Linkin Park – Iridescent

When you were standing in the wake of devastation
When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown
And with the cataclysm raining down, insides crying, “Save me now”
You were there, impossibly alone

Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?
You build up hope, but failure’s all you’ve known
Remember all the sadness and frustration
And let it go, let it go

Many theories say that this song is about the nuclear blasts of WW2, but it is also generally about devastation (unsuprisingly).

And in a burst of light that blinded every angel
As if the sky had blown the heavens into stars
You felt the gravity of tempered grace falling into empty space
No one there to catch you in their arms

Now Let’s break this down.

“When” = a time – “Waiting” – “Were there” – “Now” – “Remember” … generally pay attention to the tense. This is not the main focus of the piece, I would argue.

“Standing” – (there) – “Build up” – “Frustration” – “Gravity” – “Catch” – “raining down”

“raining down” – sadness – crying – cold

Wake – the edge – unknown

unkown – lost – desparation – cold

devastaion – unknown – desperation
(There is a kind of unknown aspect to devastation, at times, isn’t there? A more abstract connection, which is exactly what the artsist should be tryign to make. Other way around. Also, paints a story. Etc.)

save me now – catch you in their arms

heavans – empty space (for stars) – unknown – cold

Do you get what Im getting at? Do you see how these are all connected to each other and branch into eachother?
The artist cannot make too many attachments. In hearing Mike Shinoda’s writing process, I know he debates on consistency in directions, feelings invoked, temperatures, that sort of thing. If something contradicts unusefully, he changes or rejects it. When it contradicts, it’s because it changes. we see the description of that change in direction here. A frustration upwards, and a gravity into the unkown and the despair.

Each connection gives new, sometimes more distant interpretations of the same idea.

It kind of gives a feeling of falling into the sky/heavans maybe, just a side thought/theory…

Hopefully you can make connections now, even abstract ones, that I didnt here.