Metallica: One Meaning

Song Released: 1989

One Lyrics

I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me

Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I cannot see
That there's not much left of me
Nothing is...

1. randomguy

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   Jun 16th 2009 !⃝

   anyone who didnt figure out its about war the first time they heard it is RETARDED. one of the best songs ever by the way.
2. masterkin

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   Jun 8th 2009 !⃝

   Draco is right it basically a bet to see how close they could come with little info. Look James meaning to one.
3. anonymous

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   May 12th 2009 !⃝

   There is this dude that fights in the vietnam war and he is fataly hurt. Basically, he is in the hospital and has his father acting like he doesn't care and says that the death of a man is only his to bare. He is in grave pain and dies eventually.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. anonymous

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   Apr 19th 2009 !⃝

   He lost all his limbs, and he's kept alive with tubes and respirators and stuff, and he's a prisoner in his own body... like sleeping 24/7, all he can do is think.. 'oh please god, wake me'he only wants to die, but he can't tell anybody, and the doctors don't know.. They try to help him, but he the help is unwanted
5. segpatrol94

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   Apr 9th 2009 !⃝

   One is about a vegetable who is is like that due to war. He stepped on a land mine and lived but just wants to die.
6. six3rd

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   Feb 23rd 2009 !⃝

   first off this song was based off the movie johnny got his gun which is based off the book. he didnt step on a landmine he was hit by an artillery shell. it shows this in the begining of the video.
   
   he has lost all limbs and eyes ears and mouth. he can only feel vibrations from the outside world. it isnt until later in the book that he learns to tap morse code with his head. he tries for over a year to tap sos but no one understands. when he finally is understood he ask to put in a freak show to teach people the consiquinces of war. but a doctor taps that this will not happen. its more so about how politicians do not pay at all for war the people like johnny do and that we need to teach people what war can do to people.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. Kwizzel90210

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   Feb 8th 2009 !⃝

   The song is simply about a soldier who unwillingly (lack of a better term) went to fight in a war, and stepped on a landmine.
   
   "Landmines has taken my sight
   Taken my speech
   Taken my hearing
   Taken my arms
   Taken my legs
   Taken my soul"
   
   When he lays in his hospital bed, he wishes to die, because he is nothing but a vegetable without any senses.
   
8. kronikTokah

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   Jan 24th 2009 !⃝

   This song is based on the book Johnny Got His Gun and no it is not a true story, it is just that a 'story' The author Dalton Trumbo tells the story to show what the horrors of war can do on one single person yeah he was fighting for justice freedom and democracy but in the end all of that meant nothing as it explains what kind of hell it would be if you were laying there trapped inside of your own mind for the rest of your dying days
9. g0vnah

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   Dec 2nd 2008 !⃝

   This song is about a guy who stepped on alandmine, lost all his senses, and baisically attempted suicide by holding his breath. he could only blink his left eye, I think. In morse code: KILL ME! that last part I know because this is A TRUE STORY!!!
10. anonymous

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    Nov 12th 2008 !⃝

    Johnny Got His Gun is an obscure old movie about a land mine victim stuck within a useless body,missing all limbs,and all or most senses.A true living hell that he desparately wishes to communicate his will to be released from,but cannot.Up to this point Metallica had strongly protested videos saying they were for commercial bands,the video for "One" was their first in a long series of compromises."And Justice For All" was was a great album though.Speaking of compromises,check out Mike Inez's message to them written on his bass during Alice in Chains Unplugged on MTV.Metallica was in the audience.Good news is Metallica seem to be regaining that spark they had back around the "Garage Days" time period.
11. anonymous

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    Nov 4th 2008 !⃝

    You all have it wrong on one account, he gets hit by an artillery shell, not stepping on a landmine. I have seen the movie and read the book.
    
    He taps out the morse code message by using his head against the pillow, he knew morse code because his friends and him would string the wire between the houses and use it. His dead father reminded him of this in a dream.
    
    He doesn't die in the end of both. they leave it ambiguous.
12. anonymous

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    Nov 1st 2008 !⃝

    Definitely from "Johnny Got His Gun" (why? because I'm reading it!) The way he taps out morse code is by slamming his head on his pillow.
13. anonymous

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    Oct 25th 2008 !⃝

    Just watch the music video on youtube. It will support the fact that the song was based on Johnny got his gun.
14. anonymous

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    Sep 19th 2008 !⃝

    While the song lyrics mention a land mine, the character in "Johnny Got His Gun" is actually hit by a mortar shell. In the book, he mentions that a shard of metal from the shell must have hit him so perfectly that it just "scooped out his face" without hitting his jugular vein. In the movie, the doctors mention that he was found in the fetal position, probably "protecting his genitals." They go on to say that he was hit by two shells.
    I have read that Metallica came up with the idea for "One" before seeing the film, but they must have been influenced by the film...the song is just too similar not to be.
    The surgeons in the movie say they want to keep Joe Bonham alive so they can learn from him, and they never consider the ethical implications because they believe Joe will be "as unthinking, as unfeeling as the dead until the day that he joins them." Once they learn that he can think and communicate, they choose not to grant his wish for death because he is too valuable. The realization that he has been suffering silently for years is horrifying, but military protocol prevents them from "pulling the plug." It's very dark story, but the triumphs that Joe Bonham makes in communication and timekeeping are hopeful. Sadly, all sense of hope is eventually crushed.
    That's my two cents. Somebody shut me up.
    Cheers!
15. anonymous

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    Jun 29th 2008 !⃝

    It is based off the book/movie johnny got his gun, it is showing that he wants to die and even though he tries to hold his breath the tubes sticking in his chest keep him from suffocating. He has no arm, no legs no senses(but feeling) so he has no way of communicating that he wants to die (well duh he wants to die)- to the people, (in the book he uses morse code), it is not about a soldier dying but the fact that he is alive is the problem, he wants to die. He is basically a "a slab of meat but one step higher because he has a mind"-from the book johnny got his gun.

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