Coma Lyrics
And I don't think I wanna
Ever come back to this...world again
Kinda like it in a coma
'Cause no one's ever gonna
Oh make me come back to this...world again
I can't feel the pressure
And I like it this way
But my body's callin',
My body's callin'
Won't ya come back to this...world again
I've got the light at the end
I've got the bones on the mast
Well I've gone sailin', I've gone sailin'
I could leave so easily
While friends are calling back to me
I said they're,
They're leaving it all up to me
When all I needed was clarity
An someone to tell me
What the fuck is going on
Goddamn it
It's a miracle how long we can stay
In a world our minds created
In a world that's full of shit
Help me
Help me
Help me
Bastard
I'm climbin' through the wreckage
Of all my twisted dreams
But this cheap investigation just can't
Stifle all my screams
And I'm waiting at the crossroads
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
Where are you?
No one's gonna mess with my head no more
I can't understand what all the fightin's for
But it's so nice here down off the shore
I wish you could see this
Cause there's nothing to see
It's peaceful here and its fine with me
Not like the world where I used to live
I never really wanted to live
Zap the son of a bitch again
So won't you tell me why we'd wanna
With all the reasons you give It's
It's kinda hard to believe
But who am I to tell you that I've seen
Any reason why you should stay
Maybe we'd be better off without you anyway
On your last chance ride
Gotta one way ticket
To your suicide
Gotta one way ticket
An there's no way out alive
An all this crass communication
That has left you in the cold
Isn't much for consolation
When you feel so weak and old
But if home is where the heart is
Then there's stories to be told
No you don't need a doctor
No one else can heal your soul
Got your life on the line
But nobody pulled the trigger
They just stepped aside
They'll be down by the water
While you watch 'em waving goodbye
They be callin' in the morning
They be hanging on the phone
They be waiting for an answer
But you know nobody's home
And when the bells stopped ringing
It was nobody's fault but your own
There were always ample warning
There were always subtle signs
And you would have seen it comin'
But we gave you too much time
And when you said that no one's listening
Why'd your best friend drop a dime
Sometimes we get so tired of waiting
For a way to spend our time
And "It's so easy" to be social
"It's so easy" to be cool
Yeah, its easy to be hungry
When you ain't got shit to lose
And I wish that I could help you
With what you hope to find
But I'm still out here waiting
Watching reruns of my life
When you reach the point of breaking
Know it's gonna take some time
To heal the broken memories
That another man would need
Just to survive
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I believe this song is about contemplating suicide, not being able to cope with the pressures of the world. If I'm not mistaken, Axl went to a lot of mental trauma around 1990, and these lyrics may've come as a result of that. He is quoted as saying this is the most difficult song he's written, and that he got completely exhausted writing it. To me, this is GnR's best lyrics and one of their best songs. I hate it when the song ends, because the last part of is maybe the most powerful rock music I've heard.
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Incredible song. Having been through deep bouts of depression, I can tell you that this song is probably about just that. It's about the feeling of wanting to end it all, but without doing it at your own hands. When I was going through depression, I often wished my life would just end, but never considered suicide because I knew what it would do to my family and friends. I didn't want them to suffer through that. Besides, suicide is for "crazy" people, right? And nobody wants to be remembered as the crazy person. I always thought the best possible scenario would be to be able to end it through some other means, which is where this song comes in. The subject of the song has been given that opportunity through the Coma he finds himself.
There's a bunch of lines in the song that pointed that thought out to me, including almost the entire first verse.
For example:
"I could leave so easily While friends are calling back to me I said they're They're leaving it all up to me When all I needed was clarity"
To me, the first verse symbolizes Axl arguing with his own consciousness. It's like Axl sees his easy way out of the Hell that is life. Does he want to take it? He does, but his family and friends are calling to him. Should he end it and finally cease his struggles, or would it be wrong to give up on his family and friends when he has a choice.
He seems to be weighing the pros and cons throughout the song.
"I like the world where I used to live. I never really wanted to live."
I can absolutely relate to this. You love the people in your life, and the memories that made it enjoyable in spots, but are the good times worth all the turmoil in the end?
The last verse is kind of Axl blaming himself for everything that's gone wrong in his life, and it's almost like he's berating himself for even wanting to take the easy way out. I think he comes to the realization that if he's flaky enough to even want to die like that, then maybe he should. Maybe the world would be better off without him if he's willing to hurt people like that. Maybe there's no room for hurtful people like himself.
"
stubbs description sounds spot on to me.
stubbs description sounds spot on to me.
I agree with this, I think at the end he is definitely berating himself but i think it is more of a kick up the ass to himself and others who want to give up on life.
I agree with this, I think at the end he is definitely berating himself but i think it is more of a kick up the ass to himself and others who want to give up on life.
You have nothing to lose by giving it a shot and everything to gain (its so easy to be social its so easy to be cool, its so easy to be hungry when you aint got shit to lose)
You have nothing to lose by giving it a shot and everything to gain (its so easy to be social its so easy to be cool, its so easy to be hungry when you aint got shit to lose)
All those bits about relying on others ("& all i needed was clarity & someone to tell me what the f*** is going on.......",...
All those bits about relying on others ("& all i needed was clarity & someone to tell me what the f*** is going on.......", "they be waiting for an answer but you know nobody's home" etc) ends up as a message that you have to do it for yourself. Forget about others. It is really evident in the last few lines.
It is a message, an angry warning probably, to sort yourself out or dont because nobody will care - "maybe we
d be better off without you anyway"
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This has recently overtaken Estranged as my favourite GN'R song. It's so musically complex, and the lyrics speak to me in a very particular way. I think most people here have gotten pretty close to the meaning in the first few parts: the desire for isolation, taken to the extremes of death or brain-death. But there's one detail of the final rant that no one here has focused on, so let me give my two cents.
Starting with the part "You live your life like it's a coma..." I noticed something a couple of years back. It starts focusing on the second-person pronoun "you" where beforehand the song was sung in the first person. Now, this might sound like a minor grammatical quibble, but what if it's more important than that? Perhaps the character singing the final portion of the song is not Axl at all, or any part of his psyche. It is, literally, someone else.
I always felt that this song involves self-restraint when it comes to suicide. Perhaps Axl doesn't want to die, but a COMA might be seen as a bit more acceptable. In the first few parts, there are a number of lines where he's clearly searching for an answer. For example: "Please understand me/I'm climbing through the wreckage/Of all my twisted dreams/But this cheap investigation just can't stifle all my screams/And I'm waiting at the crossroads/Waiting for you..." More than anything, this is a song of self-discovery.
Where I'm going with this is that in the last part, Axl gets what he was asking for. Someone else finally steps in and gives him an answer to his questions of why nobody cared about him. And the answer this other person gives him is complicated. First of all, the person says, we have been worrying about you. We may not have reacted in a way that was comforting to you, but we've been there, bailing your ass out when you get into situations like that. You, Axl, just haven't wanted to see it. Ultimately, it's up to you to figure things out ("No you don't need a doctor, no one else can heal your soul").
When I realized this about this song, there was one part that was especially chilling for me, and that's right at the end:
And I wish that I could help you With what you hope to find But I'm still out here waiting Watching reruns of my life When you reach the point of breaking Know it's gonna take some time To heal the broken memories That another man would need Just to survive
This is the answer that Axl has been needing. He needs to know why other people haven't been able to truly help him deal with his problems on his own terms. And the reason is because other people have their own shit to deal with. People have to keep their distance from Axl because what he's dealing with is too close to what others have been dealing for them to allow themselves to get to close. It will impact them as well. This is what I think is meant by the person talking about "reruns of [his] life." That leaves only one thing he can tell Axl: it's going to be complete hell. Axl will "reach the point of breaking." The only comfort is that Axl will be able to pull through it, because he is even stronger than people who've been through similar angst before him. After all, he's gone a long time trying "to heal the broken memories that another man would need just to survive." And yes, Axl has survived. With that epiphany in mind, Axl finally allows himself to come back to the real world and out of his coma, where he has found the stillness he sought.
IMO you are quite close. "Who Im I to tell you" is a sarcastic way, to say "Who are you to tell me". Im not surprised Axl is pissed off when someone tries to teach him about sense of life, having shitty reasons and shitty life, "living like in a coma" - not seeing, not feeling, just living. He countinues in second person and it is the rest of the story, until the suiside. People dont understand him, after the conversation he feels worse "left in a cold", he feels alone, stop answering calls. Doesnt believe doctor would...
IMO you are quite close. "Who Im I to tell you" is a sarcastic way, to say "Who are you to tell me". I
m not surprised Axl is pissed off when someone tries to teach him about sense of life, having shitty reasons and shitty life, "living like in a coma" - not seeing, not feeling, just living. He countinues in second person and it is the rest of the story, until the suiside. People dont understand him, after the conversation he feels worse "left in a cold", he feels alone, stop answering calls. Doesn
t believe doctor would help, friends step aside. When he sad that nobody is leasing, best friend didnt call, why would he?
Sometimes after decision of suicie people becomig social because the feel relief, "no shit to lose". But it`s the last subtle sign, not a progress.
The guitar at the end is a flat line. And Axl is a genius.
IMO you are quite close. "Who Im I to tell you" is a sarcastic way, to say "Who are you to tell me". Im not surprised Axl is pissed off when someone tries to teach him about sense of life, having shitty reasons and shitty life, "living like in a coma" - not seeing, not feeling, just living. He countinues in second person, tells the rest of the story, until the suiside. People dont understand, after the conversation he feels worse "left in a cold", he feels alone, stop answering calls. Doesnt believe doctor would help, friends step...
IMO you are quite close. "Who Im I to tell you" is a sarcastic way, to say "Who are you to tell me". I
m not surprised Axl is pissed off when someone tries to teach him about sense of life, having shitty reasons and shitty life, "living like in a coma" - not seeing, not feeling, just living. He countinues in second person, tells the rest of the story, until the suiside. People dont understand, after the conversation he feels worse "left in a cold", he feels alone, stop answering calls. Doesn
t believe doctor would help, friends step aside. When he sad that nobody is leastening, best friend didn`t call, why would he?
Sometimes after decision of suicied people becomig social because they feel relief, "no shit to lose". But it`s the last subtle sign, not a progress.
The guitar at the end is a flat line. And Axl is a genius.
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my interpretation is as follows!
The first part of the song tells us about somebody who feels the intense need to get away from all the pressures that life has thrown at him. He is perhaps feeling suicidal, angry and stubborn all at the same time, maybe imagining what his spirit or inner self would say to anybody who sees him should he pull the trigger... the lyrics translating to a vastly more articulate version of "Hey! I LIKE being dead and there's nothing YOU can do about it! HA!" The next part is when the person has gone away and he feels relief and a sense of peace, completely unaware that he might not succeed in killing himself until a still small voice calls him from far away, trying to bring him back. He turns his back in a desperate attempt to stay dead so he can remain in this peaceful state he's just found. So peaceful that he cannot imagine how or why anybody would really want to be alive. Its dark, its all his dreams in front of him, but nothing bad matters anymore. But just then he is being very rudely dragged back to life by a defibrillator and he can hear all the bullshit he's had to put up with in his life repeating itself as he's slowly coming back. And he tries again to ignore it, but the defibrillator is too strong and unable to be fought. Slowly all the negative thoughts and feelings return to him and he is back, only to feel even worse than before. The end part of the song tells us that he feels how useless absolutely everything and everyone is, so he ignores it all, trying to regain the feeling of peace that he had when he was dead, but to no avail, all he feels is guilt and negativity. He knows he can go out and do normal things, he knows he can do that, but when his life is so focused on and there's always going to be certain expectations of him, he doesn't want to because those expectations would break him one way or the other, should he take note or not.
.... and I can see exactly why this took a year for him to write! Interpreting all those feelings at once and putting them in a song. No wonder its so long, no wonder its all so different! One would think it would be easier to simply shout at the world "GET OFFA MY BACK!" instead. But that would be taking the easy way out, and I don't see Axl EVER doing that.
And we got the best damn song out of it. Thank you Axl. :)
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Although the GNR gig was all but over when I got into their music, this song hit me the hardest. I do beleive this song is about life, the mind, and suicide. In my mind the song is about a person living his/her life as anyone else, however, this isn't how it is in their mind. They contemplate suicide for a very long time before eventually giving in. The drugs, their behavior, and the alcohol are all contributing factors, possibly among other things. Their friends see this behavior as out of control, but don't recognize all the signs until it is to late. Once it is too late they are hangin on the phone. They know what has happened but don't beleive they let it happen. The signs are there people all we have to do is think, it just might save your friends life. It should have saved Jake's, but i never noticed the signs until it was to late.
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To me it is a warning against being too selfish.
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Drug overdose.
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It's a pretty vivid portrayal of a drug addiction and overdosing. If you've ever had to deal with a freind who is a drug addict, they have millions of reasons to keep doing drugs. "With all the reasons you give, it's kinda hard to believe" It's a great description of the frustration of trying to help them and being pushed away. I think.
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this song means alot to me. its one of my moms favorite songs. and ive heard it since i was little. plus i connect with it.
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Very underated but it's one of my all time favourite songs actually... I can defenetly relate to the song, I love it and I think its about alot of things, mainly just about how Axl's mind works. The very end of the song (from about 7 minutes to the end) is the best. Defenetly some drug and suicide reference as well as alot of emotional shit going on in it. There are alot of lines that I think are directed at Steven Adler as well. Lucky ba$tards, I wish I was alive when Guns was still functioning, being only sixteen sucks...