What does Dreaming mean?

System of a Down: Dreaming Meaning

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Album cover for Dreaming album cover

Dreaming Lyrics

For today we will take the body parts and put them on the wall

For treated indigenously, digenously
Human right is private, blue chip, pry

For treated indigenously, digenously
(We're the prophetic generation of bottled water, bottled...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Jan 20th 2012 !⃝

    There is so much more meaning to this song besides the "dreaming of screaming part."
    For all you who dont know, the "Blue Chip," is a group of large global businesses of some sort (I wish I knew more about what exactly it was), so if you think about it, doesn't the economy basically run the world? Any group that has such extreme power could easily be in charge of human rights.
    "Human rights, is private, blue chip, pry"
    and of corse something as important as human rights would be private, right? And though I'm not completely sure what "pry" means in accordanc to the other words, but perhaps it means that you need to pry the information out.

    Now in the beginning of the song, "For today, we will take their body parts and put them on the wall," and "for treated indignously digenously," talks about how Americans...or just people in general, treat the indigenous population of a country with so much disregard. We put their body parts on the wall for display, just because they're new/odd/exotic. We treat them digenously (which actually isn't a word, but a modification of "digenous"), which I think means we treat them like animals for sexual matters. I think it really highlights how invaders of a country/village are notorious for raping the native women...
    There's so much more symbolizm in these parts. I wish I knew there was a specific situation SOAD is refferinig to.

    Now, the "prophetic generation of bottled water," part makes me think about how bottled water is unheard of in parts of the world. Perhaps it's a prophesy for some populations to have it, and we as Americans (no,not the world...Americans!) are the "generation of bottled water," and henceforth we cause poor populations to die--maybe not completely because of our bottled water or our hoarding of resources,but maybe because of war (which seems to be the theme of the song) or other things.

    About the "consumer confidence part," I really don't know. But perhaps the "casual karma" part could mean how we attacked a country for attacking us--hence, Karma. War and retalliation are so common now days...perhaps even "casual."

    My best guess on the "confetti, camouflage," part is how we glamorize war, and that leads to the chorous of "you went beyond and lost it all/why did you go there," and all that stuff. It make think of a young man hypnotized by the portrayed glory of tbe the war, so he joins it...that leads to the bridge of the song, "dreaming of screaming," where he becomes MIA, and his spouse is called and told of this. She is tortured by thoughts of him being tortured--hence "dreaming of screaming." She doesn't even have the comfort of knowing if he is dead or not. All of this shows how war is just a "dark disaster,".

    I'm sure that there is a specific situation and specific people that are symbolized in this song, but this was worth a try. Oh, and by the way, I apologize for any typos in this interpretation

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 18th 2008 !⃝

    This song is mainly about going to war to try to be a hero and getting yourself killed

    For today we will take the body parts and put them on the wall
    this is about what they do to dead bodies

    For treated indigenously, digenously
    Human right is private blue chip, pry
    i don't really know what this means but I think it's about just using people to kill and not really caring about them personally

    (We're the prophetic generation of bottled water, bottled water
    Causing poor populations to die, to die, to die)
    this is a metaphor for us having all this great technology and not sharing it to help others and just watching the m die

    You, you went beyond
    And you lost it all
    Why did you go there?
    From beyond
    You saw it all
    Why did you go there?
    this is where it gets into the main idea, going beyond is trying to be a hero, and losing it all is dying, "there" is heven, hell ect., beyond the second time means being dead and you saw it all is realizing how stupid and mindless you were

    She lost her mind
    Someone kicked her into the back of the line
    she lost her head
    When they called and said that they thought he was dead
    this is when his wife/girlfriend finds out he's dead and goes crazy, getting kicked to the back of line is like the person calling you to say he's dead is just waiting for his/her shift to be over and not really caring

    Dreaming of screaming
    Someone kick me out of my mind
    I hate these thoughts I can't deny
    Dreaming of Screaming
    Someone kick me out of my mind
    I hate these thoughts I can't de-
    this is the girlfriend/wife dreaming about his husband/boyfriand dying whens she's trying to forget it. kicked out of her mind is either moving on or dying. she also con't deny these things happened

    You will take the body parts and put them on the wall
    And bring the dark disaster
    this might mean the girl when insane and took his body parts on the wall and the "dark disaster" is her being thrown into some clinic

    thats just my interpretation of it

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 28th 2006 !⃝

    Noone is actually thinking about this song.

    For treated indiginously- for treated like an alien

    we're the prophetic generation of bottled water, bottled water, causing poor populations to die to die to die- we're so superficial and self obsorbed that we're causing others who need resources we're taking to die.

    The "she" I think means hope. The "he" I thnk means religon

    nowadays noone claims god, system of a down believes in a god and in religon. They're saying in the 2nd half of this song that religon is dead- hardly anyone believes in a religon. And becuase religon is dead, there is no more hope, hope being the "she".

    Sh elost her mind someone kicked her into the back of the line- we've lost hope. We've been demoralized.

    This song is basically saying we're superficial and wasteful and we've been demoralized.

  4. Joshua Samuel Nicholls
    click a star to vote
    Jan 7th 2012 !⃝

    I agree with what l33t_walrus said, but being from Oceania I associated this song with Native Australian and New Zealand Aborginies instead.

    "For today, we will take the body parts and put them on the wall"
    I have heard that some Aboriginals have had their heads (the body part) taken back to England and displayed in museums, which is the wall.

    "For treated indigenously, digenously human right is private blue chip, pry"
    Indigenous people have been treated poorly in the past, and unfortunately this may mean that being treated indigenously is a sysnonym for being treated poorly. Their human rights have been taken away and stored in a private blue chip (USB) that no-one cares to look at(am i going too far?

    "We're a prophetic generation of bottled water, bottled water causing poor populations to die, to die, to die!"
    The "we" (whites, europeans) created hypocritical goods like bottled water when it is readily available anyway, which depleted resources for the poor populations (Aboriginals) and causes them to die. I don't know what the prophetic means, but i think a more appropriate word would be pathetic, considering how this song is portraying european settlers.

    "You, you went beyond and you lost it all
    Why did you go there From
    beyond you saw it all why did you"
    The British, French and Dutch went beyond to the uncharted southern land, and they lost all possiblities of respect from the natives when they colonised. Why didn't they just stay in their own country? They saw all the land to conquer, Why?

    "We lost consumer confidence in casual karma, casual karma
    Confetti, camouflage, camouflage, the flage, the flage"
    They lost the Aboriginies confindence, and the casual karma is that some of the Aboriginies stop being consumers and don't support the Europeans "cause". The Whites camouflaged their maltreatment of the Aboriginies with confetti-tainted (sweetened) lies.

    "She lost her mind
    Someone kicked her into the back of the line
    She lost her head
    When they called and they said that they thought he was dead
    Dreaming of screaming
    Someone kick me out of my mind
    I hate these thoughts I can't deny
    Dreaming of screaming
    Someone kick me out of my mind
    I hate these thoughts I can't de-"
    You have to think outside the box for this one. Think of the she being the Aboriginies, the mind being the land and the thoughts being the European invaders. The Aboriginals lost their land, the Europeans kicked them into the back of the moral line. People at the time thought that the Aboriginal race was dead (but they weren't, obviously). The Aboriginals now dream of their loved ones screaming, and they hate the white man that they can't deny or get rid of.

    "You will take the body parts and put them up on the wall
    And bring the dark disaster"
    You will follow the white society's example because you dont know the Aboriginals' side, and ultimately bring disaster upon their race.

    But that's just my opinion. System of a Down are all about you coming up with your opinion. Vote up the opinions that you agree with if you don't agree with any, post your own!!

  5. L33t_Walrus
    click a star to vote
    Mar 10th 2010 !⃝

    Alright. I could be completely off-base here, but I've always viewed this song as being about the Civil Rights movement, particularly MLK and or the Native Americans. Bear with me here:

    For treated indigenously, digenously
    Human right is private blue chip, pry

    ^ This means that they are being
    treated poorly even though they are indigenous to this country (America, this being the Indians)

    We're the prophetic generation of bottled water, bottled water
    Causing poor populations to die, to die, to die (For treated
    indigenously, digenously) (Human right is private blue chip, pry)

    ^ This is showing that us (Pioneers, whites) view themselves superior, being almost prophetic.

    You, you went beyond and you lost it all Why did you go there From
    beyond you saw it all why did you

    ^ This has to do with MLK, it's saying that he was above all the racial segregation, and inequality because of his education and social status but he still went to help those less fortunate (losing it all being his assassination)

    We lost consumer confidence in casual karma, casual karma
    Confetti, camouflage, camouflage, the flage, the flage
    (For treated indigenously, digenously)
    (Human right is private blue chip, pry)

    ^ This line is rather unclear, and is something so deep I wouldn't want to even TRY interpreting it unless under the influence of rather strong hallucinogens.

    She lost her mind
    Someone kicked her into the back of the line

    ^ I interpreted this is being about seating in lines, buses, theatres, etc., where the blacks were always pushed to the back.

    Dreaming of screaming
    Someone kick me out of my mind
    I hate these thoughts I can't deny
    Dreaming of screaming
    Someone kick me out of my mind
    I hate these thoughts I can't de--

    ^ Deep down, the white supremacists know that what they're doing is morally wrong, and they hate all of the prejudiced, biased thoughts that they have, but can't suppress.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 12th 2009 !⃝

    I think, it's talking about war, look at the first part, putting body parts on the wall, dead by a bomb etc.
    Then, private blue chip, making people like poker chips, just causing people die, and all of this for water that is killing poorer populations.
    I think the she is the world, and the we, are the people, and the army putting on camouflage and killing 'she'.
    Idk, a bit of a messy interpretation, but it makes sense with all the lyrics.

  7. anonymous
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    May 20th 2009 !⃝

    Dreaming has a very basic meaning behind which many people overlook. It's about a girl how had become demented because of other people's ignorance and slowly turned into someone she never wanted to be. Now she's trapped in this disturbed form and is screaming to go back to her normal self. This is what I feel about the song. - Atreyo Mitra

  8. anonymous
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    Apr 28th 2009 !⃝

    In the bonus material DVD for the Hypnotize album, Daron Malakian talks about an effect he wants to try out where he takes a bunch of stringless acoustic bodies and lines the walls with them. This is where I believe the line "put the bodies on the wall" comes from. Daron's acoustic guitar amplification idea came from him playing guitar in the acoustic rooms at Guitar Center.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 2nd 2007 !⃝

    I think this song is about a Hannibal Lector- type girl who becomes ridiculously depressed by a loved one's death, laments why he went to war, and loses her mind, thus becoming Hannibal-Lector-ish towards those she blames for her loved one's death.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. crackSmOkinAssDouche
    click a star to vote
    Dec 28th 2006 !⃝

    hey guy that's doing the whole series thing....im sorry but revenga came out before this song so I don't think she is getting revenge because of this.......but I do think it has something to do with her man over in iraq and he got killed and she is dreaming of him screaming while he died....or dreaming of all the screaming going on over there because of the war

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 24th 2006 !⃝

    I think this song has mixed meanings. Well, I know back then, when people won wars, they put their enemies heads on pikes, and put them on display. Thus the line "we will take their body parts and put them on the wall." I also heard that bottled water is actually bad for our earth. I forget why, but, it is a fact. I dunno, that's all I could figure out.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 12th 2006 !⃝

    The majority of this song has no meaning, the only part that isn't nonsense is when daron sings by himself. That part is about a woman who went crazy (lost her head) when they called and said that they thought he was dead. Then she has dreams about how he died , dreaming of screaming , and she wants those thoughts to go away.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. XXXshenanigans04
    click a star to vote
    Apr 29th 2006 !⃝

    I think the "dreaming of screaming" part is how the girl dreams of voicing her opinion to others, but it is only a dream that she will never fulfill, and how she "hate these thoughts I can't deny" she doesn't even wanna think about it

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  14. craiggoetz
    click a star to vote
    Nov 30th 2005 !⃝

    (continuing my series of SoaD vs. Iraq war, see Soldier Side (Intro) for my track listing)

    8. Dreaming - the war is slowing, and I can't really think of anything for this song, except the "body parts" thing. a girl goes to join the Army, because she is a moron (lost her mind), but is "kicked to the back of the line" and isn't sent to Iraq (where her man is stationed, obviously). She wanted to go and get revenge (see: Revenga) because she found out he died over there. She knows it to be true because she was having dreams of him dying and "screaming" and denied it until she got the official message.


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