Annotations for Apocalypse Please

Lyric: Proclaim eternal victory
 Come on and change the course of history
 And pull us through
 And pull us through
Annotation:
Matt is outright saying it’s our time to act. This is not the time to follow but the time to lead. To stand up, and take charge. There can ben more: the line ‘Proclaim eternal victory’ is likely about ‘ Operation Enduring Freedom’ or War on Terrorism that can’t be lost because no one wants terrorism to take over the world so this is where masses of people reach the agreement and unite. ‘Change the course of history’ is an expression of obvious fact that it was mostly wars to change the course of history through all the time of human existence.

Lyric: And it’s time we saw a miracle
 Come on, it’s time for something biblical
 To pull us through
 And pull us through
Annotation:
Matt is saying that there has been no showing of a god to restore faith in humanity to let us know that everything will be okay, and that only something of massive/biblical proportions could change the outcome of the world, as we are spiraling out of control. In a further interpretation, this verse continues the narration of September 11 th attacks. It was something of seemingly biblical proportions that caused a lot of people to come together (as well as many to become much more splintered). Matthew  has also been very vocal on his scepticism around 9/11, and how he thought it was an inside job.

Lyric: Declare this an emergency
 Come on and spread a sense of urgency
 And pull us through
 And pull us through
Annotation:
This song is an anthem to the end of the world. And in the first verse it is made very clear. This is a very dismal song, with very little hope being pushed from it. In particular, the ‘emergency’ and the ‘urgency’ likely refer to how then-President George W. Bush justified a war in Middle East after 9/11, convincing people that the war was highly necessary; people were thus ‘pulled through’ i.e. engaged in the war without their actual will. In favour of this hypothesis, Muse  stated they were influenced by politics and the threat of terrorism gripping the world while recording the album, and Matt  added later that he believed 9/11 was an ‘inside job’ to justify Iraq War. The track “ Intro” itself, with its World War II references, says a lot about how marching out to war can not always be justified, as the Nazis were leading to ‘the end of the world’: so another war along those lines is likely being referenced.

