What does In The End mean?

Linkin Park: In The End Meaning

Album cover for In The End album cover

Song Released: 2001


In The End Lyrics

(It starts with one)
One thing I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme to explain in due time

(All I know)
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings...

  1. Mytwosense
    click a star to vote
    Mar 21st 2009 !⃝

    I think it has to do with your faith in the religion you choose. For example Baptist...you have these strict rules to go by and no matter how hard you try to be this perfect Christian in the end it doesn't matter because you have to fall and lose it all and well we are not perfect. But your Christian members will mock you even when you trusted them and try so hard to prove that you can be this perfect Christian person and time just goes by so quickly and the members makes you feel that you are their property in telling you how you should and shouldn't live...it's so unreal! Please God doesn't want perfect Christians...he wants us to be perfect in him even if we fall and lose it all. So please all you fony Christians STOP.

  2. NonPressure
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    Feb 9th 2009 !⃝

    In one way, I think the song is depressing. But in another way I see it as a positive song.
    "I've tried so hard and got so far
    But in the end: it doesen't even matter" - That is the negative part(- of the chorus)
    "I had do fall, to lose it all
    But in the end: it doesn't even matter" - I think it is a good point. Like, whatever you do of crap or how deep you fall - will it end, and then it wouldn't be that bad.
    I think: The End, doesn't have to mean end of life. It can be the end og a bad experience, relationship and so on.

    In my mind is it a song about forgetting all bad things in life og lay them behind when they are over. But I understand the depressing meaning of it.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  3. anonymous
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    Dec 18th 2008 !⃝

    I've always thought this song was about relationships. You put so much time, thought, and effort into one person. Nothing is forever time just slips away. Everything in life has to come to an end. And when it does....nothing real does matter anymore.

  4. Death4fallin
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    Nov 2nd 2008 !⃝

    This song signifies the troubles that lead singer Chester Bennington went through while growing up. I believe the story to be about a couple, boy and girl, who were trying to live their lives together. However, regardless of any attempts the guy made to prolong the relationship, it ended in failure, and the girl left him, believing that he won't ever be good enough for her. Therefore, he gave everything he had to make the relationship last, but in the end, it didn't matter.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  5. anonymous
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    Oct 27th 2008 !⃝

    I think it definitely could have something to do with sports, not specifically the Olympics, as in hockey or basketball you try to make it to the pros, the Olympics is similar to a bonus, and for sports like football and lacrosse, there aren't Olympic events for them, but sacrificing your whole youth to try and excel in one sport, and not being able to, makes it feel like some sort a waste.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. North02
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    Oct 11th 2008 !⃝

    In the beginning, you can't find yourself and get a life. And somebody else always looked down at you. Then you try to change who you are to somebody to see. But after you've changed it, it really doesn't matter if to show him or not. Because the whole new you is so amazing and you don't care much about that person any more!!!!"I've tried so hard and got so far, in the end, it dosen't even matter!" In the end, you find your life back.

    So the song is telling us to live your life, not to live somebody else's life.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  7. LOGIN
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    Sep 6th 2008 !⃝

    I think this song is about a relationship tht starts out well but then she steps all over him and for a while he sticks with her and doesn't care but then he realizes enough is enough.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. anonymous
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    Aug 17th 2008 !⃝

    I do not agree with the sports theory, since the song mentions trust so much. This must be a relationship song, with friend, life or a love. You put trust into them, and then they let you go and don't even acknowledge the fact how hard you tried. And I could see how this applies to life in general as well.

    And I see why both the lyrics and the song itself is so good, nice song. Love it, and the meaning behind it can apply to many peoples feelings... we try so hard at life, we get so far, but feel as if we never do good enough, even when we do do good, it is as if we failed. And you do achieve your goal, and it feels the same, then next day you fail again.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. FollowYourStar
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    Jul 24th 2008 !⃝

    Well I just tell you what I think the song is about ...
    Last year I lost much weight and was so proud of me, and I did it to make some people recognize me.{'Not that you knew me back then'...}
    Well as I said I was so proud but then I had a really bad time. I know that's no excuse but some of the lost weight came back to me again ;-)
    I tried so hard and it took me such a long time to change but ... well it doesn't matter because that's all ... All that trying has been ... Damn, I can't find the right word ... I think you know what I was about to say.
    Generally I think the song's about some goal you reached or some kind of success and you did this for another person to see you, but that person didn't see you nevertheless and you got frozen and even though you changed, even though you TRIED SO HARD ... In the end nothing has really changed.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. barx91
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    Jun 26th 2008 !⃝

    Might sound strange but I believe this song is sorta about anti-materialism in that its saying that no matter how much we hav and how much we gain in life it doesn't really matter, and wats the point of trying so hard to get so far if in the end it doesn't even matter

  11. GarrettGenocide
    click a star to vote
    Jun 18th 2008 !⃝

    I'm not saying anybody is wrong but this is my interpretation of this song. The numbers go along with the interpretation such as 1 on a part of the song goes with the other number one which would be the interpretation.
    1 "(It starts with)
    One thing / I don’t know why
    It doesn’t even matter how hard you try"
    2 "Keep that in mind / I designed this rhyme
    To explain in due time"
    1} This "One thing" can be anything take for example trying to change yourself to fit in at a new school, at first he doesn't understand much about anything or anyone. 2} He wants you to remember what he says at the begining to help understand later the story he's going to tell you with this song.
    3 "All I know
    time is a valuable thing
    Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
    Watch it count down to the end of the day
    The clock ticks life away
    It’s so unreal
    3} He's learned that time you waste you can't get back yet he continues to waste it with whatever this "One thing" is. And he can't believe how fast the time goes by "{It's so unreal}"
    4 "Didn’t look out below
    Watch the time go right out the window
    Trying to hold on / but didn’t even know
    Wasted it all just to
    Watch you go"
    4} At this point in time he hasn't really looked around and took in the scene and everything around him and he's still trying to keep the time that he's wasted already but he doesn't realize that no matter what he does it ends up going to waste anyways. " Watch you go" could be anything from maybe a family member dying or bad family/friend/GfBf relationship.
    5 " I kept everything inside and even though I tried / it all fell apart
    What it meant to me / will eventually / be a memory / of a time when I tried
    so hard"
    5} He has strayed away from everybody and or everything other than the "One thing" that's started this whole thing. And he still tried to keep it all together, possibly his sanity. But eventually he will forget about it and it will just be one of those memories that you remember every now and then.
    6 {THE CHORUS} "of a time when I tried
    so hard
    And got so far
    But in the end
    It doesn't even matter
    I had to fall
    To lose it all
    But in the end
    It doesn't even matter
    6} He's tried so hard to fix what he has done wrong now or to make something right that maybe he didn't mean to start, " I had to fall to lose it all" he's saying if you don't keep at what your doing or you lose your determination you end up back where you started from and have to do it all over again and he has it that in his mind he will always fall and therefore in the end it doesn't even matter. It's basically futile to keep at it.
    7 "One thing / I don’t know why
    It doesn’t even matter how hard you try
    Keep that in mind / I designed this rhyme
    To remind myself how
    I tried so hard"
    7} He has made something in his mind or phisically to remind him of his failures to try and help him keep his determination and remind him of how what he did wrong after he tried so hard to do that thing.
    8 "In spite of the way you were mocking me
    Acting like I was part of your property
    Remembering all the times you fought with me
    I’m surprised it got so (far)"
    8} Even though he's had people put him down for something he's done or said and from the pressure from maybe a relationship with his parents or girlfriend bf, he's remembered those fights and downers from the past, and he can't believe how bad it got and far he has gotten.
    9 "Things aren’t the way they were before
    You wouldn’t even recognize me anymore
    Not that you knew me back then
    But it all comes back to me
    In the end"
    9} He's saying that he has changed a lot from what he used to be like and that it's such a change that nobody would know who he is by looking at him, but he's saying that this person never really knew him to begin with or didn't really care about him, yet this person reminds him and it triggers that memory of the past.
    10 "You kept everything inside and even though I tried / it all fell apart
    What it meant to me / will eventually / be a memory / of a time when I"
    10} This goes along with any relationship, a good example is marriage, the man and woman can't just give 50% each towards that relationship each person has to give a 100% all the time and that's how you comprimise and such, but this is like the other part of the song where he kept everything inside yet he couldn't help himself and now this person is keeping it inside and he's trying to help but its not worth it.
    11 "I've put my trust in you
    Pushed as far as I can go
    For all this
    There’s only one thing you should know
    I've put my trust in you
    Pushed as far as I can go
    For all this
    There’s only one thing you should know"
    11} He's trusted this person with everything he keeps inside and that he's ever known and he can't keep on living like he used to even though he has changed it's coming back to him in the end after all he has done to change himself. And he wants this person to know that no matter what he's always tried for that person or even for himself but he's finally giving up.

    I'm not entirely sure if most people will understand where I'm coming from with this but this is the best way I could put it without it just being strictly a boo hoo story about how some girl ripped his heart out after all he's done for her even if that is what it's about. But what I think about these songs is what ever it strikes inside of you is what that interpretation is. It could possibly strike anger into your heart or body because of maybe something you've done in the past or recently, or even sadness because you understand that eventually once your time is up there was no point in anything you have ever done in your life except for the most important things other than the little things that you wasted your life on.

  12. diewithyou
    click a star to vote
    Jun 5th 2008 !⃝

    Well I think it would have to do with, I think two reasons, one because a bad relationship that ended with more than just a heartache, and the second reason is because an early childhood past memory of abuse but I am not a 100% sure if it's true. And I think they regret it because they put there trust into those people and now they have nothing. Just like the lyrics say " I've put my trust in you pushed as far as I can go for all this there's only one thing you should know....."

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 4th 2008 !⃝

    My interpretation for this song is like it was in my life...i loved a boy really much and I "tried so hard" to get him and one day he asked me for a date "and got so far"...the date was one of the most wonderful moments in my life but then he suddenly didn't see me anymore and he didn't talk to me then I asked what's his problem...and he said he doesn't love me. "but in the end it doesn't even matter". I was at the end and I didn't get happy almost for one year...and this boy loved this song very much and so it reminds me to him...

  14. myst3ry66
    click a star to vote
    Jun 1st 2008 !⃝

    To me, this song is about time and how valuable it is and how fast it passes u. and that everything that you are doing right now and are so worried about doesn't even matter. because eventually everything that you r doing and that is happening is just going to be a memory to u. years from now your just gonna look back at all the drama that you went threw and all the things that you worked so hard for and then lost are just going to turn into memories. Time fades everything into a memory. "in the end." it can mean a lot of things. well yeah when you die, but that still effects people that were close to you. So you can think of it like when our whole generation is wiped out. Then nothing that anyone did matters. and nobody is going to remember it. So "in the end" of time it doesn't even matter. This is a 15 year olds point of view. best song ever. I want this song playing when I die. at my funeral.

  15. SXcalibur
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    May 14th 2008 !⃝

    I think it's about a man who had trouble throughout his entire life in school and such,but he gets married and gets a house and job and everything,and just when he feels like he found a good place he gets evicted/fired/has trouble with his wife and everything just goes to hell,so he writes a suicide note and that's what the lyrics are supposed to be.




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