System of a Down: Chop Suey Meaning
Song Released: 2001
Chop Suey Lyrics
We're Rolling Suicide
Wake up(wake up)
Grab a brush and put a little makeup
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup
Why’d you leave the keys upon the table?
Here you go create another fable
You wanted to
Grab a brush...
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I think this song is about using drugs, or alcohol. I think the lines ''Wake up, grab a brush and put a little makeup, hide the scars to fade away the shake'', refer to sobering up from being high or drunk, because you have to hide the evidence of being under the influence of the substance. While the lines '' I don't think you trust in my...'' refer to people thinking that he can't control of the substance he's using even do he knows that it's killing him.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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all of these are great interpretations, but when does "you wanted to" come in? everyone tends to leave that out, it's because of those 3 words that throws off most of these interpretations (at least for me)
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The posts i've read take it way too seriously. Just becuase we have biblical references, or suicide allusions doesn't mean that the song is about either killing yourself or martyrdom. Maybe we need to listen to what they are saying, instead of what we think they are saying.
It really sounds as if it's just about life. We all have scars (...put on a little make up), devote our lives to something and die (self righteous suicide, why have you forsaken me). It's definately not about death, destruction or drug addiction. Definate hints of Armenian Genocide but still, I think the song just is what it is!
anyways not gonna waste your time with BS but that's my 2 cents. -
I think it's more literal; starting with the title.
The song is about suicide.
Another commenter noted that the song was originally called "Suicide" but the record company made them change it. I was thinking about that...
So what did they do? They "chopped" the word in half so you just had "Sui" or "suey" for phonetics sake. The exclamation point, in my opinion, was icing on the cake saying to the record company, "look, we did what you told us, we made a happy! song...eff you." Even right before the song starts, you know how one person in the band tells the other members what song they're playing next? You can hear either the drummer or lead say "okay..Suicide" like he's giving the cue,"okay, we're going to play this song now."
With that said, I agree with the commenter who quoted the lead singer "the song is about how we are regarded differently depending on how we pass. " Suicide will not get you into heaven. But any other way that you can die, is okay. Why can't someone be saved AND commit suicide?
So you have this guy, putting make-up on what I think, are cutting scars on his arm. The first stanza describes what he goes through to keep this hidden. Maybe he uses a swiss army knife on his keychain or the keys themselves to cut.
Second stanza, he's replaying what he does and other's responses over in his head like:
Other: Why are you using make-up?
Him:..I wanted to
Other: Why are you putting it on your arms?
Him: I wanted to
Other: Uh why did you leave your keys on the table?
Him: Shit, I have to think of a reason for me to have left them there (create another fable).
The next part, he's being a little sarcastic when he says "trust in my self-righteous suicide." He's saying "listen, just because I do not want to live anymore doesn't make me selfish and self-righteous" and that it makes him cry to think that just because "I'm depressed, why does that make me deserving to die and be condemned and not go to heaven?" Other than wanting to kill himself, he is an angel in every other aspect.
At the end, I think he's praying. He's asking God to save him "I commend my spirit." But he feels God has forsaken him by creating him, giving him feelings, and ultimately therefore, depression. He feels forsaken because the Creator will let everyone else into heaven, who commends their spirit to Him as long as they don't kill themselves. That's the only caveat...be saved, you're okay. Be saved and commit suicide, you're screwed. -
It is a song about a person trying hide some truth.The "key leaving in the table" part, is a clue that the person leaves about the truth.Then when the person gets caught he/she wishes that the truth could be hidden longer-(you wanted to.....[in the song]).After the truth is exposed the person thinks somebody else does not trust him and thinks angels deserve to die for not protecting him.The person might have called GOD as father in the same voice as Jesus once spoke to God.He now felt forgotten by God as he was not protected from hiding the truth and facing the disadvantages of life.
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There are some main points in this song as i see it that everything is based on
fakeness, (from the start of song also there is a symbol in the song name, chop suey = fake chinese dish
I see it as relation to
- fake ordinary persons life and every time it ends with "You Wanted to" - its his/our choice to live like this.
Which leads to
"i dont think you trust in my
self righteous suicide i cry
when angels deserve to DIE!!!".
So how to find sense in this?
First of all i dont think that author is refering "when angels deserve to die" as song theme's wish that angels die because lyrics have > i cry WHEN angels... < which
could also go both ways but i doubt since the rest of the song doesnt point any anger to god/angels...
Connecting it with the first part it seems as he is talking from Jesus's perspective(since on the end of song he does show that)who is sad that about us who cant see/care about his sacrifice and keep living in fakeness.
"I cry when angels deserve to die" could also be connected to author of song who cries/is sad upon injustice...(this could also be connected to something from his life/experiences) -
"Grab a brush and put a little makeup. . ." refers to someone hiding their inner emotions.
"I dont think you trust in my self righteous suicide" self righteous suicide is when to kill yourself for someone else's benefit. Like Jesus on the cross.
"I cry when angels deserve to die" this also refers to Jesus and how the people killed him and thought he deserved to died.
Now of course in the part where he screams "Father, father" he means God.
"Father into your hands I commend my spirit" He's giving his spirit to God to hold in His care.
"Why have you forsaken me?" are the words of Jesus before he died on the cross.
How does this all connect? Maybe this person is living a terrible life and wants to kill themself? You can put it all together yourself but I really believe that these are what the lyrics are supposed to mean. -
i think the "Why'd you leave the keys up on the table" part, means that the guy who voers his mistakes, errors and misfortunes, can't see his defects and prefer blaming the others; like, some problem happened, and he needed the key, but he didn't find it, so he blames other person, not himself
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I may be off,but in my opinion every time I heard it I thought of someone being physically abused. The keys on the table part is about the person being mad for some meaningless reason and about to hit them again, and that the self sacrificing part, I find to be him saying it's an ok situation to die here to escape.
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hmm or either that. Those guys are Armenian and most of them were swept away from Turkey many years ago. it is still a big deal around Europe. so that song might be about how they were forced out of their homes and to immigrate, having to leave their possessions and their lives.
and some nasty stuff happened along the way.
why they were forced out in the first place?? the debate still goes on
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