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"Car Radio," by 21 Pilots W/ Lyrics


By Dylan Norman

This whole song is an extended metaphor. The writer is saying that when we are exposed to ourselves, our pride goes out the door, we start to hate ourselves, that it is hard to actually understand who we are and live with ourselves afterward. I think this is an amazing song, and I will try to add some more 21 Pilot's songs in the future, as they are chock full of poetry and hard to understand concepts. When you finally understand though, they open up a whole new world that makes the songs infinitely better. Now; let's look at some lyrics!

1 I ponder of something great  Claiming he is a dreamer
2 My lungs will fill and then deflate
3 They fill with fire, exhale desire
4 I know it's dire my time today 1-4 Realizes that he has little time and big dreams. He is worried that he won't have the life that he dreamt about.
5 I have these thoughts, so often I ought
6 To replace that slot with what I once bought

7' Cause somebody stole my car radio 
8 And now I just sit in silence 5-8 This whole song is an extended metaphor. The idea is that someone took something from the main character that let him ignore himself, and now he has to think about who he is. Perhaps Tyler Joseph [The lead singer of the group, and also the writer of the song] was talking about how we as humans distract ourselves, from ourselves. 
9 Sometimes quiet is violent He is alone and as a result he is stuck with himself.
10 I find it hard to hide it He has difficulty hiding that he is a changed person now.
11 My pride is no longer inside
12 It's on my sleeve 11-12 This could be talking about that once he actually looked and evaluated himself,  he lost all his pride and he wiped it off, like blowing your nose.
13 My skin will scream reminding me of Now that he knows who he is, he doesn't want his pride anywhere near him.
14 Who I killed inside my dream When he was thinking about himself, he in a way killed part of himself. We could reason that because he lost his pride the egotistical side of him died away.
15 I hate this car that I'm driving
16 There's no hiding for me
17 I'm forced to deal with what I feel
18 There is no distraction to mask what is real 15-18 Again, the radio represent something that could distract him from being alone with himself.
19 I could pull the steering wheel He truly hates himself and is toying with the idea of suicide.
20 I have these thoughts, so often I ought
21 To replace that slot with what I once bought
Now that he truly sees himself, he wants to go back to how it was. This idea is similar to Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave."
22 'Cause somebody stole my car radio
23 And now I just sit in silence
24 I ponder of something terrifying He finds that who he is is actually scary.
25 'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind
26 I find over the course of our human existence
27 One thing consists of consistence
28 And it's that we're all battling fear
29 Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here 26-29One thing over all the years that has stayed true is that we are scared and we also don't understand why we are on Earth. What is our point of being?
30 Oh my, too deep, please stop thinking
31 I liked it better when my car had sound
32 There are things we can do
33 But from the things that work there are only two
34 And from the two that we choose to do
35 Peace will win and fear will lose
36 It is faith and there's sleep

37 We need to pick one please because
38 Faith is to be awake
39 And to be awake is for us to think
40 And for us to think is to be alive
41 And I will try with every rhyme
42 To come across like I am dying
43 To let you know you need to try to think 32-43There is only two things that we can do to combat this fear. That is faith in something other than ourselves, or to die. You can't have both, you can only have one. He says he chose faith but it is hurting to be alive and is telling us we need to think about which one to choose.
44 I have these thoughts, so often I ought
45 To replace that slot with what I once bought
'46 Cause somebody stole my car radio
47 And now I just sit in silence
48 And now I just sit in silence
49 And now I just sit
50 And now I just sit in silence
51 And now I just sit in silence
52 And now I just sit in silence
53 And now I just sit
54 I ponder of something great
55 My lungs will fill and then deflate
56 They fill with fire, exhale desire
57 I know it's dire my time today
58 I have these thoughts, so often I ought
59 To replace that slot with what I once bought
60 'Cause somebody stole my car radio
61 And now I just sit in silence
Written by Tyler Joseph • Copyright © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

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