System of a Down: Chop Suey Meaning
Song Released: 2001
Chop Suey Lyrics
We're Rolling Suicide
Wake up(wake up)
Grab a brush and put a little makeup
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup
Why’d you leave the keys upon the table?
Here you go create another fable
You wanted to
Grab a brush...
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The beginning of the song seems to be about a woman suffering rape trauma. For the record, I'm a guy, but it's the only thing that fits imo. There are just too many feminine references. "Why'd you leave the keys on the table?" sounds like why'd you leave the door open or something like that. This is the guy talking, arguing that she meant to forget her keys. "You wanted to!" "You wanted to!" over and over... She wakes up everyday with this pain - covering the scars. The fables are her lies that it was rape. It's a horrible situation. This woman did nothing wrong - so she's an angel, but for whatever reason, her fate is suffer this pain and decide to commit suicide.
The rest of the song, I think, is about Jesus and how his death relates to other suicides such as this one. Whereas she is an angel, he is considered the angel, hence the significance. "I don't think you trust in my self-righteous suicide" seems like Jesus talking to those who are observing this woman's choice to kill herself. "I cry when angels deserve to die," could be Jesus or the writer. Jesus cries out "Father!" 8 times later in the song, and a band-member is supposedly quoted as saying he recognizes he cries when angels deserve to die, but maybe not if a drug user brings it on himself.
I think the argument is that if Jesus can commit suicide and have a world following, then this poor woman can too if she so chooses. Also, at the end the question is asked: Why cry about suicides? That is to say that if Jesus willfully went to his death, and we all are going to our deaths, why cry about it?
The original name of the song was Suicide, but it was changed to Chop Suey for social reasons (see wiki). -
Truth is you can make a sequence of dark lofty sentences that are at least remotely related and people will connect them somehow.
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Wow all these interpretations dig way too deep its about abuse and why people lie and dont trust anyone with their. problems. As for the father part its the abused asking why they out of all people must be forsaken to endure things like that. When angels deserve to die is saying basically if you wont trust me I cant help you.
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i can agree with the part of him hiding the shake up, but leaving the keys on the table says its his decision to hide his emotions. he hides his problems because he chooses to. Simple as just setting keys on the table. Thats how he wants to deal with life. setting the keys on the table is so easy as hiding his troubles in without asking for help, then it becomes unbearable.
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Armanian genocide by the Turks? Is that what your grandparents tell you? These are completely false accusations! Read a credible history book guys. Most of the Armenians that went missing actually migrated to other war free countires. They escaped war, they were NOT murdered. It's crazy how "missing" becomes "genocide" by the Turks.
The song is clearly about God. -
As many have said before, this song is about someone who chose to end his/her life because he couldn't make it anymore. The first lines are about him hiding his "scars to fade away the shake-ups", trying to cover his/her problems in front of the people. The line "Why'd you leave the keys upon the table" means that he doesn't want to come back home and that he would go to kill himself, hence why he would leave them: because he doesn't need them. In the line "I don't think you trust in my self-righteous suicide" he's talking to his parents/friends, saying that he knows they won't acknowledge his choice, saying that his choice is self-righteous, because he will make them suffer, and because suicide is an anti-christian behavior God disapproves of...
So maybe he's talking to God himself, saying that even though it's prohibited to take your own life he does it anyway, self-righteously, because he can't take it anymore and wants to end this.
The rest of the lines follow up with this explanation, especially the line "I cry when angels deserve to die", meaning that he (the angel, a very fragile being) is obliged to kill himself because he can't manage to live in this world like everyone else. -
"Wake Up"
- Alert or soundoff intending saying something alarming just happened.
"Grab a brush and put a little makeup" - Make being used as a cover up
" Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup"- - what is being covered up? the alarming thing that just happened.
"Whyd you leave the keys upon the table"
- oops they left something behind
"Here you go create another fable"
- now its time to make up a story
("You wanted to")
- not really an accident, it was planned
*(Note-it would be convenient if this song were written after 9/11, then this the following interpretation would make more sense)
"I don't think you trust in my self rightous suicide"
The only suicide that could be viewed as self rightous would most likely be a suicide bombing. Is there any reason not to view this as a suicide bombing? Hmmm.
" I cry when angels deserve to die"
Angels symbolize the light side of the spectrum with demons at the dark side. so when would an angel deserve to die when in reality who we thought was the good or light side of things really are the ones who deserve to die.
* but this song was written months before so irrelevant then
" why dont you trust in my self righteous suicide"
an angel in many cultures is viewed as a human's guide to heaven. and an angel deserves to die or perish when it enforces the idea that a self rightous suicide will get you to heaven, ( at least in the eyes of the extremist suicide bomber) ....
so really the angel is used to represent the ideology behind the suicide bombings.
and what feeds this ideology is the desperation for God's love, explaining th bit on being forsaken by the "Father".
This is what I got of it, although the song is really meant to be taken in endless ways. -
First, many of the System of a Down songs portray there to be multiple sides of a person who struggles to control them all. In Chop Suey, the almost whisper represents the side that continues to push the main personality to end his life.
"Wake up!"- many people with DID (dissociative identity disorder) have been through a strong turmoil such as abuse, so many of these people have a 'protector' personality that takes the pain. His main personality takes consciousness after a beating.
"Grab a brush and put on some make up"- people want control over their lives and having bruises and scars from an abusive parent shows a lack of control. The only control the person has is to hide the scars.
I'll skip to the Father part for now. Many people who have experienced abuse feel as if the are worthless and all they see from their abuser is hate. They feel condemned and forsaken by this person and inevitably find themselves asking why.
"Why'd you leave the keys on the table?" In this line, I don't believe the person to be speaking to the father, but to whichever personality keeps pushing for suicide. Cars are very to use for suicide. CO poisoning, driving off a cliff, etcetera. The main doesn't fully want suicide, but the part that does keeps trying to persuade the person.
"Self-righteous suicide"-"I cry when angels deserve to die"- When driven to the point of suicidal thoughts, the only way a person can commit to it is through justifying it; 'It is right for me to die because I have done nothing to deserve such brutality. In my eyes, I am an angel who has been cut down and used for the vicious play of a monster.' This justification build throughout the song, from the whispers of the person's alternate personality, to the beatings from the father, the person built their self-righteous justification. -
The song "Chop Suey" is really about how this person is going through a hard time about how he fought with some one not to long ago. The part "When angles deserver to DiE!!!" is like when some one found out about the scars on his/her body. They (System of a Down) mainly talks about in their songs is about;
a:The Government
b:About drugs or something else that I don't know
Really the true meaning lays with Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian...Just telling you that. -
I once heard that this was about his gay brother who killed himself because their father was ashamed of the fact that he was gay and tried everything that he cud to make him straight. When that failed, I think he pretty much disowned him and his brother cudnt take it so he killed himself.
His brothers suicide is also the inspiration for lonely day (I think) -
Soad did not actually write the song. A priest (or something like that) made it as a poem. Soad just put the music in it. Probably the priest talks about Jesus. I'm not sure what religion soad have, or what religion you guys have, but it's differen to interpretate for everybody. That's what makes this song just so awesome!
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This is a very spiritual song. we attempt to hide our sin/wrong doing by cleaning the outside of the cup, "make up, brushing hair" is doing that very thing.
Keys on the table is a take from scripture where the keys of the kingdom are given to the disciples, which is essentially, a hebrew traditional way of saying I give you authority to interpret scripture, hence the create a fable part.
Jesus was righteous, yet he died a sinners death under His own free will, He laid His life down. therefore a self-righteous sort of suicide. angels deserving to die are the fallen angels that really deserve the punishment that Jesus took, because they are the reason man fell in the beginning.
God had to turn His back on Jesus on the cross because He can not look upon sin, which Jesus became for us to be the one sacrifice for all man, for all time. Which is why he cried those words on the cross. -
I think it's about a boy yelling for his father to forgive him:
'Father into our hands
Why have you forsaken me
In your eyes forsaken me
In your thoughts forsaken me
In your heart forsaken me'
And how bad he feels about his father not forgiving him -
Daron says: "(Chop Suey) is about how people view death. For example, if I died of a drug overdose everyone would say I deserved to die because I took drugs.
So this song is talkin about two different deaths.
First a person whos been goin through something bad. They try to hide it by putting on makeup and hiding the scars. They leave the keys on the table to say they aint coming back. So did they deserve to die because they had a rough life?
Secound deth is Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, Hince the bible versus. So did Jesus deserve to die because he had to for our sins?
Both people are talkin at the end. But they both have diferent resons why the had to do it. And its sad that it had to be done.
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The beginning of the song is yes about abuse. it does not specify the type of abuse tho. it could be the abuse life gives or some sort of significant other. leaving the keys on the table, you forget alot of things when your mind is focused on other places. the whole father thing is almost a direct quote from the bible. possibly hes comparing his pain to that of jesus and like jesus did he wants answers. you guys are looking too deep or not deep enough into the lyrics
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