What does Chop Suey mean?

System of a Down: Chop Suey Meaning

Album cover for Chop Suey album cover

Song Released: 2001


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Chop Suey Lyrics

(Mumbles)
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...

  1. anonymous
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    Dec 3rd 2011 !⃝

    I agree that this song is about a sad life and suicide, Jesus Christ, and all that stuff, but can somebody please explain to me why the song is called "Chop Suey"

  2. anonymous
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    Nov 28th 2011 !⃝

    Ima Keep this basic to what i read in the lyrics and singing to myself.
    Basicly i pin it down to the Harm of another or harm to self and the regret of the actions. Whyd you leave the keys up on the table to me idicates the willingness to go off at small things. Father why have you forsaken me, i believe would the referance of a person not being able to control themselfs in hurting themself or other (probably a significant other such as a wife or Child). The part "i cry when angles deserve to die" also leads me to believe that they are remorseful and think highly of the person, even though sometimes the person feels that their hurting of the other is appropriate. Self rightous suicide, could mean (posibly not) that they feel bad every time that they inflict the pain

    im not a master of song and dance but through the strong lyrics this is what comes across to me from the lyrics ...

    mark me low im probably wrong

  3. anonymous
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    Nov 26th 2011 !⃝

    Uhhhhmmm... Listen to them live, the guitarist says "this song is about nothing".

  4. anonymous
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    Nov 8th 2011 !⃝

    The speaker is a person contemplating suicide. It´s not Jesus, because Jesus was killed by others. The "Suey" part of the title is a pun for "suicide" (suey-side; or "chop-suey-side-dish")

    A loved (angel) one´s death could have triggered such a desperate thought, as can be understood from the verse "I cry when angels deserve to die"--no one lives for ever.
    Attempting to follow the saying "Life goes on", the sufferer tries to continue his every day routine--but the loss' pains are too great, causing a general chaos in his life.
    Tormented by self-blame ("You wanted to!"), he decides the best solution is to commend his spirit to the Father (God). Wondering why he´s been abandoned, he begs the Father to trust in his self-righteous suicide.

  5. anonymous
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    Nov 7th 2011 !⃝

    short but real:

    My self-righteous suiside: Jesus when hi died to save us...

    Father, Spirit and all this end: Jesus say this things when he is dying... Don´t belive? read in the Bible...

    Now the hard one:

    If you read the bible you know that: When Jesus die he go to the hell, stay whit his foot in the face of Lúcifer and take the key of death out of there...

    Scars, wake up, angels deserve to die: Lúcifer is a fallen angel... he fight whif the angels of God, because he wanted be more powerfull than God... Obviously he lost and fall... and he is the angel who deserve to die... this is saad, he was good but came bad...

    So.. I think this is the better interpretation... baset on the Holy Bible...

  6. onurbo77
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    Oct 30th 2011 !⃝

    This song is vague enough to contain numerous and different meanings. I personally think the main subject is parental abandonement, you see the first two lines about the makeup and the scar hiding is the way adults deal with very deep child-age issues, we forget stuff, we bury them in the unconscious. The "keys up on the table" is precisely the way he learns his father is leaving and "create another fable" are the excuses and histories parents tell the children when they are breaking up or leaving their families.
    It's well-known that one of the most common reactions from children in separation circumstances is to think they are guilty, or it's their fault that their familys are breaking. So the chorus part is a child thought about wanting to kill himself over the guilt, that's why is "self righteous" and that's why angels (children) deserve to die.
    The "Father!" part is a metaphor using a bible extract from the death of Jesus, I think it's a way of not being so obvious about it... I'd like to highlight the progression "forsaken me in your EYES" is the result of not being seen by the father because of his absence from everyday life. "in your THOUGHTS" is the next step: once they don't see each other, the child thinks the father doesn't think about him. "in your HEART" once he stops thinking but his son, the father stops having emotional connections with him. First, you don't see him, then you don't think about him, and then you stop loving him.
    It's a separation or father abandonement from a child's (angel) point of view.

  7. anonymous
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    Oct 21st 2011 !⃝

    This song is clearly about euthanasia and the right to commit suicide. "We're rolling the suicide (song)" he says in the beginning.

    We have the right to make our choices for good or bad but society won't let us, they don't trust in our "self righteous suicide" if we decide to commit suicide for whatever the reasons we may have.

    Then, there is the part asking god "why have you forsaken me?" because religion in general doesn't allow suicide, "why don't you trust in my self righteous suicide" he asks to god, unable to understand why he is not allowed to die if he's living in misery.

    He cries when "angels deserve to die" and they can't.

  8. anonymous
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    Oct 19th 2011 !⃝

    all soad song doesnt mean shit,only some of the that talk about the armenian genocide like "pluck"holy mountains" and others about americas imperialism and so called war on terror that is destroying the US economy and all from you stpid ass money,songs like "byob" "toxicity,ADD,chop suey,tentative......." but really they dont mean shitcz the situation will stay as it is they want change a single thing,so shut the fuck up,and listen to the god damn music

  9. anonymous
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    Oct 11th 2011 !⃝

    This song is about abusive ralationships that eventualy ends in the dickhead man killing the girl or the child. "why'd you leave the keys up on the table" in an agressive tone is about how the man will find any reason to fight. "hide the scars to fade away the shake up" is about a fight and being ashamed of black eyes, busted lips, etc. the father stanza is about the childs view that the father hates him and mommy

  10. anonymous
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    Sep 30th 2011 !⃝

    All the interpretations don't seem to grab the whole song. Mine does (so hope I)...

    Sorry for my lousy English, but this is what I think, this song is about:

    It's about a selfrighteous a**hole, who has beaten his girlfriend, which left afterwards. He wants to get har back by threatening her to kill himself. She won't come back, so he plays the martyr-role ("Father blah, blah, blah").
    But I'll say it a little more concrete:

    He says to his girlfriend after having beaten her up
    "Wake up(wake up)
    Grab a brush and put a little makeup
    Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup"
    Afterwards, she's gone away, and he recognizes, that she is going to leave forever, cause she has no need for the keys of the house anymore:
    "Why’d you leave the keys upon the table?"
    Then he threatens her by telling her not to be a drama queen:
    "Here you go create another fable"

    But she won't do what he says, so he strengthens his will by saying
    "You wanted to
    Grab a brush and put a little makeup" and so on...

    Then the martyr part begins, when he threatens her by supposed committing suicide:
    "i dont think you trust in my
    self righteous suicide i cry
    when angels deserve to DIE!!!"
    What a drama queen!!!

    Then he finds out, that nothing will bring her back:
    "Father, father, father, father
    Father into your hands, I commend my spirit
    Father into your hands
    Why have you forsaken me
    In your eyes forsaken me
    In your thoughts forsaken me
    In your heart forsaken, me oh"

    This might also explain the song title:
    Chop suey - everything mixed up, meaning life's a mess...

    Just my two eurocents ;-)

  11. anonymous
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    Sep 22nd 2011 !⃝

    This is a song about domestic abuse.
    If you read up on history - the working title for the song was "suicide". Chop Suey is a dish made out of mixed meats, covered up by an ommelette (egg pancake). Title possibly implies covering up the damage or otherwise broken incoherent content.

    First part of the song addresses a female in an abusive relationship who covers up the bruises after a beating. "Why'd you leave the keys up on the table?" is an interrogation-type question prior to the next beating. Fable follows to explain the bruises to the public.

    Second half deals with the injustice overall. Using the text from the bible SOAD is making a statement about an omnipotent all-loving god allowing suffering to exist. "I cry when angels deserve to die" is a defeatist line.

  12. anonymous
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    Aug 22nd 2011 !⃝

    Forgot to include this "I Don't Think you Trust", he's saying "Don't think I will? Try me."

  13. anonymous
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    Aug 22nd 2011 !⃝

    Sure, I agree with #1 Top-Rated, but I think that he's also singing about his girlfriend or wife or whatever wanting an abortion. "I Cry When Angels Deserve To Die": "Angel" being the unborn fetus, and he's sad when they deserve to die; "You Wanted To": she does all these things because apparently she wanted to, so he just wants her to do just ONE thing she doesn't want to do, he wants her to NOT have the abortion, and with the other stuff in those lines, he might be saying she's kind of a bad person; " I Don't Think You Trust In My Self-Righteous Suicide": I guess that means he'll kill himself if she goes through with it. But Serj Tankian himself would have to explain the song for any of us to be sure.

  14. anonymous
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    Aug 20th 2011 !⃝

    soad i always thought of this song as just a song about suicide but because of you i will nver think of it the same way again.

  15. anonymous
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    Aug 17th 2011 !⃝

    It was called actually called "suicide"- radio friendlier title is chop suey. suey-cide a play on words. It's about drug abuse.Guitarist Daron Malakian: "The song is about how when people die, they will be regarded differently depending on the way they pass. Like, if I were to die from a drug overdose, everyone would say I deserved it because I abused drugs, hence the line 'Angels deserve to die.




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