Use Your Fist and Not Your Mouth by Marilyn Manson Lyrics Meaning – An Anthem of Defiance and Distinctiveness
Lyrics
Out-selling it.
Since god thinks I don’t exist
The beatings happen per minute
This is not
Blue-collar-white-corrective politics
I’m on a hate American style
Kick.
This is the black collar song
Put it in your middle finger and sing along
Use your fist and not your mouth
(come on, come on)
This is the black collar song
Put it in your middle finger and sing along
Use your fist and not your mouth
(come on, come on)
I’m on a campaign for pain
And when I get elected
I’ll wipe the white of your house
The smile off your face
This is the black collar song
Put it in your middle finger and sing along
Use your fist and not your mouth
(come on, come on)
This is the black collar song
Put it in your middle finger and sing along
Use your fist and not your mouth
(come on, come on)
I woke up today and wished for tomorrow
I don’t want to be like anyone else
I woke up today and wished for tomorrow
I don’t want to even be myself
I said, no, this isn’t your song
We can’t all get along
It’s too hard to hold hands when
Your hand’s a fist
My hate-pop won’t ever stop
I’m fucking glad we’re different
This is my hate american style
Hit.
Don’t bring, don’t sing it
Use your fist and not your mouth.
This is the black collar song
Put it in your middle finger and sing along
Use your fist and not your mouth
(come on, come on)
This is the black collar song
Put it in your middle finger and sing along
Use your fist and not your mouth
(come on, come on)
I woke up today and wished for tomorrow
I don’t want to be like anyone else
I woke up today and wished for tomorrow
I don’t want to even be myself
Marilyn Manson has never been one to shy away from controversy or the darker recesses of the human psyche. ‘Use Your Fist and Not Your Mouth’ is a song that epitomizes his ability to shock, provoke, and fascinate by blending raw energy with lyrical sophistication.
A track from the album ‘The Golden Age of Grotesque’, this song serves as an aural assault brimming with aggressiveness and a defiant sense of self. Here, we delve deep into the meanings and metaphors, disentangling the visceral scream from the poetic whisper.
The Beat of Resistance Throbs Hard and Fast
From the first line, Manson sets the tone for a track that’s all about defying norms and selling out on one’s own terms. The overt reference to being ‘overground’ and ‘out-selling it’ immediately casts a shadow on the mainstream music industry and its tendency to commodify rebellion—or, as Manson terms it, ‘blue-collar-white-corrective politics’.
The beat, he asserts, is relentless, as constant as the societal beatings those who stand out receive. His music thus becomes not only a tool for expression but also a weapon for confronting and attacking cultural conformity.
Black Collar Anthem: A Middle Finger to Conformity
Drawing a stark contrast with the typical ‘white collar’ or ‘blue collar’ classifications, Manson introduces the concept of the ‘black collar’, signifying a group that doesn’t fit cleanly into the traditional work and social hierarchies. The black collar isn’t just another hue in the spectrum of class division; it embodies rebellion, non-conformity, and a subversive identity.
The repeated chorus that turns the middle finger into a symbol and asks to ‘sing along’ is more than just an incitement to rudeness. Rather, it serves as a unifying rally cry for those who refuse to voice their dissent with mere words but are ready to act on their discontents. Here, Manson is at once a bard and a brawler: a storyteller who understands his story can’t be told in passive voice.
Political Undertones and Counter-Culture Creed
The lines lyrically wade into politics with a promise to ‘wipe the white off your house’, portraying an iconoclastic stance against not just the literal White House but also the sterilized facade of societal order. Manson portrays himself as a ‘campaign for pain’, a figure of anti-establishment antipathy who vows to radiate genuine discomfort in a world too comfortable with disingenuous niceties.
His envisioned leadership doesn’t seek to decorate the establishment but to dismantle the hypocritical status quo. Manson isn’t running for office; he’s running against the office and all that it symbolically holds.
Daydreams of Tomorrow: Craving Identity in Uniformity
Yearning for ‘tomorrow’ reveals a deeper layer to Manson’s song, expressing a wish to transcend current realities and the trappings of identity itself. It’s not just a rejection of societal sameness but of the very concept of identity that forces individuals into molds.
The declaration ‘I don’t want to even be myself’ is emblematic of Manson’s existential dissatisfaction, going beyond the desire to be distinct from others. It suggests a struggle with self-identity within a fame-obsessed culture and the discomfort that comes with any fixed notion of the self.
Memorable Lines: The Striking Chorus That Echoes
‘Use your fist and not your mouth’ is more than catchy; it’s a thematic lynchpin for the song. Through repetition, the line becomes a mantra of action over words, of manifesting one’s anger and frustration in ways that force the world to pay attention—and perhaps to change.
This catchy phrase is not just a line in a song but a metaphor for a perspective on life—the line encapsulates the song’s essence and Marilyn Manson’s career as a whole. It’s an ode to the physicality of resistance and the corporeal nature of asserting one’s presence in a world too often dulled by discourse.
