Annotations for Psycho

Lyric: I will break you, do you understand?
 I will break you, do you understand?
 I will break you, do you understand?
 I will break you, do you understand?
Annotation:
This is extremely hard to hear in the normal song, but you can see the Drill Sergeant lip-syncing it in the lyric video.

Lyric: Show me your war face! Ah!
 You are a pussy, I said show me your war face! Ah!
Annotation:
Reference to Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 film Full Metal Jacket.

Lyric: [Verse 1: Matt Bellamy]
Annotation:
The subject is chosen to become a human drone because of her mental state; The subject is  suffering from a broken heart and already feels empty. This is detailed in the first song on the album,  “Dead Inside”. The  Drill Sergeant, introduced on the second track, takes advantage of her situation.  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: I’m gonna make you
 I’m gonna break you
 I’m gonna make you
 A fucking psycho
Annotation:
The drill sergeant will break the subject emotionally so they will listen to him any time and do anything the drill sergeant asks from them. This way, the drill sergeant turns them into a psycho and makes a human drone of them.

Lyric: Are you a human drone? Aye, sir
 Are you a killing machine? Aye, sir
Annotation:
That the subject willingly answers to these questions with “Aye, sir!” indicates that the subject already turned into a human drone. Since he’ll do anything the drill sergeant asks from him, he’s the ultimate killing machine.

Lyric: I’m in control, motherfucker, do you understand? Aye, sir
Annotation:
Since the subject has become a human drone of the drill sergeant, the drill sergeant is in control of the subject and is able to let him do anything he wants. That the subject answers that he understands it and the previous lines, show us that the subject is already a human drone and doesn’t think or speak for himself anymore.

Lyric: And you will kill on my command
 And I won’t be responsible
Annotation:
As soon as the subject becomes the super drone the drill sergeant is longing for, he will do anything for the drill sergeant, including killing, when he is asked to do it. Since the subject is the one who’ll kill, and not the drill sergeant himself, the drill sergeant won’t be responsible for the deaths. An optimal situation for the drill sergeant, who apparently wants to kill people without being caught. Matt criticises the usage of drones in war, and how they make killing much easier, and lessen the humanity of the killed and the killer.

Lyric: I’ll improve your thresholds
Annotation:
One of the traits of a super soldier is to have improved thresholds. For example, they could have an improved pain threshold meaning they can take much more of a beating before having to receive medical attention. Since this song is about someone being turned into a “fucking psycho”, it makes sense for them to have this procedure carried out on them. It’s also referring to how the drill sergeant is improving the thresholds of horrible acts that the soldiers can bear.

Lyric: I’m changing the station
Annotation:
A metaphor for manipulating her mind. The drill sergeant is able to control and manipulate her as easily as changing stations with a television remote. The line could possibly involve a specific reference: a common gaslighting technique is to change the channel on the TV while someone is watching it, then deny doing it when questioned. The victim begins to question their own sanity, and the self-doubt keeps the victim from leaving.

Lyric: Your mind is just a program
 And I’m the virus
Annotation:
The sergeant states that soldiers can be controlled and instructed like a computer program. He objectifies the soldiers by refusing to acknowledge them as a human beings with feelings. The protagonist is vulnerable due to the mental and emotional trauma described in  “Dead Inside”, and the drill sergeant capitalizes on this vulnerability.  These linnes particularly link the narration to trauma-based mind control, a theme Muse already treated in the song  “MK Ultra”.

Lyric: Your ass belongs to me now, oh
Annotation:
The subject is not just turned into a human drone, they’re turned into the possession of the drill sergeant, they’re  his human drone, killing machine and psycho. The drill sergeant displays a strong lack of empathy towards the protagonist by refusing to acknowledge them as a human being, but instead as an object, hence the use of “Your ass” instead of “You”. Also, the sentence “Your ass belongs to me” is probably a  reference to the movie  The Shawshank Redemption.

Lyric: I’ll turn you into a super drone (A super drone)
Annotation:
The singer notes his wish to turn the subject of the song into a “drone,” which is a killing machine that will “ask no questions.”

Lyric: Love, it will get you nowhere
 You’re on your own
 Lost in the wild
 So come to me now
Annotation:
The song “Psycho” revolves around a person attempting to take control of another bleeding heart and using them to their advantage. We see the hunter at his work in the very first few lines of the song, as he tells the person he’s preying on that their search for love, having broken them, probably because of either rejection or a heavy breakup with someone, has to stop. It has taken a toll on her, and he proposes that emotional safety under his wing is the only solution, luring her into a false sense of security.  The abuser also uses the broken heart of the protagonist, who’s left with no meaning, and offers her a new purpose. It shows how the abuser knows how to manipulate the protagonist into thinking he wants to help her, and how cunning he is. Moreover, he tries to turn her perception of love itself into a weakness. Love can be the most beautiful or the ugliest thing depending on how you view it. Here, they see it as something that only holds you back, a wall that is only there to stop you from reaching your full potential. This point of view about love believes that you have to get rid of your feelings of compassion and sympathy in order to survive, because ultimately you can only rely on yourself. Here can also be a harsh criticism of the recruitment of young guys to war and how the military tranforms people to make them killing machines. More generally, the song portraits uncaring, oppression and selfishness as some of the worst demons of our society.

Lyric: I could use someone like you
 Someone who’ll kill on my command
 And ask no questions
Annotation:
Mind Control 101: The first and most important rule of “taking care” of your pawn is to make sure the person you chain up is someone who is willing to submit and not challenge authority. From what the singer had described of the person he’s taking control of thus far, she’s the perfect catch: someone who’s both broken beforehand and needing somebody else to take care of her. Possible case of  Stockholm Syndrome, anyone?  There might also be a play on words with “I could use someone like you”. It can be understood both as “someone like you could help me” and “I could manipulate you” – and both can be true in our case.

Lyric: [Post-Chorus: Drill Sergeant & Soldier]
Annotation:
Muse has been going after war and totalitarianism for years now:  Black Holes and Revelations dealt with the Iraq War, while  The Resistance leaned heavily on  George Orwell’s  Nineteen Eighty-Four. Frontman Matthew Bellamy  acknowledges that global happenings inform his songwriting as a “a left-leaning libertarian – more in the realm of  Noam Chomsky”: It doesn’t all have to be about guns and land protection, y'know? So yeah, I do find it weird.  “Uprising” was requested by so many politicians in America for use in their rallies and we turned them down on a regular basis. When I dabble in watching the news and reading about current events I tend to get a future negative view and that’s something I’ve dealt with through music. It’s quite possible I’m slightly paranoid. But I’d say making music is an expression of feelings of helplessness and lack of control that I think a lot of people can relate to. He outwardly professes that Muse’s latest,  Drones, deals, in part, with the specter of another world war: https://twitter.com/MattBellamy/status/512648695385296896 Here, the military machine, itself, is under attack. A drill sergeant enters the scene during the  appropriately-named precursor to this tune and then dismantles a normal human being into a “fucking psycho.” There are more than just shades of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from  Full Metal Jacket at the outset. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Lft6EQh-Y The incorporation of a fictional character into the song and the overriding dehumanization motif — not to mention the marching beat and the video’s imagery — also nods to much of  Pink Floyd’s  The Wall.

Lyric: Aye, sir
Annotation:
The outro shows us that it succeedded and that the person (probably the soldier) now believes that she is a psycho and works like a human drone. You fucking psycho The one controlling her (the drill sergeant) only has to say something and she will carry the command out. Your ass belongs to me now

