What do you think Clayman means?

In Flames: Clayman Meaning

Tagged:   No tags, suggest one.
Album cover for Clayman album cover

Clayman Lyrics

Your self control makes me feel alone
I've tried confidence, had it for breakfast today
I've lost the perfection, a mess without words
(And) As the seasons change I'll continue to ignore
The image I project - me without me
The picture that I...

Write your interpretation
Notify me of new interps

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    Mr.Pink
    click a star to vote
     Oct 26th 2006 !⃝

    This song to me is about self-esteem, exploring yourself and self confidence ("so afraid of what you may think"), a common theme for teenagers, and as one myself I glean this meaning from the lyrics. "your self control makes me feel alone, tried confiance", is pretty simple, he feels he lacks the confidence he sees in others. Such lines as "the image I project - me without me. The picture that I scanned is borrowed" and "spending to much time with myself trying to explain who I am" communicate his obsessive exploration of his own identity, and numerous metaphors and allusions explore specific facets of this , e.G. "slowly, all that I believed in, turning into a lie. To aim and miss, my supernatural art" (this supernatural art is mentioned in a different sense at the end of the song, meaningfully) comments on how he's changing, also discussed in the line "as the seasons change I'll continue to ignore".
    He then finds confidence etc., and gains the feeling of invincibility in his discovery of his true, unchanging self, no longer shifting like the seasons but like a clay sculpture, fixed and strong.
    At the end of the song, his supernatural art changes from his exploration of but failure to find the truth about himself to the exploration and success, finding the beginning to the path of self-awareness etc., and to teach the world.

  2. anonymous
    click a star to vote
     Oct 27th 2011 !⃝

    I think this song is about the narrator's understanding of life and who he is as a person, and where he fits into the world. He is unsure and unconfident of himself. He perceives others to be extremely sure of who they are and solid, unchanging, plastic.

    It seems like throughout school, he had an idea of who he was, and what life was about. He felt like he was where he belonged; he knew his place and was in it. Afterwards, he was lost. Ideas that he believed were major parts of life no longer applied to his new reality.

    After this, I think the narrator finds that he cannot quite pinpoint an exact meaning to life, and is instead a man made of clay; always changing and adapting.

    He is probably being shaped by his perceived level of acceptance by his peers: the aforementioned plastic people. Perhaps at times he feels invincible when he thinks he has found a meaning or image for himself, but the confidence it instills eventually weakens. Gradually, the confidence this self-image instills within him weans, as he stops getting signs of confirmation from his peers: “I need someone to break the silence before it all falls apart. I need something to cling onto.”

    Alternatively, for the previous paragraph only, perhaps the fact that he is an ever-adapting clay sculpture is what makes him feel invincible all the time. Either way, maybe this survival tactic is his “supernatural art,” and that is what he wishes to teach to the world, especially people who feel lost and alone in life.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
     Jul 12th 2007 !⃝

    I think this song goes hand in hand with Ordinary Story. It is about people today put things like fashion, wealth, money ahead of morals and other important things. People are brainwashed by society and do what is "in". He feels he is the sculpture made of clay, he does what he wants and can change himself...and he is afraid of the plastic people that can't change and do what theyre told. He wants to teach the world his supernatural art of shaping himself.


More In Flames songs »


 


Latest Articles

 


Submit Your Interpretation

[ want a different song? ]