Annotations for Dead Inside

Lyric: Your skin feels warm to caress
 I see magic in your eyes
 On the outside, you’re ablaze and alive
Annotation:
The outward appearance suggests some one who should be self confident and strong on the inside. Psychologically though, the outward self differs dramatically from the self inside. Using the cognitive inner workings, the troubled self can manipulate aspects of themselves to gain an acceptance within their social circle, including lovers. So thus what appears to be beauty and magical self confidence, is really a mask to hide the inner turmoil spoil.

Lyric: [Verse 1]
Annotation:
Even though the vocals are sung by a male vocalist, the protagonist of  Drones is a female. In an interview with XFM, Matt even gives her a name: I think women have a much harder time in the world. In my head, it’s a woman called… Mary.

Lyric: Dead inside
 (Dead inside)
Annotation:
A rapid fade-in of keyboards explodes into  massively stacked vocals (reminiscent of  Queen) singing the title phrase. This vocal punch is gone as quickly as it comes, replaced by driving drums and bass. This surprising start serves up the primary theme of  Drones. When people stop caring (becoming dead inside), they become the puppets of the forces that want to control and manipulate others for their own personal gain. The phrase “dead inside” is also a reference to George Orwell’s 1984. In the novel, O'Brien tells Winston: “Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you.”

Lyric: On the outside, I’m the greatest guy
Annotation:
The narrator describes appearing as a considerably above average individual. This also comments on the assimilation with the protagonist’s deceiving appearance.

Lyric: Your lips feel warm to the touch
 You can bring me back to life
 On the outside, you’re ablaze and alive
 But you’re dead inside
Annotation:
In a palpable description, her lover has enticing lips with blood flowing through them and is the life of the party and the relationship. But as she gets closer to her lover, she realizes that it’s all an act. Inside her lover is cold and uncaring.

Lyric: Don’t leave me out in the cold
 Don’t leave me out to die
Annotation:
Now that her heart has been deprived (end of verse 2, “bereft”) she is concerned for her state of mind. She is in danger of being fully broken, losing all hope.

Lyric: But you’re dead inside
 (Dead inside)
Annotation:
Internally, her lover is not remorseful, empathetic, nor attached to her.

Lyric: And to kill with no remorse
Annotation:
The narrator has now become like the protagonist human drone with the ability to kill with no emotion. This loss of empathy is a result of the narrator becoming vulnerable to the protagonist’s indoctrination.  Matt Bellamy describes in an  interview with BBC, “… the first song is like a pretty jaded song where a person loses hope and kind of therefore becomes vulnerable to kind of the dark forces…” he goes on to describe the symbolism of “dark forces” and that it represents a modern metaphor of drone warfare causing a loss of empathy from being able to use drones remotely to kill and feel less of the consequences and responsibilities.

Lyric: Feel me now, hold me please
 I need you to see who I am
 Open up to me, stop hiding from me
 It’s hurting, babe, only you can stop the pain
Annotation:
The singer is making one last desperate plea to her lover to open up to her, to shares intimately. She has put all of his hope this; The lack of response is emotionally killing her.

Lyric: You’ve taught me to lie without a trace
Annotation:
This is a reference to the protagonist’s nature that they now have. Now they are as able as the protagonist to deceive and cover their tracks.

Lyric: You’re free to touch the sky
 Whilst I am crushed and pulverised
 Because you need control
 Now I’m the one who’s letting go
Annotation:
In some relationships there is an innate power struggle that arises between the two. In this case, the artist has a controlling partner and she is left caged and without freedom. But she is now becoming too tired to keep playing this tug-of-war and tries to gain back control by ending the relationship.

Lyric: Now I’m dead inside
 (Dead inside)
Annotation:
This is the turning point of the album: now, she has become like the person she was talking about in the song: a very attractive girl but dead inside. She has become a human drone.

Lyric: Do you have no soul?
 It’s like it died, long ago
Annotation:
Her lover is emotionally cold and aloof, sharing nothing of his true self. She wonders if her lover can truly feel any emotions at all.

Lyric: But now I’ve got nothing left
 You have no cares and I’m bereft
Annotation:
The word ‘bereft’ means to be deprived of something. In this case, it’s warmth and love. Her lover stole her heart and didn’t give her anything back, except a glimpse of a cold, uncaring nature.

Lyric: Unleash a million drones
 And confine me then erase me, babe
Annotation:
The lines introduces the theme of the album, the ability to distance yourself from the evil being done to you or on your behalf (drone warfare). In this case, the uncaring attitude of her lover is just as bad as the faceless nameless evils of modern warfare.

Lyric: But there’s nothing there
 Light only shines from those who share
Annotation:
Once she gets starts getting emotionally close, her lover seems cold and unfeeling. Warmth and affection only radiate from people who share their emotions and experiences.

Lyric: I’ll control and hypnotize
Annotation:
She begins to feel a sense of power, which starkly contrasts with the position of weakness she found himself in at the beginning of the song, when the person she loved was instead in a position of power.

Lyric: My lips feel warm to the touch
 My words seem so alive
 My skin is warm to caress
Annotation:
She has learned the wrong lesson from her lover. In order to avoid any more pain, She also shuts herself off from her cares and emotions.

Lyric: Revere a million prayers
 And draw me into your holiness
Annotation:
The protagonist places her lover on a pedestal, using terms with strong religious connotations. Her admiration is so strong that it’s as if she is worshiping her lover. In reality, the lover is a false manifestation of her prayers and dreams, using her desires to draw her into a trap.

Lyric: You like to give an inch
 Whilst I am giving infinity
Annotation:
A continuation and opposition of the earlier lines (“You’re free to touch the sky whilst I am crushed and pulverized.”) In those lines, the infinite sky is for her lover while she chained to the ground. In these lines, however, despite the uncaring lover having so much freedom, they are giving nothing to the relationship… thus, the artist is giving up all her possibilities and all her freedom for no reason. Moreover, she feels as if she is pouring more of her heart into this relationship, while he only gives a little. This ties in with the theme of a cold, uncaring partner, in contrast to her infatuation and love for him.

Lyric: Now I’ve become just like you
Annotation:
The coldness and emotional abuse the protagonist has suffered from her lover has changed her into a similar kind of person. Thus, this is the line that sets up the story for the rest of the album. The protagonist loses her empathy and becomes susceptible to the influence and brainwashing that occurs in the subsequent songs on  Drones.

