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Your Life Is A Lie Lyrics

Here's the deal
Open your eyes
Your life is a lie
Don't say a word
I'll tell you why
You're living a lie
Your life is a lie
But you deny, you ever lied
Wondering why
Bury your life
Count your friends
On your hands
Now look again
They're not your friends
Hold your breath
Everyone left
No surprise
Living a lie

Tell your wife
This is your life
Your life is a lie
This is your wife
Now she knows
She understands
Her life is a lie
Nobody wins
Try not to cry
You'll survive
On your own

Lessons in life
Your life is a lie
Now there's no time
Wondering why
Where in the world
Is that girl?
Who knows it's alright
To live a life
Waiting to die
Not knowing that
Your life is a lie
Wondering why
Nobody writes
Hollow inside
Periods in light
Fire and ice
Your life is a lie
Your life is a lie
Your life is a lie
Your life is a lie
On your own
One more time
Your life is a lie
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Cover art for Your Life Is A Lie lyrics by MGMT

First of all, I just want to say that this song is just what I needed. I've been so unimpressed with all these new bands debuting who just have almost the exact same sound as others.. It's like, if I heard this song in a shop, would I even be able to tell which band it is, this one, this one or this one...... no? Haha okay anyway, MGMT definitely has a distinct sound, and Andrew has a distinct (beautiful) voice and I am just so happy this song was released.

I think we get the gist, here.. basically, your life is a lie. There's not a whole lot more to it, but I feel I should add some of my interpretation and not only express my giddy glee for MGMT releasing new material. I could be way off base, but bear with me:

It's pretty.. basic.. MGMT. Right? I mean I don't want to come off like I think I'm an MGMT expert who's analyzed every song, I'm don't, and I haven't. I'm not even sure how to describe this type of theme of MGMT's.. hm. Think of "If the sky was synthesized/You'd probably know" from Brian Eno, or "Geometric troops aligning" from Flash Delirium, or "We were fated to pretend" from Time to Pretend. Those probably aren't even the best examples, but the gist is conformity, and how conformity and sheep-like mentality and behavior is a joke, and a lie. It's doing what's expected of you without question under the guise of it being right and living a perfect, happy life, but in actuality it's a lie.

I think each verse is like a point in time in your life (your lie of a life, of course). The first stanza is the your first realization that your life is a lie. Today, people are so ready to set themselves apart from anything conformist, it's not surprising that you'd find out pretty early that you may be living a lie. Maybe once you start going off to college, because I mean what else do you do, you start thinking your life is a lie.

Next verse, you find out you don't even have real friends. Everyone's just a sheep and part of the grand scheme of your lie of a life (and theirs too). They're there on the surface, but if you look deeper, or "look again" they're just friends for the sake of being friends probably, because everyone's got to have friends, right? By the third verse, you've gotten married, and you realize that you probably only wed because it's what was expected of you and what was right, you don't really have any individuality about you. You had your doubts when you were younger, but you went on to get your fake friends, and you would have thought you had learned after they all left you, now wouldn't you?! But you didn't. You went and got your fake wife, and she leaves you or you leave her or whatever. "You will survive on your own." Fourth verse is just looking for hope in anyone, I think. Maybe you had an old flame or a high school crush and you think "She's different. I'll find her and everything will change, I'll do a complete 180. She's not like the others." But she probably is, she's no one, she's nowhere, and now you're just left waiting to die. Your life is a lie.

By the fifth verse, you're now an old bitter man who's done nothing and got nothing except your tired, failed lie of a life. You're about to die alone, and down to the very end ("On your own/One more time"), your life was a lie.

Back at the divorce verse, something happened. You told your wife your lives were lies, she understands and agrees and you split up. That was like your mid-life crisis probably, you know? You realized your life was a lie, but the best (worst), most ironic part, is you're supposed to think your life is a lie at that point in time. You probably think "I finally realized, my life's a lie!" but even that supposed realization is a part of your lie of a life. That is, I think, how you go from apparently knowing that your life is a lie in the third verse, to "Not knowing that/Your life is a lie" by the fourth.

I love the video, especially that part at 1:50 where the man drops his briefcase looking at the wall that reads "your life is a lie", it's just perfect.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Your Life Is A Lie lyrics by MGMT

From what I understand, the video and the lyrics show basically the alienation of people, mainly the pursuit of fame and wealth. In a way, this song criticizes capitalism. For me this is one of the deepest songs that MGMT has ever created. I still do not quite understand the video, only parts. For example, when Andrew, Ben, and others appear at a place like an office (their job) and the song says "no one surprise living a lie" expressed as capitalist system dominated people's lives from when they are, in a way, forced to work in places that, in most cases, do not like to make money and buy things to show people that you can buy, and not to please yourself. And people do not notice (no surprise) that do this to show others, not for themselves. The song is basically about it.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Your Life Is A Lie lyrics by MGMT

This is no political song. No or is it simple. It's about being human. All your goals and dreams aren't met and bad shit keeps happening but you put on a facade that everything is OK so you don't bum everyone out. The friends you thought you could count turns out are not your friends. Your wife has free will and could leave any second. Nobody is anybody's friend. Your on your own. It's MGMT's way of saying everyone looks happy but they aren't. Being human can feel very alone sometimes, but this song reminds us that we're all in the same boat. Your life is a lie.

Cover art for Your Life Is A Lie lyrics by MGMT

Your life is a lie.

Song Meaning
Cover art for Your Life Is A Lie lyrics by MGMT

this song is obviously just a blatant reference to psychedelics. it's awesome.