I think there are very few Korn songs I listened to as much as this one in high school. I would push my headphones in closer to my ears and close my eyes… I wanted to drown out everything around me. Everyone felt like vultures trying to eat at me.
I love this song, and I also love the video. You might recognize this guy from Breaking Bad.
Video and Lyrics
Note: These lyrics are an interpretation, since Korn has never released any official lyrics
Thumbin’ through the pages of my fantasies
Pushing all the mercy
Down, down, down
I wanna see you try to take a swing at me
Come on, gonna put you on the
Ground, ground, ground
Why are you trying to make fun of me?
You think it’s funny? What the fuck you think it does to me?
You take your turns lashing out at me
I want you crying with your dirty ass in front of me!
All of my hate cannot be bound (hate cannot be bound)
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So, you can try to tear me down (try to tear me down)
Beat me to the ground, I will see you screaming
Thumbin’ through the pages of my fantasies
I’m above you smiling at you
Round, round, round
I wanna kill and rape you the way you raped me
It’s on, pull the trigger, and you’re
Down, down, down
Why are you trying to make fun of me?
You think it’s funny? What the fuck you think it does to me?
You take your turns lashing out at me
I want you crying with your dirty ass in front of me!
All of my hate cannot be bound (hate cannot be bound)
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So, you can try to tear me down (try to tear me down)
Beat me to the ground, I will see you screaming
All my friends are gone
They died (gonna take you down!)
They all screamed
And cried (gonna take you down!)
I never for-get, never for-get, I can’t get nowhere! I never for-get, never for-get - Gonna take you down! I never for-get, never for-get, I can’t get nowhere! I never for-get, never for-get Gonna take you down! I never for-get, never for-get, I can’t get nowhere! I never for-get, never for-get Gonna take you down! I never for-get, never for-get, I can’t get nowhere! I never for-get, never for-get, I can’t get no
All of my hate cannot be bound (hate cannot be bound)
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So, you can try to tear me down (try to tear me down)
Beat me to the ground, I will see you screaming
All of my hate cannot be bound (hate cannot be bound)
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So, you can try to tear me down (try to tear me down)
Beat me to the ground, I will see you screaming
Song Meaning
I think it should be obvious – this song is about being bullied, and finding the strength to overcome it. There’s a lot of aspects covered in this song.
Vengeance
Many lines in this song talk about justified vengeful violence against the oppressors. You can summarize it all with “Thumbin’ through the pages of my fantasies.” That line alone states that there are far more evil thoughts going on here. There are all sorts of things you wish you could do to these people. “Pushing all the mercy down, down, down”. He’s going to show these assholes no mercy. Why would this line be important? Because up until now, they’ve shown him very little mercy, but this time… This time he’ll hurt them good.
“I wanna see you try to take a swing at me, Come on gonna put you on the ground, ground, ground” “So, you can try to tear me down, beat me to the ground, I will see you screaming.” He’s antagonizing them. Challenging them to mess with him one more time, because this time will be the last. He can’t wait to hurt them, but rather than just start violently, he wants them to instigate it. That way he gets the satisfaction of seeing their “thoughtless scheming” blow up in their faces.
“All of my hate cannot be bound, I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming.” He can’t hold it in anymore, and he’ll no longer let people walk all over him.
Evil Thoughts and Metaphor
Once again, that line of “Thumbin’ through the pages of my fantasies” is significant here, but used in the context of some other lines, it’s darker than it first lets on. “I’m above you smiling at you, round, round, round.” Quite the fantasy, looking down at them as they’re “crying with their dirty ass in front of [him]”. Also, “I wanna kill and rape you the way you raped me, It’s on, pull the trigger, and you’re down, down, down.” My my, now it’s really getting violent! But, I think these lines here are metaphoric, not literal. “Pull the trigger” to me means to pull my own trigger, not the trigger of the gun that I’m holding. He wants to beat them up, not shoot them. Besides, “pull the trigger” comes after “it’s on”, which is more obviously stating the start of a race or event. They always shoot a gun off into the air to start a match, usually in racing. As soon as that bell sounds, he’s going to destroy you.
Continuing with “fantasies”, look at the darkest lines in the whole song… “All my friends are gone, they died. They all screamed and cried.” What the hell is the significance of this? What does he mean by “friends”? They’re not your friends… they’re your enemies. Or perhaps that’s really what this song is about – friends that turn on you and become your enemy. I personally think the “friends” he’s talking about are a personification for his innocence and willingness to believe the good in people. After suffering such abuse, these personified aspects of his personality died a grizzly death, screaming until the end. Now the dark side of him is taking over, and it’s time to exact justice. “Gonna take you down!”
What Does This Have To Do With Me?
I've talked about being bullied before, and this song definitely helped me out a lot.I discovered a new way of thinking after hearing this song. I reasoned that it’s ok to think evil thoughts, as long as you don’t act on them. All the bullies that beat me up and belittled me every day, you have no idea how much I wanted to grind their faces on the curved edge of a sidewalk. But I never did it. That, to me, is the difference between sane and insane. Think what you want, but have the morality to know that you can’t actually do any of it. The hell is wrong with you, you psychopath!
I always misheard the lyrics of “I want you crying with your dirty ass in front of me!” I wasn’t entirely sure what he was saying, so I made up my own line that I felt fit better: “I’ll watch you crying when you’re bleeding at the foot of me!” Later, I saw many lyric sites that posted the “dirty ass” version, but I still preferred mine, and to this day that’s the lyric I scream. It felt more satisfying.
This song gave me a lot of strength to stand up to it. I knew I’d never have the power to actually “take them down”, but it gave me a place to go in my mind that made me feel powerful. It was like having an older brother there to build me up after I’d been beaten down. It helped.