Metallica: The Unforgiven Meaning

Song Released: 1991

The Unforgiven Lyrics

New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

With time, the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man struggles on and...

1. anonymous

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   Aug 9th 2008 !⃝

   I believe this song is about a child which have born different from the others, with his own way to think. The others (the society, I guess) stand against him, so he must hide inside his own thoughts. When he grow up, start to live his lifetime away from them because he believes he's right, but that makes he feel alone, abandoned.
   
   But he knows he can't live completely away from all the mankind's matters, so he feels he's battled constantly. He never give up, but it has a cost. Finally, he prepares to die alone, pained because a wrong society that never gave him an opportunity to shine with own light.
   
   
   (Sorry for my very basic english)
2. anonymous

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   Jul 22nd 2008 !⃝

   USSR??
   i think this song has nothing to do with USSR.
   This was the first track by Metallica I had ever heard.i love this song so much that I have heard it more than 100 times.but unfortunately I am not an english speaker,so I have no idea about the "unforgiven",society? or some other things that make "he" not free?
   some people said this is an anti-war song ,but I can't understand. what do you think?
3. anonymous

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   Jul 16th 2008 !⃝

   This song is about all of us, locked up in the matrix. We was trying to get out when we were kids, but than we reconciled. That is the unforgiven thing because our parents and all the people we live with are 'dedicating their lives
   to running all of his' So this song is for all of us, sad but true :) If you think our will is not actually our will :):)
4. anonymous

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   Jul 8th 2008 !⃝

   No dudes the meaning is very simple 1991 the year when unforgiven comes on air ... 1991 the year of USSR breaking . So the live in USSR was very difficult "never free never me" means that "he" "that boy" couldn't speak his mind. Because there was limited food supplies {no coke, no chocolate no west food, no choice, variety There wasn't big supermarkets with 20 different TV's from different marks and etc}
   through constant pain disgraced
   the young boy learn their rules
   so if anyone catches you (mean cops, secret agent)to talk (bad things) about the government you would be taken in jail, camp where they can harm you .. And there were many people killed trying to pass the German border in Berlin
   So the boy is "the inhabitants of USSR" and "they" are the government

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

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   Jun 18th 2008 !⃝

   It is about Jesus Christ learning to be a Jew after they tell him he's supposed to be the Messiah and Son of God.
   This, however, is not what is publicized by Metallica as the meaning. It seems to fit very well, for the most part.
   
   -Great Grammaton Ambiguous User

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

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   May 31st 2008 !⃝

   I've always believed this song is the result of a bullied child. I think it probs relates to the songwriter...'what I've felt what I've known never shined through in what I've shown' - obviously and a icon in metallica what he felt and knew seems like a double life for what he feels now. He seems quite bitter and sad about being asked to conform to 'their rules'.... but at the same time is doing a f*ck off to everyone who told him he was wrong along the way. Its a sad song....but contains a feeling of rising above the problems of the past and looking back (down) at the people that created them.
   
   The Unforgiven 2 is more complex. It seems he may have met a person from his past who perhaps was involved in the bullying. Perhaps their child is now the victim....maybe even a Metallica fan? He feels the now the 'popular one'... but is perplexed by the situation - now the other party is unforgiven too....
7. anonymous

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   Mar 8th 2008 !⃝

   I was going to go in for him constantly doing something wrong against his own will....and thus he develops split personalities and the video shows that he finally does whats right.....

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

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   Feb 27th 2008 !⃝

   The song is about all external agents of subjigation and socialization (Ex. Religion, society, parents, peers); Also about psychological and spiritual enslavement. Making a prison within oneself to shut out outside influence to stay true to oneself.
   
   "New Blood joins this earth and quickly he's subdued" - we're branded with a social security number and labeled according to our weight, sex and race, becoming yet another statistic in our culture.
   
   "Through constant pained disgrace, the young boy learns their rules" - Through punishment, criticism and humiliation by parents, teachers, religion and others the child is forced to conform to external forces rather than act from the center of oneself.
   
   As kids we make vows to fulfill our dreams, not become a slave to society thus "A vow unto his own, that never from this day, his will they'll take away"
   
   The chorus lyrics are about unfulfilled life and potential because we have to bottle ourselves up and conform to the larger social organism, or religion, etc.
   
   The second part is about ultimately failing to please every expectation placed on a person from parents to society, to the morality from religion. Out of bitterness we play the game to survive and hopefully get what we one day really want; to be free as ourselves but ultimately fail.
   
   I think everyone had pieces of what this song is about. That's the great thing about lyrics, they focus words in such a way that it speaks to us and can be interpreted in many ways.
9. anonymous

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   Dec 31st 2007 !⃝

   This song is about a boy who is told to be a certain way, to conform to society, he is never allowed to follow his own way of doing things, his life is controlled by others "they dedicate their lives to running all of his", and the chorus is saying that that he's felt these things, but he's never shown them because he's been forced to conform to society and he's never believed in what he's actually shown "what I've felt, what I've known never shined to in what I've shown". and being how he cannot show what he truly believes in he regrets it later in his life "the old man then prepares to die regretfully"
10. Grissom

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    Dec 18th 2007 !⃝

    Well, this song, sorry to say, is not about slavery. But I suppose that is your view, and for that, I cannot judge.
    As in agreement with those above, this song is about conforming with "the popular kids" of society. People change their perspectives just to be accepted, while they fester in their minds. They are tormented by their own, stifled thoughts. Their thoughts turn into depression, and sometimes even illness. This song talks about a man, in general, who is now dying and ashamed of the fact that he did not "live".
11. anonymous

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    Dec 15th 2007 !⃝

    I believe the song has universal meaning; however, as a black person, the song spoke to me in terms of an enslaved african "never free, never me".

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

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    Dec 9th 2007 !⃝

    Personally this song has a universal meaning. I think it's about the government and being a slave to it. Never free never me means he never gets to be himself or else he is breaking the rules and is therefor punished. Nowadays there actually is a lot of people traps in this world that send you to a hell on earth and the mastermind is money. The songs is about dying and never getting your chance to truly be yourself cause your overseeers.
13. anonymous

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    Dec 5th 2007 !⃝

    I was going to submit an interpretation on this song but it wasn't as good as all of the one above, I like them much better because now I actually get what the song is all about. Thanks all of the above
14. anonymous

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    Aug 17th 2007 !⃝

    This song is about the human state of mind. Humans, being social beings, need to fit in. People must conform in order to be accepted, changing their thought process in order to coincide with the popular thoughts that are circulating. Those who differ from the main groups are often considered weird, and rejected. Many can not express how they really feel in fear of this rejection, and go againgst their will to do whatever it takes to fit in, such as buying brand name clothing, taking part in trends, etc.
15. anonymous

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    Nov 17th 2006 !⃝

    I feel the song is about the need for parental approval and using disgrace as a tool for control.
    There is a progression from childhood (learning rules) to adolescence when the child starts to withdraw but has fight enough to struggle. The repression deepens in not being free to be himself and he is unable to forgive his persecutor(father?). As a man the will to fight has been replaced by bitter resignation. He tries to please them so I think he actually craves approval which has always been withheld. In the end he reasserts the unforgiven label.

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