System isn't about breaking up with a girlfriend?
It's a bit more than that. The first verse is most likely talking about a lover, but the rest of the song could be interpreted for anyone, really.
But even if we go with it being aimed at a girl, it's still deeper than a break-up song. Evil In A Closet is closer to that theme, though the guy in EIAC was most likely never together with the girl he is singing to. Anyway, System is imo is best described as "living with a narcissist".
I can't ignore the way you make me bleed
I hate when you throw my thoughts against the wall
The guy has some kind of mental problem (
I blame and run, sadly all too often sounds like the guy has some form of depression) and he is with a self-engulfed, narcissist personality (who can be his girlfriend who is constantly saying how the guy is stupid), who dismisses him in every way. I'm not sure if at the end he commits suicide or not, but even if he doesn't, he's pretty much just a useless wreck at this point.
The reason I don't know if he dies because:
Follow your instinct, it usually takes you home. Don't let these words tear you down. You see me hanging by the end of the rope. I tell you [...]
You meant the abuser of the protagonist so far, but it would be quite strange here, why would he want to give life lessons to the person he is trying to run away from finally? It's possible though, so he is either:
- talking to us, telling us that just because he kills himself we should not follow his footsteps.
- talking to the abuser, which could make sense in a way that he feels so fucking inferior that even when he finally unleashes his anger and disappointment, he considers his abuser superior, so with his last breath he wishes him/her good things and basically apologize for being a nuisance by ending his own life. Though at the end he still reminds him/her how him/her ruined his life and the reason he is doing this.
I don't think it's possible that he is talking to himself, that would be waaaaay over-complicated to make sense.
If we want to take the interpretation one step further, we could also assume that the reason that at the very end Anders is saying
for you calmly, because it's exactly what it is: he is free from all the burden he was just singing about, because he finally pulled the trigger and killed himself OR it is the very last moment before doing so. I never killed myself before, but I imagine you do take a big breath before you commit to the act.
