Lyrics Analysis

Muse - Uprising

The messages in ideologies interpreted from this song are very strong and can be interpreted in various different ways dependent on the audience, however the audience should see the bolder message, which is generally about government, tyranny and large corporations.

On the first line it demonstrates the idea of stress through the lyric “Paranoia is in bloom”, if we interpret this in relation to the government, tyranny and large corporations, it could be demonstrated that the people with open minds and generally people in the band of the middle and lower class are starting to see the truth behind all the government actions. People are starting to worry about their future do these actions; because in this world they is always going to be tyranny over the people who have less and they will always be looked down on because of that. The lower class people, which can be represented and compared to the bear just about to wake up is the “paranoia” in them waking up and realizing that something needs to be done. On the next line it says “the P-R transmissions will resume”  -- (P-R = public relations) trying to improve the public’s perception of the government; “the transmissions will resume” can be connoted to the propaganda and false perceptions on the government to try and create this fake persona to show them in a positive light to build this public relation. In the end it will just end in an uprising of the open-minded people who rise up against this or they believe the propaganda and they will become one of their minions.  After that it says, “They’ll try push drugs that keep us all dumbed down and hope that we will never see the truth around.” In this lyric the “drugs” are related to the propaganda and false perception that the media feeds us – so that we will be brainwashed and indoctrinated so that we don’t realize the truth behind what they are feeding us.  It’s all about tyranny. Finally “so come on” simply connotes to help us and join the open-minded people in their uprising.

“Another promise, another seed” – the government and large corporations are still promising things and not fulfilling these, which in a sense is a kind of hate message by the lead singer Matthew Bellamy; convincing us the true perception that he sees behind ours and other world leaders’ systems. This links into the uses and gratification theory distinction of surveillance as he is trying to warn us about the truth and trying to help us understand so that we can ensure the security of ourselves. “Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed”, can be connoted to benefits and stimulus packages; this shows how the government keeps their lies hiding, it kids and kind of mocks people that they still believe them. People aren’t going to rise up to a government who are giving them free money are they?  Then it says “and all the green belts wrapped around our minds”, these are tight belts that have been described as green to connote money – which could be shown as the upper class people, as they are still getting their large amounts of money so what have they got to complain at? Therefore keeping people narrow minded to see the truth.  Finally “and endless red tape to keep the truth confined” is obviously the tape to keep people from preaching these ideologies and restricting publicizing about the government. I really think this is an important lyric as when I watch tv documentaries about protesting about hate groups such as white and black power documentaries they get harassed and arrested due to the open and free views they have and this breaks the ideology of “freedom of speech”.

In the chorus “They will not force us, they will stop degrading us, they will not control us.” This can be connoted as the start of the uprising that the people are doing against the tyranny and large corporations. This shows resilience and liberation for these who are seeing the truth and the government start to realize they are not invincible and that the people have a voice and will not be took down easily. Eventually they will stop getting mocked by all these false promises and things getting taken off them and that they do not have complete control over them. On the last line it states “We will be victorious”  -- shows the real sense of liberation that the uprising has caused for the people and due to this liberation and unity the government do not have full control over them and one day they will win.

On the next verse it says, “Interchanging mind control” relates to new tactics and propaganda ideas that are trying to control you and act against the uprising, which links back to the chorus, “we will be victorious” and the government do not have full control over anyone. “Come let the revolution take its toll” – it is basically saying let the revolution happen because at the end it will be only you will benefit from it. “If you could flick a switch and open your third eye, you’d see that we should never be afraid to die” conveys the idea of a “third eye” that we have that can see the lies and the truths behind them as our two eyes that we always have are the eyes receiving the propaganda, but the third eye allows you to be open-minded about the world around you. This third eye can also see beyond the troubles and can see that freedom is at the end of this. Also that we shouldn’t have to fear death, because if we carry on living like this we may as well be dead, so something must be done to bring us back to life.

The next verse conveys the idea of rising up it states “rise up and take the power back” shows the ideas that one time in the past we had the power and freedom but that has all been took over by tyranny and greed.  “It’s time the fat cats had a heart attack” the fat cats connoting the wealthy people and large corporations are the roadblock for the resistance as they are still receiving and conforming to their propaganda and lies and they need to have this awakening to realize. The next line says “You know that their time’s coming to an end, We have to unify and watch our flag ascend”  -- portrays the idea of a falling government and soon it will be our time for our “flag to ascend” to the top to show full liberation and freedom that we have finally done the deed and being controlled is no longer a worry.