Smashing Pumpkins: Disarm Meaning

Disarm Lyrics

Disarm you with a smile
And cut you like you want me to
Cut that little child
Inside of me and such a part of you
Ooh, the years burn

I used to be a little boy
So old in my shoes
And what i choose is my choice
What's a boy supposed to...

1. sophie

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   Jan 8th 2009 !⃝

   "Disarm you with a smile. And cut you like you want me to.
   Cut that little child. Inside of me and such a part of you.
   Ooh, the years burn."
   
   "Disarm you with a smile." means the child attempted to convert the father's attitude by smiling and doing good. "Cut you like you want me to" means to agree with the father's opinion. "Killer in me is the killer in you" means that it is expected that the child agree with the father's opinion and carry out his expectations.
   
   "Disarm" means to change the child's outlook. "Cut you like you want me to" means to convert the child's viewpoint to the father's distorted outlook. "Inside of me" means you are just like him [the father]. "Ohh, the years burn" signifies the years of pain suffered by the child from the father's distorted expectations.
   
   "What's a boy supposed to do"? means that it is ultimately up to the individual to decipher right from wrong.
   
   I too have come from an abusive background and can relate to this song. However, I understand that I should not play the victim role. I should treasure and appreciate the family that care about me.
2. kaserb1

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   Aug 29th 2008 !⃝

   Well I was thinking a the same things as a few of you. His childhood was not the best one if you have been abused I'm sure you look at things a lot different. When he says 'a killer in me is a killer in you' he is saying he will pass is anger to his kid so on and so forth.but he tells him not to fear cause when he says 'a killer in me is no killer in you' he wants to give the boy a good childhood, and not what he had to go through. This is one of my favorite songs lol this is what I put together out of it. Thanks for reading[=
3. PFVera

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   May 24th 2008 !⃝

   D'Arcy once said that this song was about actually sawing off legs and arms with a smile. Hence, Saw you with a smile. They actually got banned from the BBC Sessions because of this songs in 1994.

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

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   Mar 21st 2008 !⃝

   The song also mirrors drug addiction. I'm not saying that this is what ita about but it can be interpreted as the experience of being addicted. I also agree that their are links to childhood stuff in there as well
5. anonymous

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   Dec 16th 2007 !⃝

   My sister thought this song was about abortion also. But I can totally feel a father son relationship in it. But then again, who really knows?
   
   Today's been a bad day, and this song popped up in my head. Too bad I couldn't really listen to it though.....

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

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   Nov 20th 2007 !⃝

   I think the song is about whales. I mean, killing and all that. And now the Japanese are going to hunt whales again.
7. anonymous

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   Oct 2nd 2007 !⃝

   I am not saying anyone is wrong. Interpretations are how people perceive them. I felt that this song was about homosexuality. Certainly not thinking of the lead singer and this being his story. I was thinking more along the lines that maybe his brother or a close friend was homosexual. "And leave you like they left me here/To wither in denial[3]", this seems very much like it has to do with homosexuality. I could be wrong, who knows except the song writer.

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

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   Aug 23rd 2007 !⃝

   Yeah the song is about Billy's childhood and how much he hated and wanted to kill his parents. He said so once in an interview.
   
   I only heard this song on Radio one the other night and it took me ages to go through all the lyric sites trying to match the lyrics up.
   
   One of my favourites though.
   
   The Smashing Pumpkins are one of the best bands. :D:D
9. anonymous

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   Jul 19th 2007 !⃝

   Ok..the person who pretended to be Billy is a weird...I definitely think the lyrics have to do with a difficult childhood and he was forced to be an adult at a young age...

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

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    Jul 17th 2007 !⃝

    I could see why this song is about abortion...but it's not. It's about Billy's childhood, Billy Corgan said so himself. Billy's parents divorced, and then he lived with his dad and an abusive stepmother.
    
    I love this song.
11. anonymous

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    Mar 4th 2007 !⃝

    Sorry to say you are all incorrect for why I wrote this song."Disarm" is about the time period when I become an asshole.
    
    All the best,
    Billy

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. music_freak18

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    Apr 25th 2006 !⃝

    I think this song is about Billy's childhood, especially about the relationship he had with his father.
    
    The phrase "[...] cut you like you want me to cut that little child inside of me [...]" probably means that Billy was forced to act like an adult very early in his life.
    
    He's been left alone mentally ("leave you like they left me here").
    
    He was still a child ("I used to be little boy") but – like I wrote before – was forced to think like an adult too early, so he never had a 'real' childhood. He didn't know what to do, how to act ("What's a boy supposed to do").
    
    When I look at the lyrics, this song reminds me very much of Linkin Park's "Numb".
13. dennis

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    Jan 28th 2006 !⃝

    It's about Billy's relationship with his parents growing up. That is what he said publicly. He had a rough childhood and that's the true blue meaning of disarm.
14. anonymous

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    Oct 17th 2005 !⃝

    This song is definitely not about abortion. It's about his abusive childhood, and going back to that part of his life. He's talked about it himself.
    
    It's about trying to kill the pain brought about by his parents (especially his father since he abused him) when he was a boy.
    
    "Cut that little child, inside of me and such a part of you" is his way of saying that he is very much his father... and mother I am assuming. We all are what we're influenced to be, to an extent. "The killer in me is the killer in you." Having an abusive father would have to be a terrible thing.
15. anonymous

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    Jul 6th 2005 !⃝

    The words: "cut you like they want me to cut that little child," make people think that this song is about abortion.
    
    "A killer in me is a killer in you," this line is what makes me think it's about a couple deciding whether or not to abort their child.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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