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"About people playing god, 'you took a baboon and made him perfect, you took a lion and stripped him of his pride' Everything we eat has been modified in some way. Livestock are injected, pets are perfected, whether it's genetic or through a selective process 'man' -humyns have had an impact on many other (apparent) species. Also having to do with a god-type figure who is just a 'mosaic of thoughts alone' somehow approving all our moves." -Excedera
"I believe this is a 'letter' to God. 'you took a time bomb' directly relates to the big bang, 'and case of crackers' being animal crackers, 'and you made a maelstrom of organic debris,' meaning all different from of life, which in humans is about 7 organic elements. 'Work bench, and rusty anvil' refer to the evolution of humans into such a mentally sophisticated being. The 'unhealthy monster' would be us as humans, and 'but you're nowhere but nowhere to be found' meaning how in bible stories and such God would be seen every other day. 'so I guess I'll just cope with my provisions, from now until the day they lay me down', refers to an 'a priori' (Kant, Critique of Pure Reason) knowledge, meaning you can only make decisions on things that have happened to you in your life. I'm not to sure about this part but 'making a baboon perfect' is evolution, and 'stripping a loin of his pride' meaning stripping his title of king of the jungle, since we do whatever we want on this planet. 'and you stitched up a horrible surprise, you have created an unsocial monster' is us as humans destroying each other, and the ones around us, our own brothers. 'and most believe that things would sure be better, if you'd come down here and tell us what you know' is Greg talking to God. his handiwork is flawed, and it's there for all to see, mutations, aberrations and blatant anomalies, they multiply and give rise to this... monstrosity, again talking to god showing how an all knowing and powerful being is logically impossible. and then you stratified accumulations, weeded out bad variations, is in direct relation to evolution of humans, you have created a powerful monster, with direction and purpose all its own, being us not needing a god, not having to serve the purpose of continuing the species, but to doing activities that we enjoy for own amusement. 'or are you just a mosaic of thoughts alone?' Brings forth the idea that our own minds put forth an idea of a god to not only explain what at the time was unexplainable, but to have a heaven to look forward to after because of all the suffering and pain that occurs in life, but that just what i think. sorry for the poor layout, I was in a slight rush." -Carmen
"I think that Chimeara is about God (or a God) who has created the human race. It's saying that he's created us (and we're a horrible mistake and an amalgam of things that shouldn't be) and now we don't even know if he exists, 'you have created an unhealthy monster, but you're nowhere to be found'. Then its about how people (religious people at least) believe if God was on Earth and he showed us how to live then everything would be better ('if you'd come down here and show us what you know'). Then at the end it questions Gods existence with 'are you just a mosaic of thoughts alone'." -Andrew
"Depending on which specs you put on, you get a different view of the song." -SigB
"I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said here. A couple of different interpretations of my own: - the 'case of crackers' could be firecrackers (US word for fireworks) which combine with the time bomb to form the big bang. -In my opinion, 'you took a baboon, and made him perfect, you took a lion and stripped him of his pride' means that Greg thinks a human has the intelligence of a baboon and the ferocity/brutality of a lion (without the latter's honour - the 'pride', which means the social structure of the lion as well as the obvious meaning). - 'you took the most abundant smallest bits of matter, and you instilled them with affinity' - I believe this line refers to chemical bonding." -Hell Gopher
"This is one of the few BR songs that has a very clear meaning to me. This is a direct criticism to God. He points out all the flaws in God's creations, wonders why he doesn't come down and make everything right, and even challenges whether or not God exists or if he's just 'composed of empty thoughts.' Awesome song, awesome approach." -Tinusch
"Taken from the m-w.com: Chimaera, variant of chimera 1 a capitalized : a fire-breathing she-monster in Greek mythology having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail b : an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts 2 : an illusion or fabrication of the mind; especially : an unrealizable dream Going on the definition of the mythical monster, which I believe to be referring to humans. In the song, all of God's powers of creation- ie. the maelstrom of organic debris, have been finalized with the hideous monster (humans). When he states, you took a baboon and made him perfect- I interpreted it to mean humans, as humans and primates as interclosely related evolution wise. Regarding the lion stripped of its pride- the power and finesse generally believed to be with a lion thereby was taken away and ended up in with humans. This accumulation of parts taken from different animals, thus makes humans a Chimaera, as it is made up of differing parts. The final lines 'and if you were here, would things be any different? or are you just a mosaic of thoughts alone?' refers to the second definition of Chimaera, the illusion and unrealizable dream of mankind." -DigitalMuse
"I think this is about genetic engineering." -grasshopa
"To add to DigitalMuse's post, another definition of "Chimaera" is an organism produced through an artificial combination of genes. While surely the song is meant to address God, (come down here, etc.) there are multiple allusions to parallels between the act of God creating the world and the act of a human creating or altering an organism through manipulation of its genes. I just thought this facet of the song is worthy of consideration, and no one has touched on it yet." -McDeus |