Breaking Benjamin - Home Lyrics Meaning
This song is kinda crazy. But I think it's supposed to be. And flame me all you want, I see a deeper meaning in it. I'm not saying this is how BB wanted it to be interpreted, this is just my way of interpreting it. :)
Just a note, I've never seen/read the Wizard of Oz (I know, right; deprived childhood or what xD) so I'm not too sure on those references, but deal with it. xD
I kinda see it as domestic violence, or abuse, or something of the sort. Just something not right at home. The Wizard of Oz meanings that are mixed with the song I think help the artist identify with his 'perfect' world or something.
"I've got a little red bow, and I bought it for you." He bought someone a present. I think it's a red bow to put the Wizard of Oz in there.
"'Cause I know you're not fair, I don't get it, oh well." He knows that this person isn't fair to him, and he doesn't understand why. Probably because he is a young child.
"And you colour my skin, and the colours don't blend." This person hits/abuses him, causing the skin to bruise and colour, and these colours not blending.
"I'm gonna get you and your little dog too." The child is going to get back at the abuser when he's older. Also, obviously the Wizard of Oz reference. The child has heard this line when he's watched this film and is like, reusing it to say it to the abuser person.
"There's a yellow brick road that we follow back home." On the way home, outside, everyone acts perfect. 'Family Portrait' type thing. The yellow brick road is an Oz reference again, which I see as like, the perfect world, exciting and fun. And whilst out of doors, the child's life is exciting and fun. And perfect. But indoors there's abuse.
"'Cause I know you can't wait, your belligerent hate'. They go straight home, 'cause the abuser can't wait to be horrible again. Belligerent means like, aggressively hostile (dictionary.com).
"There's no place like home." Oz, and irony. The child is confused. He's seen the Wizard of Oz, and whatshername saying this line. He doesn't understand it, he hates home, but he says it anyway because that's kind of what he's been taught via the film.
"I've got a southern belle too, and ruby red shoes, with a body of straw, are you sick of it all?" Not too sure on this part. I see it as the child imagining he's all the different characters of the wizard of oz, wanting what they want. He wants to go home (or more, he wants some kind of safe home), like dorothy (the southern belle) and he has a body of straw like the scarecrow - he has a fragile body, and wants a stronger one in order to stand up to the abuser person. I just read on wikipedia that the scarecrow wanted a brain, so I suppose the child wanted to be cleverer too.
"There's a man made of tin" A man with no heart (this is what the tin man goes to the wizard for). This is like, the abuser. No clue what oil can grin means, but I think it may have something to do with oil being worth a lot = money. The tin man needs oil to function and therefore be happy. The tin man or abuser needs money to be happy, this makes him happy. Maybe.
And I've explained chorusy bits. :)
The next bit is a little confusing. I'm not really sure, I'll just write down what first comes into my head.
"There's a little white porch" - there's perfect world.
"And you wanted it so" - and you wanted it? At one time, the abuser person wanted a perfect world, so went out to the world to find the perfect life, but it screwed up and s/he ended up abusing his/her son/daughter due to alcohol or drugs maybe.
"Will you let me go down to the end of the road?" Will you let me leave, go after that world, like you did when you were young
"In the black and the white, a technicolourful life" Even in the black and white world the child experiences, he is able to imagine a colourful, vibrant world where everything is perfect, maybe because of watching the film 'the wizard of oz'.
"Can I stand by your side? We can make it alright." I think that the child (probably older now) tells the abuser person, or asks him, if he can 'stand by his side'. Like, be friends and put the past behind them, and they'll make it through to that perfect world.
Then that part is repeated, only,
"Then another arrived, it's a cowardly lion."
This means another person came into their life. It could be a baby brother or sister of the child. Or maybe the abuser (who I kinda see as the father of the child) got a new partner, a new girlfriend. This person is cowardly, and lets the abuser walk all over them. The child has grown by this point and doesn't let it happen anymore, so it stopped. But this person starts it all again because they can't stand up for themselves.
The final lines, going from "What I want from this world" to "I don't wanna go home" I think is the child, now an adult, saying that he's not going to put up with it anymore. He's not going to offer forgiveness to his father/whoever again. "I wash you away." He leaves, forgets, gets on with his life.
The end. :)
