Walls

You got warheads stacked in the kitchen

(I believe he is talking about the state of the common family, and how explosive the close relationship can be in a family these days. It's not like it used to be, what with the "American dream" of a perfect life anymore. At the same time he is also talking about how families have TVs in their kitchen now, and have to hear all the doom and gloom of CNN)

You treat distraction like it's a religion

(A bit of a build from the last line, refering to the distraction of TV in the modern world. Most people sit and allow themselves to be absorbed by the television, to the point of treating it like a religion these days.)

With a rattlenake step in your rhythm

(No clue : P)

We do the best with the souls we've been given

(Humanity is losing is spirtuality, but people still want to feel something deep. Most people feel like they're missing something in their life, but don't do anything to change it)

Because you know we're nothing special to them

(Refering to other people, and how we don't think that "we" are special to other people in our lives. I really don't think this line is about terrorism)

We're going some place they've already been

(I think Beck is refering to "they" as the generation that birthed us, and how even though we hate them for ruining the earth for us, we keep doing the same thing to it)

Trying to make sense of what they call wisdom

(We're trying to understand the wisdom in our parents generation, but for most of us it doesn't make sense, especially because they grew up in generation X. Our parents generation has less wisdom than our grandparents did at that age, because they haven't been through a war, and now that our generation is in one, they have no wisdom for us.)

And this riff-raff ain't laughing with them

(Not entirely sure about this line, but I think it goes with the theme of things. Even the "white-trash/riff-raff" of our generation isn't laughing at the state of the world. But it seems like our parents our, because when they were young, this is exactly what generation X wanted.)

Hey what are you gonna do When those walls are falling down falling down on you Hey what are you gonna do When those walls are falling down falling down on you

(I think the chorus has two meanings. Literally, he's talking about the world ending and the walls of our houses coming down on us because of all the war, famine and other awful things that are happening. Metaphorically Beck is talking about our generally delusive state of thinking that we've grown into, about how we let the government get away with ridiculous things because we are so focused on pop-stars, and other trival things. Once these walls are finally torn down and people realize what terrible shape the world is in, they might freak out hence: "what are you gonna do?")

This makes me think of the Cold War.

its almost like the distractions i.e. pop-culture, are placed on purpose. diverting our attention from real issues. now, WHY would anyone to do that???

"And your heart only speaks in a murmur" i feel that this song is about terrorism. it is pretty obvious that it is with lyrics like "warheads stacked in the kitchen" and "Because you know we're nothing special to them We're going some place they've already been Trying to make sense of what they call wisdom" This one of my favorites on this album.

I think the lyrics theburninator64 is referring to actually goes into Beck's scientology beliefs. Scientologists believe numerous souls possess us and keep us tied down to beliefs in various institutions like religion, money, etc. These souls do not think of us as special and they have been around this planet a lot longer than we have. I think parts of this song kind of sound like Beck is tired of scientology. Another part of Scientology is where a person tells are their dark secrets to a person who is called an "auditor." This auditor then makes sure you do not stray away from scientology with threats of revealing these secrets to others..."but your words ring out just like murder."

this is my absolute favorite song on modern guilt

i love this song so much! its so beautiful to listen to.

Beck's scientology beliefs. Scientologists believe numerous souls possess us and keep us tied down to beliefs in various institutions like religion, money, etc. These souls do not think of us as special and they have been around this planet a lot longer than we have. I think parts of this song kind of sound like Beck is tired of scientology. Another part of Scientology is where a person tells are their dark secrets to a person who is called an "auditor." This auditor then makes sure you do not stray away from scientology with threats of revealing these secrets to others..."but your words ring out just like murder."

im blown away, surprised, and enlightened that somebody else actually figured this out and put a name to it. you see. i am a scientologist that never heard of scientology. we control our destiny. were ju St too damn busy enjoying ourselves being john malkovich style

I believe it's about inner fear of the unknown that mankind is so gripped by, that we need to rationalize with unknown in order to come to grips with it. At the same time it's put into second and third person terms it seems like we're being studied, by perhaps another species or a "god" or "gods" depending on your faith. But it also strikes me as a monologue of someone who is gripped by that fear of the unknown, not necessarily spilling his inner thoughts but letting the fear grip him and question things and further tear him/her apart.

WOW burninator, I logged on here to read over the lyrics again after reading an interesting article about Beck being a Scientologist. I am blown away at your discovery and am shocked they haven't taken your post off by now. ROCK ON! Great interpretation, and I don't know anything about the Scientology thing, BUT! I do know that everyone should watch the videos of EVERY SONG ON THIS ALBUM is redone acoustically. Its on Vimeo. and if you get certain tools to download the video and other tools to extract audio you will know how to listen to Beck acoustically everyday on whatverpod you listen to!