What do you think Numb means?

Linkin Park: Numb Meaning

Album cover for Numb album cover

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...

  1. Nubian_Mohammed
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    Oct 2nd 2009 !⃝

    That’s talking to oneself,

    What I will write needs an open mind to comprehend,

    It is clear that this song is most probably about the Devils influence. And all of you not being able to see this indicate that you do not have sufficient knowledge of the devil or do not believe in it (which is very understandable).

    The Devil is a spirit attached to the human psyche in a way that is empathetic and possessive and parasitic at the same time. And the more its presence is increased the more it contributes to such sick feelings and the human feels that those feelings are part of him/her yet they do not represent him/her. Therefore, the song seems more like a person talking to that part of himself (the Devil). There is a large number of people suffering from demonic influence that appear like mental illness or psychological disorders that makes the person feel completely numb and tired "become so tired…son much more aware…I'm becoming this… all I want to do…is be more like me …and be less like you". This type of defensive attitude indicate the good nature of the song writer who does not want to be that part of himself/herself and do not want to be possessed by that thing or succumb to its path.

    "You where just like me when someone disappointed in you" is a mysterious and scary intuitive recognition of the devils personality. It could be linked to the observation of self.

    Again, the song writer might have no idea that there is such thing as the devil and probably thinks that he/she is talking to part of himself/herself.

    For the people that say parents: parents do not push their children to be faithless.
    For the people that say God: God does not encourage being faithless and does not make the person feel like walking in his shoe.
    For the people that say boyfriend/girlfriend: such relation usually does not exist (one trying to be the other).

  2. anonymous
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    Sep 27th 2009 !⃝

    This song is about the situation of being expected to be someone you can´t be. You get nomb to the reality because of the huge pressure. In the video it´s a girl, but i thhink it can be every person. There are expectations on everyone: being a good friend, nice to all people, act like others expect you to...,but i think a teenager fits quite good to this song. Especialy as a teenager you feek the pressure of friends, family and even of society, who all expect something of you. You can´t be the one you want to be and maybe then you forget who you are. I mean that you are not individual, because you can´t find out if there´s maybe something else you would like to do. And if you have a brother or a sister who is better than you are the expectation on you to do everything right are even higher and you can´t be like him or her.
    It seems like the girl in the video has her own world, I mean her dream of being saved by the angels she is drawing. There she can be like she is, but that´s not reality and reality goes bye without her. In the video that´s shown by the fact that she´s late every time. The others seem to be to fast, but she´s only to slow, because she is numb to the world.
    Well, sorry that it is that long,but i´ve put all the ideas ilike from others interpretations here in it and i trie, too, to put my own thoughts in here, I hope you like it :) !

    Miss Chazlyn

  3. noirevampire1234
    click a star to vote
    Sep 8th 2009 !⃝

    apart from the video, this song is about any current-day teen, who feels the pressure of everyone around him. His parents, society and friends who just do not let him be his own individual. He is so stressed that he goes numb in the mind and breaks apart when in fear that everyone will hate him. In the video, this is what happens to the girl.

  4. al619
    click a star to vote
    Jul 1st 2009 !⃝

    Their talkin about God...the worlds genereal frustration with doin the right thing but because were all imperfect..it feels impossible..most of us want to do whats right.. but sin daily..that becomes a source of frustration..They talk about not being able to see or feel God..Feelin faithless..So it becomes frustration..Their basicly sayin they give up...and instead of God..their gonna play for the other team...its no coincedence they chose Jay-Z to do the Mashup..Jay-z has made it clear how he feels about God.. So the analogy with the kid& parent is relevant cause..we all view God as our father..

    My two cents...dont give up..this is all a test..

  5. MiseryBlack
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    Apr 28th 2009 !⃝

    Song is simply about someone who is sick and tired of having to be something that they're not. The music video put it as a teenaged girl, but that doesnt nessicarrily mean that that's the only thing it refers too. While music videos are usualy the way to go in trying to figure out what a song means, to say that the song is ONLY about a girl and ONLY a teenager is putting it a little too litterally.

  6. anonymous
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    Mar 26th 2009 !⃝

    This song could have many meanings and it's interpretation is truly up to the individual. The way I see it is a matter of inner turmoil. We all have our own expectations of who and what we are. And when life is not going as we planned or we are trying to be someone whom we are not. The personal implications can be devastating. We all try to be what we belive others expect us to be. I feel this song is about someone who finally gets tired of being what they feel others expect from them and desperately reaches out for their own true self. They are reaching out and fighting to be able to be themself once again.

  7. anonymous
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    Mar 20th 2009 !⃝

    Ok so this is what I think the song is about

    A girl who wants to be an artist and be free from authority mainly her mother. But no one will support her... she has no friends and the only thing that keeps her going are knowing that are and linkin park will always be there for her.

    I think this is the meaning for 2 reasons
    1 the music video(watch it! it is really cool)
    2 Thats how I feel sometimes so I can really understand how the character feels

  8. anonymous
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    Feb 7th 2009 !⃝

    I haven't had a look at the video but I relate this to a conflict within each individual with his conscience or with god. That he's expected to always choose the right path and on constantly failing to realize what this path actually is he thus becomes desperate to find an answer to what it is that will put him to peace. I don't know if this will make sense to most of you, but according to me its an outburst within an individual trying too hard to find out what RIGHT. Hope you guys understand what i'm trying to put through here.

  9. anonymous
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    Jan 21st 2009 !⃝

    I believe it can also be applied to a failed couple relationship, I recently went through one, and she never seemed to be satisfied/happy with any of my great efforts, anything I did seemed to be a failure, the song reflects my actual feelings, faithless, lost under the pressure, "Cause everything that you thought I would be has fallen apart right in front of you" .. This song it's about the burden of having to live up to someone else's expectations.. you expect that your actions will have a positive impact, just to be talked down by the very person you love and admire.. over time, you will become faithless, numb, and with an awful feeling of disappointment...

  10. crk416
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    Nov 22nd 2008 !⃝

    I think this song is about two things one being a single person that did somthing wrong asking god for forgiveness and another is just all of humanity and how we have done horroble things throughout our existance.

  11. anonymous
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    Sep 16th 2008 !⃝

    To be honest, I think it's about guilt and knowing everyone wants you to be them, but I also think it's about dreaming of being something different and knowing no one can get you while you dream as it says in the words "you can't get me there"

  12. anonymous
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    Sep 4th 2008 !⃝

    Firstly I have only seen the video a few times, but it has obviously shaped several interpretations of the song on the database. Video clips – while an essential part of a modern song's epistemology – are ultimately only informed by a lyric’s meaning, not a key to it. Some of these other reviews annoy me as the protagonist in Numb is clearly gender (and age) neutral.

    Instead the song resonates universally as a discourse on the destructive nature of control in a relationship, when one participant tries to exert or project their own ideas onto another. This relationship could be parental, romantic or simply a platonic friendship. The narrative of Numb presents a protagonist who has initially tried to ‘go along’ with the ideas or wishes of their partner despite knowing it isn’t congruous with their own beliefs. This essentially results in failure on two levels:

    1. Failure of the protagonist self-actualise and develop their own potential ; and inextricably linked to this...
    2. A failure to please the other partner in the relationship.

    In effect, the title of the song ‘numb’ is an eponymous visceral manifestation of this failure.

  13. AvengerK
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    Aug 20th 2008 !⃝

    Based on the video it's about a girl who is generally unpopular and is misunderstood by everyone. Her art is also unappreciated so she has no way of expressing herself. She tries to be popular but ends up hurting herself more. She then tries to find herself in her art again. She knows she might fail and be worse off then before.

  14. anonymous
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    Aug 14th 2008 !⃝

    Everyone I've read so far has got it so wrong (I've not read all of them ill admit)
    It's got fuck all to do with the bloody video. Chester in case you hadn't noticed isn't a girl!! Nor is Shinoda.

    This song is very personal to chester hence shinodas lack or lyrics in the song,

    It's about someone being what someone else wants them to be, he can't be that person, every step that I take is another mistake to you. Every time he acts like them he's doing him and them a wrong although they can't see it.

    They want him to be things, they want to control him. He knows he might fail without them, but he'd rather make his own mistakes and live his own life,
    I know because it happened to me.

    Most of this albums about him dealing with someone who controlled him. I've been controlled so I know how he feels. He can't be what they want, he's had enough, it's gotta end.

    That's why this is the last song on the album. All the other songs are about him dealing with someone controlling him and him not having the strength to overcome it in one variation or another.

    This song brings it all to a head, saying he's numb he's detached from that person now. He's more aware of what there doing, he wants to be himself again. He's tired of being what they want him to be.

    That is it. Argue if you will, but I know, I just know.

  15. anonymous
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    Jul 19th 2008 !⃝

    I believe that this song is about rebelling against God. The music video may be about a girl that is trying to get away from society because she doesn't fit in, but I feel it is much more different than that. My interpretation comes from knowing and/or thinking that there is a Christian member of the band.

    Lyrically, the song is all about man and his struggling relationship with God. He doesn't know what God is calling of him, what he is expected to do. He feels so pressured to remain in God's image that he has become numb to the feeling of God-he's sick and tired of the feeling of God. He figures out what God wants him to be, and so becomes tired of it.

    Either way, the song is either man vs. man or man vs. God.




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