What does Pardon Me mean?

Incubus: Pardon Me Meaning

Album cover for Pardon Me album cover
Get "Pardon Me" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Pardon Me Lyrics

A decade ago,
I never thought I would be,
at twenty-three, on the verge of
spontaneous combustion. -Woe-is-me.-
But I guess that it comes
with the territory,
An ominous landscape of
never-ending calamity.
I need you to hear,
I need...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Jan 3rd 2006 !⃝

    This song is about yearning for change. This person is in a bad situation or place in their life that they don't like, and decide to be "reborn", or change themselves. This song dwells on the idea of the phoenix, which rises from the ashes, stronger than it was before it combusted.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 16th 2005 !⃝

    Y'all are useless if you can't see that this song is CLEARLY about wishing to be a pheonix. He wishes he could be a pheonix because he is at that point and it seems as if there is nothing else left with life and he wishes he could just burst into flames and rise from the ashes and start all over again. The verses explain why he feels like that and the hook is him imagining to burst.

  3. anonymous
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    Feb 4th 2016 !⃝

    I think this song was written with River Phoenix in mind, from his persepective. When he died at 23, he was more than fed up with the hipocrisy of our world, especially America, who pays more attention to celebrities than to the problems of homelessness, hungry children and saving the earth, for just a few examples....not to mention the twisted media...and he pretty much spontenously combusted, metaphorically because of the way world is. Just an opinion.

  4. anonymous
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    Feb 22nd 2014 !⃝

    Could be about self-immolation.

  5. DBagg
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    Sep 9th 2011 !⃝

    Wow... no offense to anyone here but the idea of becoming a mythological bird was not on Brandon's mind when he wrote this song. It was when he was feeling the pressures from his record label about finishing the album and as well going through a very intense struggle with a close childhood friend; hence the line "had enough of the world and its people's mindless games." Along with reading an article about a person literally spontaneously combusting into flames, he used these reasons to write a very powerful and influencial song.

  6. anonymous
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    Jun 14th 2011 !⃝

    Has anyone ever heard of self combustion?? Look it up, it is very controversial but Think about it " i had look in a book and i saw a guy fried above his knee". Everyone takes lyrics how they relate to them, but in this case I believe the writer had that in mind...

  7. anonymous
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    Dec 30th 2010 !⃝

    It has to do with change in a love life I think! Lots of different things... Like life in general but love too.

    Well yeah it's about change, the person desires change, they want things that probably seem fake and plastic now but once meant something, to mean something again, and one of the ways to do that is just to start over. They're sick of faking being happy, they kinda think morbidly like the butterflies part. They don't fly they just die now. Like she/he doesn't focus on the good things (them flying around) and only them dying. And They're just unhappy with life, and the person they're with, or someone in their life is really not helping. Maybe they're the ones who are sucking the life out of a vulnerable person already. And I don't think this song has much to do with the phoenix idea, it's just them stating that that other person is tearing them apart. Not to tear them apart. They're probably asking them to tell them something sincere <:U. "Mean it truly, sincere heart, why do you do this to me? Tear me apart..." I feel like this lol!

  8. anonymous
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    Dec 13th 2010 !⃝

    Song is bout cannabis and how useless we become if we drag ourselves to this fake world.

  9. anonymous
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    Dec 7th 2010 !⃝

    rough translation:"burdens of this world...ive had enough of the world and its peoples mindless games" i never thought the world would come to this point where people are so stupid and do pointless, mean things."pardon me while i burn and rise above the flames. pardon me, pardon me...i'll never be the same" excuse me for being smarter than all of you and letting it all go because i cant take it anymore and i am never coming back to this life. its about rising above.

  10. anonymous
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    Dec 7th 2010 !⃝

    all of you people on here saying Pheonixes have nothing to do with this song are wring beacause a Pheonix is a bird that bursts into flames when it gets to old and then is reborn again from the ashes. Just like in the song he IS tired of the world and all thethings he's been through and probably feels really old and so he wants to start over again and forget all the mistakes. the Pheonix is a metaphor, so don't judge unless you know what other people are saying.

  11. anonymous
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    Dec 7th 2010 !⃝

    When i hear this song I think he's telling us that we won't really realize what we have turned the world into until it's complete chaos and when it says 'pardon me while burst into flames' it's saying sorry but i cannot take it anymore and I can't take the stupid things people do. He's letting it all go. soo pardon me while I burst. i've had enough also and i am ready to change myself so maybe the world will listen to the few people who know...

  12. anonymous
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    May 1st 2010 !⃝

    I was listening to the radio and the DJ specifically said "the only song about farting in front of a girl" I doubt this is the real meaning, but I found it funny.

  13. anonymous
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    Mar 25th 2010 !⃝

    Wait I take it back. I agree with the other anonymous that the phoenix thing is STUPID! He's had enough and he's about to explode.

  14. anonymous
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    Mar 25th 2010 !⃝

    I don't think this song is about a pheonix or whatever. It could be but i think it's about him putting up with all the crap people do. when he says he wants to burst into flames,maybe death is more welcoming. Maybe the pheonix thing is apart of it.

  15. anonymous
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    Oct 31st 2009 !⃝

    I'm sorry, but a PHEONIX sounds completely useless as a explanation to such a song. "i've had enough of this world and it's people's mindless games". How can you hear that line and say its not because of the society we live in, he talks about exploding, he cant take it anymore society is upsidedown and people do things the other way around, he is tired of all this things and he wants to burst. Like actually burst, NOT BECOMING A STUUPIT PHEONIX.

  16. Meplusyou23
    click a star to vote
    Feb 11th 2009 !⃝

    Once in a live version of the song I heard Brandon say ths song is about transidence.(if I spelled that right). So basically imagine yourself going through life doing nothing and living just to live and your tired and fed up and BORED with life. You just want to escape you want to be free from your prison of a body you want to release every feeling you've ever had and you do by simply bursting into flame. Pardon me(:

  17. anonymous
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    Feb 10th 2009 !⃝

    I kinda thought this song was about how the world judges you when you are having problems in life, especially celebrites...Like the part about seeing the guy fried in the book, people always notice what's going on in your life but like to make judgements about it, so he's frustrated and saying "pardon me if I'm not doing so well right now."

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