anonymous October 21st, 2007 06:28PM  
I think that this song doesn't make any sense at all. Do you honestly think that AFI thought up some crazy meaning of this song and then based the lyrics around that. Nope. They said "Let's get a catchy chorus, and have it make no sense and then all of our fans will debate what it means when we don't even know what it means in the first place!"

anonymous November 18th, 2007 09:19PM  
Someone told me this song is about Hitler....

anonymous January 28th, 2008 10:26AM  
I think this song is generally about not wanting to age. Losing your youthful beauty for age.

In some twisted way, Davey is asking,"If I were to kill myself, would my beauty stay forever?" In death your body doesn't really change except in the time of decay but he is looking at it in a different way. "I don't have to see myself grow old." or "I won't have to experience it."

anonymous February 16th, 2008 02:09PM  
Plain and simple I think this song is about giving you life for what you love most

anonymous April 8th, 2008 07:26PM  
I'm not really sure what it's about. I think it could be based on Hitler but not exactly him and not praising him. I know a lot of people are saying the Jesus and it kinda fits with the lyrics but I don't think it fits with the tempo of the song or the video,. Actually not really the lyrics either. I would either go with the Hitler Theory, The Lucifer Theory, or maybe it is just purely metaphorical. We can't really determine it because we didn't write it.

anonymous April 21st, 2008 02:49AM  
It's about Jesus, Hitler, and many other things. Essentially Hitler saw himself as the savior of the German people, much as Jesus was said to have seen himself as the savior of the Judaen people. There are very strong elements of religion in contemporaneous German art, in the ceremonies instituted by the national socialists, and even in the name they chose (third -Reich-, after the "Holy Roman Empire" of old).

The "golden ring" that we would never let go could easily be a reference to the ring in the saga of the Niebelungenlied, a symbol in pagan Germanic myth for the destiny of the German peoples and their place as favored of the gods.

Of course you'll agree that the Nazis should not have been able to "lay their filthy hands upon" the greatest secrets of the universe, but who among us truly would be worthy?

Miss Murder could be Kali, mistress of death and also of rebirth and reincarnation. I've read that suicides were held by some ancient traditions to be bound to the earth, forced to be reborn (seek to lose your life and gain it??).

"Empty set" is a mathematical concept. It would be used, for example, to answer the problem, "list all values of x for which x = x+1". The empty set is not "zero" or "nothing" in the common use of the word. To butcher a zen koan, "Once a student asked his master, 'Sir, what is it like to attain Buddhahood?' His master shouted, 'The empty set!'"

That said, perhaps a better question to ask than "What does this song objectively mean?" is "What can I subjectively learn from experiencing this song??

anonymous April 25th, 2008 04:53PM  
Now that everyone mentions it the Hitler idea fits well. I just thought it was about a murderer who was going to kill someone the singer cared about so he was giving his life in place.

anonymous May 12th, 2008 05:54AM  
The general idea of this song I think is more comparable to the portrait of Dorian gray asking if he can trade his life (in a sense his soul) for "perfection" and movie star looks but through it all he realized it even tainted him further making his goal even more unrealistic the allusion to the golden ring is just a visualization of that

anonymous May 31st, 2008 08:47PM  
I don't know if you guys have seen the video, but if you watch it, you'll notice that he's looking in a mirror for the first verse (and ending), so I think that the song was spoken in the third-person, because he says "heavens bowed before him" and "his crash" and such, these are all things that he used to be to a girl. also, in the video you can see that it's a speech to a following, which I believe symbolizes the fact that he's telling them not to make his mistakes.. I think that really he's asking this girl to let him kill himself because he let her down. (which would explain:
"The stars that mystify, [that pierce the sky], and [and how his children cry] he left us all behind) also the fact that he said:
"that the ghost you love, your ray of light will fizzle out without hope" also carries the same meaning. and the metaphor
"were the empty set just floating through wrapped in skin" is saying that they are just walking abandonment (empty set) and "ever searching for what we were promised" means that they made promises to each other but didn't keep them. and I'm not sure, but the golden ring may be the relationship they used to have, but they'd tainted their hands and they were to filthy to touch it now, meaning that they could never go back to the way they were.

diewithyou June 6th, 2008 09:11AM  
It means suicide duh! Get it right.

anonymous June 11th, 2008 11:35AM  
I think it's about Hitler. It's about how Hitler made all these people believe he was this some kind of good person then the public found out what he was doing to the jews and then he killed himself. We're left to wonder why he left us all behind... The nice Hitler left them all behind and this new horrible person took his place

slaveoffi June 14th, 2008 10:27PM  
You know what, maybe they just choose lyrics out of a hat. That's what it seems like to me. I mean, does EVERYTHING have to have a deep hidden meaning? I think it would be really hard for them to come up with meanings as deep and obscure as what some of you are suggesting. I do think the Lucifer idea was kind of cool, but where does the "Miss Murder" part come in (emphasis on the MISS)?

anonymous July 13th, 2008 02:48PM  
Ok you are all retarded...some of them I can see because liek the biblical stuff fits and all, and I'm a Christian but honestly, ''miss murder'' not the song, the phrase (yes there is a phrase) means 'vanity'. do you know what vanity is??? =P its being cocky and arrogant. ''miss murder'' is a phrase that literally means that.

"We're left to wonder why...he left us all...behind" possibly a previous friend who did something and everyone thought it was really great and he became popular and the narrator is just like ''wtf?! I'm your friend and you just left me?????'' so yea...''with just a look, he shook'' the old friend looks at the narrator and shudders because he realizes that he's left him but hasn't done anything about it.

''and heavens bowed b4 him'' --his new popularity

''hey miss murder (vanity) can i, make beauty (the old friend) stay if i, take my life...'' hed give anything to be with his old friend again and he wants his friend back.

and a lot of the bridge is like...we try to get his old friend back, but the old friends new friends won't even let the narrator near them because theyre like...shunned

anonymous September 24th, 2008 03:24PM  
I think this is about a god or king leaving his people behind. Could be applied to any number of situations.

anonymous October 9th, 2008 08:30PM  
You people ever think of maybe emailing AFI fan sites that can ask the band themselves? just a thought

anonymous October 23rd, 2008 04:30AM  
I kind of agree with the Hitler thing in that it's about a leader, maybe a really ambitious leader perhaps, but I think that what it's about is this great leader who is probably thought of as the "Hope for Humanity" or whatever, knows he is dying or is going to die before his time and probably secretly wishes to somehow make a deal with "Miss Murder" that if he has to die soon, then can he at least accomplish whatever great thing he set out to do. Im not sure how others will react to it but that is what I got out of it.

Death4fallin November 2nd, 2008 09:33AM  
haven't been able to find out entirely what this song is about, but the following is my guess, A couple once fell in love, one being a young mischevious boy, and another a beautiful women. These two had lived a great life until the boy had become famous, and that fame led to the disaster of their relationship. The two split up, with hateful remarks towards another, that only fueled with the fall of the boy's career. Years later his once beloved had become known to him as Miss Murder, and she had finally pushed herself to seek revenge, and come to take his life, for destroying hers. Needless to say, the once famous star did not go down without a fight. He took a stand in front of all his adoring fans and rallied them to help ward of Miss Murder. Unfortunately his attempts were in vain, and after coming to realization of his defeat, Miss Murder finally reclaims her once beloved, this time however, in death.

pknubs February 4th, 2009 04:47PM  
I think that it was comparing Hitler's reign to the rebellion of Lucifer. Both were envious of power, and sought to establish a new and "better" system of government. They both, out of envy, resented what was good and ended up losing their power. "He left us all behind!" Lucifer was banished from heaven. Hitler was distressed that all he had worked to create had been destroyed. Both left us behind. I must give credit to the people who had the "Hitler" and "Lucifer" theories. I just noticed a connection.

anonymous March 13th, 2009 01:51PM  
This song is about Kurt Cobain.

anonymous June 7th, 2009 05:30PM  
The song is about a woman at its most basic.

Hey Miss Murder can I?
Hey Miss Murder can I?
Make beauty stay if I,
Take my life?

In this verse, he is going to the extreme of essentially saying to the woman he is in love with, "If I give up everything, will you stay?"

With just a look they shook
And heavens bowed before him.
Simply a look can break your heart.

This describes the social status of the singer. He had everything and it seemed that the very heavens bent to his wishes.

The stars that pierce the sky;
He left them all behind.
We’re left to wonder why
He left us all behind.

Again, he had everything. But the song leads you to believe that he chose to give it all up for an attempt at getting back the one he loved, but who did not love him in return. He commits suicide, leaving all those who cared about him to wonder why.

Dreams of his crash won’t pass
Oh, how they all adored him

He died in a car crash. Everyone loved him.

Beauty will last when spiraled down.

He died in hopes to regain the one he loved, hoping that, in death, she would love him.

The stars that mystify
He left them all behind.
And how his children cried
He left us all behind.

The children are the people that not only cared about the singer, but also the people that he cared about. He left them all behind, all to regain the one he loved.

What's the hook, the twist
Within this verbose mystery?
I would gladly bet my life upon it.

Sometimes, people do not say exactly what they mean. They give long, drawn out excuses, such as a person's excuse for leaving another in a relationship. The verbose mystery is the excuse his love gave to him for leaving. He didn't understand at first what was meant by it, but after sinking into depression, he thinks that he must give up his very life to regain her. It's a last hope of a desperate lover.

That the ghost you love, your ray of light
Will fizzle out without hope.

He is the ghost, and in his mind, her ray of light. He is saying that without hope, without her, he will die.

We're the empty set just floating through, wrapped in skin
Ever searching for what we were promised.
Reaching for that golden ring we'd never let go,
but who would ever let us put put our filthy hands upon it?

Here, his depression turns to rage. He feels empty, hollow, and all he cares about, all he wants, is just to have his lover back. The relationship was serious in his mind. She promised herself to him. The golden ring is a wedding ring. All he cares about, is reclaiming what he was promised: her. He will never let go of this promise. The last line is directed at his lover, who he is now enraged at. It is as if he is yelling, "You promised me everything. I loved you. But my love wasn't good enough. It will never be good enough for you!"

Hey Miss Murder can I?
Hey Miss Murder can I?
Make beauty stay if I,
Take my life?
Whoa-oh-ohh

Having become enraged at his lover and still in a pit of depression, he kills himself. It is finally revealed that, instead of killing himself to regain his lover, he killed himself to strike back at her. Similar themes of suicide as a form of revenge can be seen in the song "Snuff on Digital" by Davey's side-project band Blaqk Audio.