately, the player at war finds out that REAL war in no way compares to war games at home, where they can use cheat codes and at least have some sort of control over their settings. He realizes this and asks how he can turn it off, what the fuck is up with this shit, etc. He's scared for his life, but the narrator assures him he's not going to die--even at the cost of his hands and most of his head. Roadside bombs, anyone?

The dilemma is that if he saves one person, he's a hero. He can't save everyone like in video games, though: there's a million more in line that need to be saved.

The "X marks the box" is an obvious hint at an X-Box, but also implies a landmine ("that goes off at a breath") and even further implicates that playing video games and thereby coming up with this controlled idea of war dug a grave for the player in which he must lie now that he's experienced the real thing.

Additionally, you can pause and reset a game but it's not so simple with war.

Log in to reply
opheliac_of_angels
08-22-2008

Rated -1 
The people who say this song is about video games are insane. The stratocaster that is just like Dad's is a gun. Semi-automatic gives the clue there. Every reference is about war.
I figure that she was using the game Guitar Hero for one reason and one reason only: To illustrate that no matter how much you think something is easy when it is only a game, in this case war, you realise that it's MUCH harder than you thought.
And last time I checked it was on all platforms, so the X marks the spot is just a reference for how to shoot, I think. And the landmines, which also have X's on them.
I think people are being too literal about something that is likely allegory. Most of her songs are allegorical.

Log in to reply
halfjackpress
08-28-2008

Rated -1 
The only comment i have to say are theses....This is obviously a sister song to the right before it in the trakc listing, Strength Through Music. I have a feeling that this song is a telling of the girlfriend of the boy in that song previous. They pretty much go hand in hand. Anyone else have that feelin?

Log in to reply
halfjackpress
08-28-2008

Rated -1 
I also have a feeling that have to drive has a connection with this song... and with Strength though music.

Log in to reply
halfjackpress
08-28-2008

Rated 0 
I also have a feeling that have to drive has a connection with this song... and with Strength though music.

Log in to reply
missalanious
09-01-2008

Rated 0 
don't call me insane but this is about video games.

"stratocaster strapped to your back
its a semiautomatic like dad's" - it's the gun in the game.

"he taught you how to pause and reset" she's being sarcastic. you can pause, resume, reset a game.

"it's a hit but are you actually sure" - how can you kill something that doesn't exsist?

"the people screaming just like they should
but you don't even know if you're good" - simulated people scream just like real people. in grand theft auto you go out and kill your enemies, but are you really the good guy?

"x marks the box" - that's an xbox.

"in the hole in your head" it's eating away at him.
"that you dug for yourself" it's self inflicted.

Log in to reply
stephiesama
09-16-2008

Rated 0 
I think Poop_Face is right on with the meaning. You really get the school shooting aspect of it in the music video.

Log in to reply
drlarrymitchell
09-19-2008

Rated 0 
This song is about the use or video games being used as training and preparation for war, and the average teenager's inability to distinguish between reality and fiction serving to get them killed when they don't understand that the enemy combatants are real..

Log in to reply
lifesirony
09-29-2008

Rated +1 
It sounds just like a school shooting. It's too emotional to be about a video game addict. It's talking through his eyes, justifying his actions, and talking about how he could better channel his energy through art so "that way no one gets hurt."

Log in to reply
Hero Sheema
10-08-2008

Rated 0 
The song was inspired by the Colombine High School, Virginia Tech, and other similar shootings. Of course Amanda is very good at wrapping metaphors around metaphors, and used the video game analogy, with inferences to how they can get people out of touch with reality, and almost live their lives as if they are playing video games. And, as drlarrymitchell pointed out, Video games are being designed and used as training tools for the armed forces, which is a point not lost on Amanda.

I was lucky enough to see her perform this live a couple of days ago, and it was her that said it was inspired by the high school shootings, and the intro to the song was a very moving performance/reading of some of the names of those killed and injured at Columbine (I believe using the exact words from the Wikipedia descreiption of the events that day).

I recommend to everyone to go and see Amanda Palmer if they can. The show is amazing, intelligent, strange, funny, and sad (not all at the same time!).

Log in to reply
LadyGrey88
10-15-2008

Rated -1 
Check out the pictures attached to the song lyrics on Amanda's site for each of these songs:

http://www.whokilledamandapalmer.com/album

They're the best way to interpret the lyrics, because she put them there.

Log in to reply
ephtee
11-08-2008

Rated -1 
When I listen to this song I get an image of someone writing a letter about a bunch of college kids hanging out in a dorm room playing guitar hero and "making out to faces of death" (which is a video of real-life executions/murders usually watched by the same boys that frequent rotten.com).

So I get that image, then an image of those same boys in Iraq and feeling a sense of suprise and almost outrage that shooting people is actually real, and not just another video game.

I kinda feel like the writer (narrator/observer, if you prefer), is the only ony who realises the reality of the situation and the fact that there are plenty more boys where they came from - best illustrated in the line "and I could save you baby but it isn't worth my time, 'cause even if I saved you there's a million more in line".


Log in to reply
jewelsandlye
12-11-2008

Rated 0 

yes, personally i feel like it references the war and violence. i totally agree with daretheghost. but i do think this entire cd is about high school and various lonely high school situations. this one, being a little more extreme though.

you all sound like you've definitely got the gist of it, but when she's saying "making out to faces of death" i believe she's referencing the "faces of death" super violent movie series from the '70s-'80s, and for some reason i like that paradoxical imagery a lot.

this is my favorite song on the album.

Log in to reply
Yadarfyn
12-30-2008

Rated -1 
I agree with the video game interpretations. The song seems to me to be about how video games imitate life, and the chaos that ensues when life imitates a video game.

I'm interested in why she stole the chord progression etc of a Queen song. "Killer Queen", right...? I get the importance of the word "killer", and the fact that it's another nod to British music like in some other songs on her album ("Oasis", etc), but is there another reason I'm overlooking?

Log in to reply
1 Reply
Raphe
01-05-2009

Rated -1 
Yes, I agree with the themes of school shootings, and gaming as an introduction to war, and mine clearance in Iraq etc.

But...

I also get the feeling that there is an open letter to another artist in there. Someone who is churning out commercial pap, not quite knowing why it is selling so well or if they are any good but scared to stop, and certainly scared to try and produce the real art they are capable of (even though their current success is such that not even an uncommercial (but honest) work could damage their fanbase too badly). I wonder who it was? A hit band member who could have been saved if the relationship had worked out..?

As usual; everyone hears their own song....

Log in to reply
mydarkesthour
01-05-2009

Rated -1 
This has got to be about desensitizing our populations with the use of video games. The song goes to and from video games and true war. Stuff like "a semiautomatic like dad's" = sons and daughters playing the video games to emulate dad, who is away at war.

Then it moves on as the child gets older, coming to probably the creepiest line in the song "making out to faces of death" = kids in the basement watching the video series "Faces of Death" and making out. I cant really imagine people making out to that series, which is a bunch of video clip compilations of real, actual deaths.

Finally the child is at war, seeing it as a video game, not understanding the severity of the situation. Driving in the hummer, time to switch the music, the IED (x marks the box) goes off, loses his hands, has some brain damage, comes home and can no longer even play video games.

If you look at her website, the videos and pictures she has under the song add to that interpretation. Kind of sounds like a protest song, saying instead of giving them games to distract them, bring them home before they're dead.

Log in to reply
missevaline
01-06-2009

Rated -1 
This was my interpretation when I first listened to it. I do assume it's definitely about violence, not video games, because in her video, the object to represent the song is a plastic army figure with a gun. But this is what I thought:


"good morning killer king you're a star
that's gorgeous hold it right where you are
the weather's kinda lousy today
so what oh what oh what'll we play"

A girl in love with her boyfriend, being all happy with him.


"i'd rather pick up right where we left
makin' out to faces of death"

She doesn't feel like going out into the real world or anything, just wants to play video games with him all day and make out with him.

And after that I kinda got the feeling that the guy joined the Army, which the girl didn't like because she would rather just be with him, but he gets deployed and all that lovely stuff.

Log in to reply
MorbidHarlequin
01-21-2009

Rated -1 
I also think it's about video games, and how people tend to take them too seriously. Seriously... just because you're good at playing Guitar Hero -the game- doesn't mean you can actually play a real guitar! This song may also be referring not only to video games, but also to how people get so engrossed in TV and movies and the media in general that they often don't notice or don't care about what's going on around them in the real world.

Also, look at the pictures on this song's lyric page on the WKAP website... there's like 2 articles on video games and I believe one of them was about how the army was using video games to teach new recruits how to shoot a gun. There were also a couple videos, once of which showing the Guitar Hero game.

One more thing:

"Making out to faces of death"

I think she's referring to "Faces Of Death", the 70s/80s snuff film collections that were/are pretty controversial, but eventually deemed fake. Look them up if you don't know what I'm talking about. The line "It's so depressing when people die in real life" sort of further confirms this. Real life deaths are depressing, but movie deaths are fun!

"And I could make you chase me for a little price is right"

Another media reference, I believe. Referring to, of course, the "Price Is Right" game show.

Log in to reply
Emong
02-08-2009

Rated -1 
"X marks the box in the hole in your head" Genious, I'd go for violent media desensitising us to real-life violence. I don't really believe we even need to do research to see that. I think we all have our own experiences on media violence and how we don't feel a thing while watching it. Now, ok, I'm the evil conservative who wants to steal the video games from the violence addicts, but I've really come to hate it with deep passion >_>

I don't know about you, whoever is reading this, but I'm trying to work hard to fill this damned hole in my head.

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here