01. Blind
A reference to Jonathan's drug use during his early years. "Another
place I find to escape the pain inside" The drugs
controlled his life. They provided an escape from the pain he endured
as a young adult, and he couldn't see any future
direction for himself. "see through the grey that clouds my mind" He
wants to escape the confusion in his mind but his self
esteem is so low that he is not confident enough to make change
for himself. He wants to leave the world and start again
but he doesn't know how, so he uses drugs to distort reality.
02. Ball Tongue
"The meaning of ball tongue is simple. Some thought it had
to do with oral sex, but infact its about a guy we had to work
with on a t-shirt. He either had a pierced tongue or a
wart or something on his tongue and he was a dick to us" - Jonathan
Davis. While the lyrics to Ball Tongue would have
you believe otherwise it has always been said that the song a guy with a
pierced tongue who used to make t-shirts for
the band but ended up screwing them all over. "There you are alone, with no
hope of ever having something to be proud
of, something earned without begging" It appears that the person was close to
Jonathan but he had doubt that what he was
doing for the band made any difference, so s/he backstabbed them. S/he
disconnected her/himself from Korn and ended up
doing nothing, in the hope that they would come running back to save
him/her from his own self pity. "Why are you at home
buried in your own self pity? Why do you insist on living the life
clean out of me? " The person was one of few who shared
time with Jonathan but became obsessed with him, expecting him to
give all his attention. "Yes, I know you're the person,
the person that took time with me. Does it give you the right to
expect your life revolves around me?"
03. Need To
Need To is about being in
a relationship with someone you love so much but you are too scared to get close to them because
you're paranoid that
they may stop loving you. "You pull me closer, I push you away, You tell me it's okay, I can't help
but feel the pain"
Jonathan was used to being fucked over by people he loved and any future relationship was going to feel
the same. Every
time he thought he was getting too close he would push her away. "I hate you .... Fuck you, bitch" Jonathan
already resents
the girl because he's so confident that she will end up breaking his heart. He hates her before she has
even done anything.
04. Clown
"We were playing at this show in San Diego and this skinhead guy
came up and said 'Fuck You! Go back to Bakersfield!' I
didn't understand that I bent down and he took a swing at me. Our
road manager Jeff knocked his ass out" - Jonathan Davis.
"A tattooed body to hide who you are, Scared to be honest, be
yourself" It seems that this incident was a breaking point
for Jon. As the Clown video shows he was a victim of torment
from his peers at school because he was different. He was an
individual, and this was hard for others to accept. Everyone
else hid behind an image that wasn't representative of
themselves, but of what others wanted them to be.
05. Divine
Divine is about the sting of revenge. Jonathan wanted someone who
didn't want him. Then the tables turned and he found
that this person wanted him now. "You're suffering 'cause of me,
it's divine" "Did you really think you'd beat me at my
own game" He wanted to show her how it felt to want someone you
can't have, and he knows now that since he lost interest in
her she realises what she's given up. Now it's his turn to
have some fun, and he is enjoying it. "You know what, Fuck you,
I'm fed up with you, I'm not as good as you, Fuck no,
I'm better than you" Jonathan knows he's a better person than her
by showing that he's not a doll that can be picked up
and put down at will.
06. Faget
"Everyone thinks I'm bashing gay people in this song, and I'm not.
It's really about me going through high school being
called 'pussy', 'queer', and all that stuff, about getting picked
on by all these jocks." - Jonathan Davis. Spend any
time with Davis and one is likely to be subjected to an endless barrage
of queer references and gay jokes. But what might
initially come across as small-town homophobia turns out to be something
more, a by-product of a lifetime of sexual
confusion. One Davis-penned song, entitled "Faget," reflects on time spent
as a Duran Duran-loving New Romantic, when the
singer would don makeup and hang out in gay bars. "Everyone thought I was
gay my whole life," says Davis, "so I have to
joke about it just to deal with it." - Spin Magazine
07. Shoots & Ladders
"It was written because all these little kids sing
these nursery rhymes and they don't know what they originally meant.
Everyone is so happy when singing but 'London Bridge'
is about the Black Plague. All of them have these evil stories
behind them." "The lyrics are all from nursery rhymes,
and a lot of nursery rhymes go back to the Middle Ages. They're
actually pretty twisted if you know the stories behind
them, like about Black Death and stuff." - Jonathan Davis
08. Predictable
Another relationship cliché that Jon finds so predictable.
Every relationship he goes into he's going to find himself
hurt at the end. He wonders why there is any point in it at
all because he'd rather die than feel the pain. "I can in
every way, mistake the pain I feel inside. It comes to me, evil
thoughts is creeping through my mind" How can he deal
with the situations of a failed relationship but to remove himself
from the world, or remove the other person. If he can't
have them, no one can.
09. Fake
This is another song with a theme similar to Clown. Everyone around
him hides behind an image of what their peers want
them to be. "I can't stand the sight of you, I can't stand what you
put me through. Your life's a lie, that you hide. Is it
that terrible being you inside?" Jonathan is persecuted for being
himself rather than another person trying to fit in with
the crowd. "You try so hard to be wanted. False emotions tells
you fronted. I think being a person relies on one thing. Be
yourself, let you come through" Everyone wants to fit in so
badly that they will change their appearance and opinions to
that of the mainstream crowd. "Fake, you'll regret it, you'll
regret it" Once they are older they will realise that they've
wasted their youth by trying to be something they're not.
10. Lies
Again with the same theme of Clown and Fake, Lies picks on those who
are too afraid to be themselves. People who hide
behind a conformed society. "I want you to see the life you have disguised"
"Do you ever see from outside your fears" He
is pointing out those who fear they too will be persecuted if they step outside
the line of individuality.
11. Helmet In The Bush
"It's about a speed problem that I had. You know, you
do a lot of speed and -- if you're a male -- your penis retracts
severely." In the song he says: 'Please God let me sleep
tonight.' Jonathan had trouble sleeping, because that's what it
does to you. The guy heard at the beginning of the song
is La Caco, a friend of the band. His real name is Michael and
like taco bell. He's a really Nice Guy and he has been
friends with the band for years." - Jonathan Davis
12. Daddy
"People think Daddy was written because my dad fucked me up the ass,
but that's not what the song's about. It wasn't about
my dad or my mom. When I was a kid I was being abused by someone
else and I went to my parents and told them about it.
They thought I was lying and joking around, so they never did shit
about it. They didn't believe it was happening to their
son." - Jonathan Davis
