Annotations for United States of Eurasia Collateral Damage

Lyric: You and me fall in line
 To be punished for unproven crimes
Annotation:
These lines are just another reference to the book  1984 where the main protagonist Winston and his lover get tortured and beaten into submission to Big Brother, so finally  falling in line. They were captured in the first place for crimes that cannot be proven, because they are so called thought crimes.

Lyric: [Outro: Collateral Damage]
Annotation:
“Collateral Damage” is a rendition of  Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat major, Op 9 No 2 with the sounds of children playing and a plane taking off in the background, plus a string session accompanying the piano. Here Matt plays two of the four repetitions of the main theme of the nocturne, with consistent variations on embellishments and without the coda (outro part).

Lyric: And do you want them to go on and on and on?
Annotation:
The superpowers in 1984 always made sure that they were in conflict.

Lyric: We don’t know or care who’s to blame
Annotation:
People hear about terrible things every day but just go on with their lives and try to ignore it.

Lyric: Must we do as we’re told?
Annotation:
Many writers and historical figures warned against the evils of communism and the ways in which it can damage society and undermine its individual members. Here, the speaker is questioning the preconceptions and fears that surround the unification of many nations into a world power. The question posed here suggests a rebellion from traditional ways that can result in either a revolutionary change that will advance humanity and preserve it, or a fatal decision that will ensure humankind’s demise.

Lyric: Our cause has gone insane
Annotation:
The “cause” of the country is redundant and is essentially meaningless. There is no longer a purpose of promoting justice or protecting individuals; this future society exists for its own sake. The individual members of the society exist for the society, rather than the opposite. In George Orwell’s  1984, which Muse draws many influences from in this album, it is described how The Party creates fake wars to stimulate economic activity and burns a large portion of the goods that they produce so people will need more goods to be produced. The society has become the snake eating its own tail. The “cause has gone insane” because there is truly no cause any longer. In order to fix this enigma, the civilization must be wiped out and remade.

Lyric: But we know that whoever holds the reins
 Nothing will change
Annotation:
A point comparing the western ideology of “democracy” as nothing more than a facade. Bellamy observes that the scope of debate is severely limited – which party do you vote for if you want 90% tax rates, or no tax or spending at all? Bellamy observes that all two- and multi-party states are in fact one-party states and, no matter what political action is taken, nor who is ‘in power’, nothing can or will change.

Lyric: They just promise to go on and on and on
Annotation:
-A possible reference to Bellamy’s belief in conspiracies regarding the Illuminati; exemplifying the futility of human kind to improve. Leaders will always be power thirsty and have personal influences behind their decisions, hence the fighting will “go on and on and on.”  Acceptance that humans will never be able to coexist in peace.

Lyric: United States
 United States of
Annotation:
Eurasia, along with Eastasia and Oceania, is one of the major factions in George Orwell’s novel  1984.

Lyric: And these wars they can’t be won
 Does anyone know or care how they begun?
Annotation:
Referring to how the totalitarian regime in Orwell’s book ‘1984’ constantly is at war with either one of the other two superpowers, but no-one knows for what purpose due to the governments succesful methods of thought control and suggestion.

Lyric: And we know that there’s no one we can trust
 Our ancient heroes, they are turning to dust
Annotation:
In Orwell’s book ‘1984’, the government constantly alters the books of history and changes facts into fabrications.

Lyric: Why split these states, when there can be only one?
Annotation:
Another reference to George Orwell’s book ‘1984’, suggesting that the three superpowers in question should be united into a one-world government (New World Order).

Lyric: And these wars they can’t be won
 And these wars they can’t be won
Annotation:
A reference to George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’, in which three superpowers constantly find themselves at war or in alliance with each other.

