Lyrics......
Panic Switch
time is never worth my time
blue shine bleeds into my eyes
i still sleep on the right side
but white noise can't leave the scene behind
could i be anything you want me to be
if so is it meant to be seen
when you see yourself in a crowded room
do your fingers itch are you pistol whipped
will you step in line or release the glitch
can you fall asleep with a panic switch
when you see yourself in a crowded room
do your fingers itch are you pistol whipped
will you step in line or release the glitch
do you think she'll sleep with a panic...
i'll try to hold on tight tonight
pink slip inviting me inside
want to burn skin and brand what once was mine
but the red views keep ripping the divide
if i go everywhere you want me to go
how will i know you'll still follow
when you see yourself in a crowded room
do your fingers itch are you pistol whipped
will you step in line or release the glitch
can you fall asleep with a panic switch
when you see yourself in a crowded room
do your fingers itch are you pistol whipped
will you step in line or release the glitch
do you think she'll sleep with a panic...
movements are made slow motion in frame
i'm waiting and fading and floating away
the curtains are torn and the setting decayed
i'm waiting and fading and floating...
i'm waiting and fading and floating away
i'm waiting and fading and floating away
i'm waiting and fading and floating away
waiting and fading
waiting and fading
when you see yourself in a crowded room
do your fingers itch are you pistol whipped
will you step in line or release the glitch
can you fall asleep with a panic switch
when you see yourself in a crowded room
do your fingers itch are you pistol whipped
will you step in line or release the glitch
23 comments:
I think this song is kind of paranoid. The speaker asks a lot of rhetorical questions such as “Are you pistol whipped” “How will I know if you’ll still follow” and “Could I be anything you want me to be”. I think these questions reflect on whether the speaker’s love loves him back. I think the speaker is paranoid on how this person feels about them, and they don’t trust their love. I think that the speaker went through a possible bad breakup, and he is trying to make the person who did it feel guilty. The chorus asks a lot of questions, probably pertaining to their emotions and trying to make them both feel it. I think the speaker was whipped by this person and even though they broke his heart he might still go back. The speaker says, “I’m waiting and fading and floating away”, to show that they will wait. The tone is very pessimistic, everything the speaker says seems to have some negative connotation, but in a more heart breaking way, not angry.
-KATIE HARRIS
I believe the writer of the song is deeply traumatized by events in their past, which are coming back to haunt him/her in their sleep. The speaker talks about the "white noise" that "can't leave the scene behind", which in and of itself is a disturbing use of auditory imagery. Also, the speaker states that they want to "burn skin and brand what once was [theirs]". The image and smell of burning flesh are unpleasant. Although I doubt that the speaker is a Vietnam or other war veteran, the images of people being pistol whipped and flesh burning invoke a disturbing tone, as well as a theme of mental unsoundness induced by past events.
As Katie has said, the tone of this piece is very paranoid and dramatic. The speaker use of dark imagery such as “crowded room… [and] pistol-whipped” convey his messed up mental state. He/she also uses a lot of repition which shows how troubled the speaker is. Most likely, he/she has suffered from a traumatic event that has left him completely paranoid… to be continued
Whatever has happened to him still haunts him and pervades his mind. The juxtaposition of the “crowded room” and the line “how will I know you’ll still follow” shows how complicated and sure the speaker’s thoughts are. He doesn’t know what he wants or needs, and it is making him anxious and frantic.
I agree with katie that the song has a nervous questioning tone. "time is never worth my time" is very depressing and pessimistic. This person has lost all hope. At first i thought this was a love song of sorts, like he loved her so much that it literally torn him up inside but i think its really about being paranoid and never trusting in yourself. The chorus has such strong diction "switch" "glitch" "panic". It sounds like he's trying to make a huge decision within seconds and his mind is just sprinting ahead of him. This person needs to slow it down a little bit and take a load off.
Kind of what Katie stated in her comment, this song seems to be about someone being paranoid if their lover loves them back or not. "time is never worth my time
blue shine bleeds into my eyes
I still sleep on the right side
but white noise can't leave the scene behind could I be anything you want me to be if so is it meant to be seen," what the speaker is trying to saying that he can be anything his lover wants him to bed, but wonders if that is enough. Also, the speaker says, "I'll try to hold on tight tonight pink slip inviting me inside want to burn skin and brand what once was mine but the red views keep ripping the divide," which basically means he wants to cause someone pain, and perhaps it has something to do with his love.
The song "Panic Switch" appears to concern a person going through a nervous breakdown. Through the speaker's use of imagery and repetition of various phrases, the tone of desperation is conveyed. The various exapmles of imagery employed throughout the song include "Blue shine", "Bleeds into my eyes", "Pink slip", "Wanna burn skin", and "red views". The imagery includes visual and tactile. The repetition of the phrases "I'm waiting and fading and floating away" and the chorus add to the feeling of desperation and of a nervous breakdown.
I do not want to sound like I am stealing everyone elses answer, but I agree with them 100%. As soon as I heard the song I could tell that it was about nervousness or paranoia. Then, when I read the lyrics I could tell that it was definitely about being nervous about something. When she sings the line "do your fingers itch are you pistol whipped", it gives me the image of a girl standing in a crowd looking around nervously. Also, I think that the line "can you fall asleep with a panic switch" means that she cannot fall asleep because she is panicing and nervous about something. The title of the song also gives me the feeling that the song is about nerves. I think of a panic switch as a button that you would press if you were very nervous about something and could not take it anymore. This is what I think of this song. Oh and by the way Mischley, where do you find these bands because I haven't heard of almost all of them?
This song is about someone who is going through a panic attack, so he is very nervous and paranoid. The vivid imagery using colors, "blue shine", "white noise", pink slip", "red views", depict the severity of his situation and how the nervousness manifests itself in every aspect of his life. The rhetorical questions "can you fall asleep", "do you think she'll sleep with a panic...", display the speaker's paranoia for himself and another girl, maybe because he has done something wrong and is afraid that she will leave him, or he is afraid that even if he follows her, she will leave him, "if i go everywhere you want me to go how will i know you'll still follow". The repetition of "I'm waiting and fading and floating away", implying that he does not trust their relationship with the girl, exemplifies the speaker's "ripping","torn", and "decayed" state of mind.
Personally I believe this speaker is very different from average people. He talks about disturbing scenes such as "pistol whips" , "burning skin",and "bleeds into my eyes". These scenes are all disturbing and define actions that occur to him. Strangely a new person is introduced and she is a woman. The speaker asks if she will follow and is she will sleep with panic tonight. Also the last line is "will you step in line or will you release the glitch". The whole song is filled with this constanst repeating chorus of disturbing images. So the last line must mean that the some one must change everything.
ALEX IANNITELLI
So just so I do not have to repeat what every single person has said so far; the imagery is so dark and vivid! ahh!!! but what is really over looked is what he is repeating, not the words but the sounds. Harsh sounds: "d" "t" "k" "itch" "c" "p" "b" "s" and so on. Also in the what I saw as the main lines "when you see...a panic switch" the harsh sounds seem to run in pairs; "pistol whipped" and "panic switch". these sounds along with the imagery that everyone else mentioned really help the lyricist push across the tone he wants to the listener.
SIDE NOTE: I do not know what it is with these songs we do but every one seems to be very repetitive, almost as if the artist is not good enough to think of actual lyrics... just a thought...
The speaker is seriously troubled and cannot make a decision if their life depended on it. Actually, it seems as thought their life might depend on it because there is very twisted and negative diction in the song such as "pistol whipped", "burn skin", "panic switch", and so on.
The imagery is suffocating, brought on by the "crowded room", and the tone is desperate for help, a feeling evoked by an appeal to senses such as "fingers itch".
Overall, the song displays intense confusion and darkness.
I think this song is about trying to please others. The speakers is paranoid and does not no what to do. The quote "I could be anything you want me to be" shows that the speaker is questioning what to do. The constant repetition shows that the speaker does not to choose wrong in his actions and is uncertain what people want him to do. I believe this song is truly about wanting to make someone happy "If I go everywhere you want me to go How will I know if you still follow" this quote shows he really wants the person to notice he is doing something for them and trying to make them happy. The constant repetition at the end of the song "I am waiting fading and wasting away" shows that the speaker is only trying to impress the person and it is killing them to not be who they really are.
I agree that the tone of this song is paranoid. As the lyrics ask so many rhetorical questions it makes me think of someone with a million thoughts running through their head, making them become more and more paranoid as it goes on. The repeated questions of, "can you," "will you," "when you," "if i," "do you," and other various questions gives the song its paranoid tone. The questions keep coming but none of the questions are ever really answered, so the speaker is becoming more and more overwhelmed. Also, the diction using words such as, "panic," "burn," "itch," "pistol," and, "bleeds," add to the stressful and paranoid nature of the song.
WOOOO SILVERSUN PICKUPS!!!
Alright so, I actually don't think this song is about a panic attack, I think it's about a nervous breakdown - two completely different things in my opinion. A panic attack is sudden, but a nervous breakdown is more associated with time and is often more permanent in terms of negative effects. This is shown through the line "time is never worth my time", which further states that over time he is slowly losing himself. He is trying to justify that he is okay by saying "I still sleep on the right side", but he soon realizes that he's lost all sense of reality. When one goes through a nervous breakdown they often go through an out-of-body experience, with everything around them being blurred and distorted, as if they're an observer in their own life. This idea is expanded through the repetition of the line "when you see yourself in a crowded room". When a nervous breakdown happens, there could be a million people around the person going through it and they would not know the difference because they are so out of the world. Furthermore, when the speaker says "i'm waiting and fading and floating away", it shows how he is hoping for the breakdown to end but he is only becoming more lost. Overall through his use of bleak and anxious diction it chronicles the progression of the speaker's nervous breakdown.
I sensed paranoia and loneliness in this song. There was a lot of repetition, of things like "are you pistol whipped," sleeping with a panic switch, and "I'm waiting and fading and floating away." The speaker feels alone in his world, as well as threatened. He repeats questions with violent ideas because he's scared. Possibly, these aren't legitimate threats, just figments of his imagination and he won't believe anyone no matter what they tell him. He's in a situation where the positive just seems unrealistic and only the negative can be accepted, even though its consequences are Hellish.
I whole-heartedly agree with Amy... pretty much 'cause she's right.
I've thought about this song in serious depth before, and the song is absolutely about a nervous breakdown.
The line the sells it to me is "I'm waiting, I'm fading, I'm floating away" This line is repeated many times near the end o the song and it sounds as if the singer feels detached from the world. The placement of the line would make sense to the idea of a nervous breakdown, as the song would be building up to the breakdown itself, with these lines being the breakdown, and then the final chorus being the final moments of panic before calm set back in.
The pacing of the song in general is very interesting. it starts our with each line almost being broken into three lines, kind of broken down like deep breaths, the song picks up int he chorus like heavy or labored breathing, and then the hook of the above lines would signify the breakdown.
Also, this song is good. You should pick more bands like this, Mischley!
Not gonna lie, when I first heard this song I thought it was a chick...that being said, I noticed and agree with the notion that everyone says that the singer is paranoid based on the lyrics such as "[itchy] fingers," "pistol whipped," "fall asleep with a panic switch," and "waiting and fading and floating away." However, it doesn't seem that anyone has picked up on how tense the music is in the background. The guitar seems to be tuned to some insanely stressed tone with all kinds of effects during the bridge and chorus. The main verses seem to only utilize the high hats on the drums and a bass guitar, which provides a very eerie feeling. During the solo, the guitar is very fuzzy and distorted, much like his vision and his mental state. There is also an easily apparent use of echo in the chorus, giving the notion of there's a voice in his head haunting him. All of this wraps up into a giant ball of confusion and disarray.
This song has a very nervous anxious tone as most have already mentioned through all of the dark and disturbing imagery. I also noticed that he uses very short simple words and phrases to get out a certain thought. When reading this it may sound as if you are out of breath which may relate to the speakers feeling of nervousness. The speaker is worried about losing this girl. He says "if i go everywhere you want me to go how do i know you'll still follow". He is extremely paranoid that his love or desire may not be reciprocated by her. This consumes most of his life and he asks if she too can fall asleep "with a panic switch". The repetition of "im waiting and fading and floating away" at the very end sounds like a last cry out in desperation.
Thing song says one thing and one thing only,paranoia. He is unsure of how his significant other thinks of him. he second guesses himself constantly and can't seem to rationalize how his lover really feels. The tone seems to be very negative, and almost self centered. though not on purpose the paranoia throws him out of wack and creates this altenate perseption of coses himself in.
This song contains much imagery and juxtaposes many lines such as "time isn't worth my time". Since time is a necessary part of life and composes everything, saying that time isn't worth it is necessarily saying that nothing in life is worth doing. This would convery that the speaker is in a very depressed state of mind and cannot find much worth living for. There is much erie diction such as "white noise", "bleeds", and "crowded", giving a very uncomfortable, unsettling tone. Repition of lines such as "do your fingers itch are you pistol whipped" make the speaker appear crazy, since insanity is repeating something over and over and expecting differnt results, and the repetitive lines seem to haunt him.
I think this song is about someone who has been cheated on. He says he wants to "burn skin and brand what was once mine." He is angry that she cheated on him and he is mad that he let it happen. It is clear that this person is emotionally distraught and is not handling it well. The diction is very angry and bitter. "Time is never worth my time." Nothing seems to matter to him anymore ever since he was cheated on and she is all he can still think about. He is still wondering if she thinks about him when he asks "Do you think she'll sleep with a panic" meaning, do you think she'll regret what she has done.
I don't particularly like this song, I mean the music is alright but I don't quite get the lyrics. It's got a kind of dark tone and I'm not too sure the message the lyrics are trying to send.
Precise diction such as "never", "bleeds", "noise", "itch", "pistol-whipped", "burn, "brand", "ripping", "panic", and "fading support the dark and somewhat troublesome tone. All of those words carry negative connotation and evoke dark or devious and bothersome images. I'm not sure of the meaning or message of this song but I do gather from the diction that it is gloomy pessimistic and dark.
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