Linkin Park: Castle of Glass Meaning
Song Released: 2013
Castle of Glass Lyrics
Take me down to the fighting end,
Wash the poison from off my skin
Show me how to be whole again
Fly me up on a silver wing
Past the black where the siren sing
Warm me up in a nova's glow
And drop me down to...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:"Take me down to the river bend,
Take me down to the fighting end."
I believe the 'river bend' is any location any where. The 'fighting end' to me is a struggle or conflict. Together it's taking you to where the conflict is.
"Wash the poison from off my skin,
Show me how to be whole again.
The 'poison' is anything that would be considered bad or unwanted, asking to take what makes me unwanted and disregard it. 'Show me how to be whole again' is how can I prove I'm one complete person. Together I see it as asking to disregard or look past my undesirable qualities and see the real me.
"Fly me up on a silver wing, Past the black where the sirens sing"
'Fly me up on a silver wing', to me a 'silver wing' would be something beautiful. So hold me up on something beautiful. The next part to me is passing by the 'black' which I see to be evil 'where the sirens sing' is on the ground where temptations and evil people that would try to lure me or bring down. Together it's keep me high up on something beautiful to past by the dark areas where people would try to bring me down with there temptations.
"Warm me up in a nova's glow
And drop me down to the dream below."
I see this as something of comfort, where 'warm me up' is make me feel warm and welcome next to 'nova's glow' which is material ejected from a star in the form of a luminous cloud. The 'nova's glow' is a nice gesture. Together I see it as make me feel welcomed with a nice act.
'Drop me down to the dream below' can be bring me to this place that I've only only ever imagined. Them together is make me feel welcome with nice acts to show me this place of kindness I've only imagined.
"Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass'
Hardly anything there for you to see"
Saying you are a 'crack' is saying you are an imperfection or a flaw, and in this 'castle of glass'...ok just try to imagine a great castle forged from glass, to me that's a beautiful sight. Anyway in the 'castle of glass' meaning place of beauty. It says that I'm nothing more than a flaw in this beautiful world. 'Hardly anything there for you to see' I see this as the lyrics says, I'm hardly something you wish to look apon, putting yourself down as nothing worth anyone else's time.
Together it's saying I'm nothing more than a flaw in this world of perfection, how I'm not worth anyone's time.
"Bring me home in a blinding dream,
Through the secrets that I have seen."
To me this says to take me home in a 'blinding dream' which I see to be a horrible sight 'thought the secrets that I have seen' is the horrific sight. So take me away from the horrors that I have witnessed.
"Wash the sorrow from off my skin, show me how to be whole again"
'Wash the sorrow' is to take away the sadness 'from off my skin' which I see to be someone's entire being. And 'show me how to be whole again' is asking for help filling an emptiness left by the sadness.
Truely a beautiful song
If I missed anything I apologize. This is what I see that the song means. I didn't base my opinion off the music video or any of its uses. I based my opinion of the song off of how it sounded to me. -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:I agree with the previous interpreter, This song is mostly based upon a Warrior's hard life. However, it has other meanings too-
1) The warrior's life- How a warrior is forced to live a life for others and protecting them, and how he wishes to be let free and return to his family. The Castle of Glass chorus refers to his presence being invisible in a large army (only a crack that is hard to see) but is very significant in something very weak (a crack specially in a stronghold of glass breaks everything apart).
2) A sinner's life- How he asks for redemption and a chance to improve. Again he is something small in a system completely wrong (suppose violence or drugs).
3) A lonely person's life- Suppose a person was recently separated from a loved one of his, he wants to be whole again and given a chance to relive those moments as the warming lyrics say. His current situation is a crack in his fragile and broken life (his castle of glass).
4) A corrupt or dictatorial government (not probable)- How a citizen criticizes his faulty government, and his minimal role in it as a crack in comparison to a weak insufficient ruling party which is a Castle of Glass....something that cannot be possible..
Note:Cause I'm only a crack- referring to someone's situation as a very beginning of something big
In this Castle of Glass- the Big thing is something that is very weak and unstable, like a stronghold of glass.
Hardly anything there, for you to see- Yet it is all unobservable.
It means that "I" is someone small and unobservable to the extent of negligence, almost invisible (like a crack in glass), yet plays a big role in the breaking down of something that his faulty.
Rate if you like.... -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:The song gives the feelings of a soldier fighting in a war. How he wants it all to end and be with his family 'to be whole again' because he know his death will be like a crack in a castle of glass; hardly noticeable.
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This song reminds me of a time when being a soldier meant something to others and reminds me of when my dad died
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Chester Bennington explained to MTV News: "When Mike was talking about the lyrics, at one point he had said, 'You know, it's kind of like finding yourself as this broken part of this big machine, and feeling like you're not part of that, or trying to find your place in the bigger scheme of things.' And that can mean a solider coming home from war, and trying to fit back into society, or a person getting out of prison, or whatever.
And here I am, envisioning this big, beautiful glass castle on a hill, and, like, unicorns. I'm thinking like 'Yeah, if you zoom in, I'm this little broken part of this castle that no one knows about, and I may seem like flawed and not important, but when you back up and look at the big picture, you're part of this really beautiful thing that keeps you together," he continued. "And it was a really interesting twist; I think a lot of our lyrics can be taken from multiple perspectives, depending on what you want the song to be about... they can be felt on so many different levels." - songfacts
Nothing wrong if you feel you are an outcast, but you can make friends, hope you would find some friends
Loner ( but I don't listen to sad or depressing songs ) (Didn't check this site for two to three days, just this afternoon) Hope you feel better! -
To me, it means that they feel like nobody notices them like the person is an outcast(like me). I feel this is what it means because, like a crack in a castle of glass, nobody really cares for it because nobody sees it. And so when it says "wash the poison from off my skin" they are probably referring to forgiving them for any mistakes that they made and fixing that crack "show me how to be whole again" they are probably referring to let them be like the rest, one whole without a crack splitting them down the middle. This is a real heart touching song that I would recommend to anybody who feels like an outcast or a loner because it really will tell the story of whomever it is life.
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A man who realizes he is weak and the institution he lived for is futile, crying out to a higher power for redemption and wholeness.
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Besides the meaning of the video itself, I think it also speaks to the deep clinical depression Chester felt in real life. A person with clinical depression sometimes feels invisible and broken, fractured so far beyond repair they can never be whole again. They have lost their souls within and can't remember who they were, and can't find their way back. They can see the people around them but they see them through the glass, not able to reach them and they can't even see him, or don't want to see him or to try to understand him.
Sometimes songs don't even have a real connection to the real hidden meaning, but it sells the song.
The children who lose their family members to war are too young to know how to deal with the loss, and some are angry that their family member has "abandoned" them. Their beliefs at that age may be filled with poison...believing their parent left them because they weren't a good child. -
Being a huge fan of LP , the way i interpret the meaning may be quiet different..A person or the soul which has faced the darker side of life, frustrated and sunk deep down in the ocean of sadness has finally decided not to exhibit its emotions to the society/people i.e (only a crack in this castle of glass) and there's hardly anything left for people to point at his mistakes..he is pretending that his life is as perfect as a castle of glass and a huge hole in his heart is just a small crack in the castle of glass..just to stay away from unwanted people!
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To understand the reference to sirens song you need to read the passage in Homer's Odyssey;
"First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may hear"
The song is a metaphor for every man's battle with lust & the false glamour of the world. It's also a metaphor for baptism(the bend in the River) & redemption, The silver wing of the angel, contrasted with the black deception of the siren's song. The "castle of Glass" is the veneer of self deception we surround ourselves with to cope with this fucked up world. We only become poison-free, whole...nothing left to see; when we smash this veneer & surrender ourselves to the almighty, & merge our identity with theirs. -
The first line of the first stanza is about being broken by fighting. The second line of the first stanza is about wanting to be taken the end of the fighting. Third line of the first stanza is saying the fighting is a poison and wants it to be washed off his skin the last line of the first stanza is saying he wants to be made whole again. The second stanza is saying that he is depressed and sad and just wants to live in a dream. Stanza three is saying he’s a small part of a bigger picture. The next stanza is saying he’s broken by sadness and wants it to be washed away and be made whole again. The sixth stanza is saying he finally realized that he doesn’t have to be the bigger picture, and it’s okay to be a small part of the bigger picture.
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The castle of glass refers to life in today's technological world. The earlier songs of the album speak of an individual, and in this song they struggle to find means to connect. With all the screens and computers composing the castle, its easy to see the individual goes on towards resentment. As seen with the next song victimize, it can be seen as the individual being described lashing out against this inability to connect. They've ran, burnt their old life and personality to the ground, wished harm to anyone who had a tiny bit of hate towards them, ran away, and now feel unable to connect with the world around them. This very powerful song that marks the turning pont in the album and the individual described in the work as a whole. The word play of Living Things having this inorganic song only enforce how there's two drastic forces being played out. Self versus self, and self versus environment. The cracking can be viewed as the individual breaking under the stress and false hopes they wished to achieve by striving for this new life.
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This song could be about not fitting in, or being small compared to others, or about being lost and trying to find yourself. It talks about being a crack in a castle of glass and being barely anything for you to see. In the song it says, "And show me how to be whole again." That kind of sounds like trying to find yourself to me.
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I don't know much but it have meaning related with the person as a soldier have different perspect for life which he is living and also he think different from all other people living in this world.
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Linkin Park has clearly stated that they love that there songs are interpreted in different ways so that it will help others in different situations.
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Linkin Park placed their meaning about a solider. But in my views it could be even about the average American Citizen going through rough times about how he is only a crack of glass. The reader or singer is asking 'God' to wash the negatives away from him and to the reader/singer is asking 'God' to show him how to be a whole person again. A person who can be completed or be the positive person he once was before.
"Wash the sorrow from off my skin, and show me how to be whole again." -
I think it's about the fact that while humanity is messed up for many reasons, one person or even a group of people can't do much about it, and how he doesn't like this state of affairs. For example,
I'm only a crack in this castle of glass - the castle of glass is humanity, a magnificent structure, but fragile and could come apart at any moment (nuclear weapons, y2k bug, Cuban missile crisis, etc..), and he can't do much to change it by himself
Past the black where the sirens sing - sirens commonly mean a fake dream (in symbolic terms anyway), but they are singing in the black possibly meaning they are getting nowhere, and he's had enough of it, so he wants to go past it.
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