Linkin Park: Numb Meaning

Song Released: 2003

Covered By: Dead By April (2017)

Numb Lyrics

Tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless lost under the surface
Don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I...

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anonymous
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Sep 5th 2010 !⃝
For me it is about a guy and a girl. He tries to do everything to make up for the mistakes he has made in the past but no matter how hard he tries she continues to shut him down and bring up his mistakes. Leaving the guy feeling lost and numb as the girl he has always loved walks away because of his own F*** ups.....its a personal thing for me I guess. I am still to this day trying to figure out how to win back the girl she used to be before I tore her apart with my own stupidity
anonymous
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Aug 9th 2010 !⃝
This song really spoke to me the fist time I heard it. I feel that it's about someone in general, felling like they have to be like someone else to be approved of. I like the teen and parent ideas because of the lines "...put under the pressure of walking in your shoes." and "...every step that I take is another mistake to you." the person being addressed in this song could be a parent, maybe an successful older sibling, or relative, who wants the speaker to be like them, and feels that when the speaker makes steps to be more of an individual, they are stepping backwards.
The speaker doesn't want to be like the other person,. He/she wants to be an individual: "All I want to do is be more like me and be less like you."
EtremeThreat
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Jul 19th 2010 !⃝
This songs about how cruel the world is and sometimes there's no escape from the constant beatings it gives you.
esai1995
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Jul 13th 2010 !⃝
itz abt not being able 2 live up to your parents expectations, and constantly being put down for it, to the point where u dont care, hence becoming 'numb' to emotions.
AD2012
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Jun 22nd 2010 !⃝
al619 had the closes interpretation, however they're not talking about God, they're talking about Satan. Alot of musicians feel they have sold their soul to the devil. Just like Jay Z admits that he has. Listen to exactly what Jay Z says in his verse. Even the Sub-chorus "Feeling so Faithless" "I've become so numb, I can feel you there," "All I want to do is be more like me and be less like you." It has nothing to do with Parents because they dont even mention mom or dad. You'd be surprised how many songs are about the Devil. Especially "Umbrella" by Rihanna. YouTube: Industry Exposed for more info.
MarySP
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Jun 15th 2010 !⃝
The song numb is about feeling numb since your parents are always expecting so much from you. Its about wanting your parents to realize that you are not a perfect child. "all I want to do is be more like me and be less like you"..refers that you want to be your own person not who your parents want you to be. Mostly its about not being accepted for who you are and you start feeling so numb about it that you arent not living in your life anymore but just caught in the undertow, being pulled down.
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
anonymous
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May 8th 2010 !⃝
its about a kid (teen) that feels like their parents are pushing them to hard to be their "model" and perfect child, but they dont want to hence "be more like me and be less like you" But their parents dont understand and keep pushing them until they feel numb, like that feeling when you are doing something without truly feeling the world around you...basically what people who drugs feel like haha
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
anonymous
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Apr 23rd 2010 !⃝
This song is about being controlled: By a teacher, by a girlfried/boyfriend, by society, by a parent. The song's meaning is "I am who I want to be, not who you want me to be and I'm tired of hearing your input because you don't run my life. You have your own, leave mine alone"

*I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless
Lost under the surface*

I'm tired of having to fint your mold. You make me feel like crap and on the inside, I'm lost

*I don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure
Of walking in your shoes*

I don't know how to be like you and I'm being made to be just like you planned me to be

*Every step that I take is another mistake to you*
Whatever I do, you're still unhappy

(Chorus)
*I've become so numb
I can't feel you there
Become so tired
So much more aware
I'm becoming this
All I want to do
Is be more like me
And be less like you*

I've been corrected by you so many times that I can't feel your corrections anymore. I've become so tired of your way to live and I can see that All I want to do is be me, not you.

*Can't you see that you're smothering me?
Holding too tightly
Afraid to lose control*

Your hold on me is choking me. You're so afraid you'll lose control that I'm suffocating.

*'Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart
Right in front of you*

But that's because I'm not what you want me to be.

*And every second I waste is more than I CAN TAKE!*

And the more time I spent being like you only pissed me off more.
anonymous
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Apr 22nd 2010 !⃝
I always thought that this song was about a younger sibling, the older brother/sister is an achiever, the younger sibling feels that they have to live up to the expectations set out for them, has to walk the same path as it where. The expectation in this case may come from a third party such as parents. 'Tired of being what you want me to be' they are fed up of trying to become there older brother/sister and want to be there own person. 'I've become so tired so much more aware' they are exausted from trying to achieve what they feel they must and so become aware that they cannot follow in the footsteps of another person any more.
linkinparks
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Apr 19th 2010 !⃝
probably a person with special talents and there parents hate what there doing like getting horrible grades at school.they feel depressed and don't know what to do at all.
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
anonymous
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Apr 9th 2010 !⃝
I thought it was a dad who was mean, did drugs, child abuse, ect, and he wanted his son to smoke and such too. The son didn't want to, but the father was grasping him too hard and not allowing him to.

"Can't you see that you are smothering me? Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control."
"Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes"
"I'm becoming this, all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you"
(If you read Warriors, Sunset, you might see how this song is like Tigerstar and Brambleclaw)
gb
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Mar 8th 2010 !⃝
I read a lot of the interpretations ands as a 56 year old divorced father of a 17 year old. It's about failed relationships. Whether its between a father and son, a great interpretation that I will try to learn from or between a man and a woman. It's about being tired or numb from constantly disappointing the other person when all you've tried to do is please them.
nsohne
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Nov 23rd 2009 !⃝
This song is about Depersonalization Disorder. Although not commonly known, this is when a person feels they are in a dream and not really there.
anonymous
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Oct 26th 2009 !⃝
I think Numb is about a guy who was in love with a girl. She loves him too, but then he started to fade in his adoration of her. She is clinging to him, unwilling to let him go, and he is struggling to break away as gently as he can. He made some mistakes, and she's hurting over them. "Can't you see that you're smothering me, holding too tightly, afraid to loose control. Cause everything that you thought I would be has fallen apart right in front of you." He failed when he was trying to please her. He broke her heart. He now wants to come out from under her shadow and not have his name attached to hers all the time anymore. He's tired of having to lie to her so that she will be happy.
anonymous
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Oct 21st 2009 !⃝
The other interpretations cracked the surface but didn't hit the nail on the head. I know cause Numb is a song that I understand completely. It refers to someone in your life (parent, partner, sibling) who keeps pushing you to do what they think is best for you. They don't quite see that what they push you to do is not necessarily the best thing for you...all they see is the need for you to live up to their expectations.

In the song you hear chester say (You were just like me with someone disappointed in you). Quite likely this someone in our lives has accomplished something good but they haven't accomplished what the people in their life pushed them to accomplish and just as they were pushed they push us not realising that it is destroying our relationship with them and leaving us NUMB to them.

It's a really beautiful song and it speaks to me because i've become numb to my parents. They are both successful but not as successful as they planned and they both want me to follow their footsteps to something great but they also expect me to do better than they did. Numb is my way of knowing that i'm not the only one becoming numb to others expectations and demands. I'm not the only one tired of being pushed into doing something that someone else wants me to do.

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