Foo Fighters: The Pretender Meaning

Song Released: 2007

The Pretender Lyrics

Keep you in the dark
You know they all, pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all, began

Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones come marching in, again
They need you buried deep
The secrets that you keep
Are ever ready, are you...

1. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Nov 9th 2011 !⃝

   Dave Grohl seems to refer to external factors (political unrest), to me it refers to inner struggle. The big issue one meets when searching for the authentic self (WHO ARE U) is facing all the personae you created during your life in response to external events(the riot police). They all pretend to be you.The authentic self comes from within, is powerful and creative. But it has to be allowed and acknowledged (keep you in the dark). For that to be realised, you will have to face your fears, trauma's and beliefs that you created and sublimized in different characters (send in your skeletons), as a defense against a threatening outer world. The lyrics and the clip suggest that there is one dominant character, maybe the pretender of the title, who leads the troops. So the pretender represents the biggest stronghold against a major trauma, but also the biggest hindrance to full realization of the self. Defeating the pretender will mean liberation of the self (the exploding screen).
2. SlateSTL

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 24th 2011 !⃝

   This song means a whole lot to me and when just hearing it; I thought of the illuminati. Then I saw the video and I must say that it seems to me that that Foo Fighters are indeed lashing out at the illuminati, new world order, police state, and artists that are a part of the illuminati/NWO agenda. Watch the video then examine the lyrics. Glad to see a mainstream artist that is telling the illuminati to f*** off with the power of music, just like how they(The Illuminati) use music to promote it, Foo Fighters are using music to denounce it and fight it. If u don't listen to Foo Fighters, maybe u will after this.
   Lyrics:
   
   (Chorus)
   "What if I say I'm not like the others,
   What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays,
   You're the pretender
   What if I say that I'll never surrender."
   
   Breakdown:
   If u thought that almost everyone mainstream was illuminati, the Foo Fighters are telling u that they are not like the "others" (the puppet musicians or the illuminati themselves.) Same with "What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays" they are not just another one of these worthless one-hit wonder artists to get played on the radio or T.V. with the NWO/elites/illuminati agenda in their lyrics or videos. "You're the Pretender." (the pretender is the people this is aimed at with all their mind control fantasy make believe worlds like Wonderland, Disney etc. "What if I say I'll never surrender." They will not surrender themselves to this illuminati regime of elites that are taking over or give in to temptation to the things that come along with it.
   
   and
   
   (Verse One)
   "Send in your skeletons
   Sing as their bones go marching in... again
   The need you buried deep
   The secrets that you keep are ever ready
   Are you ready?
   I'm finished making sense
   Done pleading ignorance
   That whole defense"
   
   Breakdown:
   "Send in your skeletons" is aiming at the soulless illuminati and their presense in the police state agenda. "Sing as their bones go marching in... again" I think means when the illuminati rejoice for doing what has been done before (controlling the masses with deadly force) or the masses singing the illuminati songs as the world around them falls under control while remaining spellbound or ignorant of the lyrics meaning they are singing along to. "The need you buried deep." might be the suppressed feelings of wanting control or power or evil. "The secrets that you keep, are ever ready." "Are you ready." This probably means that the internet and others have a wealth of information about their long kept secrets and the "are you ready" means either the time is now and the agenda is almost complete or are u ready to fight against it and open your eyes or are u too conditioned and brainwashed to do so; aimed at one or both sides, which leads me to the next line showing that David Grohl (Foo Fighters) is "Done pleading ignorance, That whole defense." meaning that he has known about it for some time but is just now speaking against it or about it and he kept it to himself in defense or fear of them.
   
   
   And
   
   "Spinning infinity, boy
   The wheel is spinning me
   It's never-ending, never-ending
   Same old story"
   
   
   "Keep you in the dark,
   you know they all pretend.
   Keep you in the dark,
   And so it all began."
   
   Breakdown:
   "Keep you in the dark" is the fact that a lot of people are kept in the dark about what is REALLY going on in the world. "You know they all pretend" is that all we see and what they present us with is "Pretend" or fictional, make believe, or otherwise an illusion or distraction from the truth, such as brainwashing and mind control victims or just the mass public watching T.V. these days. "And so it all began." is saying this is how the illuminati was started, with kings/rulers etc of old days, keeping their people in the dark with lies and deception to control them, making them obey.
   
   and
   
   "In time or so I'm told
   I'm just another soul for sale... oh, well
   The page is out of print
   We are not permanent
   We're temporary, temporary
   Same old story"
   
   Breakdown:
   "In time or so I'm told" "I'm just another soul for sale....oh well." I take as throughout history or he himself was approached with the sell your soul for fame and fortune bit by the illuminati for which he answers "oh well" meaning that he didn't need to sell his soul to achieve fame and fortune. "The page is out of print." i take as the real wordof god or whatever u belive in has been long since lost or changed or edited to fit the agenda or needs of the illuminati thru the years. "We are not permanent" "Were temporary, temporary" means that the things and luxuries that get promised to you for selling your soul to the devil on this earth are not permanent but temporary and a soul is forever sold and u cannot get it back once its gone, so its not worth it to trade your soul for all this vanity that is "temporary, temporary". "Same old story" he knows that is has and will be done over and over again.
   
   and
   
   "I'm the voice inside your head
   You refuse to hear
   I'm the face that you have to face
   Mirrored in your stare
   I'm what's left, I'm what's right
   I'm the enemy
   I'm the hand that will take you down
   Bring you to your knees"
   
   And
   
   "So who are you?
   Yeah, who are you?
   Yeah, who are you?
   Yeah, who are you?"
   
   "Keep you in the dark
   You know they all pretend."
   
   And
   (chorus again)
   "What if I say I'm not like the others,
   What if I say I'm not justanother one of your plays,
   You're the pretender
   What if I say that I'll never surrender."
   
   Finally a chant that is against the Illuminati, not with them. I know i didn't do breakdowns for two parts of the song but I am tired and i'll leave it to u guys.
3. Gail Powell

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 10th 2011 !⃝

   What does the Nirvana song "Dumb" say in it's lyrics? "I'm not like them
   But I can pretend." The Pretender is obviously about someone who Dave Grohl knew back in the Nirvana days, who is hiding secrets and skeletons.
   
   Dave is calling this person out in the song to quit hiding, quit pretending and then also asks "who are you?" I do not think this song is about Courtney Love at all.
4. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jan 14th 2011 !⃝

   It's about the New World Order, so all politicians who have worked on it; bush, Clinton, obama, etc. It's about the NWO and The Foo Fighters are very much awake...
5. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jan 3rd 2011 !⃝

   This song talks about a tyrant government who wants to silence the people who wants to take a sand and fight them.
   
   "They need you buried deep"
   They want you dead...
6. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Feb 8th 2010 !⃝

   It can have many different meanings. Like somebody else said, it could be the government ruling by tyranny or whatever.
   
   My interpretation is that some dude lied about things he's done to steal a girl from you, like he bullshitted about how badass he is or something like that.

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

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Feb 4th 2010 !⃝

   Dave Grohl still has unresolved issues about the past.
   
   There is someone in his life that he still cares about and she was involved with Kurt Cobain. IT IS NOT COURTNEY LOVE!
   "What if I say I'm not like the others" is a reference to a Nirvana song ..."Dumb" "I'm not like them, BUT I CAN PRETEND."
   
   Hence, the title-"The Pretender." It is not about Cobain, but about someone close to Cobain-("send in the skeletons.")
   The knowledge about all this is something Dave has kept quiet about it but "he is done pleading ignorance."
   
   This person has always told Dave they were not meant to be together but he has never given up-"refuse to surrender."
   No politics here at all, except for the politics of love.
   
   Dave asks this person, WHO ARE YOU? Even he is not sure.

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

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 30th 2009 !⃝

   this song is about the government saying what theyre going to do and then never carrying it out.
   
   example: Obama saying that he would raise the economy and perfect it. he has been in office for a long while now and all he has done with the economy is screw it up.
   
   i am 12 yrs. old and i understand this.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

Latest Articles

• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)
• 
  Let’s Go to the Hop - Ignore That Door’s Four Bunnies and a Beatbox