Pantera: Cemetery Gates Meaning
Cemetery Gates Lyrics
Is this some conspiracy?
Crucified for no sins
An image beneath me
Lost within my plans for life
It all seems so unreal
I'm a man cut in half in this world
Left in my misery
The reverend, he turned to me
Without a...
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This song is about a girlfriend/friend, I have seen interviews where he said both, of Phil's commiting suicide and him dealing with the loss and lamenting doing the same, then coming to grips with the whole thing as time passes. He said that the persons death was a tremendous loss within his group of friends and left a void that would never be filled. It also speaks to the insincerity he felt from clergy in regards to this person's death, which causes him to question what religion has taught us about death and afterlife. In the end he is left questioning how he handled it all and maybe he should have let what he was feeling inside actually come to the surface instead of letting his pride get in the way causing him to hold it in and stifle his emotions.
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This song changed my world
Amazing lyrics on the planet earth
Unbelievable phil vocal
that Dimebag Guitar solo -
This is what I think about it. The first section is told in the point of view as Jesus (or how the Jesus story goes). He's wondering why he's crucified if he did nothing wrong and if this is some kind of sick joke. After the intro, the story transitions to one's own life. Again, wondering.. why me?! I see some abuse taking place by a parent or an authoriative figure. There is another adult that knows the abuse is happening but looks the other way. This other adult is close to the person telling the story. This could be about a father molesting a child and the mother turning a blind eye.
The person that could have made it stop but ignores it ends up dying many years later (the mom). The son has trouble feeling sad that she died. And thoughts flood his mind of anger. He felt so angry when she was alive. She didn't do anything to make him angry. But that's exactly it. By her chosing to do nothing, was still a choice. And all choices have consequences. The result is a very emotionally scarred individual who could have been saved.. so many times.
The storyteller realizes that their life is just passing by and they want to make a choice to live it and enjoy it instead of constantly reliving their painful past.
So they decided they are done feeling mentally dead and alone. They compare their soul as totally void of any life, as if, just like a body buried in the cemetary. But they are tired of feeling this way. It's an incredibly hard decision to NOT feel this way and one they will likely have to work on daily but they are going to unlock that God dam door between their own mental prison and the world outside. Get me out of this fucking cemetery. I'm not dead! I need to just go for it and make a big change, pass through those cemetery gates and get me out out of here. The next time I spend this much time in a cemetery, I better be physically dead.
*None of this is based on fact and this is solely my high interpretation. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I feel the beginning of the song is about loss. The setting, right after the funeral of a loved one. And as the person is sitting in church unable to grieve he asks the Reverend why things like this happen. After the Reverend explains it the rest of the song is living his life(my concern is now in vein) solely on missing the person (the way we were). And the whole song in general is visiting the person in the cemetery and reliving the loss.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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To me it seems like its about a man who is unsure if christianity is real or fake and cannot fully believe in it, and how his plans for life are insignificant in the grand scheme of things because he might end up in heaven or hell forever. Also he realizes that his greatest enjoyment was love and now the one he loves is dead.
That's not the true intended meaning of the song, however. Phil says its actually about 2 friends of his that killed themselves and he thought it would be disrespectful to make a song that made that obvious and he wrote it as if a single female had died. -
A brief summary of what I take away from this:
1. Has a girlfriend/wife. Has his life planned out.
2. GF/Wife dies.
3. Refuses to mourn
4. Seeks comfort from religeon and doesnt find it.
5. His life stagnates, holding on to anger and not grieving.
6. He realises he has wasted/is wasting his life
The final part "And pass the cemetery gates" could be interpreted differently as (for example):
1. He leaves his house and visits the cemetery and starts grieving.
2. He unlocks his door which represents the cemetery gates due to his life 'ending' - his house becomes the cemetery
3. He finally leaves the cemetery and continues with his life. Either the cemetery being figurative or literal.
4. He dies and is carried into the cemetery.
These are just some thoughts. -
To me this song is about someone close to him dying - probably a girlfriend. The 'consolation' he gets from religious figures doesn't comfort him at all, yet he still has a mixture of faith and doubt ("Sometimes I wonder aloud if you're watching over me..."). He keeps his emotion bottled up and never really gets over the girl ("When she died, I should've cried..." "I can't live in the past..." "Through all those...years, I thought I was alone. I didn't care to look around and make this world my own...") Finally he breaks free and moves on with his life.
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I think it is about Dimebags friend dying and how he feels.
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its a melodious song pertain of loosing some one so close to...pains he bear..grief sorrow full.....expressions.... i would say its one of the best song in the universe..coz its some more related to ma life....peace guys.....Awesome songs...No words..M speechless...
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1.i think it is that he is wondering what he has done wrong to deserve what has happened to him.
2.or he has realized that he needed the person who died in the song"and when she died,i should have dropped"and he hadnt realized it.
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