This song was written 25 years ago yet seems oddly prescient of our current political condition. I can not say what Greg's motives and meanings for this song are for certain but suddenly it feels like it could be this.

So many lines stand out like… [b]“sleeping on a time bomb staring into space, there's an ocean of unpleasantries we're not prepared to face”[/b]. It feels like this is America either pre-Obama or during. [b]“An ocean of unpleasantries”[/b]... racism, battle for truth, socialist economics vs unfettered Capitalism, science denial.

[b]“Sitting on the fence post to watch the storm roll in and terrified of the damage it will bring when it begins”[/b] ... If this doesn't sum up the feelings people must have had at the time Trump was elected, I don't know what does. The dread of knowing what is coming and what could happen. It’s a nightmare many of us are experiencing now.

[b]“Splintered dreams of unity... our division, so far from reality”[/b] ... conspiracy driven political fringes, independent trajectories... two Americas, separate terms of equality... gay rights, religious preference, racial discrimination, voter disenfranchisement.

[b]“Is there no redemption, no common good, is there nothing we can do for ourselves or only what we should”[/b] ... it feels like an America unwilling to grapple with the challenges it faces and only will it when we have to rather than doing so because we want to do the right thing.

[b]“Comes the hard admission of what we don't provide, goes the insistence of the ways and means that so divide”[/b] ... America grappling with its divisions and racism.

[b]“phony collective progress”[/b] ... we're clearly not as progressed socially or otherwise than we think. [b]“Accepting that it's all such a mess”[/b] ... yep. Many of us have, too many have not.

[b]“watching our foundations crumble away, staggering like birds against a hurricane”[/b] ... That is what this moment feels like.

It’s unlikely the song was written for what I described but it sure as shit feels right for the moment.

We are all already,always connected and part of all of it.

I also take it as a real personnal song. It resonnates in me as a couple (or maybe just one of the two?) making the cruel finding. To me it's a real sad song. The narrator seems to acknowledge some kind of unability to work things out. The song's title "Parallel" could also have been "Paralyzed". I can feel some kind of distress behind the narrator's position, who has clearly understood the situation (though it remains unspoken between the two), but not knowing what to do, afraid of what will come. To me, this song transpires of emotionnal anxiety. Really sad.

While for years I've thought this song is general, about all humanity, etc, as folks have said, I now am coming to think it is a much more personal song. I think of a couple who are once in love, but afraid to tell each other that the spark is now gone. They are "sleeping on a timebomb" that leads to an "ocean of unpleasantries." Yet, the truth must come out - they are helpless to watch as the storm rolls in, and the song repeats the guarantee that "it WILL begin." (an alternative interpretation here could have something to say about determinism...note also the later phrase "without hope").

As the couple breaks, they realize that their lives are parallel - never to intersect. Thus "unity" is "splintered." The couple is "side by side", but only in their parallel course, never to intersect.

The bridge ("forging little plays...") intriguingly mentions deception. The earlier "storm" is now a "hurricane." Perhaps "trying to stay out of each others' way" is also a form of deception, as in the song's context the couple is not to intersect, thus they WILL be out of each other's way. OR, perhaps the continued repetition of "our lives are parallel" is the deception, when the truth is that such determinism can be at least fought against, albeit with the ineffectualness of birds staggering against hurricane winds.

this song resonates so true in all facets of human existance. reality is a facade. you are all slaves if you choose to ignore the severity of the depravity that is our reality.

To me this song has it's own paralell. This is in that the lyrics are quite plainly descriptions of humanity on mass. But also it can be interpretted by your own personal actions. Something that you have done or trying not to do on a very socially personal level. The paralell between a time bomb of cultures and opinions clashing and that of a small drama in your own life. And of course both being unplesent are hard to face.
While I don't believe for one minute that was the intention of the lyrics, the paralell I draw from the small and large scales speak to me a great deal more than the many songs I've heard, not just of Bad Religion but by any band.
It helps that this track has immense instrumental prowess too. It may well not have caught my attention if it weren't for the guitar sound during the chorus. Infact the introduction almost compelled me to change tracks...but sticking it out you can see a paralell musical sound that runs the same path but is completely different.

This is one of those BR songs that I must describe only as " beautiful ". One of those songs that can almost bring a tear to your eye. Its about how mankind is all equal and yet we push away from eachother. So much could happen if we could put away all our prejudice and have " unity ". Its evident after the eons of years of the samething, that man may never learn its lesson. But we need to try and unify as much as we can.

Parallel is by far and away one of the most kick ass songs BR has written. The blistering guitar with Greg's screaming and the constant 'our lives, are parallel' make me feel understood when the world seems to not realize we are the same. Especially with WTC and 9/11, we need to realize that we are no different and shouldn't distance ourselves. we are, simply put, 'forging little plays of deception and pain, while we watch our foundations crumble away. staggering like birds against a hurricane, and trying all the while to stay out of eachother's waaaaaayyyyy'. We need to show humanity and try to change instead of showing hatred and fear.

Of course a special song for me. I named my website Parallel because there are many English speaking websites around and making one entirely in French was a kind of parallel thing.
But I must confess that I'm not really sure about the meaning of the song... The first feeling I had is that it talks about the pity that our lives are parallel because we live, experiencing trouble everyday and trying to get through it well. 'Side by side suffering loneliness' 'Turning inward and suffering'. And I thought that Graffin wanted to say 'look, we all live the same thing, our lives are the same (parallel) so why don't we help each other?'.
But lately I thought that maybe he meant that "our lives are parallel and that's a negative thing because we face these troubles on our own and we never meet each other" because when two lines are parallel, they never cross. This meaning disturbs me a bit because I name my web page on a negative way. I intend to create a community of French speaking BR fans...and the last thing I want is that we never meet !
This is not quite the same meaning for the word "Parallel". I choose this song also because of the melody, and the intensity in Graffin's voice on it makes it, for me, one of the most beautiful BR songs ever.
Roger, once again, your BR website is THE BR website...this last idea (the songs page) is a great one. Months ago I intended to make a page which would explain BR songs thanks to 'The Answer's' quotes...but I gave up.

I think this song is about the human race as a whole. We are never satisfied, we are always looking for something more, and we never stop think of a good solution to our problems. The term parallel means to lines that go exactly the same direction but never cross paths, in this song I think Greg was meaning many people have things in common but their differences keep them from ever unifying. In the phrase 'Sitting on a fence post to watch the storm roll in and terrified of the damage it will bring when it begins. IT WILL BEGIN.' I think this represents that all of us deep inside know that the way we are living our lives will eventually bring about the end of us, but we sit back and watch it happen. We may have completely different ideals life styles, but we are all heading to the same inevitable fate....death.

I see this as a 'We're all in this together' sort of thing. The lives of all people on Earth run side by to a single destination (like wires in a cable, I suppose). We 'stay out of each other's way', sometimes not wanting to associate ourselves with one another at all, but the fact of the matter is, regardless of class, race, nationality, etc., that all of humanity is headed in the same direction ? towards the 'ocean of unpleasantries'; the 'storm'; the 'hurricane'; our bleak little future. And we're not headed in to this united and combining our efforts to turn back the tide, but as a collection of individuals, 'staggering like birds' whose powers are useless against what?s around the corner. Being an individual is fine just so long as you don't forget about the common good. This album seems to be centered around the fact that we are one doomed bunch of sorry bastards.

Parallel seems to be a song about our aspirations and hopes against the fateful reality of our lives. We hope for unity and global peace, but in reality that's just a dream that is too far away to reach yet. We would like to think that this world is fair and equal, but the truth is that a opaque crystal ball encircles the US and we can't think about the rest of the world--the wars, the starvation, the fatal diseases, the injustice, the brutality and inhumanity, the aggravation and desperation, poverty, corruption, abuses, and down-to-the-ground wages. But we feel save nevertheless. Our lives and the rest of the people in the other areas of the world are parallel, as we'll never meet them and try to ignore their present while they dream of what we have in the US. It's chaos and we barely try to solve it. Our destiny and goals will never meet with that of the desperados and desperate in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.