aimless conversations: like an intermission where the band keeps playing

"Murder Wears a Friendly Smile..."

unikorn
...like a perfect end, in a plastic vial, no pain...

How does that make sense to you?? Anyone care to explain?? I've been trying to figure it out for too long now. I mean, I know what it literally means, but I don't know what they guys were trying to deliver in that particular sentence.

fangirl:
plastic vile... pen... signing out of a contract and killing chances of releasing future music?

that's just off the top of my head. i haven't thought about 'believe' a lot because a lot of what's to be found is on the surface.

someone did post something about it awhile ago that had some good ideas...

nicole87:
overdosing in pills or something i think.

freshspringroll:
'murder wears a friendly smile' i have always associated with the fake faces in the music industry (whether idj or otherwise) that may look inviting/considerate, but behind this surface can quite literally stab you in the back... the thing that is bringing you down, causing you to hit depths of depression, doesn't always look that evil on appearance (esp. to others), yet that type of evil is always the most cruel. the one that doesn't always show its cruelty on the outside. superficial to the extent of being murderous. in the words of michael moore, would you rather be cheated and lied to before being f****ed or would you rather just be f***ed [er, sorry]

either that or it is suicide itself that can sometimes seem like a friendly, appealing option against the struggles you have in reality...

'perfect end in a plastic vile' i'm not so sure about it. the lyrics of this whole verse do seem to scream 'suicide thoughts' at me [i.e. there is a perfect end to all this suffering, if you take away the life, you take away the suffering], but maybe i'm reading too it a bit too plainly... i hope i am, it would be nice if this line was a bit more metaphorical. the 'no pain' part always leads me to think of the end-to-the-suffering reference though, rather than a positive 'no pain', in the sense of breaking free from the record co. probably because of the way in which they sing it :(

Chelsi20:
The whole song screams suicide to me. Like there's nothing left to live for. "Sorry I cant' seem to stay, this bird was meant to fly away."

stinso81:
Yes, it screams suicide, but I don't think the guys meant suicide as in killing yourself, I think the meaning goes beyond that, like taking the life of your own music.

"Killing your own music" becuase you just don't feel it's worth fighting for anymore... if it's what it means, I'm glad they changed their mind...

crazydani:
I always thought that the part ..." in a plastic vile, no pain" had someting to do with drugs. Cause if you think about it Rockstars often use drugs to get rid of pain...now dont get me wrong, im not saying Hanson does drugs..its just what I though that part meant.

mourningmira:
freshspringroll (hehee thats an awesome name) when i read your reply i started to think about what taylor said on the VH1 thing about driving off a cliff... maybe someone really was thinking about suicide. its kind of a scary thought.

applejacks:
I really hope it is more metaphorical than that... {{hugs all three of them}}

RhythmicVenus:
I like the combination of Laura's and Nyssa's explinations. I love those explanations... however, somewhere and somehow I think this song is meant to be taken at face value...

OoSuNsHyNeoO:
I think the song was refering to the time when Island reconds was being mean to them. I mean, im sure you all saw the vh1 special they did on them. Zac was crying when he was talkin about it. They were depressed over it and it reflected through their music. Anyways though, i love Believe. Its one of my favorite songs on the cd. And I love you Hanson!...you will always make great music according to me!*hehe*

faerieclaire:
kay, i posted you this HUGE response last night and it took me so long to write that h.net logged me out...and i was so frustrated that i just gave up, but here goes again...

i was listening to "believe" quite a bit last night, so my head is filled with thoughts. everyone seems so stuck on these lines and say they scream suicide...but i don't think they're really paying attention to the song as a whole. i know those two lines stick out when you listen to "believe," make you go 'wait, WHAT?' but i think jumping to the conclusion of suicide is a bit...overdramatic. i also don't think you can really single out those two lines and ask what they mean without the rest of the song. out of context, they make you go 'woah' but if you look at them in the song, they make perfect sense.

and as far as the idj theories go...they most definitely fit and i'm almost positive that's where this song came from, but i agree with cheryl. i think this song is meant to be taken at face value. everything you need to know is right there in the lyrics. you just have to listen and comprehend.

here's a breakdown of what i think this song is about, verse by verse.

I was holding on, now I’m letting go
This is nothing more than a picture show
Everything I knew now I hardly know
Busy keeping less never getting more

One more nickel dime I’m out the door
This kind of life I can’t afford

the narrator's given up. whatever's been going on in his life has turned into one gigantic show - that's all, no depth, no meaning, just a show for everyone. he doesn't know anything anymore except that this life isn't the right one for him. he's almost to a breaking point, it's just a matter of time.

I want to believe
There’s something to believe
I would live only
Just to believe
Oh, I’d love to believe
It’s not only me that’s longing
Only just to believe
‘Cause I want to believe
I want to believe

he still has hope though. [and this is the beauty of hanson...their ability to pull off cheery hopeful lyrics in such a sad sounding song and vice versa] he also wants the reassurance that he's not alone in his needing to believe. he wants to know he's not the only one holding on to something that doesn't seem to quite be there. he's willing to believe in something, anything, he's just not sure what - perhaps that he holds the power to change the situation at hand still?

Can’t put my mind at ease with the words I say
Trying to get myself to get out of my way
Birds in the trees just make me depressed
Seeing sunny skies, feeling emptiness

Layers of lies just seem to fold
This kind of life is all I know

however, despite this needing to believe, his mind is still a mess. words offer little or no comfort and he can't seem to remove himself from the situation. the beauty of the world only reinforces the 'rock and hard place' he's between. in a sense, the birds and the sun can believe...their ability to do so only reminds him of the lack-there-of in his life. his own life only seems to be full of lies, and he's not sure how to break away from something he knows so well.

the meaning shifts here. instead of believing in the situation, he wants to believe in something, anything, to get himself through it and maybe even out of it.

Murder wears a friendly smile
Like the perfect end in a plastic vial
No pain
Sorry I can’t seem to stay
But this bird was meant to fly away
Fly away, fly away

the turning point. the narrator begins to truly recognize what's going on and that he does have the ability to change it. whatever's been haunting him wears that murderous smile. don't take these lines literally, think solely of the emotions involved - most murders probably feel little or no remorse for their actions. they know exactly what they're doing, they wear a friendly smile to make you feel comforted before pulling the gun on you. the next line is simply a similie to explain "murder wears a friendly smile." anything you'd take in a vial to bring a end [presumably to your life] would offer no pain. that's the point of taking it, right? just like that, a murder feels no pain, no guilt, no remorse for what he's done.
that said, our narrator realizes the situation he's in isn't going to change - you can't make someone who feels nothing feel what you're feeling. his only option is to remove himself from his current surroundings. he explains he can't stay here any longer and has to leave. why?

Layers of lies just seem to fold
This kind of life is all I know

because of the lies. and though it's the only life he knows, there's still that tiny hope:

of knowing he can believe.
i think 'i'd love to believe it's not only me that's longing only just to believe' is KEY in the chorus. it's repeated and i think the meaning shifts, this is where we see it. before the narrator just wanted to know he there's other people out there believing, but i think now that he's broken away, that need becomes the most important part of his needing to believe. knowing other do too is the one and only thing that will keep him going.

I will believe
I’d love to believe
I can believe in something
I will believe
I’d love to believe
I can’t believe in nothing

the resolution.
he's been fighting with the thought and the need to believe for so long that now, he will. how strong is his belief? and in what? we're not sure...all we're left knowing is that he'll believe because there's no other option left.

zeus22:
*in awe of Claire's insightful response*

peacenlove:
this song reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, murder wears a friendly smile like a perfect end in aplastic vial....

unikorn:
*lol* WOWWW claire!! Thank you soooo very much!!!!

And that also goes to ALL of you know responded

freshspringroll:
that was awesome, claire esp. the beauty of the world part...

freshspringroll (hehee thats an awesome name) when i read your reply i started to think about what taylor said on the VH1 thing about driving off a cliff... maybe someone really was thinking about suicide. its kind of a scary thought.

personally, i don't doubt that the thought has gone through their head. but hopefully it was more of a depressed thought that anything else...

uzma:
i dont know why i think of Zac saying when "doubting your own music" thing on the VH1 special, i mean it seems like they were really down and this was what came out.

fangirl:
the resolution. he's been fighting with the thought and the need to believe for so long that now, he will. how strong is his belief? and in what? we're not sure...all we're left knowing is that he'll believe because there's no other option left.

this is where our little noise that you hear at the end of 'believe' comes in... it's the real kick of positive thinking, of being able to get out of the trap, that leads into the reprise of 'crazy beautiful', a song full of doubt, but it's the cheeriest thing on the album and is miles away from 'believe'.

and effing awesome analysis claire. five thumbs up and a huge hug! love ya!

SomethingGrey:
i think claire's analysis was great..

and i havent seen the VH1 thing, but.. I think it could relate to a lot of situations, and I just love the song, i don't know if other people relate to it, but it really does just sum up my life like..seeing happy things/people and just wanting to get away from it all. And lying incessently..i need to stop..and other people lying constantly to u..its a great song, that i think everyone can relate to at some point.

as far as murder wears a friendly smile.. goes, id say its probably just that..how much u want to kill the people that have hurt u sometimes, because if u did, they couldn't hurt u anymore. also suicide in that its a way out and u won't have to feel anything anymore. (&then this brid was meant to fly away...just having to get away from it all..contemplating suicide/murder, realising what ur thinking and thinking ah fudge..i have to go...) (if that makes any sense to anyone except me. i cant explain myself, il leave it to everyone else.

oh and what...someone..was saying about how hanson have a great way of just making everything sound positive..its strange, i like it..like misery(as taylor said on the underneath dvd.. it's like.. when i first heard it i thought it was all like :D ...then u listen to what he's singing and it's like..oh..ok..)&rock n roll razorblade.. he's just like "won't you watch me bleed"..in like the happiest chirpy voice.haha.

OoSuNsHyNeoO:
Hanson are some smart guys man. I love it how they make us think

MuSiCfReAk805:
..."murder wears a friendly smile," I think it means to quit what theyre doing, not making music anymore would probably reduce the amount of dissapointments the music industry brings. "Like the perfect end in a plastic vial," it would be painless to stop making music....but actually it wouldnt for them...thats what the next part means..."sorry i cant seem to stay but this bird was meant, to fly away." Hanson were meant to make music, all Hanson fans know that, so even though it would be easier to just quit making music for all of us, theyre meant to fullfill their dreams as musicians....thats how I see it according to what theyve been through....for me it means something totally different...but yea.

faerieclaire:
thanks guys. :)

tanya - i like your view on it. not only does it give another perspective to the words, but it also demonstrates the beauty of music...how we all get different things out of the same piece of music. none of us are right or wrong, it's just about point of view. *smiles*
[man, was that a nyssa moment, or what? lol...]

Democrat:
Claire that's great!!! that's exactly what i thought of the song . . . and i gave my description a couple of times on these forums . . .but i never gave a lyric by lyric description! you're the first person who has looked at this song the same way i do . . . i have never heard "suicide" when i listened to this song.

Adia534:
I think it can be taken as suicide but not necessarily.... I took it as 'murder' looks like a good idea, murder of yourself of your emotions of your music whatever.... and its "like" the "perfect end in a plastic vial" so whoever/whatever the murder is reffering can be likened to finding the end in suicide or drugs.... One thing I took notice of (i read the lyrics posted here before i ever heard the song) is that it is a very down depressing song about the rock bottom of life but the very last line "i can't belive in nothing"

fangirl:
I took it as 'murder' looks like a good idea, murder of yourself of your emotions of your music whatever.... and its "like" the "perfect end in a plastic vial" so whoever/whatever the murder is reffering can be likened to finding the end in suicide or drugs....

i like that, and i like the idea that hanson can be using such literary techniques.

and claire, oh, i could kiss you! *LOL*

aboutaboy:
It makes perfect sense to me. Don't believe everything you see. Just like Zac said about the computer generated images from NASA. Plain and simple. What looks alive on the outside may be a tormented soul death on the inside.

fangirl:
Just like Zac said about the computer generated images from NASA.

we spend so much time trying to figure taylor out while this boy is at least five steps in front of us...

faerieclaire:
we spend so much time trying to figure taylor out while this boy is at least five steps in front of us...

god, he is though. i tend to not pay attention because i don't believe most of what comes out of that kid's mouth...but d-mn some of it is just genius.

leftofcenter:
claire, let me just say that your thoughts in this thread are marvelously wonderful. insightful. and i agree with what you said about zac... sometimes what he says gets me going "wtf?" whereas other times, i'm like "he's a friggin' genius!"

faerieclaire:
sometimes what he says gets me going "wtf?" whereas other times, i'm like "he's a friggin' genius!"

EXACTLY.

musicfanatic22:
I just thought of it as suicide, you take something and all the pain is gone, you die. I think it can mean whatever you want it to, the way it affects you the most, thats what music is about, how it affects you.