What do you think My Friend of Misery means?

Metallica: My Friend of Misery Meaning

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Album cover for My Friend of Misery album cover

My Friend of Misery Lyrics

You just stood there screaming
Fearing no one was listening to you
They say the empty can rattles the most
The sound of your voice must soothe you
Hearing only what you want to hear
And knowing only what youve heard
You youre smothered in...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Apr 9th 2013 !⃝

    To me the song is about a person struggling to fit into the world, desperately trying to find his place.and no matter how loudly he cries out screams, no one here him. But not because they don't want to hear him, but because they do, he is just too blinded by his own insecurities to see that there are people out there who actually care.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymus1337
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    Dec 19th 2011 !⃝

    this song is about the expression of misery and how miserable people who make the wrong decisions live miserable and angry lives. what one person may thing is recreational may mean pain and sorrow for another, hence "one man's fun is another's hell."

  3. anonymous
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    Aug 12th 2022 !⃝

    I actually think it's about a person who can see things clearly and tries to tell people that they should think for them selves instead of following the media/authorities. There is so much shit in this world, that doesn't have to be. Just a few people make profit of this shit and most of the people are following them blind, because they believe everything that's said.
    "Misery" keeps thinking one day he can change all that, but in fact he forgets about his/her self wellbeing, because he/she doesn't have selfish charachter traits.
    He/she will try to keep convincing people or helping people that are suffering because of that shit untill his/her own end. Because of that he/she will never enjoy life. He/she only gets satisfaction in helping others.

  4. anonymous
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    Jun 3rd 2021 !⃝

    This song is a perfect description these days for people who buy into Qanon and the garbage heap they’ve built up. The nonsense they spread is misery loves company in action. They live angry miserable lives while they’re caught up in all of it while insisting that you have to listen to them and see things their way or the whole free world will collapse. Meanwhile rational individuals are rolling their eyes at them.

  5. anonymous
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    Jun 16th 2018 !⃝

    I'm pretty sure the lyrics were inspired by ex-guitarist Dave Mustane going all over the media and being salty about Metallica kicking him out of the band, so much so that he could not enjoy his own success with Megadeth. It's not necessarily about him, because the lyrics are a little abstract so that people can relate with it. But it's pretty much about such a person whose driving force in life is something negative that is preventing him from enjoying anything good that comes his way

  6. anonymous
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    Jun 5th 2017 !⃝

    I think it means,Misery is your friend,no matter what or do it's there..Just like a friend,but it's misery..

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  7. anonymous
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    May 18th 2017 !⃝

    It's about James' mother who was dying of cancer. Being a Christian scientist, she refused medicine to save her, instead relying on her faith to heal her, and God failed her. Hence, she " followed the God that failed".

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. anonymous
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    Mar 1st 2017 !⃝

    To me this song means you see a family member getting in trouble, and you try to give advice, but the person doesn't listen and continues getting into trouble...no matter how much you talk with him. Even when we have talked about and agreed that the things he's done have always gotten him in trouble.

    After a while, I began to feel all the weight of his problems on my shoulders.

    The part, "Misery Loves Company," I don't understand completely, but I don't think I would want company who loves misery. I don't like misery. I just wish he could have heard me and really taken my advice to heart, because the things he's done have caused me a lot of misery, and it does feel like a heavy weight on my shoulders.

  9. anonymous
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    Jul 18th 2016 !⃝

    This song makes me think of a friend of mine, who is just like it says. He thinks that he lived all the worst things someone could, and that made him some kind of wise man. He only recognizes what he lived, no one has had all the struggles as he did, no one knows life's painful side as he does. No one could teach him anything new about life, and thus, he thinks that all the troubles from evreyone around him are his responsibility.
    These kind of people think that they are doing you a favor when they're telling you about their lives. That you should pay all of your attention to what they're saying, because it's pure knowledge and wisdom. And you should act the same as they did.
    They think that everything is wrong, everyone is wrong. They think that people just can't do the right thing, and everyone should change their way of thinking/acting. And they live thinking like that... And that is just plain misery.
    They live a miserable life, just because they want to. It's seems like they just love being miserable.
    These kind of people could be really toxic.

  10. Elanaa666
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    Apr 25th 2014 !⃝

    This song is frontman James' reflection upon being brought up as a christian scientist.

    His family followed this religion in which they explicitly did not believe or use medicine on any ocassion. His mother passed away from cancer at a young age when he was only 16. His experience and pain from all of this has been portrayed through a bunch of songs, this one included.

    The song is basically just expressing his thoughts against his upbringing and how if his mom just tried to believe in medicibe instead of dying a slow, painful, miserable death she could have lived a whole lot longer.

    With that, brings a theme that anybody can really relate to: make the most and try your hardest with what you have now

  11. anonymous
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    Dec 6th 2013 !⃝

    James Hetfield wrote this as a way to describe his feelings for his Mother. She was a Christian Scientist, meaning she did not believe in any medical treatments beyond prayer. It is also a sect that holds strongly to fundamentalist Christian values. She died at a relatively young age because she refused simple medical treatment, and not long BEFORE she died, all she wanted was for James to repent his sins and return to the church, believing her illness was God's punishment for James's sins.

  12. metallicarox69
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    Dec 2nd 2013 !⃝

    It's about a war veteran and tries to tell people how he feels but in this hellish world the jerks dont listen to him so he gets all mad and depressed

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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    Oct 14th 2013 !⃝

    I think this song is about miserys urge to be loved and noticed, as misery has done unto others: "Misery,
    You insist that the weight of the world
    Should be on your shoulders."
    As misery have been there for countless of times for others, but nothing is given in return.
    Misery is drowning in problems some of it's own, but also many problems of others. Therefore I think misery actually just wants to be held, loved, and not being alone anymore : "Remember, misery loves company"

  14. anonymous
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    Mar 15th 2012 !⃝

    this song is about growing with fucked up problems, and being in an irrational state where you want to linger in your own problems

  15. anonymous
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    Aug 5th 2011 !⃝

    Sounds to me like Hetfield is talking directly to the Liberals. He pretty much summed up their line of thinking.

  16. anonymous
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    Apr 6th 2011 !⃝

    it is about people who don't listen to others even when the others are right. They just want to be right themselves, so they only hear themselves.

  17. anonymous
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    Jan 13th 2011 !⃝

    I think it is about the kind of people who complain and complain, and when someone gives them a solution to the problem they wont listen (hearing only what you wanna hear, and knowing only what you heard)

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