Serj Tankian: Empty Walls Meaning

Song Released: 2007

Empty Walls Lyrics

Your empty walls,
Your empty walls,

Pretentious attention,
Dismissive apprehension,
Don't waste your time,
On coffins today,
When we decline,
From the confines of our mind,
Don't waste your time,
On coffins today...

Don't you see...

1. anonymous

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   Oct 21st 2009 !⃝

   When serj states "don't you see their bodies burning desolate and full of yearning" notice how he says YOU like he's talking to someone (the American citizens)like its amazing how America can't see "their bodies burning" "and full of yearning"
   
   Also, right after he says that stanza, he states "I want YOU to see from behind those empty walls , I taught you to see from behind those empty walls" this is saying how serj is longing for you to realize the truth through the walls the gov. has put up to mask you from it (i'm guessing serj in this statement represents all the americans who realized the truth and saw through it) When "i tought you to see from behind those empty walls, serj is saying you've been literally told how to uncover the truth, but you choose to do nothing about it. Remember, this is all opinion and theres always a never right answer to lyric interpretation.
2. anonymous

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   Oct 11th 2009 !⃝

   The empty walls refer to the walls of a coffin. watch the video and really think about the lyrics
3. anonymous

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   Oct 4th 2009 !⃝

   I believe he uses kids so we can see that this war is suppose to help are kids in the future but ironically its destroying their future and they might be young but there not stupid and can read the signs.
4. anonymous

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   Sep 14th 2009 !⃝

   This is basically about the iraqi war
   
   The video starts with the "playground security alert" and threat level sign, paralleling US national threat level. Then jumps to the kids playing soldier, while a girl watches over 2 towers made out of toy cubes. Then one of the kids playing throws a toy airplane and destroys the towers. (Is serf implying that 911 was an inside job?)
   Serf appears dressed like a symphony conductor, playing the piano, while the kids sit around him, following his every word.
   
   Your empty walls
   Pretentious adventures
   Dismissive apprehension
   Don't waste your time
   On coffins today
   When we decline
   From the confines of our mind
   Don't waste your time
   On coffins today
   
   Basically,
   the emptiness left after the attack, the destruction, the fear and hysteria, combined with exaggerated claims of adventure led people to dismiss facts and not fully perceive things as they were. Don't waste your time trying to bury the dead and bring security back to your lives, look for revenge instead. -> claim of Wmd and war on iraq
   
   The girl is shown rallying the boy in the paper tank, other kids arming themselves with the toy guns, all hell breaks lose in the playground. The kids with bike hats portrait the American soldiers.
   
   "Don't you see their bodies burning
   Desolate and full of yearning
   Dying of anticipation
   Choking from intoxication"
   
   They are fearful, and have a deep yearning for "justice", intoxicated with anger and the lies they have been told they go to war to fight the “enemy”
   
   "I want you to be left behind those empty walls
   Taught you to see from behind those empty walls"
   
   Now the conductors real intentions become clear. He wants the people to stay behind the empty walls, in fear of it happening again, so he can continue to do as he pleases.
   
   The fight continues, kids are shown pulling down a big teddy bear, just as the soldiers pulled down Hussain’s statue in Iraq. Followed by a kid saluting and behind him in the black board "Mishing akomplishd" is written, alluding to the “end” of the iraq war, Bush claiming mission accomplished.
   The kid that threw the plane and other kids (all without bike hat and presumably, the Iraqis) are put in “jail”.
   
   “I loved you yesterday
   Before you killed my family”
   
   But the war continues and leads to war crimes. The kids with bike hats break into a house, and “kill” the one inside while the 2 girls plead not to, instating the rage of the Iraqi people.
   In order to retaliate, 2 kids get into a toy car and crash it into the box were all the balls are held (the American base). Papers flies all over as if an explosion, the kids with safety bike hat die. (suicide car bomb attack)
   The kids sitting around serf’s piano also seem to die.
   
   Then it is all interrupted, a soldier’s coffin is being carried to be buried. The kids watch from “behind the empty walls”, reminded of the fear of 911.
5. anonymous

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   Jul 21st 2009 !⃝

   I think that the song "Empty Walls" is about the Holocaust.
6. anonymous

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   Jul 15th 2009 !⃝

   Just a sidebar, "dying from intoxication" could be a referance to America's proliferous use of uranium shell's as "tank busters". These pollute the country as they are plainly radioactive and often go unretrieved after conflict.

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

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   May 11th 2009 !⃝

   this is about dont waste your time on buying coffins for your dead family. i can understand where the iraqui thing is coming from but it means dont buy an expensive funeral. throw them behind the empty walls

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

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   Jan 15th 2009 !⃝

   Wow the person who thinks it's about the holocaust is a retard. first off, Serj is Armenian so of course he would care about what's going on in Iraq, second it is clearly based on the war in Iraq because at the beginning of the video when the plane hits the towers symbolizes 9/11.
9. anonymous

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   Jun 8th 2008 !⃝

   Im not totally sure but since the video has kids maybe he's saying that he wants those people sending children's parents to get killed to see behind the empty walls of the kid's home and how lonely they are.
   "Can't you see their bodies burning" a figure of speech(?) "Desolate and full of yearning" the kid feels empty and wants their mom or dad home.
   "Dying from anticipation", wanting to know if the kid's gonna see their mom or dad again, "Choking from intoxication" maybe that he's saying "While you're sending their parents to war, you're polluting their homes, taxing them heavily, and making the world a dark place for them,"
   The "I loved you yesterday before you killed my family," is the child saying "I used to respect you until you let my mommy/daddy die"
   I'm just thinking, maybe I'm wrong, and I totally agree with the Uncle Sam thing.
10. anonymous

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    Apr 30th 2008 !⃝

    Didn't anyone notice the "mission accomplished" written in blocks behind the kid saluting?
    Clearly Iraq based.
11. anonymous

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    Apr 25th 2008 !⃝

    I think it has something to do with the Holocaust. I mean... Serj is like German or French or something like that! What would he care about the Iraqi war? Plus: Music videos are like movies made from books. They don't say exactly what the song says. Therefore: Hitler and the Holocaust.

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

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    Feb 12th 2008 !⃝

    I believe the song is more about what we see at home on the news. That the "empty walls" are simply the things we see on T.V. This is shown by how the children are preforming the war, because as we all know children are repatisious of what they see on T.V. and in their everyday life. Serj wanting us to be left behind the empty walls might mean that the government might be keeping us from seeing what is really happening over in Iraq, now I'm not completely sure on that one. Now with don't you see the bodies burning, desolate and full of yearning might mean that soldiers in Iraq are being killed and the government has "left them there"(desolate) and the soldiers just wanting to come back home (and full of yearning).
13. anonymous

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    Dec 15th 2007 !⃝

    Almost everyone of SOAD's songs are politically based and or dealing with real issues the world faces each and everyday. Serj enjoys speaking in parables like every good poet does. The interpretation of this song being towards 9/11 and the fall of Iraq and Sadaam hits this song perfectly. The fall of the twin towers, bodies burning from car bombings, incindiaries and fire in general. The bear coming down from the platform and the kids dancing around it like the Iraqi's did. The kids at the beginning of the video crawling around on the floor shooting air soft guns, bubble guns and throwing plastic balls to mach grenades. It's obvious that Serj and the rest of the boys from system are dead set against war. Just watch the video of BOOM!
14. anonymous

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    Dec 14th 2007 !⃝

    YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO THINK MY INTERPRETATION IS WRONG AND CRAZY.
    
    HERE GOES.
    
    In summary, the subject matter is in regards to two types of people. There are the people who always like to get drunk, engage in sex, and experience drama. Then there are the ones who totally mind their own business and are often alone at home (behind empty walls).
    
    I KNOW THIS IS WRONG INTERPRETATION CUZ I DIDNT SEE THE VIDEO BUT YOU GUYS SAID THE GUY IS WEARING A TOP HAT AND SUCH. I KNOW IT MAKES SENSE FOR THE SONG TO BE DISCUSSING THE IRAQ WAR AS ANY SELF PROMOTING ARTIST WOULD HIGHLIGHT THAT CONTROVERSY AS PART OF THEIR CAREER.
    
    Anyway, this is why I had MY interpretation.
    
    Your empty walls... x 2 {Walls that aren't secure, that people live behind at home}
    
    Pretentious attention {Attention given to some hobby or task that isn't that important because everyone's real goal is to socialize and be happy}
    
    Dismissive aprehension {Try to ignore the feelings of doubt and insecurity and concern with the outside world}
    
    Don't waste your time, on coffins today {All those people living outside your house are also dying. They may seem like they are living it up, but there is a lot of drama involved, a leart of heartache}
    
    Don't you see their bodies burning? {Young healthy women and men are burning with desire for each other}
    
    Desolate and full of yearning {They are too wrapped in their youth and don't see the fallacies of mortality, and just basically want each other}
    
    Dying of anticipation {They want to get in each others pants and get high and drunk}
    
    Choking from intoxication {A lot of them have habits, like smoking, drinking, and even drugs}
    
    I want you
    To be
    Left behind those empty walls {Stay where you are. Be safe behind your walls. Because as scary and dubious it seems behind them, you are doing the right thing.}
    
    When we decline, from the confines of our mind {This is saying we decline to participate in that yearning and adventure, because we confine ourselves to the resoluteness of the well thought out decisions of our mind}
    
    I loved you, yes
    Though they be
    For you killed my family
    {I have no idea what this means. Loved is past term, and there is a BUT there = "though they be". Okay, so the narrator is saying he loves the people behind the empty walls even though others are living it up, and he/she is happy that the person or people behind the empty walls killed his/her family because maybe the family was killing/choking him/her} far fetched I know.. who cares?

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

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    Dec 5th 2007 !⃝

    I think it is just a ballad of the war on terrorism.
    
    the singing doesn't start till the "preperation for the war" and he doesn't mention bodies burning till he fighting starts, at which point America was anxious for revenge. The "decline from the confines of our mind" part states that people were convinced that they were the just side, and ten "don't you see their bodies burning etc..." for the war in Iraq ending with the overthrowing of saddam. The "taunting from behind those empty walls that goes slowly after that might be the terrorists in the prison camps.
    
    then it shows the events from the Iraqie possition in which the Americans come to their homes and kill people they suspect of being terrorists.
    
    if you notice two parts are being sung at the same time because the government startded to split (stay vs leave).
    
    the fighting song starts again when the terrorists get into carbombs and destroy the building, showing that the terrorists are getting what they consider revenge for the people killed.
    
    at the end when you can hear him singing "behind those empty walls" (coffins) both sides only want to kill off the other side resulting in pleanty of funerals.
    
    this is in no way politically biased, I still support the war, but that is the way I interprited it.
    
    
    P.S. I have no Idea where anyone is getting WWII

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