WorksheetsUncomfortably Numb - Lyrics and Meanings
Total questions: 15
Worksheet time: 13mins
~Sensitivity deprived~
What is meant by that lyric phrase?
Cannot feel empathy toward others
Cannot feel anything through five senses
Lacking the feeling or emotion
Cannot feel any pain both physically or emotionally
~I blamed my father in my youth~
What was the narrator's father like?
The narrator's father was not ideal father
The narrator's father was someone with many faults
The father was absent from the narrator's life during his youth
The narrator's father was a violent type of a guy
~I blamed my father in my youth
Now as a father, I blame the booze~
As the narrator grew up to become a father himself, was he even better than his father?
The narrator was as good as his father
Yes, the narrator was slightly better than his father
No, the narrator and his father was just the same
~I blamed my father in my youth
Now as a father, I blame the booze
I have become uncomfortably numb~
What was the actual similarity shared by both the narrator and his father? Something that made them uncomfortably numb.
Both of them did not care with the family
Both of them were struggling with addiction issue
Both of them had problem with money
Focus your listening! Can you hear a female voice like in these lines?
~Whose ugly side is the ugliest?~
and
~Whose hands are tied to a contortionist?~
Who do you think the one with the female voice heard?
She was someone who just knew a bit about the narrator
She was someone who really cared for the narrator
She was one of the people disappointed by the narrator
~Whose ugly side is the ugliest?~
Whose ugly sides the female voice tried to compare?
The narrator's ugly side with his father's ugly side
The narrator's ugly side with her (the female) ugly side
~Whose hands are tied to a contortionist?~
Who was actually the narrator? Was he such a performer in a freak show? What do you think? Or what is meant by the word 'contortionist'?
~Sensitivity deprived
All my sympathy prescribed~
This unpleasant issue seemed to bother the narrator because it seemed to be incurable. For worse, he had lost his...
Sympathy
Medical prescription
~I used to struggle in my youth
Now I'm used to struggling for two~
The first line of that lyric shows that the narrator was alone when he was young, trying to live his life with no support from his family. Perhaps, he made money just for himself. But, now he had new habit, he was struggling for two (second line)
What does that 'two' mean?
He did not live alone anymore, he had now a family with him (they might be a wife and a son)
He was not alone. He had to support himself and his aging father now.
~The lessons (Mike)~
~The lessons (Hayley)~
~Are so much (Mike)~
~Are so much (Hayley)~
~Less obvious (Mike and Hayley)~
~The further you get from home (Hayley)~
~The further I get from home (Mike)~
Talking about lessons in life, both the narrator and his closest person (the female) agree that being far/distant/alienated from family made...
All good things seemed to be more invisible
All good things could be seen clearly
There were no lessons except pain
How does a family matter for you?
~How will you exist (Hayley)~
~How will I exist (Mike)~
~Without consequence? (Hayley and Mike)~
~I'll let you know (Mike)~
Which interpretation really suits you?
No matter how insignificant our presence/existence is, it really gives influence on something or someone
What we do, big or small, it comes with consequence that we must bear
~We were gentle to begin
When I pushed you around to break you in
Now whenever I try to be clear with you
I only end up feeling see-through
I've tried, but you've won
Comatose, like father like son~
Sung by Hayley Williams
From the verse, we can narrate something, choose the best story version as you like!
She married him, started a new life with him. Everything was fine at first. Their relationship was nice. Then, some problems came up. They heavily affected him. She started to see his true-self, a hard-headed man. Despite his wrongdoings, he always had words to blame her. He always won. Actually his temper was just like his father. Finally, she gave up just like being dead already.
She married him. She was happy with him at first. But life was not always happy. She started questioning his bad behaviors. She argued that he was the one at fault. She cornered him. But, he never admitted his mistakes. She have tried to make peace but he never listened, he always won. He hated his father but actually he was just like his father. She gave up on him.
~How will you exist (Hayley)
How will I exist? (Mike)
I don't want to know (Hayley)~
The last line sung by the female shows that...
She never wanted to deal with him anymore
She did not care about him anymore
She did not want to listen to his excuses anymore
~Blacked out, redacted (Mike)
I just want you home (Hayley)
I'll make new friends in the ambulance (Mike)~
It should take an extraordinary momentous occasion for him to realize his faults. It was probably a near-death experience for him ~blacked out~ (which literally made him saved by an ambulance). In the end, what was the female feeling upon seeing him wrecked and wasted?
She actually wanted him back despite his being bad
She still cared for him no matter what he was
