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. anonymous

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   Apr 15th 2008 !⃝

   The song is about a soldier who goes to war for democracy and loses his arms and his legs and the ability to speak. He signals to the doctors through Morse code that he wants them to kill him.
2. anonymous

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   Feb 25th 2008 !⃝

   Fuck what all of you say, it's about a soldier who steps on a land mine and after all the surgery and bullshit he wishes he could die and his body is his cell. IF you agree with me ............kudoes
3. anonymous

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   Jan 15th 2008 !⃝

   While this song is evidently about a man suffering horrific war injuries such that he is begging to be killed Metallica have used this idea from a novel/movie I've no idea myself actually, to compare the feelings brought on by these events with their own struggles both with drug & alcohol addiction & the consequences these addictions entail.
4. anonymous

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   Nov 14th 2007 !⃝

   This song by Metallica is about a soldier fighting in the war for his beliefs and for his country. His ready to go fight in the war when a landmine blows up in his face. The helicopers come and he is in a coma and has lost his arms, legs and he can't hear, see, smell or taste. He wakes up from this coma in hospital and during all that time he kept thinking about everything his father told him. The doctors started getting worried because his having these spasms and they thought he would've died by now but he hasn't. They call the general to help figure it out but he doesn't know either but the soldier that was with the general recognizes it and told them that it's a morse code. They ask what he is saying and he tells him that the soldier in the coma is saying "KILL ME" over and over again.
   
   In the verses of the song it explains the soliers injuries and pain that he is going through. Towards the end he starts fading away and thinking his useless because he can't do anything. He wants to die because he can't handle it anymore and he just thinks he can't go on but he eventually tells someone through morse code that he wants to die and wants them to kill him.
5. anonymous

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   Nov 2nd 2007 !⃝

   Dudes, It's clearly about a guy who had no head, And he has to live out his life in eternal torment because he can not see or talk.
6. anonymous

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   Nov 1st 2007 !⃝

   ONE Sentence:
   Johnny Got his Gun

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

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   Oct 31st 2007 !⃝

   Too many people are fixating on the video and not the song for their interpratations. The idea that the video is the key to the meaning is a fallacy, the song "Turn the Page" is about the difficulties of life as a touring musician, even the members of metallica say this, but the video for their version portrays a stripper who mistakingly thinks that she can be a good mother, despite her horrible enviroment and lifestyle. Videos are primarily meant to look good on TV, not provide keys to interpretation. In this case, the song does tell the story of a soldier injured in war (yes, the landmine reference is really in there) who is forced to continue living even after he has lost his will to live (fed through a tube that sticks in me...cut this life off from me.) The song is actually a metaphor for losing control of ones life and not being able to regain control. Since the title of the song is "One" it most likely expresses a wish to be an individual, to live one's own life,and not follow the crowd or be judged by another's standards or rules. Many of the songs on this album express a desire to break with the crowd, or to be free from the corruptions and impurties of society, and to live life as an individual.

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

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   Oct 6th 2007 !⃝

   This song is about the book Johnny Got His Gun - Lars says so himself..they didn't learn about it after the fact - I read the book and ANYONE who has read the book and heard the song will agree here - James sings lines that are IN THE BOOK - like word for word in the book (some minor changes so it flows with the music) READ THE BOOK! so being that ONE is about JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN - then the song IS about how evil war is - people do come back like that...read the book - and I defy anyone who is not moved by it
9. anonymous

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   Oct 6th 2007 !⃝

   Blah, blah, blah, this song is describing us how soldier is feeling with all these wounds, without his limbs, senses, who suffers all the time... Short and accurate

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

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    Sep 10th 2007 !⃝

    This song is about his son he lost in war and about all the other people that have suffered from war, and how it can make you a "vegetable" which is a very big topic today (right to die) supreme court just ruled on the chick that they were keeping alive for no reason.
    
    This song is about a soldier fighting in a war and a mortar blows off in his face. He can't hear, see, smell, taste and he doesn't have arms or legs. He comes out of a coma in a hospital. During the time he is in the hospital he reflects on his life and things his father told him. Eventually the doctors get worried because he's having spasms all the time, but he doesn't seem to be dying. They call in the general and he can't figure it out either but the soldier with the general recognizes it. "Its Morse code," he says. The general asks what he is saying and the soldier looks for a minute and then says, "He is saying K-I-L-L- M-E over and over again.
    
    The lyrics are based on the novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, which is about World War I. A specific passage that inspired the song is: "How could a man lose as much of himself as I have and still live? When a man buys a lottery ticket you never expect him to win because it's a million to one shot. But if he does win, you'll believe it because one in a million still leaves one. If I'd read about a guy like me in the paper I wouldn't believe it, because it's a million to one. But a million to ONE always leaves one. I'd never expect it to happen to me because the odds of it happening are a million to one. But a million to one always leaves one. One.
11. anonymous

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    Aug 12th 2007 !⃝

    Who ever the hell said ''how can he tap kill me if he has no limbs'' he nods sos please kill me in morse code with his head. I'm only 11 years old and I even know that.
12. anonymous

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    Jul 25th 2007 !⃝

    The video openly depicts the father in the movie stating that he would give his son for democracy. There is a real reason for that clip of the movie to be on the video. That reason perhaps could be that the band understands that most of the fighting that the common man dies for is in vain. (Do you really believe that we live in a democracy?) Also that war is horror and not glorious and the ramifications are not just physical but a metaphor for the metal scars that go to the soldiers and family.
13. YourFan

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    Jul 19th 2007 !⃝

    This song is based on the book Johnny Got His Gun, they have said so themselves. This might be my favorite Metallica song. And Hammet's guitar solo is one of my favorites.

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

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    Jul 15th 2007 !⃝

    Similar to much of their previous work, especially with cliff their inspiration came from movies and novels, which is why many think the song based on the movie but come on its not the book nor movie straight up it was used as base for some deeper.
15. x_lily_x

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    Jun 18th 2007 !⃝

    Sooo many people try to interpret this song.. I think there's more to it than injuries from war. Maybe the pain isn't just physical. Maybe the hurt isn't just on the outside. Maybe, just maybe, there's a deeper meaning than land mines and bombs. But that's just me. Ha.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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