Imagine Dragons’ “Dull Knives” Lyrics Meaning

For starters, as convincingly revealed in the first verse, “Dull Knives” is based on a topic we come across somewhat regularly. And that is the vocalist portraying a character who appears all good on the outside but internally, as in behind closed doors, is a depressed mess. 

Usually when we come across these types of tunes the singer would be speaking to his or her celebrity, i.e. being compelled to smile in public, even though in reality they’re not genuinely happy. But in this case the vocalist comes off as being just a regular dude, if you will.

Meanwhile a ‘dull knife’ is one whose blade hasn’t been sharpened. Or put differently, you’d really have to apply a lot of pressure to cut something with a dull knife, if said tool would even allow it. 

In the case of this song, said reference is a metaphorical device. The “knives” in and of themselves are symbolic of the singer’s depression. And the reason he’s referring to them as being “dull” is seemingly to allude to the idea of said depression killing him slowly, not in the literal sense but rather causing the vocalist to ‘lose his mind’.

So putting all of the above together, the primary topic of this piece would in fact be the vocalist’s depression. But as far as thesis sentiment goes what he is saying is that, even if not visibly discernible, said affliction is gradually eating away at his soul.

Facts about “Dull Knives”

As is convention, this Imagine Dragons’ tune was written by the group’s members –

• Wayne Sermon
• Ben McKee
• Daniel Platzman
• Dan Reynolds

Also in this case Reynolds’ wife, Aja Volkman, is credited as an author. More specifically Dan has noted that she encouraged him to be more “vulnerable” in the chorus as opposed to depending on metaphors. And to note, Volkman is a musician in her own right, being the lead singer of a crew called Nico Vega.

Meanwhile, the entire band is recognized as the producers of “Dull Knives”.

One of the labels behind this track is Kidinakorner, whom Imagine Dragons has been signed to since 2012. And the other is the better known Interscope Records, who they got down with the year prior.

This song came out as part of the playlist of the band’s fifth studio album, “Mercury – Act 1”, on 3 September 2021.