Rise Against: Audience of One Meaning

Song Released: 2008

Audience of One Lyrics

I can still remember
The words and what they meant
As we etched them with our fingers
In years of wet cement
The days blurred into each other
Though everything seemed clear
We cruised along at half speed
But then we shifted gears

We ran...

1. anonymous

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   Feb 27th 2011 !⃝

   My first thought was that it was about someone who got in an accident from drinking driving...fits with the social issues punk bands deal with

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

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   Feb 19th 2011 !⃝

   My interpretation is that its not as politically based as most think. Its more personal. Like "now all my friends are gone, maybe we've ougrown all the things that we once loved" it seems to be about growing up and leaving behind childish things. "and you ran away, now all my friends are gone" he only had one actual friend. Which in turn left.... He might think that they are running. But with no destination or pursuer. "but what are we running from" and then the sudden realization.... That everybody is now gone. "where have they gonee...."
   "we're all okay, until the day we're not
   We raced the sunset and we almost won...
   We slammed the brakes. But the wheels went on... " damn. This song stil makes me cry to this day
3. anonymous

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   Feb 15th 2011 !⃝

   I personally dont agree with u joe green, but u have a right to ur own opinion and i respect that. And btw, why would rise against make a song about george bush? I read the lyrics over n over and it doesnt even sound close.

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

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   Feb 8th 2011 !⃝

   Its about George W. Bush. You're a fucking dumb ass Joe Green. Rise against is one of the most liberal bands there is, this song is obviously about how he fucked our country up, it has NOTHING to do with the progression of music. Do you think before you speak/type or are you just flat out retarded?
5. anonymous

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   Jan 30th 2011 !⃝

   I think it's about more than one thing like the approaching curve. The understory is the boy growing up in a corrupt house the video you see describes the problems of America
6. anonymous

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   Jan 17th 2011 !⃝

   It's obviously about someone who ran away from home with a girl. There is no deeper meaning. I guess you have to run away to understand it. The video represents the views of the members of rise against and they used the songs as a way to share them.

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

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   Jan 12th 2011 !⃝

   Why does everyone hate on Bush? You say he controlled the country. DUH IT WAS HIS JOB. He did what he felt was neccessary. He got a pretty raw deal, if we did not go to Iraq, the world-including United States citizens-would think he didn't take care of it and wasn't doing his job, or is weak and scared to show what we can do. Now that we did go to war, everyone hates him for that, while they would hate him if he didn't. Saving and protecting lives that can't protect or get help by themselves is bad? The P.O.W.'s deserve all the honor that the country can possibly give them.
8. anonymous

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   Dec 8th 2010 !⃝

   im the guy above srry for second post...
   "we slammed the brakes but the wheels went on" -brakes didn't work
9. anonymous

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   Dec 8th 2010 !⃝

   I think this song is about getting in a car crash were your brake don't work.
   "Now all my friends gone"- all my friends are dead
   " we ran like vampires from a thousand burning suns"-driving real fast
10. joe_greene

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    Mar 5th 2010 !⃝

    You're probably the most correct one here actually. But since I don't like just going off the video, my interpretation is vastly different than anyone else's.
11. joe_green

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    Feb 6th 2010 !⃝

    I won't defend my position. I don't need to. That is what I see from the song and I obviously haven't watched much of the video. And the day that personal opinions are stupid is the day that this place goes to hell.
12. anonymous

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    Feb 2nd 2010 !⃝

    Whoever said that Audience of One deals with music is an idiot.
    
    Obviously the video shows the boy as George W. Bush and how he, as president, has corrupted the world and our country.
    
    If you've seen the video, the boy is playing with a mini set that signifies the major events that happen during George Bush in office. i.e. Health Care, Iraq War, and POWs.
    The boy is like Bush, controlling the play set as George Bush controlled the country.
13. joe_green

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    Jan 23rd 2010 !⃝

    I know. I kinda had to choose between which meant more: the video ro the song itself. Feel free to submit your own interpretation. That video just puzzles me...

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

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    Jan 20th 2010 !⃝

    The above fits, but the video contradicts that a lot. It's on youtube.
15. joe_green

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    Nov 17th 2009 !⃝

    Alright. Audience of One is song that signifies how changed and distorted music has become today. It is told mainly from the perspective of music itself as if it were a live being, and it is talking to those who used to listen to the oldies: Classic rock, or just fun kind of music. But it says that those people have "run away" from those ways and are now listening to more modern, more pointless music.
    
    Some of the lyrics are obvious this way, others not so much:
    
    "I can still remember the words and what they meant" implies that music used to have meaning in its lyrics, and that artists took sincerity in what they did. That is not so anymore. Everyone is in it mostly for the money, and they don't really care about anything other than that.
    
    In the chorus, the lyrics depict that we've "run away" from the older music and all its glory. It's pretty simple after that. Some of the lines don't make sense, but that's Rise Against for you. It all means something, but I gave you the main gist of it.

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