What does Blackbirds mean?

Linkin Park: Blackbirds Meaning

Album cover for Blackbirds album cover

Blackbirds Lyrics

Drop that
get up
Take to the streets
better lock that kid up
Face full of teeth when he hock that spit up
Pacing the beat like a beast
Rocking the block on repeat
Speak from the cut like a rush of blood
Paint red on the sleeves of the...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    Mira_Mira
    click a star to vote
    Jul 10th 2011 !⃝

    Drop that
    get up
    Take to the streets
    better lock that kid up
    Face full of teeth when he hock that spit up
    Pacing the beat like a beast
    Rocking the block on repeat
    Speak from the cut like a rush of blood
    Paint red on the sleeves of the ones you love
    Lay the sick ones down and the bells will ring
    Put pennies on the eyes let the dead men sing

    ~~The writer is speaking of the pain he inflicted, and is expressing it by saying things he might as well done.~~

    I shiver and shake the warm air cold
    I'm alone on my own
    In every mistake I dig this hole
    Through my skin and bones

    ~~With every bad mistake he makes, he feels he should be left alone, and he reflects that he's taken a part of himself away by making this mistake.~~

    It's harder starting over
    Than never to have changed

    ~~It's harder to start over instead of changing himself.~~

    With Blackbirds following me
    I'm digging out my grave
    They close in, swallowing me
    The pain, it comes in waves
    I'm getting back what I gave

    ~~He feels as if people are hounding him now, as if telling him to dig his grave right before they take their revenge. He's getting back the pain he caused to others~~

    I sweat through the sheet as daylight fades
    As I waste away
    It traps me inside mistakes I've made
    That's the price I pay

    ~~He sees daylight fading from him, the goodness fading. His heart and soul wasting away. He feels trapped within his mistakes, but feels as if he deserved it.~~

    It's harder starting over
    Than never to have changed

    With Blackbirds following me
    I'm digging out my grave
    They close in, swallowing me
    The pain, it comes in waves
    I'm getting back what I gave

    I drop to the floor like I did before
    Stop watching, I'm coughing
    I can't be more
    What I want and what I need are at constant war
    Like a well full of poison, a rotten core
    The blood goes thin, the fever stings
    And I shake from the hell that the habits bring
    Lay the sick ones down
    the bells will ring
    Put pennies on the eyes, let the dead men sing

    ~~He's finally wasting away, the pain and anguish coming back for him. He starts describing how the pain he once gave to someone else is coming back around to him, and slowly killing him.~~

    With Blackbirds following me
    I'm digging out my grave
    They close in, swallowing me
    The pain, it comes in waves
    I'm getting back what I gave

    I'm getting back what I gave
    I'm getting back what I gave
    He's getting back what he once gave to someone else.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    JIGU
    click a star to vote
    Jan 6th 2012 !⃝

    In this song a person who is evil n who did bad with others throughout his life is gettin d same hut n torcher now..
    He is feelin immense pain..
    He refers his hurt n pain as black birds where d birds r followin him to eat out his flesh ie he is not able to get rid of his pains.
    But as he finds no way to run he wants to give up his life, wants to dig his own grave so that he would not feel d hurt anymore
    But he cnt do that even n he realizes dt its d result of his own actions n d hurt he gave to others n nw he is gettin back wat he gave..
    D song says to us dt v shud nt hurt others cz one day v gonna get back ol dt v had given...

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 2nd 2020 !⃝

    This song to me sounds like depression the " Black birds" to me sound like all the thoughts and suicidal stuff that the person feels. This to me is not the minutes to midnight change, to me it's about depression, the constant hell. Trying to to push every one away, and when you don't want to do that anymore, then getting back what you gave.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 3rd 2014 !⃝

    Drugs. It's obviously drugs.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 19th 2013 !⃝

    Linkin Park, this band could have sold their souls to the devil. The whole gloomy song means that, since they have sold their souls, they would end up in hell that's why they sing //I am digging up my grave(eternal death)//
    //It traps me inside mistakes I've made
    That's the price I pay//
    //With Blackbirds following me
    I'm digging out my grave
    They close in, swallowing me
    The pain, it comes in waves
    I'm getting back what I gave//
    even though, they have sold their souls willingly, they regret it. They feel that they are followed by their sins/actions(blackbirds).

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 16th 2011 !⃝

    This song is about their change starting with Minutes to Midnight to A Thousand Suns, "It's harder starting over, than never to have changed" Chester is saying that maybe they shouldn't have changed in the first place, and the blackbirds in other words the fans don't like their new change of syle. "I'm getting back what I gave" He thinks that the music that they recorded is crap and that's what he's getting back from the fans, by getting negative responses about their music. Personally I love their new change. Change is a good thing sometimes and in LP's case it's amazing because ATS is an amzing album. LP forever!


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