What does The Red mean?

Chevelle: The Red Meaning

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Album cover for The Red album cover

Song Released: 2002


The Red Lyrics

They say freak,
When you're singled out,
The red, well it filters through.

So lay down, the threat is real,
When his sight goes red again.
Seeing red again,
Seeing red again. bitch nigger

This change, he won't contain,
Slip away, to...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    OldNo7
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    Apr 23rd 2007 !⃝

    If you've seen the video for the song, it becomes fairly obvious it is about managing anger; both inner anger and dealing with that of those around you.

    If I were to hazard a guess I would say this is more specifically about the brother's father and them coping with his tirades and frustrations. It is an interesting perspective on it however, because the song does not condemn the antagonist, whoever it/they may be, for feeling such hatred. It shows both shame and sympathy in the feeling of anger. People are taught to believe that anger is a purely negative emotion and those that exhibit it are purely negative vicariously. This is not the case however. Inversely, we see how destructive anger can be, exhibited by lines like "So lie down....the threat is real." which seem to hint at loss of physical control when The Red takes over.

    To summarize, don't think anger is such a shallow emotion. Anger is necessary in all creatures, it is when anger becomes malice and leads that person to destructive ways that it becomes negative. "The Red" itself is a great embodiment of the emotion of anger, in an elementary way that the color red symbolizes it, and also that it becomes a visible enery that is almost tangible.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    mrjimmyho
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    Jun 8th 2007 !⃝

    This could be about, avoiding the obvious anger management answer, a more primal anger and fear... The singling out reminds me of the way wild animals single out prey from a herd, laying down indicates submission, and the 'red', just the look in the eye of the hungry, hunting predator.

  3. anonymous
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    Nov 3rd 2020 !⃝

    I think this song is about the inevitable danger. Whether it is self-harm, rage, or a dangerous situation. Red can also mean passion.

  4. anonymous
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    Jul 2nd 2020 !⃝

    It’s about feeling rage, and just plain fukn anger, that’s it...that’s all it should be, and by definition it’s whatever you feel it should be, not some World Wide Web quoting, ride the vibe like a wave and bath in the water of the emotion that it inties within

  5. anonymous
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    Jul 13th 2018 !⃝

    Well I think it about a threat n drugs n anger but idk

  6. anonymous
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    Nov 29th 2017 !⃝

    This song is about seeing red things. Like red pens, fire trucks, cardinals, Superman's cape, licorice, strawberries, ladybugs, Rudolph's nose, Clifford the dog, salsa, apples, the Canadian Maple Leaf, roses, and all that stuff.

  7. anonymous
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    Mar 11th 2014 !⃝

    Umm pretty sure theres a double meaning about meth there.... When the red filters through....

  8. anonymous
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    Sep 2nd 2012 !⃝

    I honestly think this song is about self harm (cutting for example) or mental disorders in general (bipolar could even refer to schizophrenia). Self harm is quite literal you see red but mental disorders cause you to see the world differently. Both cause a serious threat to ones mental and even physical health. Self harm is addictive and it'll control you. The other you can't contain a mental disorder because it'll control you. Most people consider people that cut & have mental disorders to be freaks.

  9. anonymous
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    Aug 24th 2012 !⃝

    Ok so this song by my thoughts as i've seen are like those of others in the sense that this song is about anger and the inability to control it. "seeing red" red is a color used to describe anger or violence. The song goes in two people's perspectives. The victim and the person who is in this state of anger. "so lay down, the threat is real." telling an angry person to lay down and take a nap. The threat is real meaning that everything the person is saying to the victim about possibly harming them is indeed the truth.

  10. anonymous
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    Jun 29th 2012 !⃝

    It reminds me of a school shooting. It starts with a group picking on one person, ("they say freak, when you're singled out") and the individual is angry but can't show it. Until it becomes too much and filters through. All of a sudden it says "So lay down, the threat is real" like a bomb or weapon threat, the way kids drop to the ground if there are shots fired. Now this person has lost control "tis change, he won't contain/when his sight goes red") red like bloodthirsty. He's getting even with" who made it show" or who bullied him. Because he's tired of being beaten down, and the truth is that he gives in to most, or submits but not anymore. Now he's seeing red.

  11. anonymous
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    Nov 3rd 2011 !⃝

    In the beginning he says they say freak when your singled out. I think its about anyone who is different and are targeted. They have enough and stand up for what right

  12. anonymous
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    May 27th 2011 !⃝

    Its about when you get so mad you see red, you know the expression. Then just letting it out instead of keeping it bottled up so you don't explode.

  13. anonymous
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    Aug 8th 2009 !⃝

    Baxmeyer, that may be what led to the creation of the song, but it is poetry and a song. If all poetry was taken so literally then there wouldn't be a point.

    That may be the case with the drummer and the inspiration of the song, but how can that experience be related to other people, the world, etc.

    Interpreting poems is not about being right or wrong, and great poems will have layers of meaning through a myriad of interpretations.

    It's not about be right or wrong. I think a lot of the readings here are very good interpretations.

  14. Baxmeyer123
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    Mar 20th 2009 !⃝

    lol actually the song is about the drummer. He used to have huuuuge fits of rage which he couldnt control. Basically would pass out from anger (seeing red, the red), wake up and find that he hurt someone or trashed something.

  15. anonymous
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    Nov 7th 2008 !⃝

    I believe this song is about angst and wanting to knock the shell off your back and be rebellious and not to take the shit you've been taking all your life, controlling your anger but still having it alive and noticed

  16. Adytum
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    Oct 30th 2008 !⃝

    Always thought it was about believing in people. In the video, everything goes haywire. Then at the end he simply walks off and it's all the same as before. I think it's about believing any one of those people could be just like you, considered a freak. Any of them could snap, but we filter through it. The threat is real.

  17. anonymous
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    Nov 4th 2007 !⃝

    This song to me is the anger we see and feel amongst our peers in high school for all of the bullshit we hate about high school. This song is the ultimate hatred that never really shows itself because after anger floods the veins, it dissipates and leaves one with a cooling feeling.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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