System of a Down: Hypnotize Meaning

Song Released: 2005

Hypnotize Lyrics

Why don't you ask the kids at Tiananmen Square? Was fashion the reason why they were there?
They disguise it, hypnotize it,
Television made you buy it.

I'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my--

She's scared that I will take her away...

1. bubblegum

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   May 26th 2006 !⃝

   Why don't you ask the kids at Tiannamen Square
   Was fashion the reason why they were there?
   
   This refers to the Tiannamen Square incident of 1989 and how China really didn't want to the world to know the truth about what happened.
   
   They disguise it Hypnotize it Television made you buy it
   
   This refers to how Mass Media can control pop culture and tell Americans what they want to beleive, wheather or not its ture. Also refers to how ad's on television tells Americans what to buy.
   
   She's scared that I will Take her away from their
   Dreams that her country Left with no one there
   
   The girl he is refering to is afraid he's becoming so disenlusioned about America he's willing to leave the country and give up his american citizenship. And she's afraid he'll try to convince her to go with him.
   
   Mesmerize the simple minded propaganda Leaves us blinded
   
   This refers to how the goverenment tells us what we should beleive about things and how they try to hide from the American public from the truth about what they are really doing. And for some people who can't see beyond the lies of the governmeant believe what they are told.
   
   I'm just sitting in my car And waiting for my girl.
   
   This refers to the fact that despite the mass media influance and the goverment scandels and lies, americans try to go on about their daily lives
2. croce

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   May 24th 2006 !⃝

   It's obvious this song's about how the government puts messages into TV and songs and you don't know about it.

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

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   Mar 22nd 2006 !⃝

   Yeah, I suspect the song is about the neglect of Americans to stand up to thier goverment like the kids at tienimen square did in 1989.
   
   As for the "in my car waiting for my girl", Daron stated in an interview that he was doing just that when he was writing the song, couldn't think of a chorus, and just wrote it down.
   
   don't get me wrong...I LOVE SOAD. But not all of Systems lyrics are as deep as you think. Many of them are inside jokes, nonsense, or quirky improvisation like this one.
4. anonymous

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   Mar 2nd 2006 !⃝

   I'm pretty sure that this song refers to how everyone's opinions seem to be based upon what is popular at the moment. It's a reference to how it is rebellious to follow the crowd nowadays.
5. anonymous

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   Feb 28th 2006 !⃝

   Massacre to be more correct.
6. anonymous

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   Feb 27th 2006 !⃝

   Clearly the song draws a parallel between the Tiananmen square incident and the oppression there and the Bush administration.
   
   Otherwise they would have made this song much sooner, and not at the same time as songs like BYOB and BOOM.
   
   The funny thing is that the tank guy fought against communism, El Commandante fought for it.

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

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   Feb 11th 2006 !⃝

   ummmm yeah the tianamen sqaure thing is right but it was a mass ASSASINATION not a mass suicide.......Just to clear that up
8. anonymous

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   Jan 12th 2006 !⃝

   I believe the previous interpretations addressing Tiananmen square are correct. I think that when they are talking about propaganda they are either discussing the fact media coverage was limited or else the fact that a lot of soldiers brought in were told that the students would tell them propaganda. Also mentioning television made you buy it might refer to the fact that many interpreted that the students were fighting for a capitalist governement. Anyway, it is interesting to think about. The link below has a lot of information and links to other great sites. Gotta love Wikipedia.
   
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
9. anonymous

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   Dec 18th 2005 !⃝

   this song really is about the incidents in china between April and June of 1989. The root of the song stands on the fact that the government is too invasive as for the liberties of the population. In fact, the whole communist government of china, back in 89' was very strict and didn't permit any evasion from the traditional thoughts (propaganda). The fact that he says : ''was fashion the reason why they were there'', stands for the fact that even the clothes were regulated as acceptable or not. Overall, chinese students, researchers, liberals etc., were emprisonned and the students demanded their release ... which ended in months of battle.
   
   he waits in his car for his girl that will never come back because she died at the battles against authority. when he says : "she is scared that I will take her away from their (....) " he refers to the fact that his girl, a member of the student federation pro-liberation out fighting ...
   
   i find it very profound at the last instants of the song how the drum beats get faster and louder as he says "i'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my girl" ... and at the very end, it all slows down to one last breath
10. anonymous

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    Nov 29th 2005 !⃝

    I reckon this song is all about the government and the media's use of propaganda to manipulate the public's perception. The example they give is of the student protests in Tiananmen Square being represented in the media now as having a kind of kitsch value. The image of the young man standing up to the military tank is one of the best known in the world but is very rarely associated with the contemporary issues it should represent (the abuse of power by the authoritarian Chinese communist government of the time) and is far more frequently associated with fashionable concepts. In much the same way, Che Guevara's image is sported by students across the globe, the majority of whom I would guess have no idea what he actually did.
    
    As for the girl in the car, who knows? While we can be sure that "Propaganda leaves us blinded", what is the correlation with the man waiting for his girl. Perhaps he wants to explain the manipulation of her attitude by the government but "She's scared that I will take her away from there", there being her position of ignorance. It is true that sometimes ignorance is bliss and some people do not want to know how bad their government actually can be. "Her dreams and her country left with no one there", there's no one there because the country that she believes in doesn't exist, it's a product of propaganda.
11. anonymous

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    Nov 26th 2005 !⃝

    I think that this song is about the American people neglecting to stand up against the American government, ruling the country by blinding and brainwashing its population with ‘propaganda’ to cover all of its fraud. ‘The kids at Tiananmen Square’ was the Chinese student’s demonstration in 1989, which ended up as being a
    massacre. It was against the Chinese Government’s violent treatment of its population and the censored freedom of speech, which SOAD sadly admits is conspicuously maintained in America this day as well. ... Regretfully the Americans are just innocently ‘sitting in their cars and waiting for their girls’
12. anonymous

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    Nov 20th 2005 !⃝

    the song 'hypnotize' refers to the 1989 self-immolation at tiananmen square. The chorus goes, 'i'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my girl.' his girl is at the tiananmen protest and he's waiting for her, but she's not coming because she was part of the mass suicide.
    in the verses, 'Why don't you ask the kids at Tiananmen square?
    Was Fashion the reason why they were there?' refers to 1) the square where the burning took place, and 2) fashion being a major factor in the burnings. a communist official was fired previous to the incident, for wearing blue jeans, jeans being what the 'revolutionary apparel,' like the rock music and american tendencies of the chinese youths. mao-jackets were what all citizens were forced to wear, and jeans were in conflict with the law.
    'She's scared that I will take her away from there
    Dreams that her country left with no one there' here he talks about trying to talk his girl out of killing protesting previously.
    daron's verses are based on the hypnotizing mentality of the then-communist government, the reason for protesting.
    
    awesome song, hope this helps.

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