Avenged Sevenfold: M.I.A. Meaning

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M.I.A. Lyrics

Staring at the carnage, praying that the sun will never rise.
Living another day in disguise.
These feelings can't be right, lend me your courage to stand up and fight, on tonight.

Ooooo....
Stand up and fight.

Now fighting rages on and...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jun 12th 2008 report

   I am in Army ROTC. I have many friends who have fought in Iraq. A person can hat the carnage and be scared out of their mind and still be pro war. Some things are worth fighting for. No matter how bad war is, sometimes it has to be done. It is not anti war. It is a song about the reality of war.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Aug 28th 2007 report

   He actually states in a concert that it was about his friends in Iraq and that "we are not a political band and we never will be" so they don't push beliefs on you. I like that.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 12th 2007 report

   In my opinion MIA is all about human reality, I mean yeah it's about war and killing but not any specific war just the fact that yeah war inst always necessary. NOT ANTI-WAR they don't bring politics into there songs. Its also about the choices we make and some of the choices we let other people make for us. I.E. (10,000,000 soldiers can't be wrong) Basically throwing a, "well everyone else is doing it!" out there. So in short not anti-war just a song, bitches.....
4. anonymous

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   May 18th 2019 report

   I feel like the title (M.I.A.) is symbolic for the fact that the person in the song has lost their innocence overseas at war (i.e. his innocence is Missing In Action). I think it’s a very poetic way to describe the effects of war on a young person now having to deal with the effects of PTSD and guilt. Like many others have said this song is NOT anti war, it is a depiction of the reality and the effects it has on the soldiers who fought in it. It’s phrasing and the kick drum pattern sounds like horses galloping which also creates a fitting soundscape to the events it describes. I really hear a lot of Iron Maiden in this song and others from this album.
   
   A7X FOREVER
5. anonymous

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   Jun 16th 2018 report

   To me i kinda see a relation to the man the movie "American Sniper" was made after, Chris Kyle. A part that sticks out is "Shot a mother right in front of her son", it reminds me of the part in the movie where he shoots the woman holding the grenade in front of the child. this coupled with other parts that can easily be connected to Chris Kyle. And when he did come back to normal life he was never the same and was effected by ptsd and it makes it seem like this could be easily connected to him.
6. anonymous

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   Oct 14th 2016 report

   Of course, I think that this song is about the war and the soldier's guilt feelings when they come back home after killing a lot of people.
7. anonymous

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   Sep 16th 2016 report

   I know the song is about Iraq but I cant help think of world war 1 when i listen to it. In perticular stories ive heard of the battle of Passchendale.
8. anonymous

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   Sep 27th 2014 report

   I always think of the introduction scenes involving the progression of the crusades in the eyes of the two lead characters in the movie 'Season of the Witch' where they fight for religion king and country. Eventually they grow conscious of the futility of the cause and, battle weary, they resign themselves to the predicament of servitude and long for a worthy adversary in a more worthy cause. The warrior transcends the horror of the battlefield and instead of honor, he fights for survival. The crusades and the opposition forces will wage this war at the expense of life forever into eternity. The song laments not a specific war during a specific era but *this* fight in the eyes of every hero from the beginning on through the centuries.
9. anonymous

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   Mar 10th 2012 report

   I like to break this song down by verse. The first he is a young kid going to war because everyone is doing it. "2,000,000 soldiers can't be wrong". "Some are scared I'm just killing for fun". This shows hes a dumb young kid who is going for no resaon. The next verse portrays him older and he is now aware of the circumstances, "I take their lives so they can't take mine" and "scared to make it out alive" He understands the situation. Then he describes war, "watching your brothers all die". He realizes war is hell and at the end he is begging for forgivness for all the trouble he cause because he knew no better. "Please remember that I was so young". This is just my interpretation.
10. anonymous

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    Dec 7th 2011 report

    Fight for honor, fight for your life.
    Pray to god that our side is right.
    Even though we won, I still may lose
    Until' I make it home to you
    I see our mothers filled with tears,
    grew up so fast where did those years go?
    Memories wont let you cry
    unless I don't return tonight.
    
    So many soldiers on the other side, I take their lives so they can't take mine.
    ----------------------------------------
    Watching the death toll rise wondering how I'm alive.
    Stranger's blood on my hands, I've shot all I can
    There are no silent nights, watching your brothers all die
    -----------------------------------------
    explains it.
    
    ever noticed the popular bands of this week are always there as if glued on? more like most popular bands of the YEAR!
11. anonymous

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    Sep 21st 2011 report

    M.I.A stands for missing in action its telling a story about a soldier being M.I.A

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    Aug 21st 2011 report

    It appears, to me at least, that it's a story of a man who is retelling his events, and at first liked being a soldier and understood the risks it entailed (Fight for honor, fight for your life)
    
    The lyrics "Take this from my consciousness and please erase my dreams" could be in relation to when he has returned home, and is suffering from what he has seen while fighting in the war.
    
    Following returning home the man tries to cope with his painful memories and he considers himself not so much of a soldier, but more of a murderer(A murderer walks your streets tonight. Forgive me for my crimes..)
    The voice of Shadows as he sings the final part of the song almost sounds as though there are tears in his eyes, and that the man, while he feels that he is a murderer, should be forgiven and not haunted by his memories.
    
    It's not pro or anti-war, but rather shows a first hand example of how war could change a man following his duties. It is truly a wonderful, beautiful
13. anonymous

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    Jun 7th 2011 report

    I think this song is particularly about the Vietnam war. "staring at the carnage, praying that the sun would never rise" in Vietnam when the sun rose, the Vietcong would look for survivors that had lived through an attack, and either kill them brutally, or torture them.
    "I shot a mother right in front of her son" soldiers were forced to kill any armed enemies, even children or women.
    " I walk your land but don't belong, 2 million soldiers can't be wrong" that refers to how soldiers were drafted even if they saw the war as wrong, and there were about 2 million soldiers in vietnam.
    " I'm far from home and I'm fighting your war" the Vietnam war was a support war, not a direct U.S. vs. Vietnam.
    " forgive me for my crimes; remember I was so young"
    Many soldiers felt what they did was wrong because the media portrayed it to be, and many were just young men right out of high school.
    But that's just my take on it, and Vietnam is a popular war to have songs written about due to how controversial it was.
    But yet again, this is just my honest opinion.
14. anonymous

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    Apr 21st 2011 report

    A7X is a supporter of the war if anything, note the Songs Danger Line, Gunslinger, and Critical Acclaim.
15. anonymous

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    Jan 21st 2011 report

    Im in the army this song basicly just portrays the messed up things we have to do to survive and protect our buddys and how difficult it is to get back into the civilian life style after all things things we done that weigh down on our conscious. not exactly anti-war just a song about how difficult the life of a soldier really is
16. anonymous

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    Sep 24th 2010 report

    M.I.A. Means "missing in action" in military perspective, and this song was dedicated to the Iraq war. I think this song tells about how soldiers lived the war. It's about the soldiers.
17. anonymous

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    Sep 3rd 2010 report

    The song is about the thoughts and feelings of a solder from the Vietnam war I'm fairly confident because of the line "I shot a mother right in front of her son"
18. anonymous

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    May 26th 2010 report

    That was my interpretation from the student of Satya Wacana Christian University, ,
    'I'm evil of darkness'
    A7X forever, ,