What do you think Suggestions means?

System of a Down: Suggestions Meaning

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Album cover for Suggestions album cover

Suggestions Lyrics

Watching,
From a post up high,
From where you see the ships afar,
From a well trained eye,
The waves all keep on crashing by,
If you are the light post,
Then you own the working class,
But if you want the answers,
You better give a piece...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 29th 2009 !⃝

    I beleive this song represents the faulty communication between the working class of "the light post", and the government "the burning light at the top".

    From A well trained eye: "a man of wisdom" knows The waves keep crashing by: waves symbolise time and the continuing failed suggestions to solve our nations issues.
    The ships coming ashore are our problems that past generations ignored in their lifetime leaving for us to deal with.
    If you point your questions to the government the denile and lies "fog" will surely chew you up,
    If you want answers, you better be prepared to accept its too late "fire".
    why The ships are multiplying? Ships represent the problems, the more you have the faster the problems multiply.
    And why in the song must they bail as if its too late?
    I believe he's singling out the babyboomer lifestyle and generation in their costly mistake of only considering the pattern of time than the behavior of developing national issues on the horrizon of upcoming generations.
    -Travis McCarty

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 11th 2006 !⃝

    I think the song is about religion being used to control the masses. More specifically, about a peticular, unamed religion created by a group of people to control them, but the religion is completely made up of lies. "watching,
    from a post up high" could be about how these people are watching the people they control.

    "if you are the light post,
    then you own the working class" I think the lightpost symbolizes the group who created the religion, it gives a guidinglight, but you can't see where it guides you. Also, the light was created by man, it isn't a natural light. The working class could be the people they control.

    "warning,
    post hypnotic suggestions,
    running the ships ashore" these "post hypnotic suggestions" might represent some farfetched ideas the lightpost tries to teach the working class, but some people don't believe these lies, these non-believers are the ships, they are being brought "ashore" by these crazy ideas

    "the orange light that follows,
    will soon proclaim itself a god" I think the orange light is supposed to represent the leader of the ships, who actually plans to rule them, by proclaiming itself a god

    "but if you want the answers,
    you better get ready for the fire" this could be saying that if you try to find out the truth behind the lightposts, you will be destroyed

    "the ships are multiplying day after day sir,
    and theyre coming close to the shore sir, shore sir,
    we need to evacuate the light post,
    its all over, its all over ~~
    its all over." this seems to be saying that more people are seeing the lies told to them by the lightpost, and are becomg ships and attacking the lightpost. The lightpost must be evacuated because they can no longer control the working class.

    Apparently, the ships take over the lightpost and become dominant, but the orange light starts "proclaiming itself a god" and telling its own lies to the ships, who now become the new working class.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 5th 2017 !⃝

    This song is about ufo, the ships, scaler waves.

  4. Josh2000
    click a star to vote
    May 5th 2016 !⃝

    This is simply about suggestions of the people.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 27th 2012 !⃝

    The Ships Ashore was the name of a radio station. Just putting that out there.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 1st 2012 !⃝

    i like the previous interpretations but just to add I think the "post hypnotic suggestions" are the things the lighthouse wants you to do (spend money for instance) because a lighthouse is to draw in boats and guide them. but now that so many boats are on shore,the docks (economy) can't support all the boats and now people are looking towards the lighthouse to fix and realising truths.

  7. Josky
    click a star to vote
    May 31st 2010 !⃝

    To the First "anonymous": I suppose you're right. Of course, one possibility is that the government is using religion and other stuff as an excuse to get away with what would normally be considered illegal. Like murder (electric chair), animal abuse (taking stray animals, having them killed, and given to a bunch of kids to cut open), and God knows what else.

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 29th 2009 !⃝

    I beleive this song represents the faulty communication between the working class of "the light post", and the government "the burning light at the top".

    From A well trained eye: "a man of wisdom" knows The waves keep crashing by: waves symbolise time and the continuing failed suggestions to solve our nations issues.
    The ships coming ashore are our problems that past generations ignored in their lifetime leaving for us to deal with.
    If you point your questions to the government the denile and lies "fog" will surely chew you up,
    If you want answers, you better be prepared to accept its too late "fire".
    why The ships are multiplying? Ships represent the problems, the more you have the faster the problems multiply.
    And why in the song must they bail as if its too late?
    I believe he's singling out the babyboomer lifestyle and generation in their costly mistake of only considering the pattern of time than the behavior of developing national issues on the horrizon of upcoming generations.

    An orange light symbolizes beauty but yet warning, i interperate this as our energy crisis.

    -Travis McCarty

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 25th 2006 !⃝

    What I got was that the ships were people going through their lives with little knowledge of what was going on in plaves above their rank, and that the people with the power, the "lighthouses" who can "see the ships afar", will be able to "own the working class". The post-hypnotic suggestions, I thought, would be just the messages of the mass media. But that was before I read the above post.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 14th 2006 !⃝

    All of the interpretations that have been posted here are good, but most of them are pretty off as well. This song is about the U.S. Government's project "MKULTRA" in the 1950s. Go look it up on Wikipedia.com and this song will make a bit more sense. Post hypnotic suggestions were commands given to people during a state of hypnosis, which they later carried out subconsciously-unaware of their following orders. As far as them "running the ships ashore" it could be in reference to them ruining peoples' lives.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 9th 2006 !⃝

    ok I always thought he said if you want the answers you better get rid of all the fog....i read the fire thing on a site and was so confused because it makes more sense to me but w/e

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 9th 2006 !⃝

    Just a thought but if the orange light proclaims himself a god possibly it is religon that is running the ships off course and into the shore. Maybe the brianwashing of some extreme religon groups and how they attract more and more ships (the ships are multiplying day by day) maybe the evacuating of the light post significes the down fall of the religon group.

    I also have a thought that it could be about how the working calss are the ships and the light post is the few that control them,running the ships ashore, keepingtthe working class done, but eventaully the woorking class keeps multiplying and takes over the light post

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 1st 2006 !⃝

    Furthermore hell is overpopulating, "The ships are multiplying day after day sir, And they're coming close to the shore sir, shore sir". Has God left us?

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 1st 2006 !⃝

    This song is about rapture. A light house offers a white light and a following "orange light". The white light is for the believers. The orange light is for the non-believers. During rapture the believers will "evacuate the light post". The non-believers, second guessers looking for answers, will stay and perish. The waiting heathens will prod your "ass" for eternity down into oblivion.
    The "ships ashore" are vessels in which we steer our souls. Both lights offer "Suggestions". It is simply up to you which way you will go.


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