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[Trent Reznor:]
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I cry
I'll become your servant if it's worth your time
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I'll say
I'll become your soldier, at least for this day
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I cry
I'll become your servant if it's worth your time
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I'll say
[El-P:]
I know I haven't been walking a humble path
I know I cursed at your name and then laughed
And though I found it inane to bend calf
The servitude of groveling framed as pained task
I gotta figure, it can't hurt to ask
Suspension of disbelief in uniquely freak flash
Admission of the faithfully shaken, now trapped
30 thousand and dropping it's on and popping at last
[Trent Reznor:]
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I cry
I'll become your servant if it's worth your time
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I'll say
I'll become your soldier, at least for this day
No!
There are no atheists in the foxholes
No!
There is no intellect in the air
No!
There are no scientists on the way down
Just a working example of faith versus physics [x2]
[El-P:]
Flyentology (oh god)
Everybody get your ticket today
Flyentology (oh goD)
Welcome aboard, sir, right this way
Flyentology, flyen-flyentology (oh god)
Our bible is in your seat back pocket
Flyentology (oh god)
Tuck your head between your legs, now pray
I adore you
The same way that others always adored you
Emergency, humility
Just break glass
I implore
With no knowledge of dogma to conform to
I know I don't deserve it, but save my ass
And if I'm going down, let me do it in first class
The paganistic prayer of a heathen with wild past
Please forgive my bastardized style dash
And anoint me with salvation in form of non-crash
I wanna live so bad
All my life, I've been so arrogant
This is the vessel of my 'wakening
Please father, put your hand out
Carry it
I wanna live so bad
All my life, I've been so arrogant
This is the vessel of my 'wakening
God damn it, put your hand out
Carry it
[Trent Reznor:]
No!
There are no atheists in the foxholes
No!
There is no intellect in the air
No!
There are no scientists on the way down
Just a working example of faith versus physics [x2]
[El-P + backing vocals by Trent Reznor:]
This is (oh god)
This is flyentology (oh god)
Flyentology (oh god)
Flyentology (oh god)
[Trent Reznor:]
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I cry
I'll become your servant if it's worth your time
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I'll say
I'll become your soldier, at least for this day [x2]
No!
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I cry
I'll become your servant if it's worth your time
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I'll say
I'll become your soldier, at least for this day
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I cry
I'll become your servant if it's worth your time
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I'll say
[El-P:]
I know I haven't been walking a humble path
I know I cursed at your name and then laughed
And though I found it inane to bend calf
The servitude of groveling framed as pained task
I gotta figure, it can't hurt to ask
Suspension of disbelief in uniquely freak flash
Admission of the faithfully shaken, now trapped
30 thousand and dropping it's on and popping at last
[Trent Reznor:]
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I cry
I'll become your servant if it's worth your time
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I'll say
I'll become your soldier, at least for this day
No!
There are no atheists in the foxholes
No!
There is no intellect in the air
No!
There are no scientists on the way down
Just a working example of faith versus physics [x2]
[El-P:]
Flyentology (oh god)
Everybody get your ticket today
Flyentology (oh goD)
Welcome aboard, sir, right this way
Flyentology, flyen-flyentology (oh god)
Our bible is in your seat back pocket
Flyentology (oh god)
Tuck your head between your legs, now pray
I adore you
The same way that others always adored you
Emergency, humility
Just break glass
I implore
With no knowledge of dogma to conform to
I know I don't deserve it, but save my ass
And if I'm going down, let me do it in first class
The paganistic prayer of a heathen with wild past
Please forgive my bastardized style dash
And anoint me with salvation in form of non-crash
I wanna live so bad
All my life, I've been so arrogant
This is the vessel of my 'wakening
Please father, put your hand out
Carry it
I wanna live so bad
All my life, I've been so arrogant
This is the vessel of my 'wakening
God damn it, put your hand out
Carry it
[Trent Reznor:]
No!
There are no atheists in the foxholes
No!
There is no intellect in the air
No!
There are no scientists on the way down
Just a working example of faith versus physics [x2]
[El-P + backing vocals by Trent Reznor:]
This is (oh god)
This is flyentology (oh god)
Flyentology (oh god)
Flyentology (oh god)
[Trent Reznor:]
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I cry
I'll become your servant if it's worth your time
Keep me in the sky, that's all that I'll say
I'll become your soldier, at least for this day [x2]
No!
Lyrics submitted by grampa69
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Read more: shabooty.com/2007/07/02/…
That's because most are in denial. You should read AJ Ayer's "What I Saw When I Was Dead." Ayer was a famous philosopher and mathematician in the 20th century and had a near-death experience during the later years of his life.
Anyway, the meaning of this song is pretty obvious.
Actually, that was what I meant, that even though some might turn to faith, this has no effect on the actual outcome of the situation
One option is to buy into Flyentology - to accept an artificial system that provides instructions for you. You might even come to believe it an turn into a Flyentologist, though clearly not all do (Hence the preacher Flyentologist and flyers). If you choose to leave the system, they completely excommunicate you - no chance of hanging out on their safety base while not being part of the cult.
In the end, you either hit rock bottom with no meaning and have to build it yourself (a process Trent is familiar with), or you make a temporary transition to Flyentology (faith).
Thus the lines about atheists in foxholes, intellect in the air, and science being a source of reflection are seen as denials during a crisis of meaning - a willful *suspension of disbelief* that is self-imposed in order to excuse oneself to believe in a god. Faith vs Physics is exactly what it seems - you either have faith, or come to a crashing realization about life.
Another interpretation (sans video) would be that Flyentology is a plane crash constructed to get you to join. The imminent crash is the coming apocalypse or whatever disaster they're preaching, and everyone's heading for it. "Tuck your head between your legs, Now pray." Only those who accept the bible in the back pocket will be saved. In this sense, the "physics" is artificial - there's no real crash about to happen, so they can keep picking at your brain for as long as it takes. If there were a crash, no one would be left to talk about faith.
I find it interesting that the last line of the song is "No!" It could be a wish for the crash to not happen, a rejection of Flyentology, or someone's last words right before their death. In the latter two scenarios, physics obviously wins.
From an interview in April 2007:
“If I was to get caught up in the gut impression, in the immediate interpretations people have of the lyrics, I would get frustrated. But I really only have myself to blame for that. I mean, there are songs like ‘Flyentology’, which I really just wrote about being afraid of flying. That song, very specifically, was about my relationship to God and how I’m an atheist, but when I get on a plane and the chips are down and I’m falling, all of a sudden I’m an orthodox christian, or whatever the fuck. I was not raised with dogma, but that’s what the song was about. A lot of people, though, have said it’s me lambasting religion – I do think I carry certain connotations because of the way I think and my career in general, and sometimes people make assumptions and they apply it to songs.”
But the song does come across as a joust between science and religion.
“The song is a joust, but it’s a personal one. It’s funny to find the intellectual, in the face of danger, becoming like a baby again. All of your witticism and intelligence and sardonic outlook on the relationship between these ideas and man go out of the window, and all you want to do is be held and protected, by some omniscient force, because all of your rationale has gone.”
Just why are you so afraid of flying? It makes physical sense, after all...
“Most of my reasoning ended when I got on a plane and the engine exploded, so that… that was a couple of years ago, and that’s when I wrote the song. I am quite afraid of flying, and with my tour schedule that is a concern. When I run out of my magic pills, I’ll lose my shit. It’s not cool. So logic, and that sort of self-hypnotising meditation, is not really that applicable in my life right now.”
El-P’s unafraid of heavy touring – he’s done it before, and knows that live appearances are essential in spreading the word of I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. After ten years in the saddle, he’s now happier than he’s ever been with his live form.
The song has only one real meaning, but the way you interpret that meaning will vary depending on whether you're religious or skeptical.
Postmortum, I have to point out that you are incorrect. However absurd it is (Atheist here) Faith wins. He's saying:
"There are no atheists in the Foxholes,
(no one at war will resist faith for comfort)
There is no intellect in the air,
(no one can be skeptical when faced with certain doom)
there are no scientists on the way down"
(no one will accept that there is no afterlife when their one shot is up)
In other words, Faith wins because no one will accept that Physics dictates their demise, instead they turn to Faith for a "better" answer (perhaps one where they survive their own death)
The words in the hook are, however, ill-informed. Plenty of skeptical people die everyday with the full knowledge that when it's over, it's over. No great intellectual has ever begged "God" to take him on his death-bed (No matter what heinous, and usually proven false, stories you may hear form desperate zealots)
The music video seems to say something very similar; Religious groups who specifically target those in trouble with promises of the ability to fix their lives and make them happy, and only end up using them for their own advantage. (Flyentology... that sounds an awful lot like this cult... What's it called again? )
I see this song more about people who turn to religion only in times of trouble as a way to save themselves, but after the trouble is gone they go right back to their lives.
"I'll become your soldier, at least for this day."
He'll be a member of the religion until they help him, and then forget it after he doesn't need it anymore.
I was looking over on the latest comment thing on the side and i clicked on this and i just noticed Trent Reznor sings in this! He is the lead singer of my favorite band. I'm definately going to check this song out.
More directly its about being on the way down in a plane crash and even if you have never been to a single day of church asking for forgiveness and help at that moment.