Quote of the day: "God I want to be a man but I don't want to die with a rifle in my hand" - Heaven Is Falling
Sanity
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06/25/2019 at 10:27
I have always thought this song to be about how keeping 'sane' is truly a full-time job. As in, it takes a lot to hold yourself together all day if you suffer from anxiety and always doubting your life and choices it's exhausting. It is a full-time job in your head. Maybe this is a personal interpretation but works for me.
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07/11/2004 at 11:56
Perhaps in a song such as this, Brett has found a way to incorporate many meanings which we might not think to do. Personally, when I think of the 'shadow on the wall' I can't help but think of the old 'cave' analogy, in which the shadow is an imperfect projection of reality. If you would buy my contention that schizophrenia is an often recurring theme in this album, it would make sense. Schizophrenics tend to see their own minds as the 'absolute' and thus shrink back away from a 'chaotic scary' world. This, I think, is what the narrator is trying to communicate. And it coincides with one of the two above interpretations: Schizophrenics often see themselves as the only truly sane individual in that with which they are familiar.
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07/11/2004 at 11:55
My take on 'Sanity' is that it is literally about the state of being sane and the challenge of maintaining this state in a world gone mad. The watch with the broken hands but turning gears shows the frustration of being rendered useless and ineffectual by society despite the fact that there is still an interior function and consciousness. It also seems that because of this, the gears have begun to grind away like a disturbed mind. The shadow on the wall evokes an image of someone trying to hide surface imperfections with cheap disguise - like perhaps putting a picture over a hole in the wall. Covering up damage with a false facade, like a madman trying to appear normal to the outside world.
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07/11/2004 at 11:55
I think this song is about how information is always being manipulated and changed. The" watch" would be the media. So "it's face is blank, but it's gears are turning," might state that it's not broken, it's still working, only it doesn't tell you anything.
"Sanity is a full time job" stands for staying totally informed about everything, with the correct information, is quite hard, and requires a lot of time to figure what's real and what's sensationalism. "The shadow on the wall where the paint is peeling" is when some information which was covered up surfaces, they try to put a shadow on it so nobody can see it. |
