The title of the song is an in joke between the band members, that if they continued to bad things, the other members would call the “karma police”. This is called irony, to be precise, sardonic irony. That is Karma, being a universal force maintaining a balance between positive and negative action, and seeking to maintain the balance through reward for positive and retribution for negative actions. The irony (and humour) is in the implication that a universal constant like karma would require enforcement by an actual group of individuals.

This theme is apparent in the overall narrative of the music video for the song, which features the viewer (that’s you) as the driver of a car, driving down a road in an effort to run over a pudgy, sweaty man in a white collar shirt and pants. The car continually gets closer to the man, but eventually stops, revealing to the man a trail of gasoline leading back to the car. The man takes this brief respite from being chased to light a match and reverse the roles, now the driver desperately tries to outrun the flames, but Karma being a “bitch”, the car (and you) are engulfed in flames.

Now, aside from the narrative of the video, there are the lyrics themselves. The issues they refer to range from impotent rage at the capitalistic society the west has developed into (referenced again in the video with the turn of fortunes between the driver and the running man (specifically as the embodiment of middle management) in that you can come close, give it your all, but in the end they still win, and your life is engulfed in flames (metaphoric though they may be.)

Coupled with this theme is that you as a cog in the system are just as guilty as any other cog, even your boss cog, and you thus remain “on the payroll”. This is a reference to “white liberal guilt”, that you may be socially conscious, you recycle and denounce racism but lets face it; you are still sitting comfortably listening to these prats whine about how wrong it is, on an Ipod the cost of which could feed a family of four from the developing world for a month. Basically you feel bad about your own comfort, but are equally unwilling to actually do anything about it, oh the mad, hypocritical world we live in. This is important, because you can talk about these issues like you actually do care and are actually doing something about it, and thus you (like the people you are trying so desperately to impress) can feel superior to the drones who toil about without the recognition of how fucked up the whole damned system is.

Other themes include insanity; that your understanding is clouded by a background noise that simply will not go away, be they the voices in your head, the incessant throbbing of urban life, or that people talk in complex, unintelligible ways (like me for instance) that try as you may, you simply fail to comprehend (a condition you should be eminently familiar with.

Yours,

Dick (from the internet)

Songs are written by musicians (or more accurately their lyricist, assistant or less attractive and therefore unmarketable song writers ) and have specific meanings which often can only be understood within a certain cultural framework or context, and that really is what this blog is about (also because I was too poor to buy a URL).

One generally needs to be a member of a subculture (i.e. Street culture, counter culture, goth, whore, prepubescent emo kid, etc.) to understand the song as it is meant to be heard, as it can only be understood by a member of a subculture who speaks the same metaphorical and symbolic language.

The other people who can understand songs are people like me, individuals who do not belong to the various sub cultures but none the less recognize that songs people write are written for specific audiences and should be understood in such a way, in other words pompous jackasses who just love dissecting lyrics and analyzing away any sentiment to be left with lifeless prose bereft of feeling, but imbued with understanding.

But why should you care, I don’t know after all you are the creepy denizen of the blogosphere, with your bizarre fascination with other peoples live and worthless opinions. But enough about everyone else, lets talk about me. I made this site mostly for the express purpose of having people read my opinions and revel in their depth and quality. You, on the other hand, are here because you want to learn, to understand and perhaps gain insight into how someone who “knows” views a song they way it was meant to be understood. No longer will you have to live in squalor and ignorance, if you can call your hollow shell of unenlightened survival ’living’. Now you can be just as ‘in’ as your social better.

So pull up a chair, get comfortable, and let me tell you what its all about.

Yours,

Dick (from the internet)