‘Guns For Hands’ Analysis
I’m super emotional and I really like this song so here we go. ((Keep in mind, this is simply a personal interpretation and could differ from your own view of the song. Your idea is not wrong nor is mine. This is just what I think.))
I know what you think in the morning When the sun shines on the ground And shows what you have done It shows where your mind has gone And you swear to your parents That it will never happen again I know, I know what that means, I know
You could really take this as either self harm or suicide attempt context.And every time we do this, we promise our parents it won’t happen again. I could get into very personal reasoning but basically We make a promise that we can’t keep sometimes. Sometimes we break and we do it again but no matter what each time, we will promise we’ll stop. But we can’t make that promise. We can’t keep it. We know that. But we still promise it anyway.
That you all have guns And you never put the safety on And you all have plans To take it, to take it, don't take it, take it, take it I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep I'm trying, I'm trying to sleep But I can't, but I can't when you all have Guns for hands, ya
Tyler addresses the fact that we all have the ability to hurt ourselves. I think the whole general “take it” could be seen as taking your life. So the you all have plans to take it refers to planning one’s suicide. And you never put the safety on is kinda of literal; When you are suicidal or self harming, there’s a reason people are so scared. Because you are a literal danger to yourself. It’s like no matter where you are, you aren’t safe because the threat is you. How do you get away from yourself? How do you protect yourself from you? And Tyler is trying to get through his day but he can’t because he knows so many teenagers, some many people (even those who arent fans of his) are struggling with suicidal thoughts and self harm, and he can’t truly rest when he’s constantly worried about us.
Let's take this a second at a time Let's take this one song, this one rhyme Together, let's breathe Together, to the beat But there's hope out the window So that's where we'll go-o-o Let's go outside and all join hands But until then you'll never understand
Side note real quick; I really like how Tyler says ‘together’. It just really makes me happy reading these lyrics when he says together because it makes me feel like I don’t have to fight these battles alone.
As far as the first line, it’s the general premise of take it a day at a time but the second line refers to something Tyler has said about this song previously. He says,”I know you have the ability to hurt yourself, I recognize that, but let’s take that energy and let’s point it at something else, let’s divert that, let’s kind of shift momentum and look at something like art, or something like this music specifically or even point it at me, you know, just point it anywhere but just don’t point it at yourself … that song will always be important to me.” So taking this one song, this one rhyme is like slowly but surely getting used to putting that energy into creating as opposed to harming ourselves.
We've turned our hands to guns, traded our thumbs for ammunition.
Your hands are usually your way of creating. Whether you draw, or write books/stories or music, or if you do crafts. You typically use your hands. But as his quote says above, when you don’t shift your view to art or music your hands are “hands” anymore. They’re weapons, they’re what you use to hurt yourself. So instead of describing how to shift the energy to making your hands no weapons, he describes how they became weapons in the first place.
I must forewarn you, of my disorder, or my condition Cause when the sun sets, it upsets what's left of my invested interest Interested in putting my fingers to my head
Tyler really focuses on sun/morning vs night in his songs and personally, I usually feel the worst at night for an arsenal of reasons so I think it just depends on the person because some people will interpret this the way i did and will relate to feeling the worst when the sun goes down. It’s also clever wording with, ‘whats left of my invested interest’ which again can very from person to person but to me I have a real tough time caring about things. I care about so little and I have to force myself to care sometimes. And the last line is pretty direct. Just wanting to die most of the time.
The solution is, I see a whole room of these mutant kids Fused at the wrist, I simply tell them they should shoot at this
Mutant kids is something I see as a reference to how ‘abnormal’ it is to have depression in a lot of peoples eyes. As soon as you mention you have it, some people just treat you differently. Fused at the wrist is a phrase I’ve been stuck on. It can be interpreted in so many ways to me. He never says if they are all fused together by their wrist or if their individual wrists our fused to their own (if that makes sense) and I like to think it’s the first option as another thing saying “You’re not alone in your battle” and Tyler *refer to his quote above* tells them to take that energy, that effort it takes to harm yourself and put it towards “this”. This could be many things.
Simply suggest my chest and this confused music, it's Obviously best for them to turn their guns to a fist
In his quite, he says “Point it at me even.” and so the simply suggest my chest is in reference to that mindset I believe. This confused music is again in reference to his quote saying put your energy in this or that, and the music just being another option besides him or “his chest”. Turn their guns to a fist is making your hands your hands again. To stop viewing them as a weapon, and start viewing them as a tool to create.
Afterwards, the hook repeats and it’s just Tyler saying he won’t rest until he’s made sure everyone is safe. And that concludes my personal analysis of this song.
