What does Numb mean?

Linkin Park: Numb Meaning

Album cover for Numb album cover

Song Released: 2003


Covered By: Dead By April (2017)


Get "Numb" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Numb Lyrics

Tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless lost under the surface
Don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 6th 2017 !⃝

    Well my Interpretation isnt like the most of the others.
    I Think the person who has the expactions of him is himself. I had depressions and I was numb too for a long time and the biggest enemy always was myself because I was never satisfied with myself and ever had the biggest expectations for me, so I can realy understand what this lyrics are about in the way I think its ment.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 3rd 2008 !⃝

    Looking at the lyrics of the song it doesn't say who it is about, so it doesn't have to be a teenager and his/her parents. However it does seem to be more teenaged based. The Lyrics suggests that he/she is tired of being "expected" to be like everyone else whether by parents, school peers or even work colleges. This person has been pushed and pushed to live up to the expectations of the others around them, this leads them to become numb to the people around them. The lyrics "be more like me and less like you" and "put under the pressure of walking in your shoes" tells us that they wish to do as they want with their life, not have it ruled over by the expectations of the other people.
    also the lyrics "can't you see that your smothering me, holding to tightly, afraid to lose control" show how this person wants to be able to express themselves and not be held back to be formed into something they are not.
    "every step that I take is another mistake to you" tells us how although they try they are just shot down.

    That my interpretation anyway. Sorry that its long. I suppose above all other it is teenagers who can relate best to this song because of school and parents. great song and powerful lyrics

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 27th 2005 !⃝

    A girl, lost in the reality of her situations, beaten down by everyone around her and without a friend in the world. She feels oppressed, but she doesn't know what to do. She doesn't have the strength to break free without help.

    This song is about becoming numb to the world. It's about seeing your life go bye without you, as if your watching a movie in fast forward. You're not a part of reality. You're an outcast. A lost soul, searching for some shred of hope in the darkness of society.

    In this music video, this is shown in the girls drawing of angels. She wants to be saved from her despair, but no matter how hard she tries, no one is there to pull her out of her mundain existance.

    It's all about feeling trapt in ones own life by the people and pressures around us.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 14th !⃝

    I think it’s about a mother or father smothering you and not letting go of you and that every little thing is a mistake to that mother or father for you and having some resentment towards your mother or father.

  5. anonymous
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    May 9th 2023 !⃝

    It's about always being what in the video what the person taking care of you wants you to be and you're literally numb inside, you're always being pushed around.

  6. anonymous
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    Jan 22nd 2023 !⃝

    Narcissistic abuse, plain and simple. It's the unreal expectations of one person meant for someone close to them. This could be a child, spouse, or anyone close. In many cases so subtle, not even picked up on by the outside world. Over time the numb feeling sets in and if you are lucky at some point you realize the dynamics at play and want to break free of the expectations and be yourself. It's emotional and psychological abuse and many times hard to see or prove unless you live it and hopefully break free. Really does mess you up. If a young child, it can have a pervasive, negative, and permanent effect on their lives especially interpersonal relationships.

  7. anonymous
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    Nov 28th 2022 !⃝

    (I'm a 17 year old girl) I was washing dishes at Arby's and I added this song to the cue, I started tuning into the lyrics and then I realized that I related so hard to the them. But I feel like I can't tell anyone because they would just say "oh you're soooo emo boo boo". Anyway here's some specific lyrics I relate to:
    "I'm tired of being what you want me to be"
    My dad doesn't pressure me to be anything, but sometimes it feels like he hints at wanting me to be something. Sometimes it feels like he's trying to train me to be a perfect obedient future wife for a future husband and I'm just like f*ck that.
    "Every step that I take is another mistake to you"
    I feel like he's just so disappointed in how I turned out. Well maybe you shouldn't have raised me like this then huh??
    "I've become so numb, I can't feel you there
    Become so tired, So much more aware, I'm becoming this, All I want to do, Is be more like me, And be less like you"
    My dad has started yelling at me in a rage so many times that I've just become numb to it. I used to get scared and have anxiety, but ehh. I'm so much more aware of just how narcissistic he is. I wish I could live with my mom but I don't wanna move schools.
    "Can't you see that you're smothering me
    Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control?"
    He keeps on trying his best to convince me that my mom was in the wrong for divorcing him, and trying to keep me on his side, but uhh yeah no. I think my frequent Monday visits with her should give you the hint buddy. She has and always will be my favorite parent.
    "You were just like me with someone disappointed in you"
    I don't know much about his childhood, just that he was the classic forgotten middle child. I'm a youngest of 12 though.
    "And every second I waste is more than I can take"
    I absolutely hate wasting my time on things I don't like doing.








  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 29th 2021 !⃝

    this isn’t exactly an interpretation for other people, but this is how i view the song myself... i’ve become so numb i can’t feel myself there. i feel so under the pressure to do better, that i just don’t. i feel faithless due to whatever has started to take over me. all i want to do is be myself and not feel like i am faking everything, but it seems the person i am becoming is taking over my true self. i had set such high expectations for myself, and now i can no longer meet them and feel numb. i want to be more like myself and less like the person i never wanted to be. i’m so aware of the person i am becoming that it has made me numb.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 26th 2020 !⃝

    Song is about his mother. Who tried to control him and held high expectations and unreal idealistic views about what he needs to be. He was never been a perfection for her, never been accepted by her, never felt her love, never been good enough for her as a child.
    Been abused at 7, parents divorce at 11, drug addiction etc only shows how dark his life was. And even fame didn’t give him happiness he was dreaming about....

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 29th 2020 !⃝

    Welp. I've already submitted an answer so I don't care if you don't vote on this or whatever. But if you like this song I have something that will make you smile. Go to youtube.com and search numb 2.0. It should be a 1.09 minute video and it should be titled Linkin Park- Numb "Acoustic Funny Version".
    It was posted by Amjad LP. This video is not mine but I came across it and it is guaranteed to make your day.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 13th 2020 !⃝

    This song to me tells of a person who doesn't feel accepted for who they are. They feel like the world is looking down at them and that their life is not worth living. This person may not go as far as to commit suicide but they feel like life sucks and wonder why it can't be any better. If anyone reading this feels this way, your life is worth living. You have a place in this world. Sometimes you have to search harder than others to find that place. The place is still there. Sometimes Destiny isn't laid out for us. That makes us even stronger. Create your own destiny and stay strong. No matter how far we are pulled back, we are like arrows and will always fly forward.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 9th 2020 !⃝

    basically its about parent and child. the music video gives an example of a mother and daughter but it could be any older person to younger child.

    1. parent/guardian wants kid to be something/someone like them
    2. kid tries and succeeds in the beginning but gives up anyways because ¨in the end(death) it doesn't even matter¨
    3. kid becomes depressed
    5. the kid realizes the parent is like this because the same happened to them
    6. their depression is so strong they just become numb
    7. they dont notice, not just their parents, but everyone, time doesnt matter, friends dont care, so they completely give in and are numb

    this song explains so much about me. some people think the song is about god but all songs can be interpreted in your own mind how you feel is right.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 25th 2019 !⃝

    The first line of the song is a great reason as to why the person feels (NUMB, FAITHLESS, AND LOST UNDER THE SURFACE). I'm tired of being what you want me to be. The person feels like by trying to be what someone else wants causing them to become numb. They can't even feel the person they are doing this for. The person knows that the other person is disappointed in them and knows that the other person is like themselves. He is tired of being this person, because it leaves him numb.

    So never try to be something for somebody that you are not. If being what this person wants conflicts with what you truly believe is right, then don't be that way for them. It shows your selflessness for that person, but also their own selfishness. Never be something you cannot be in your right mind.

    Take this as you will, and have a wonderful time in the name of Jesus.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 10th 2019 !⃝

    i can relate to this song as my life:<
    .It fits me very well.each and every thing shown in the video is my life.
    now coming to the song,it all tells us the girl is fed up with her life, she has no friend,her teachers scold her,her mother continiously shouts at her and no one stands by her but just treat her like or worse than a servant.she use to draw angles as shown in the video to rescue her and pours her anger on them because they wont come to her rescue.
    sorry for such a long discription.

  15. Nut
    click a star to vote
    Mar 13th 2019 !⃝

    It’s about himself hes become so depressed he’s feeling suicidle and numb he’s tired off being who people want him to be by putting on a face instead of being his real self and sick of being criticised by people when he’s his real self I suffer with depression and I could relate to it so much I couldn’t bear to watch the video on MTV MTV2 or listen to it on the radio.

  16. kk14
    click a star to vote
    Jan 11th 2019 !⃝

    about someone who lives in a family where everyone understands each other, except for that one person. It's even shown wherever they go. And they are the only one different. {Honestly a pre "My demons form starset" } but i understand the feeling.

  17. Angelboo
    click a star to vote
    Oct 16th 2018 !⃝

    This is about someone who has narcissistic parents who are vicariously trying to live their dreams through their son. But whatever the son does is never good enough. He is fed up and tired of trying to please his parents. He just wants to be himself and follow his own dreams.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 8th 2018 !⃝

    So I've seen a few others on here with a similar interpretation, I think obviously the artist wanted it to be a subjective song that anyone could relate to, because at all stages of life we have someone setting expectations for us and beathing down our neck, and putting pressure on us to do and be things that don't feel like "me", but to me personally I see it as the thinker in your mind, the voice that keeps you from being happy, and tells you you're not good enough, and compared you to everyone else. This voice uses the past to make you feel pain and keeps you submissive to its destructive ways, even though you know you are the one who should be in cpntrol, you just keep letting this other you, is one way to put it, control you and put you down and limit you from being all that you can truly be.

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