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When the world has turned
Paralyzed and wrong
Cold blooded claws
Never offered anything at all
Past the point of love
Shattered and untied
Waiting to pick up the pieces
That make it all alright
But pieces of what
Pieces of what
Pieces of what
Doesn't matter any more
Moonlight on my floor
Shining through the roof
They got the city surrounded
As if I needed proof
I forgot my fear
Feelings on the rise
Burying all of the pieces
Falling from the sky
But pieces of what
Pieces of what
Pieces of what
We used to call home
Pieces of what
We used to call home
When I drank your tea
And shallow water still
At the Belgian gates
I waited for my meal
Paralyzed and wrong
Cold blooded claws
Never offered anything at all
Past the point of love
Shattered and untied
Waiting to pick up the pieces
That make it all alright
But pieces of what
Pieces of what
Pieces of what
Doesn't matter any more
Moonlight on my floor
Shining through the roof
They got the city surrounded
As if I needed proof
I forgot my fear
Feelings on the rise
Burying all of the pieces
Falling from the sky
But pieces of what
Pieces of what
Pieces of what
We used to call home
Pieces of what
We used to call home
When I drank your tea
And shallow water still
At the Belgian gates
I waited for my meal
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"at the Belgian gates
I'm waiting for my meal"
The Belgian gates were used for defense against Germany in WW2.
"moonlight on my floor
shining through the roof"
Wherever the person is, the place is falling apart for moonlight to shine through the roof. This person could be in hiding.
"they got the city surrounded
as if I needed proof"
The Germans had the victory in Belgium in 1940. Therefore this part could be conveying the German military showing off their huge numbers by surrounding them.
"when the world has turned
paralyzed and wrong
cold blooded claws
never offer anything at all
past the point of love
shattered and untied
waiting to pick up the pieces
that make it out all right"
The world is torn apart. Divided and fighting each other in great numbers and major nations.
"past the point of love"
WW2 is past the point of love for one another (arguable). The Holocaust is even more so.
"lay my dragon's teeth
and shallow water steel"
I'm not convinced these two lines are right.
i have to do an english project and think i could use this song and i know i can make a few connections if i stretch the meaning out a bit. but i dont know.
for me 'waiting to pick up the pieces
that make it out alright
but pieces of what
means that he wants to make put everything back togetether after it's 'shattered and untied' but he doesn't know what the components are. to me that's the theme of the song because i know exactly how that feels. and the 'pieces of what we used to call home' to me means that his home life has deterorated.
'past the point of love' and 'pieces of what doesn;t matter anymore' means that nothing really matters anymore, it has no significance.
'they got the city surrounded
as if I needed proof'
to me signifies paranoya- they're out to get you, as if you need proof that you're paranoid.
'I forgot my fear
I feel it's on the rise
buried by all of the pieces
falling from the sky' depression, coming and going. 'I'm waiting for my meal' - the home life thing again
"lay my dragon's teeth,
and shallow water steel,
at the belgian gates,
im waiting for my meal"
its an anti-war song, dragon's teeth, belgian gates are war fortifications, look them up on wiki ;) and shallow water steel shd refer to e underwater obstructions to beach landing operations.
First, the song is like a chapter in a bigger story, just a portion of a bigger picture. In this so-called chapter, a man, who has been living a life of corruption and evil, sees that there is some sort of hope. The hope is weak, and he feels like having hope is useless, but the hope is still there.
He realizes that the cold world he's been living in gives him only disappointment. There's nothing good, no love. It has nothing good to offer him but only more evil. However, he notices that there is something that is broken and unlike the corrupt environment that surrounds him. He gives his attention to it and tries to "pick up the pieces" of whatever it is, but he thinks it's useless. The shattered pieces are a symbol of the good in the world that used to live, but the current world is so evil that the pieces of this memory no longer matter.
As he looks to the sky and moon, he realizes there still is something beautiful left in this perverted, corrupted world. For that quick moment, he forgets about his fears of the surrounding evil. He remembers how it was before corruption, and he builds the strength to believe that, sooner or later, the goodness and beauty of the world will be restored over the hatred and ugliness it is currently in. There are too many shattered pieces of how it used to be. There are enough remnants of goodness that they simply cannot be forgotten. The man believes that all of these pieces will soon cover the world's scars (evil and corruption).
With a now stronger hope for better life, he decides to remove himself from the evil he is used to, represented by the violence of the dragon and steel sword he has dropped. He no longer wishes to keep fighting to survive. He does not want to keep on pushing his way into obstacles and gates. Instead, he will wait to be helped. Someone will give him a meal instead of he himself having to get it on his own. The ending is very open- he might be helped by someone, which means that he is right about restoring order. By having someone help him, that means that there is still hope for goodness in the world. On the other hand, he can also be left to die in this world of evil.
Either way, the story in "Pieces of What" tells three things: One must never let the goodness in him shatter into pieces. One should never forget where he came from because his origin (home) could someday be the only good thing in his life of corruption and evil. One must take a chance if he is ever to change his future and, in turn, the world around him.
At first, you don't realize it so you think it doesn't matter but then you realize there's no going back no matter how badly you want it. I think the city he describes as being surrounded is them being surrounded and there's no escaping what their lives have become.
The last verse, to me, is the singer saying that he isn't giving up hope and he'll do anything even as ridiculous as laying dragon's teeth (in Greek mythology are believed to, once planted, created armed soldiers). I think the line "I'm waiting for my meal" is him simply saying when is it going to change? when will I get a break?
All in all, MGMT rule they are extremely creative with their music and cleverly insightful with their lyrics and this is just my interpretation.