Metric: Black Sheep Meaning
Black Sheep Lyrics
Our common goal was waiting for the world to end
Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend
You crack the whip, shape-shift and trick the past again
i'll send you my love on a...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:“Hello again, friend of a friend, I knew you when
Our common goal was waiting for the world to end
Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend
You crack the whip, shape-shift and trick the past again”
IMO the song seems it’s about two exes who had a really strong connection but had to breakup. They now refer to each other as “friend of a friend” because they run with the same crowds still, and of course when they dated the common goal was to live and eventually die together (end of the world).
The truth that is referred to is the reasonings for their breakup and one ex is obviously manipulating the other (the singer) into thinking it’ll be ok to see each other and it taps straight into their feelings.
“Send you my love on a wire
Lift you up, every time, everyone, ooh, pulls away, ooh From you”
The manipulative ex was reaching out again because they had another failed relationship since their original breakup. But because the singer has such a soft spot for their ex they can’t help but be there to lift them up with their old love they once had. This clearly happens time and time again.
“Got balls of steel, got an automobile, for a minimum wage
Got real estate, I'm buying it all up in outer space
Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend
You crack the whip, shape-shift and trick, the past again”
This ex has a lot of “balls” to keep reaching out after so many failed attempts, but the singer can’t help themselves. There is so much real estate in their heads that each other own and they can’t getaway from falling into this same pattern again.
“It's a mechanical bull, at number one
You'll take a ride from anyone
Everyone wants a ride, pulls away, ooh, from you”
This is a diss at the manipulative ex that they’re easy to get in their pants and everyone who does hits it and quits it. Each time the ex always comes running back hurting because they can’t find anyone as good as the singer.
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2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:I think this song is about a woman meeting up with her ex-boyfriend. She tells him all the things they could've done together but he had to ruin it by making up lies about their relationship
(Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend).
She says that he hits on every girl he sees (Mechanical bull, the number one
You'll take a ride from anyone, everyone wants a ride)
Her life is better than what it use to be when she went out with him
(Got balls of steel, got an automobile, for a minimum wage
Got real estate, I'm buying it all up in outerspace)
She gives him so much but now she's tired of having to clean up after the mess he makes and having to pull him together when he's dealing with things
(i'll send you my love on a wire
Lift you up, everytime, everyone, ooo, pulls away, ooo
From you) -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:Well since this song is apart of the whole Scott Pilgrim saga and stuff, I think this song is about Ramona, and her promiscuous past.
The line "..shape shift and trick the past again" could be a hint at how Ramona tries to keep her past a secret from everyone, and doesn't ever willingly tell someone about her secrets until it comes up, like with her revealing the backstory for each of her Evil Ex's, but only when they show up to attack Scott. It also could hint at the fact that whenever one of Ramona's relationships failed, she'd leave town, and start anew, and keep all her mysterious proceedings to herself, ignoring the past for the time being.
Another example is the line "Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend", is probably hinting at the way Ramona didn't really tell the truth about her past to Scott, and how she also lied to some of the people she was involved with. (The Katayanagi Twins)
"It's a mechanical bull at number one, you'll take a ride from anyone" I think is a personal dig from Envy,trying to say that Ramona will date almost anyone, and that she's infamous for it. But that's just my take. -
Its clearly about religion.
Who waits for the world to end? Religious people. But the singer moved on from it leaving an old friend behind. The black sheep definitely has religious meaning. And we all know that is the person in the family who leaves unacceptably. The truth is a rule you can bend. Real estate in outer space. Seem like references to religion for sure. Not that I agree with those types of sentiments but they are common for people who leave religion behind. Anyway I do hope by now I've typed 100 words. Those assignments in school always annoyed me because if im done talking thats just the end of it and making me continue to talk after that makes no sense because ive already exhausted whatever sensible communication i had to begin with if any at all. -
I think this song is about an ex who changed from the Black Sheep they are to masquerading as mainstream. They're saying "come home", like come back to who you really are. The ex thinks they are cool and in control now, cracking the whip and controlling their life, bending the truth and shape shifting who they are, tricking themselves and others to thinking who they were the past was different, and balls of steel to deal with it all. And they even became somewhat successful with a car and a job. But they're like a robot, because it's a farce, a mechanical bull. They have with lots of relationships and are able to fool people, but all their partners end up "pulling away" because they sense somethings not right. So the narrator wishes them well from afar, sends them love, seeing them for who they really are, hope they figure out how to get back home, but knows better than to get involved with them again.
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She is not singing to an ex, but to her sister or someone really close. The person she sings to (let´s call her X) became a prostitute, distancing from her friends/family (so, no longer a friend, she is friend of a friend). Now anyone can ride X for a few coins, but then everyone pulls away leaving her alone.
Emily tries to make X change her ways.
She explains how there´s no need for so much money (got an automobile for the minimum wage, got real state in outer space).
Emily knows how X is depressed and lonely (since everyone keeps pulling away from her) and sends X her love. She even asks X to come home, at the start of the song.
The other bits that don´t match are just gibberish to make the lyrics less personal and confuse the general public about what the real story is.
Normal that Emily would tell the media that this song is nonsense, since the content is too personal to explain and the meaning should be very obvious for X anyway.
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I think the song is about confronting an ex when you two were fit for each other, but then ended in fidelity and arguments. And "crack the whip/shapeshift and trick the past again" Is a reference to how controlling and manipulative the guy was. And the "everyone pulls away from you seems to be the loneliness of the person who felt that way after they parted.
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This song means nothing.
Emily Haines said it herself in an interview. It's just random lyrics.
Stop trying so hard. -
The song does seem to be about someone who is manipulative and selfish. The writer felt a strong connection to them at one time but doesn't like the games the other person played by bending rules and tricking them. The person has not been truthful. The writer notes that the person is probably going to continue to do what they want.
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It is about someone in a relationship trying to rewrite history "trick the past". Saying the relationship was different then what it really was. Perhaps in denial about the truth of the relationship.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I think this song is about an African American sheep. His name is Sean, but only after he was taken from his home, where his name was Uplektak.
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