Linkin Park: Breaking the Habit Meaning

Song Released: 2004

Breaking the Habit Lyrics

Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
Unless I try to start again

[Bridge:]
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the...

1. anonymous

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   Mar 19th 2007 !⃝

   I think saying this song is about cocaine or suicide or self-harm is trying to squeeze far too broad a song into far too specific a situation. Also, I personally don't think the song ends in suicide, simply because of the triumphant sound of the song's end, but that's just me.
2. DirtyWeemoKid

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   Mar 18th 2007 !⃝

   I Think (coz I herd this happend) Chester Was Raped As A Child so Like Stuff Like "I Don't Why I Instigate and say what I don't mean" And "I tight Close my Door Try to catch my breath again" He's Running from something.
   
   i could be wrong but yer that's my opinion
3. eyesbloodred

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   Jan 27th 2007 !⃝

   He's saying that he doesn't know why he does the things he does... He does things on impulse... for example.. He may have an anger problem... and he says things without thinking.. example "I don't know why I instigate and say what I don't mean"... He's saying that he says things that he regrets later.... He feels he needs to be alone so that he doesn't hurt other people.. and by breakin the habit he means he's thinking of suicide .. example... "im clutchin my cure..... I had no options left again.... I'm breakin the habit tonight"... This is how I took it
4. anonymous

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   Dec 28th 2006 !⃝

   ummm if I'm not mistaken.....i would like to say that Chester may have had a coke problem, but keep in mind the fact that he used to do Heroin as well.......Hence the song "just like Heroin" from grey daze
5. anonymous

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   Dec 20th 2006 !⃝

   Well, I personaly think that trying to pick a specific thing and say the song is about it, it's a step in the wrong direction. If you watch the music video a great deal of different harmful and addicting (either physically or psychologicaly) behaviour is demonstrated by the residents of the apartment complex. The theme is wider than just 'coke' or 'suicide'.
6. anonymous

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   Nov 22nd 2006 !⃝

   okay does anyone actually have the special editon of meteora. Cause if they do they will see it was originally meant to be an interlude but when chester heard it he wanted to use it write a song on this topic for a while and the words just slotted into place. he deliberately left exactly what the habit was out.
   
   Also who said that Kurt Cobain was addicted to coke it was actually heroin.
7. anonymous

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   Nov 19th 2006 !⃝

   mike said that he had been trying to write and emotional song like BTH with that kind of a sonic landscape for six years, not lyriclly about someone, like who ever said it was about Chester's coke problems, because that's completely false. Have you not noticed that they write music from a universal view point, not direct dealings of their lives.
8. lpfanatic06

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   Oct 18th 2006 !⃝

   I think this song is about drug abuse because he says "you all assume I'm safer in my room unless I try to start again" which could relate to his people thinkin he is in his room for just a random reson then later on he say "clutching my cure"which would be his fix then he says "I tightly lock the door" which means he wants to be on his own so no one else sees him doing it. he also says "I try to catch my breath again" which means he's gettin ready to do whatever drug he is doing and the title is breaking the habit so it could b a drug addiction, mind you the otha interpretation could b right so I agree with both interpretations but more strongly on the drug addiction I guess lp has made it a double meaning song to make us make our own minds up.
9. anonymous

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   Sep 1st 2006 !⃝

   Well, now that everyone realizes that it's not about chester... Here's my thoughts. I beleive this song is about suicide. Breaking the habit = killing yourself. Here are some lines that support my theory.
   
   Memories consume-picking me apart again: this person is remembering all the bad things in their life and they're (obviously) picking themselves apart.
   
   You all assume-unless I try to start again: everyone thinks this person is normal and happy, but when they're alone, they fall apart. This has happened before.
   
   Chorus: this person doesn't know why they act the way they do, and they can't stand it anymore, so they're going to end their life.
   
   Clutching my cure-catch my breath again: they are holding the instrument of their death closely, trying to think of another way out.
   
   I hurt much more-i have no options left again: they can't think of any other solution because they hurt so much. This also supports that they have tried again.
   
   Bridge: possibly painting the walls with their blood literally or figuratively. And "i'll never fight again and this is how it ends" means they are ending their life.
   
   That's my interpretation :)
10. anonymous

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    Aug 30th 2006 !⃝

    I'm surprised no one else thought of this - maybe it's about domestic violence:
    
    "I don't know what's worth fighting for
    or why I have to scream
    i don't know why I instigate
    and say what I don't mean
    i don't know how I got this way
    i know it's not alright"
    
    batterers tend to think in ways that cause them to get angry over stupid things, and they also never learned how to deal with their anger appropriately. (they were usually beaten as kids because their fathers were the same way.) afterwards, they usually realize what jerks they were and apologize - but if they don't figure out a better way to deal with their anger (and to not get angry for stupid reasons) they fall back into the same 'habit.' I know all this because my father was that way until he went into anger management counseling. And yes, it worked!
11. anonymous

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    Jul 22nd 2006 !⃝

    I've read somewhere that mike started to write this song when he was at a very dark place in his life.
    
    This song is about suicide, and in my interpretation
    "clutching my cure......"
    a gun.....What else could cure somthing?
    "i'll paint it on the walls....."
    what else could it be then to blow some brains out?
12. MRO1989

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    Jul 10th 2006 !⃝

    Okay, I know some of you make think this song is about suicide because of the video, but it's far from that. Mike Shinoda said it himself, that this song is about Chester's cocaine addiction before they made it big. He orginally wrote it for Hybrid Theory, but Chester would breakdown in tears everytime he sang it live. So, Mike saved it for Meteora, which in this case, was a perfect fit for the album.
13. anonymous

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    Jul 4th 2006 !⃝

    hey no offence guys but wikipedia isn't always the best source. I don't personally knoe the background of this song, for all I kno it could have been made just so us ppl would argue over its meaning. the only way we'd knoe is if lp themselves told us. wikipedia can't be relied on so heavily because anyone can submit an article and get it posted. the whole thing could be crap or it could be truth, once again, there is no way to know unless you can talk to lp.
14. anonymous

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    Jun 26th 2006 !⃝

    I can understand if it was done for just a habit and nothing in particular. Like when hear it I myself think of cutting but if it wasn't written about Chester's past I can see how it may remind him about it. Some songs have completely different meanings but they just remind you of something completely different. But yeah but I, myself, think it's about how quitting any habit is hard and not just one specific one.
15. anonymous

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    May 5th 2006 !⃝

    ok, the post by darthjesus was completely wrong. I got on Wikipedia.org and found a completely diffrent summery.
    here it is:
    The biggest MISCONCEPTION about this song is that it was written about lead singer Chester Bennington, when in fact, Mike started writing the song in 1997, BEFORE HE EVEN KNEW CHESTER and it took him 6 years to write in full. The song is written loosely about a friend of Mike Shinoda’s, but is more focused around the general thesis of Breaking a Habit, and not specifically at any habit in particular.
    Because of his history of sexual abuse and drug use, people believed that the song was about Chester because he was able to relate so closely to the song.

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