I agree. There is a paradox here. Who is living? Who is dying? To experience something vicariously is not a real experience. Its as if they were there taking part, but in reality are not at all. In reality, he stares like a zombie and a junkie into a T.V.. Zombies and junkies are lifeless and soulless creatures that have checked out of reality. To live vicariously through watching something die is a paradox. What is actually happening is the opposite. He dies while the whole world lives.
"Don't look at me like I am a monster."
That is to say, don't see me for what I truly am. Monster: An imaginary creature that combines various animal or human forms having a frightening appearance. Hmm...consider "Part vampire--part warrior--carnivore--and voyeur." Frankenstein comes to mind, but in Mary Shelley's book the creature is only reffered to as "the monster." Is this line a defensive reaction to having been percieved accurately?
Any life he has, albeit a vicarious one, is because of one thing, T.V. So, I don't think "Eye on the T.V." makes as much sense as "I owe the T.V." He owes his life to the T.V.. Wthout it, he dies.

"Credulous that bestial desire..."

Makes a lot more sense...any takers?

That does work, but, would believing angles in the hearts of men be a bestial desire? Believing in the good in people is a basic desire?

I think he just sings "Credulous at" with a 't' on the end of 'credulous' so he can get his tongue around the 'at' as there's no hard consonant sound in an s.

the lyrics start off with: "Eye on the TV"...so simple to decipher seeing as the next line is very clearly "cuz tragedy thrills me"
so the speaker's eye is stuck to the TV because he/she is thrilled by tragedy
the speaker does not "own" the TV because tragedy thrills him/her...that just doesn't make any sense...and neither does anything else except "eye on the TV"

Ive always thort it was either

"I own a TV"

or

"Eye on the TV"

i prfer the second

"I owe the T.V."

To what does he owe the T.V.? His life. A dying creature who lives vicariously through tragedy on T.V.

Paradox. Why must he live vicariously through anything unless he is already dying or dead?
Zombie, junkie, monster, vampire. What are these but soulless, lifeless, and imaginary creatures? All lack an element of reality.

"Eye on the T.V." or "I own the T.V." just don't sit well with me. It most definately sounds like "I own the T.V." but what is the significance of "own?" "Eye" might be correct, but then what is the significance of "eye"? He refers to himself in the first oerson throughout the song, so it seems he would begin that way.

"I owe the T.V."
Vicariously living through television while actually dying.
Paradox

What the Hell?

I'll just repeat what I posted earlier shall I?

Fucking Hell, how anyone can think "I own the TV because tragedy thrills me." doesn't make sense is insane to me.

that makes perfect since, its sayin that the only reason why you own your tv is because you love to see tragedy

Thankyou for the support mate, sometimes it feels as though banging my head against a brick wall would be more productive.

your welcome

One of the definitions of bestial:

- lacking intelligence or reason (webster)

So in that light "credulous that bestial desire" works perfectly

I also like "credulist at best your desire"

It's one or the other.

Credulist isn't a word.

Having listened to the song, I can't hear "bestial", it's "best your".

I'm still in the "credulous at best your desire to believe in..." camp.

'Drawn by grave and ground'
Don't want to breath in now?

Sorry if this was mentioned before, but I think we're taking the "Why can't we just admit it" X 2 for granted...I hear him just saying "why can't we just admit" the second time, without the "it." In addition, it's

-more interesting with the variation, and the final note in the melody sounds better as 1 syllable than 2 (1 versus 2 notes)
-it forms a complete sentence with the line after it..."Why can't we just admit we won't give pause until the blood is flowing?"

Anyone else hear that?

i'm happy enough with "stare at the transmittal," but i recon the next bit is...

synched to the death rattle

any thoughts???

already brought up, but it makes the most sense to me

as does "I AM the TV" --- I know people are like "wtf, there's an "N" sound when he sings it" but it makes the most sense and it's not that hard to contort your mouth when singing with the beat (as Maynard does... I happen to think he contorts his mouth to mispronounce "AM" in order to do this).

That doesn't make sense at all.

Why are people so confounded by "I own the TV because tragedy thrills me"?

It makes obvious, perfect sense!

though i don't understand the reason why he would make AM sound like OWN, i still think it sounds more like AM....and "own" makes sense, but i just think "am" fits the song better....

Ok first off, "I am the tv" does make sense to a point, but then the lyrics "cause tragedy thrills me" doesn't make as much sense following and together with that line. It would be like hes saying he's speaking from the TV's point of view. I think thats a bit far fetched.

Next "I own the TV, because tragedy thrills me" makes sense too..but kinds sounds stupid to me even though it does make sense followed by the rest of the lyrics.

Now I personally have listened to the live versions as they're all a bit different sounding than the original studio verson and it sounds more to me like:

I on the TV where it would make sense that he's actually saying "Eye on the TV" which obviously means he's watching the TV, because tragedy thrills him...and I hear pretty clearly, especially on the seattle live version him saying that. I also get a mental image of someone sitting in a room stariing at the tv watching the news or whatever seeing all of the tragedies in life being reported on.

So since that makes the most sense to me and it's what I hear pretty clearly, that's what I'm going with until the offical lyrics either confirm it or tell me otherwise.

Eye on the TV, 'Cuz tragedy thrills me,
Whatever flavor, it happens to be, like
Killed by the husband, drowned by the ocean,
shot by his own son, she used a poison
In his tea, kissed him goodbye
That's my kinda story
It's no fun 'till someone dies

Don't look at me like I am a monster
Frown out your one face but with the other
stare like a junkie into the tv
stare like a zombie
while the mother holds her child
watches him die hands to the sky crying, why oh why
Cuz I need to watch things die, from a distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
you all need it too don't lie

Why can't we just admit it? x2
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
neither the brave nor bold will write us the stories so
we won't give pause until the blood is flowing

I need to watch things die, from a good safe distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same so, why can't we just admit it?

Blood like rain come down, drum on grave and ground

part vampire part warrior carnivore and voyeur

stare at the transmittal, sing to the death rattle

la la la la la la la lie x4

Credulous at best, your desire to believe in angels in the hearts of men
pull your head on out, you hippies and give a listen
shouldn't have to say it all again
the universe is hostile, so impersonal
devour to survive so it is, so it's always been

We all feed on tragedy, it's like blood to a vampire

Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I

so, what was different about this post than any other that has "all the lyrics"?

note: it ABSOLUTELY can't be "you hippies, and" --- too many different syllables

I have to agree with Intolerance. It could easily be "you hippies, and." He just says "hippies" very quietly so it's hard to make out both syllables. It would make sense as well being that hippies are all about love and peace and the song is claiming that everyone loves death and violence, but just won't admit it.

CLARIFICATION: there are too many syllables in the SONG (not in Intolerance's "lyrics") for the only words to be "you hippies"...

something more like HAP-PY HAZE AND (4) instead of HIP-PIES AND (3)

just doesn't seem plausible

I'm hearing 4 distinct syllables too, and after reading "HAP PY HAZE AND" I'm having trouble hearing anything else =(

I thought it was 'pull your head up out your ass'

syllable thing again.



and, personally, I doubt he'd use the same EXACT figure of speech twice on the same CD (THE POT: "foot in mouth and head up ass").

Yeah, my bad, should have listened to it while I was typing, it's not right...

pull your head on out, you hippies and give a listen -> that's it.

pull your head on out, you HI-PPIE-EEs and give a listen...

it's just an elongated "hippies"....

Sounds like "happy haze" and give a listen... it works just as well if not better than "hippies". I don't get where you guys here an "i" sound when it's clearly an "a" sound as in "happy" and you can actually hear both words "happy" and "haze".

It's just like with Jambi and the whole dim my eyes debate. How they can hear an "a" sound as in "Damn" when it's so clearly an "i" sound, is just beyond me. It's clearly Dim my eyes x3...at least to me! :)

Question - "What is being said in the background of Vicarious starting at 5 minutes?"

It sounds like an excerpt from a TV show, maybe a News Broadcast or something...

So again my question:

"What is this embedded message telling us?"

If any of you have sound editing equipment, can you check that out and let us know!?

-Furthur speculation, before my this answer surfaces:

"Why do YOU think this message was NOT made loud enough to hear? Is it politically charged? Whats YOUR take?"

Personally, my mind is making up all sorts of stuff... and I suppose that is why it is there... maybe some answers are best left UNANSWERED.

YOU be the judge.

Thanks.

"Blood like rain come down, drum on grave and ground

part vampire part warrior carnivore and voyeur

stare at the transmittal, sing to the ***death rattle***"

I don'T know if I agree with the rest of this, but for sure I'm hearing ***death bed*** at the end.

The reason why I submitted this claim is because at the end of the first sylable "Rat" (heard "Rad") of the supposed word "rattle" there is another sound imposed upon the lyrics in form of an echo louder and more imposing than the rest (As-if the echo's louder than the actual spoken word or, as-if, the echo completes the word without it being said).

In any case, "sing to the death rattle" seems to fit nicely with the lalalalala, however I would submit for your rejection "seek to the death bed".

Ya, I vote for "Happy Haze"... its pretty clear compared with any referance to hippies.

"Hippie haze" makes way more sense. One of the main slogans for the hippies was, "Peace and Love."

"Credulous ,at best, is your desire to believe in angels in the hearts of men" fits with that perfectly.

I think this whole part is sarcastic. Especially with "Devour to survive, so it is, so it's always been."

It's just taht "you hippie haze and give a listen" doesn't make sense...

It's like in Parabola where he shouts "Alive!!!", I remember reading the lyrics, and it said "Alive I", but to me MJK just shouts "Aliiii-iiiveee"...

:|

Modified some other version.

I own the tv (I'm positive this is what he says)
‘Cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor
It happens to be

Like “killed by the husband”
“Drown by the ocean”
“Shot by his own son”
“She used the poison in his tea
To kiss him goodbye”
That’s my kind of story
It’s no fun till someone dies

Don’t look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
but with the other
Stare like a junkie
into the tv
Stare like a zombie
allwhile the mother holds her child
She watches him die
Hands to the sky crying “why oh why?”

‘Cause I need to watch things die from a distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all need it too
Don’t lie

Why can’t we just admit it
Why can’t we just admit it
We won’t give pause until the blood is flowing
Neither the brave nor the bold will write us the stories told
We won’t give pause until the blood is flowing

and I need to watch things die from a good safe distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same so why can’t you just admit it

Blood like rain come down
Drown the grave and ground

Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore
And voyeur………
Still have the transmitter synced to the death rattle

la la la la la la la-llie X4

Credulous at best
is your desire to believe in
angels in the hearts of men
pull your head on out your happy haze and give a listen
shouldn’t have to say it all again

the universe is hostile, so impersonal
devour to survive -- so it is
so it’s always been

We all feed on tragedy
It’s like blood to a vampire

Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I

There ya have it.

It's the same as other ones, just another count for that set of lyrics.

"pull your head on out your happy haze and give a listen"

Definitely agree here. This line has been bothering me for months now. Thank you for clearing it up for me.

"I own the tv"

Have to disagree here. It just doesn't make sense. Why does the thrill he gets from tragedy make him "own" the tv? I have to stick with "Eye on the tv" here. That makes perfect sense.

Doesn't MJK always make sarcastic jokes about hippies at shows?

so i've read. hippies, not hippie haze... the former bugs me...