Five Finger Death Punch: Wrong Side of Heaven Meaning
Wrong Side of Heaven Lyrics
What have I become, what have I done?
I spoke to the devil today, and he swears he's not to blame.
And I understood, cuz I feel the same.
Arms wide open, I stand alone.
I'm no hero,...
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I relate to this song because i am the daughter of a vet and i salute all people who try to save us(police ems military firefighters and all veterans) my father is a firefighter and my mother had killed and almost got killed but she kept going and before she had me she thought that life was at its lowest and then she met my father who also has depression and axiety just like me and my mom. I relate to the song because i fight physically and emotionally but i keep going because people care about us veterans and police officers and ems and firefighters. I saluted the flag since 1st grade and now i have a song that is the story of my life. I thank vets, police, ems, and firefighters. But some people cant figure it out so im saying this from my point of view. A soldier for a mother a firefighter for a father and me a soldier in training whos already killed.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I loved the video !!! it was well matched to the song !!! now the video is unavailable and the other version is shorter !!! Love the song and its meaning just thing the Vet campaign was finally getting a voice in a positive way only to be deleted !!!! sad day for me !!!
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Great feedback, I loved this song the first time I heard it, it got me thinking, it made me sad & angry then made me excited & hopeful, it was just an emotional roller-coaster of emotions. So my 2 cents in short form are "DUALITY". Read on if you wanna know details, sorry for the tome. The video shows how different people deal with the same situation, it shows sad statistics that bring to light some sad issues that veterans deal with, a seemingly happy ending or two and in the end it reinforces the brotherhood a soldier carries as the successful man shot first helps the now homeless seemingly drug addicted man who helped him years before but the others on the street get no happy ending. Duality is seen again as one is white and one is black. I think it's about dogma, duality, morality & our internal struggles with these that sometimes have drastic effects on our lives. The dogma of evil & good, man & god, woman & man; fables & myths are systematically taught to children assisting in their mental formation of a moral compass along with one's life experiences and environment. The nurturing aspect of a mother such as mother Earth are why he refers to god as a "she", further expressing duality by referring to the devil as "he".
The lyric "What have I done, What have I become: are the realization that the moral code has been violated, an internal struggle in the form of questions. The little girl wants to give the man sitting losing his family on the street a flower but the mom pulls here away, taking that nurturing motherly aspect away subtlety, again duality. The lyric "Arms wide open, I standing alone" I believe is a conscious awakening and the realization that you alone answer for your actions, singularity.
The reference to god & the devil looking and sounding like him are references to him beginning to realize this fact but not understating right & wrong point to the fact that there is a struggle. Duality of right & wrong can be seen differently depending on which side of the weapon you stand. The second part of the song he is realizing he sounds like god and looks like the devil, stripping duality as he is one, the same and/or both. The lyric "I'm no hero, I'm not made of stone" refer to the fact that he is just human, struggle is natural and expected, we came into this world naked with nothing and will leave it alone with nothing, singularity. He turns from the devil symbolizing a choice representing the positive or morally right, there's something positive but he earlier stated he looked a lot like the devil so he's turning from himself, singularity & duality.
The repeat of the choirs although musically necessary remain unchanged, a dual singularity so as a human he goes back to the internal struggle. Struggling at first then recognizing each-other in the video, finally walking away together, the black man, the white man, the homeless drug addict, the successful businessman; strip away all dogma that religion, family, friends, government and society have taught them.
The brothers walk away aware of duality but stripped of its chains, expressing care for each-other and recognizing the need for care, expressing true morality and the beginning of the healing process. The hook, "Wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell" are the internal summation of the answers to the questions struggled within to justify who he is and who he has become. -
As a former soldier, and as an Uncle that has lost a cousin and a nephew, one to PTSD and know FFDP, this is for the soldiers. Thank you FFDP
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Ok all seems the wrong side of heaven would be the USA for the fact he is home or they are home. The righteous side of hell would be the fact that he is living the war over and over in his head and can't break free. Yes they are home so please don't thank them a simple welcome home will do. Much respect for the men and woman who fight for your freedom on the front line and places abroad. Your welcome home is always waiting my brothers and sisters.
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I thought the band has been pretty clear this song is about veterans suffering from PTSD. The lyrics can have different meanings to different people but if the point of this website it to try to figure out what the songwriter meant, in this case we already know.
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This is my favorite song, and the first one i listened to by 5.F.D.P
When I explain this song to my girlfriend, I explain it as this....
Pretty much, this man (or woman) is trying to be a good person, but it gets hard over time. He doesn't mean for any of it to be bad, and he wants it to all be good. He regrets what has happened. He feels like he is alone and he is looking for help. He says that he sounds like God (meaning he speaks of truth and light) But looks like the Devil(meaning he is seen as a bad person,and may sometimes act like a bad person.) Now, he can't even tell if he is wrong or right. He is caught between two worlds."
I have heard this song countless times, and it pretty much explains my life story. -
From a solider/police officer perspective:
Given the vet ptsd theme of the video here is my take. The song is definitely a moral dilemma.
Spoke to god today and she said shes ashamed....I understand cuz I feel the same.
Put in to a situation to do bad shit to bad people and having a guilty conscious for killing.
Arms wide open...righteous side of hell.
Cant take the pain of killing/seeing buddies killed and am I doing bad things to do the right thing? -
A agree with almost everyone that this song is about "MAN" (man or woman) who is living everyday life and not knowing what is truly right or wrong or how to handle the choices.
Everyday we make choices between right and wrong, and at time a when we choose wrong we sit back and try to figure out what to do. To narrow this down to a any individual or type of individual (VET)is OK, that how some people relate, BUT I think it about all of man kind (female, male, all races, all colors all living things).
My thoughts on why he refers to GOD as a female is because we take comfort in Females and (relates back to early child hood, mothering.and the devil as himself is because he knows he make the choice that is making him feel this way.
I'm sure everyone can relate to this song one way or another, and if you can't then I think you are lying to us and yourself
LOVE, PEACE and CHICKEN GREASE! -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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The fall of man and human guilt have always been interconnected. When God exposed the fact that Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of absolute knowledge, they both felt guilty and immediately tried to cover themselves up. They felt embarrassed by their own sin and nakedness. Anyone adhering to the Christian, Jewish or Islamic faith knows instinctively that guilt and the fall of man cannot be separated from each other. That's what the singer in this song is struggling with.
The question then becomes, how do we free ourselves from our own guilt? The answer lies in forgiveness... -
It's the fall of a man.
God beeing a woman, I can see god as being our intelligence. (in french, intelligence is a female noun if that makes any sense.)
It's not flesh, since she sound like him.
Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. As a man fall, this ability is ashamed of what you done with it.
Devil beeing a man, I see him as the ground of man's actions. He's the flesh who act.
It's the duality knowledge/skills and acts. -
To me, this song is all about guilt and redemption. The young man in this song is scared to death that he can never be forgiven, even though, ironically, he was never even at fault initially. Each one of us encounters some highly traumatic, violent and injurious experiences in our lives, some of which can bring on PTS (*). As we know, many members of our military have acquired this insidious affliction. I myself have had PTS ever since I was two years old, even though I have never been in the military.
Studies have shown over and over again that, when something really traumatic and violent happens to us, we invariably wind up blaming ourselves... again, even though we were never at fault to begin with. For example, was a soldier to blame for acquiring PTS while he/she was protecting our country? Of course not! Likewise, a woman who has been raped will eventually start blaming herself for having experienced - or "allowed" herself to experience - that terrifying trauma, even though the crime was obviously committed by someone other than herself. Guilt, after all, is not a rational emotion.
The young man singing this song appears to be approaching his guilt complex from a Christian background... "Arms wide open." When Jesus was nailed to the cross - with his arms stretched wide open - he said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." In this song, God has taken on a feminine form, which is not unusual among Christian families who gravitate toward being matriarchal; and the young man is deeply disturbed and distraught because he feels as though she is ashamed of him and will never forgive him.
It seems clear that FFDP's singer feels as though he is descending further and further into the terrifying abyss of his own guilt. Although he acknowledges in the song that he is not to blame, he still can't seem to get past his own emotions which keep accusing him and telling him that he is at fault... and can therefore never be forgiven. Again, guilt is not a rational emotion.
The young man in this song fears that, if this downward spiral continues for too long, he will ultimately feel compelled to take his own life. Therefore, there is only one thing that can save him:
He is going to have to find a way to forgive himself.
This is what I experienced in my own life, which is why I finally realized that there was only one alternative for me that could avoid ultimate death by suicide. One day, I asked Jesus to help me forgive myself. I also asked God to help me forgive myself. I decided to trust them... and they helped me. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here writing this message.
Once we are finally able to forgive ourselves, we can then forgive others. Then, we have truly experienced mercy and redemption.
(*): Personally, I prefer to leave out the "D" with regard to PTS. The word, "Disorder," as in "post traumatic stress disorder," has too many negative connotations for me. "Disorderly conduct" or "drunken and disorderly" seem to make it sound as though the person responsible was somehow at fault for having acquired PTS to begin with, even though, initially, he or she was not to blame for having this affliction.
There's already way too much guilt floating around this world as it is. If we can minimize - or erase - the amount of guilt and shame we carry around within us, it then becomes easier for us to deal with any other injuries, afflictions or problems we might have.
Somehow, I'm sure that, somewhere deep inside the emotions of FFDP's singer, he agrees... even if he may not be fully conscious of it. He knows that he can't "stand alone" forever...
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