Styx: Mr. Roboto Meaning
Song Released: 1983
Mr. Roboto Lyrics
Mata ah-oo hima de
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Himitsu wo shiri tai
You're wondering who I am-machine or mannequin
With parts made in Japan, I am the modren man
I've got a secret I've been hiding under my...
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The album has the story in it. He's thanking the "Mr Roboto" because while in prison he escapes by overpowering one and taking it apart to make a disguise so he can leave without anyone noticing him. What I don't get is what is is meant by "I am the Maldron Man."
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I heard someone say that the singer in Styx (or his friend) was in a japanise prison. there were robot guards there called "Robotos" My guess is one of the other prisoners disguised himself as a "Roboto" and helped the singer escape. Therefore, he said "Domo origato, Mr. Roboto." Which i think means "Thank you very much, Mr Roboto." (also mentioned in the song.)
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This song does not refer to escaping the world by using computers and the internet, because that stuff was not available when this came out in the early 1980's!! Nobody had cell phones, or even cordless phones! I know- I was born in the 60's.
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From what I have gathered this song is about one of like 3 things, either a man who is part cyborg (ie: my brain IBM), a man who is captured and uses a robot dismantled to escape, or a man who uses a robot disguise in everyday life to help him escape from his past and/or hide from reality, perhaps a mix of all 3.
What is definitely fact, is at the end he says he is "Kilroy", a reference to the WWII cartoon character (the guy with the nose hanging over a fence peaking over?) that was graffiti-ed around the world, often in very obscure areas. It's said that Hitler thought Kilroy was an American spy because he would find the graffiti doodle in secret Nazi locations when in actuality it was already on certain items taken to those locations, making it appear otherwise. Which I think is why when he says he has a secret, etc, then reveals he's Kilroy, he's trying to say he's the secret spy; Kilroy. -
This song actually means lot of things:
-As 1°act of the rock-opera "Kilroy Was Here"(Styx,1983), Is show the start of the story, about being imprisoned and escape by a robot then finding hisfriend and revealing his identity as the "rock star Kilroy".
-But this song has lots of secret meaning, like know the men depends of the machine and almost need to survive. And "Machines Des-humanize" means that people who waste all day in MSN or MySpace actually lose their real lives. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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The Japanese at the beginning is roughly translated to "Thank you Mr Roboto because I had a secret and you helped me". Asides from that, it relatively falls under what Manco(??) had said. It's a semi apocalyptic future where morality is the only way and robots do most of the dirty work that humans don't wish to do.... Robots for cleaning, robots for this, robots for that. Kilroy was imprisoned after someone died at one of his concerts and he manages to overthrow one of the Robotos at the prison where he was and dismantles it; but this only after seeing a pirated tv message from an underground movement to bring back rock and roll. It's also about trying to break away from the control of others and moral stereotypes.
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The lyrical meaning of Mr. Roboto is multifarious. The lyrics: "My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain IBM" is a reference to the concept of man becoming machine: maintaining aspects of humanity yet his thoughts are governed by computers.
The mention of having a secret "under my skin" could be a reference to biometric technology that will someday allow everyday economic transactions to be made with an implanted bio-chip.
The singer thanks Mr. Roboto for "helping me escape when I needed to" and this is a reference to how computers and the Internet allow multitudes a fast "escape" from everyday reality by entering a fantasy zone.
The climax of the song when the singer "throws away this mask" and announces his true identify as "Kilroy" could be a reference to the tie-in between technology and people control. Kilroy could be a synonym for the government (i.e., the government has been controlling us all along with technology) or could refer to the coming Anti-Christ (this ties in with the earlier lyrics of the singer claiming he's "not a hero, not the savior -- forget what you know!"). -
Actually, this song is about a robot that speaks French. He is making a telephone call to his Robot stock broker consequently named "Mr. Roboto". He is thanking him for his great stock quotes. In Japanese. Which is weird, because his stock broker is German. I never really figured that part out. Moving on, anyways, sometimes when your in a jam, you sometimes find yourself wanting to be a robot. Or at least having some metal casing around your head for when you slam it into walls when you get home. At least that's how it works for me. Anyways, this guy wants to be a princess in an Irish castle for all of eternity, but his dad won't let him. He makes him try out for the football team. He can never really live up to his expectations, so he finally gives up and becomes a car salesmen. Thats what this song is really about. That and poultry.
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There is a good site that explains what the song is about. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_Was_Here_(album) and from there click on Mr. Roboto, and it will tell you.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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From what I understand, the character "Kilroy" is actually supposed to represent the late John Lennon. Like Kilroy, Lennon was also a massively popular rock star, who was often critisized by others for his lifestyle, controversy, and celebrity status. His influence on the youth of the 60's was certainly frightening to many parents, and political/ecclisiastical leaders. The lyric "Domo Aregato, Mr. Roboto." Represents the feelings and gratitude of Lennon's antagonists towards Yoko Ono for supposedly breaking up the Beatles. Yoko of course was Japanese herself, so naturally the gratitude is being expressed in her native tongue. When Kilroy (John) chooses to reveal his true identity, this represents his work as a solo artist, shedding the name of the Beatles and being able to fully express himself as a true artist.
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The idea behind this song is that...
everybody has their own "robot"; that is, everybody puts up their own wall to protect themselves from the real world, because they're a bit afraid to expose themselves to the world. That is what "Mr. Roboto" is-- he is a regular human that just has secrets that he wants to hide from the real world.. He is putting up this "mask".
It shows how protective the mask has been, and how everybody... well.. Has one, and everybody has their own way of protecting/secluding their true selves. -
Well, Kilroy Was Here was actually a concept album, and apparently the plot of the song was a rock star known as Kilroy was arrested for his music, and sent to a facility operated by robots. He then disguises himself as a robot and escapes.
Not my opinion, but I just wanted to state that... -
This part of the lyrics give away the song's meaning:
"Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the jobs that nobody wants to ...
The problem's plain to see: too much technology
Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize."
Basically, robots are exploited to do jobs humans don't want to do. Eventually, they are taking over the world. Perhaps the song has a more subtle meaning in that people are starting to act like robots: not complaining, not standing out, not having any real personality and generally becoming "dehumanized."
Erm, that is all.
CHOW! And don't touch the sushi.
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