Metallica: The Unforgiven Meaning

Song Released: 1991

The Unforgiven Lyrics

New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

With time, the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man struggles on and...

1. anonymous

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   Jun 7th 2010 !⃝

   Ummm it's about the Illuminati duhh
2. anonymous

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   May 6th 2010 !⃝

   New blood joins this earth
   And quickly he's subdued
   Through constant pained disgrace
   The young boy learns their rules (this is about a boy who is born into adults who suck. They molest him. beat him, and put him down)(the young boy sees how the adults are and know that it is bad but he becomes like them in a way)
   
   With time the child draws in
   This whipping boy done wrong
   Deprived of all his thoughts
   The young man struggles on and on he's known
   A vow unto his own
   That never from this day
   His will they'll take away-eay (this child is everyones labor boy...he will do anything for anyone because they force him to. He struggles in life)
   
   Chorus:
   What I've felt
   What I've known
   Never shined through in what I've shown
   Never be
   Never see
   Won't see what might have been
   What I've felt
   What I've known
   Never shined through in what I've shown
   Never free
   Never me
   So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN (he knows what is what but doesn't tell people that hedoes know)(he is never free and cannot be who he really is inside)
   
   They dedicate their lives
   To RUNNING all of his
   He tries to please THEM all
   This bitter man he is
   Throughout his life the same
   He's battled constantly
   This fight he cannot win
   A tired man they see no longer cares
   The old man then prepares
   To die regretfully
   That old man here is me (the man wastes his life pleasing everyone and dies bitter from regretting it)
   
   What I've felt
   What I've known
   Never shined through in what I've shown
   Never be
   Never see
   Won't see what might have been
   What I've felt
   What I've known
   Never shined through in what I've shown
   Never free
   Never me
   So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN (same)
   
   (instrumental)
   
   What I've felt
   What I've known
   Never shined through in what I've shown
   Never be
   Never see
   Won't see what might have been
   What I've felt
   What I've known
   Never shined through in what I've shown
   Never free
   Never me
   So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN
   
   whoa, whoa
   
   Never Free
   Never Me
   So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN
   You labeled me
   I'll label you
   So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN
   Never Free
   Never Me
   So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN
   You labeled me
   I'll label you
   So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN
   Never Free
   Never Me
   So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN (he says "you label me, ill label you" and this means---you treat me like crap and tell me who I am and ill do the same to you)
3. anonymous

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   Mar 17th 2010 !⃝

   this song is not about a person that is different.
   It is about all of us.
   From the day we are born we are indoctrinated how to live our lives, to be a cog in the capitalistic machine.
   Thus i am never me, never free.
   
   Zeitgeist
4. Master_of_Puppets

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   Jan 29th 2010 !⃝

   I always liked to think this song was about someone who, for whatever reason (social pressure, self-doubt, life's circumstances), never had the chance to feel like they accomplished anything in life. They never felt like they made an impact on the world and when the time comes to die, they look back at their life and see it as a waste.
5. anonymous

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   Dec 12th 2009 !⃝

   I think this song is about a kid who was left to do other peoples work, like his parents or he was set as an outcast. In the theatrical version of the video the girl seems to like him, but he seems as if he feels he is not worthy so before he can say anything she is gone. He then goes to the place he was in the beginning(where he could not reach the top of the wall, which represents what others wants him acheive, and what the normal person acheives.). He seems sad and a little different, different meaning he doesnt fit in. He goes to the poster of some face and I think this represents a horrible path that will drain the life out of him. He tried reaching the top but cannot reach it. So instead he takes the road less travelled by and wastes his whole life trying to accomplish a goal that no one else has accomplished. So he grows older and older and eventually makes a hole in the wall and finnally reaches his goal. The watch shows that he has wasted a lot of time trying to accomplish his goal. I think this represents that even though sometimes people dont fit in doesnt mean they cant be better then someone else, or fit in in there own way.
   
   
   Mike and Jon P.S. we are only 13
6. anonymous

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   Sep 8th 2009 !⃝

   This song was written directly about me. I was born to a mother who wanted to save her marraige with my father. That attempt failed. Which tore my life apart before it even had a chance to begin. She divorced my father and not to long after was involved in a rocky relationship and marraige to another guy. Then through out all this, I got raised in church under strict penticostal guide lines and with a mean ass step father who would find a reason to spank me with his belt for no reason at all. Among other things, I never planned for a future believing in the lies church taught me. Now I've just been scraping by trying to readjust from all those years. But sometimes I feel I'll be scraping that wall trying to get out for the rest of my life.
7. anonymous

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   Aug 21st 2009 !⃝

   This song is about a child that probably didn't think the same as the "in" crowd, so he was constantly bullied by his peers or even his siblings because of an inability to show who he really is for fear of being rejected_"They dedicate their lives, to running all of his".
   
   As he grows older, he tries to fit in with the crowd by doing things to help others out, but he gets nothing in return, so he eventually builds up resentment towards them. He begins to seperate himself from them,becoming more self-dependant as well_"He tries to please them all, this bitter man he is".
   
   As he begins to enter society, he is still rejected and bullied because of the way he thinks until he realises that he can't truly fit in, so he becomes cold and uncaring_"throughout his life the same, he's battled constantly, this fight he cannot win, a tired old man they see no longer cares".
   
   After suffering through the taunting and bullying, he gives all of those that called him an outcast a name_"You labled me, I'll lable you, so I dub thee 'UNFORGIVEN'".
   
   Sorry if it's too long, but this is one of my favorite Metallica songs.

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

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   Jun 8th 2009 !⃝

   The song as said by James is about fighting his drug addiction and not forgiving himself.
9. anonymous

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   Mar 18th 2009 !⃝

   The Unforgiven Songs are about the original bass player of Metallica, Cliff Burton. On September 26,1986, at 11 PM, Cliff and the lead singer had a bet of Texas Hold 'Em to see who would sleep on the top bunk that night on their tour in Switzerland. Burton won with an Ace of Spades. A few minutes before 7:00 AM, the next day, their tour bus flipped over. Burton flew out the side window on to the ground,the bus flipped over, immediately killing him in his sleep. Many witnesses say they saw the bus slide on black ice, police checked the driver and proved he was intoxicated (drunk for all the retards).But in an investigation,the FBI found NO ice at all.
   
   So now the lead singer is feeling UNFORGIVEN because he let this happen.
   
   Clifford Lee Burton died on September 27th,1986.
   
   From Jose, Jose1320@verizon.net
10. anonymous

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    Mar 11th 2009 !⃝

    The meaning for the Unforgiven songs is that in 1986,the bass player, Cliff Burton, had a bet with the lead singer in the tour bus in Switzerland. The winner of a Texas Hold 'Em game would get the top bunk on the bus. Burton won with an Ace of Spades. A few minutes before 7 AM on September 27, 1986, Burton was on the top bunk when the drunk driver flipped the bus, Burton flew out the window,and the bus crushed him. Cliff Burton was asleep when he died on impact. And now the lead singer feels UNFORGIVEN because he let him die. Type in "Cliff Burton" on Google.com.
11. anonymous

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    Mar 7th 2009 !⃝

    this song is all about how most people wants the young minds to follow the stereotypical ideas,of how youngs are bullied to be in a certain way.from when he was a child to when he grows up he becomes a bitter man who suffers a lot in life and therefore experienced.eventually he grows old and dies with a grief of not being able to do the things he wanted.
    by SAYAN.
12. anonymous

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    Sep 29th 2008 !⃝

    I think it really explains the kids personality "never free, never me" means that he can't be free so its never him because he's a free flowing kid.
    
    I also think all three songs tell a story. the first song explains him as a young boy getting abused for being himself, then the second song is about him as a teenager about 15 and is trapped inside a life which is not his and then at the end of 1 the the old man finds the key out of this life but its to late and he feels unforgiven for that, then at the end of 2 he finds someone else has been hiding the key from and he can't forgive them either "you're unforgiven too". Then in Unforgiven 3 he's dead and on the way to heaven but is finally starting to be himself and starts to drift away from heaven "but pulled off course by the light of the golden treasure" but he still can't forgive himself, that person who hid the care and the government for not letting him be who he is.
    
    This is a truly inspirational song because it tells what I go through.

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

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    Sep 12th 2008 !⃝

    This song is about a boy who is born into a world of evil and no matter how hard he tries he can never amount to there expectations...this video is also metaphorical because physically in the video he is locked in a cell spending his whole life trying to escape but physiologically he is trapped within himself and he spends his whole life trying to be someone else and before he knows it, it is too late he has wasted his whole life...and when he finally breaks free it is to late...
14. anonymous

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    Aug 25th 2008 !⃝

    Alright. My interpretation.
    
    This young boy is struggling through life. No one accepts what he is, and no one believes he can make it. So they pretty much banish him. Hence the "The Unforgiven". "What I Felt What I've Know....." He will never know cause he always did things to please other people, but the people go outta there way to criticize him and put him down.
15. anonymous

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    Aug 10th 2008 !⃝

    Again, Metallica leaves us with a multi-interpreted, somewhat deep song. The song (to me) is about a man wants to show his true potential but is cast down by persecution and a judgemental society. He spends his whole life in fear...years pass on, the man becomes old. He has much to give to the world but never has a chance to show it. He dies an old, angry man.

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