A Perfect Circle: Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums Meaning

Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums Lyrics

Don't fret precious I'm here, step away from the window
Go back to sleep
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,
See, they don't give a ---- about you, like I do.

Count the bodies like sheep
Count the bodies like...

1. anonymous

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   Sep 26th 2006 !⃝

   That smrt guy is a real smart guy huh? I love the song, and in my opinion if he doesn't like Maynard, why is he even putting in his two worthless cents?

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
2. anonymous

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   Aug 31st 2006 !⃝

   This is my own personal interpretation.. But it could very easily be a reference to us being the mass media's pets.. We see only what the media wants us to see, only what the media wants us to hear.. Our eyes are shielded from the truth like a parent shielding a child's eyes from a horrific event.
3. anonymous

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   Aug 1st 2006 !⃝

   I always had a different interpretation for this song. I am not gonna say any one of these entries is wrong because that's the thing about a good song...5 different people could listen and come up with 5 different meanings...Ok heres mine
   
   i think it's about a sheltering over protective parent. When he says step away from the window go back to sleep what he/she is saying is that don't use your own eyes and judgment on the world but believe what I am telling you. Everything is alright as long as you listen to me.
4. SMRT

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   Mar 22nd 2006 !⃝

   "Put a cap on that Mr. Bush"?
   
   "I don't like political messages, but this song opened up my eyes"?
   
   Wow, you Maynard fans just keep getting cooler and cooler.
   
   j5w2k9@hotmail.com

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. Zaq

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   Feb 18th 2006 !⃝

   I'm usually against political messages in music, but this cd relly opened my eyes to what was going on. But fuck Green Day and their whiny bullshit.
6. tinkerhell

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   Feb 7th 2006 !⃝

   In the begining of the song it sounds like soldiers marching. This will further my interpretation...
   
   The song sounds dark, almost scary. I am not even getting to the words yet.
   
   "Don't fret precious I'm here..." The first part of the song is this, Everyone knows whats going on with the war, and other evil missduings that are controlled by the government. Hey, I didn't want to go to war, but MY say had no outcome of what happened. Everyone knows, and no one wants to admit it. The government wants to pull the wool over our eyes, and make us try to pretend that its not going on. No one cares about you more then your own government, right? Wrong!
   
   Counting bodies can go either way. It can be counting the dead from going to war. It could be counting the bodies of people that follow the government. After all, most the nation did support it. Following like.... Sheep.
   
   Going back to sleep- forget about it all, let the government take care of it. Lead your happy lives while the devistation occurs. Don't try to do anything about it... just sit back and "sleep."
   
   "I’ll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons..." The government is claiming that they are going to war to save us from the Terrorist, to save us from Weapons of Mass Distruction. They are trying to make is a better world for... us?! Right. They want us to stay dumb, stay quiet, and just let them lead the show!
   
   "ISOLATE AND SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELF"
   Nobody knows better then our government, right? Wrong!
   
   I personally THANK APC for make this public announcement! I also glad that I get to jam out to MY political views. Put a cap on that Mr. Bush!
7. magnumchaos

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   Feb 1st 2006 !⃝

   This song, off of Emotive (an entirely politically motivated album) is bashing Bush for his poor handling in the war, and deceiving the United States citizens.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
8. Toolio

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   Jan 27th 2006 !⃝

   Yeh, I go with what Zaq said..but also what I interpreted from "count bodies like sheep" is that Bush is sending people to war and they are dying one after another...kind of like the cartoons used to show people counting sheep when they went to sleep....or somthing..
9. Zaq

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   Jan 16th 2006 !⃝

   Have you guys seen the video?
   
   It's about Bush and how everyone is napping through what is really going on.
10. anonymous

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    Nov 28th 2005 !⃝

    Guess what LazarusHeart? You are the one who is wrong. Now you know that Counting Bodies Like Sheep is a song on emotive, and by Maynard's own words on the Amotion DVD is completely differet from and unrelated to Pet, which by the way is also my favorite from 13th Step, Right? Maynard said it's made from all new recordings and in his mind a seperate song from Pet. By the way, I also disagree that Pet is a continuation of The Nurse Who Loved Me, because TNWLM is a cover song.
11. LazarusHeart

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    Nov 25th 2005 !⃝

    Both wrong. Just think about the simple fact that nothing is truly as it seems in the lyrics of anything that Maynard writes. First of all, take into consideration that this is actually a continuation of the song before this one, The Nurse Who Loves Me. Now you did know that this song is actually called Pet and was originally on the Thirteenth step, right? Good, then let's continue.
    
    First of all, the prior song is about a psych ward patient who believes his nurse is in love with him...so from there, we move on to Pet, which happens to be my favorite song from the album, but that's neither here nor there. This song is clearly about multiple personalities.
    
    The lyrics come from the point of view of the dominant personality, one that is dangerous, yet unlike the others, is aware of the presence of the other personalities. This voice wants to "protect" the child, or man, from the other personalities so that it may have the freedom to control this person. This violent personality brings the person dreams and visions of violence and brutality that the other personalities would protect him from.
    
    In essence, this is a song simply about fighting your inner demons that may lead you down a path of ruin and destruction. This is just my interpretation. If it's really about Bush, then I would be very surprised.
12. bushnook

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    Nov 16th 2005 !⃝

    This song is about Bush sending troops to iraq, the "go back to sleep" is taken from one of Bill Hicks albums and was about George Bush Sr. going to war in the 90s.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. YouDontSeeMe

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    Nov 5th 2005 !⃝

    This song is basicly about bush sending our troops to war.
    He hypnotizes us with the media like a pied piper "Go Back to Sleep" and turns us into mindless sheep as he kills people in Iraq.

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