'Breaking The Same Old Ground'

[Whisky And Speed]

Hi, this is my second topic about my reflections on which of Manson's lyrics caught my attention the most as I tend not to do a whole song analysis if I'm not sure that I know it's entire meaning, or if I didn't get the bigger picture.However, this line in the song Breaking The Same Old Ground caught my attention as I feel that I grasped the meaning behind it:

I am owned by death and I'm in love with oblivion

"I'm owned by death." Here Manson talks about his appreciation for his own death in a way that is not less than his appreciation for life.

Manson mentions in his memoir:The Long Road Out Of Hell about death: "I've seen my own death in dreams like this and it's helped me appreciate life more.I've also seen my own life in dreams and it's helped me appreciate death more". When I first heard the song this line along with the story in the next chapter about his own death jumped into my mind.Here is an expert of it: "this man is deceased.A male voice was speaking somewhere above my body.His words were the first sounds I had heard for hours, maybe days.I didn't know how long I'd been lying there.I didn't even know where I was, or if I was alive.I struggled to move,but I couldn't.my left arm tingled.Everything else was numb and impotent,like wooden limbs hanging from the severed strings of a discarded marionette.I tired to open my eyes, to command them to raise, but they wouldn't respond.I needed to wake up, to tell them I wasn't dead.I was still alive.It wasn't my time ti die.I had too much left to accomplish.My eyelids fluttered open, leaving behind a greasy, blurry film obstructing my vision.All I could make out was a blinding white light shining on me , penetrating my being, or what was left of it.It wasn't my time ti die.I knew it".

When I checked the lyrics for Breaking The Same Old Ground this idea of Manson loving death as much as he loves life and he is not afraid of it came into my mind. The second part of the phrase:

and I'm in love with oblivion

Made me think of his new found love for solitude and loneliness and darkness and being alone,away from people, in sometimes a hermetic fashion like an Italian monk while before,he couldn't stand the idea of being alone.Just check these couple of interviews Manson just given :

Now, for the first time ever, Manson is living totally alone and reclaiming his life, art and, it appears, composure. He seems as happy as a dude who lives in total darkness (more on this in a minute) can be. Really. “I went from living with my parents, going on tour and then [I lived] with [Manson guitarist] Twiggy [Ramirez]. And then I had three different long-term relationships, ending with the last one with the child actress girl [laughs]. Basically I had to realize that I don’t need to be around other people.”

fuse interview, April,2012.

When I reflected on the lyrics I found the ideas of Manson's appreciation for death and his love of being alone relevant.I have an another interpretation but I feel it's a bit far-fetched,but I will mention it anyway.I feel that when Manson said" I'm in love with the oblivion " that he wishes some day to disappear completely from other people's eyes and clear out of sight completely,a la Sid Barrett fashion, living alone in an isolated place to be happy with his loneliness and solitude,with his cat of course, and I'm not sure weather he will have a girl with him on this point or not and he will die after most of his audience forget about him because he disappeared. Any thoughts about this matter??????

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[brian219]

I believe that both "death" and "oblivion" are referring to Daath, or the bottomless pit if you'd rather.

Little Horn. Abaddon. To make sure I stay dead. Deadly wound was healed. We don't seek death we seek destruction. Men shall seek death and not find it. The key to the bottomless pit. There isn't a key you can use on me. Each thing I show you is a piece of my death. When they kill you on their TV. Kill your TV. Kill your god. Make me your dying god. Put me in your death parade. Will you kill yourself on T.V.? We'd like to see you dead. You'll understand when I'm dead. It is done. Other stuff. Meh. I dunno.

[VCR]

When I read the lyrics and listen to the song what I get from it is simply him singing about a past relationship. Where he is torn apart between blaming himself and blaming the other for the ending of it. Citing how he realizes that it was too late to realize that he had what he wanted/needed before it ended. And, while in the relationship the whole time he was looking for something else.

In the same breath he is blaming the other for the breakup and shows some angst against it. Citing violence against the other. I find the self loathing stronger in the song than the latter comment. Mostly because of the tone of the song and how it was presented to the listener.

As far as what you cited, I think that is simply a reference to how he feels about the relationship or relationships in general. Confusion and torment. it is also tribute to the name of the song "breaking the same old ground"

I think the song was inspired by a past relationship but relates to all his relationships in general. They all go to shit, and a part of him is destroyed in the process.

[brian219]

Manson's "Love" songs, from Tourniquet to the present, cannot be understood without understanding what Babalon is and how she is invoked as the Sacred Whore and how Manson takes on the role of the Beast AND Babalon simultaneously to accomplish the Babalon Working SOLO, becoming the Androgyne. I think people underestimate Crowley's influence on Manson because his lyrics are still chock full of references that no one ever mentions.

Anyway, the apparent point of the ritual and the very unique way that he is doing it is to "make himself as asymmetrical as possible" on the inside, by "burn(ing) all the good things." He is attempting to blacken his soul to the utmost, so that he can fulfill the mission he set out on long ago.

Manson is a reverse alchemist. Alchemy is supposed to turn base into gold as a purifying ritual, but Manson has switched it around to do the exact opposite inside himself. He wants to be the absolute worst human being possible. It's all in the lyrics and interviews, but most people don't care about what he's saying as long as they can pretend he's saying what they want to hear. It's kind of like Christianity and all it's little cozy teachings that don't actually resemble their book in any way.

[Manson15Marilyn]

Manson said in a recent interview that this album isn't about anybody. So its not about a relationship, its really about himself and his internal transformation.

This song, in particular, is about how he's changed and he recognises who he is.

I'm in love with death. And I'm in love with oblivion.

As he realises he isn't immortal, but he feels the initiative--the motivation--to be a catalyst for change or a villain; in the sense of Macbeth. As he has said in a recent interview that he was never out to shock anybody, but he's always wanted to confuse people in order to cause them to think for themselves; he wanted to "push the envelope" to what people think they can and can't do.

And that's what this song is about.

[Manichaeist]

perhaps I'm guilty of oversimplification, but this song, from the moment I first read the lyrics, struck me as being 100% about his inability to meet the expectations of his fans. to a greater extent, it deals with the song artist's desire to expand his creative vision while his audience keeps demanding reminders of the work that made them fans in the first place. the notion that what the artist wanted originally, or what satisfied him creatively sort of magically inspiring millions of people is pointedly true in the case of Marilyn Manson who became massively popular without (at least superficially) appealing to any overt commercial tendencies. it's the kind of thing every artist dreams of: being able to be true to one's self, doing the work that inspires and titillates you, and at the same time gaining legions of followers and making a fortune. the end result, however, is that the once avant garde expression becomes typical and a product, and the audience begins to demand more things that resemble it, an act that in and of itself is equivalent to the artist forfeiting his sovereignty. In the case of Marilyn Manson, "Antichrist Superstar" became the cornerstone of his franchise, and the public clamors for anything that bears a similarity to it. For this reason, Marilyn Manson has frequently resorted to (sometime oblique) allusions to that album when trying to promote his latest release. "Breaking the Same Old Ground" seems to me to be about seeing one's creative drive destroyed by the need to appease others.

[Sans Agendum]

I take the song as meaning he dove into the occult and other counter culture life styles trying to find something new and meaningful in life (sorceries to shun the light) but came out learning nothing that hasn't been accounted for countless times by other artists, but he cannot go back and change his decisions so he is left with the experiences left to him by his choices. Experience is the mistress of fools.

If you've ever read Ecclesiastes, the main line is "Everything is meaningless and there is nothing new under the sun" which ties in with the macbeth quote of life being a tale told by an idiot. He went looking for something new but instead just kept breaking the same old ground already tread by the likes of such characters as Hermes Trismegistus and King Solomon, who also dove into lives of debauchery in pursuit of happiness and returned from their journeys feeling that they had learned nothing. For all his experience he has come up empty handed and lacking.

There is no new ground to be broken and there is no solution. Everything is vaporous and empty. Oblivion.

[brian219]

I take the song as meaning he dove into the occult and other counter culture life styles trying to find something new and meaningful in life (sorceries to shun the light) but came out learning nothing that hasn't been accounted for countless times by other artists, but he cannot go back and change his decisions so he is left with the experiences left to him by his choices. Experience is the mistress of fools.

If you've ever read Ecclesiastes, the main line is "Everything is meaningless and there is nothing new under the sun" which ties in with the macbeth quote of life being a tale told by an idiot. He went looking for something new but instead just kept breaking the same old ground already tread by the likes of such characters as Hermes Trismegistus and King Solomon, who also dove into lives of debauchery in pursuit of happiness and returned from their journeys feeling that they had learned nothing. For all his experience he has come up empty handed and lacking.

There is no new ground to be broken and there is no solution. Everything is vaporous and empty. Oblivion.

Damn. That was exceptionally well said.

[DrClitoris]

I think that "I am owned by death" means that we are all owned by death as we all unfortunately die. We can't run away from death.

[spaceSuicide]

I took he is in love Oblivion as in the immensely popular Bethesda RPG game, Oblivion. I mean, it's obvious.