Annotations for Glorious

Lyric: But I wanted more
 With the cuts and the bruises
Annotation:
He wanted to see past the lies, but this might not have been such a good idea because it got himself hurt. It is sometimes really hard to find the truth and you could feel hopeless along the way: ignorance is bliss. Another interpretation could be that the persona acknowledges the detriment of faith; exclaiming that its burdens (“cuts and the bruises”) far-outweigh the promised benefits. This ultimately informs his decision to part-ways (“drives me away”).

Lyric: It rockets through the universe
 It fuels the lies and feeds the curse
 Believes we could be glorious
Annotation:
Matt is conflicted about faith, because on the one hand it blinds him to the truth (“Rose-tinted view”), but on the other hand it gives him a reason to go on (“I need to believe”, “Don’t close the door / On what you adore”). Faith isn’t just referring to religion either; it’s also a stand-in for hope in general. Hope might blind you to the realities of your situation, but without it you’ll just sink into despair. So regardless of how irrational it is, you cling to it because it gives you a reason to feel good. So even though faith/hope/religion is the source of a lot of harm in the world (“It fuels the lies and feeds the curse”), there’s also something essential about it that brings purpose to our lives (“Believes we could be glorious”), so much so it’s not bound to a specific place but could be found all over the world (“It rockets through the universe”). The chorus is a hopeless finding: being glorious is a well-sold illusion. Matt leaves it up to the listener to decide how the good can be separated from the bad, or whether it can be at all.

Lyric: Rose-tinted view
 And satellites that compromise the truth
Annotation:
The world may seem nice at first glance, but satellites and other methods of deception to the populations (a running theme of  Black Holes and Revelations) mask the truth. The satellites are a reference to the governments trying to hide the truth using the mass media.

Lyric: Faith
 It drives me away
 But it turns me on
 Like a stranger’s love
Annotation:
Matt states that faith in something – even himself – could be dangerous. But faith is actually good: it triggers people to follow their path, it ignites hope. Thus, while the concept of faith (believing at face value) pushes him away, the idea of a higher love, an afterlife, a protecting God, is appealing, more so than an essentially meaningless existence with no purpose other than what you can create for yourself. He compares faith to a stranger’s love, since a stranger’s love is reasonless and yet it causes positive feelings. This lyric more or less voluntarily reminds the opening line of  Radiohead’s  “My Iron Lung”: Faith, you’re driving me away Muse were also  often compared to Radiohead, especially at the beginning of their career, due to the supposed similarities in sound and mood.

