Reviews for The Unforgiven Lyrics

i feel as if the story of my life is being told through this song..it sounds to real..when u rob a small child of his thoughts ...he can never think properly by himself..he becomes silent and gets into depression..others exploit him..his silence is his weakness..this bloody world sucks...a child should be taught to dream..to freely express oneself..let him live his life

Well, for you all to know, this is like poetry (it IS): there's no real meaning, just leaves us to try and understand it.

I could say this song is just telling oneself how many mistakes they did, but they can't go back and correct them, can they? So what they do is seek for their own forgiveness.

However, it'd mean something different for Tom or Bob. It's quite abstract, you see.

So the only thing we are left to do, is stop burning our brains trying to figure this out, because we all are right in our assumptions of the meaning there (save for those who quote the entire song, that is), and just enjoy the wonderful rythm and accoustic sounds The Unforgiven I has by kilograms.

( Smile, life is funnier than you think. :D )

What I know is what it is;
I'm sure that after reading the review many have felt different responses, What I felt was that as long as people can discuss something than that something lives and that mixing of poetry, philosophy and ideal of what it can be, makes a wondering of all. Therefore it is.

You guys are all wrong, the song is about a boy, and society is trying to tell him to live his life a certain way, and he vows, that never from this day his will they'll take away... which means he will live hi life the way he wants and not listen to the rulles that they tell him to obey, but as you get into the unforgiven 2, this boy has become a bitter old man, and hes gone his whole like, and is beginning to give in to society, because his whole life has been a fight, from the words of James himself... search what Unforgiven II is about..

WOW I'm flabberghast like this is a real word... fuck man you all listening to rap music or what.... this song is based on the whipping boys through history... man ... guys read up your H-School history you guys must be illeterate OR SIMPLY DROPOUTs. anyway prefer big time real songs that made music what music is today... man you guys really suck big time lol. go back to Africa YOYO man!

There is an adult pondering upon the past, never me, never free. Intertextuality. The Raven by Edgar Allan poe. Label me, so I dub thee unforgiven - (Disgrace,) I repeat what you say, you are unforgiven, I repeat it, Unforgiven refers to me, never free.

The true meaning of this song is the following, as said by James. Doug was close.

Well James grew up in a VERY religous family, and like doug said, they sheltered him from life. They were very strict and made his life hard. Eventually his sister got cancer, but his parents didnt beleive in modern medicine, and didnt bring her in for radiation. his parents are THE UNFORGIVEN for letting his sister die.
"You lable me, I'l lable you.. so I dub thee unforgiven"
They lable him as one of those mega religous kids and after all the hardship this has caused him, he decides nto to forgive them, and lables them THE UNFORGIVEN.

I disagree with Orion, if you listen to The Unforgiven II and III, you hear him say " How can I blame you when it's me I can't forgive?" so I think it's that he's changed himself and can't forgive himself for it.

I hear.... the story of a man who became something he is not. He regret's his life, and that is the point of regret, is that you cannot forgive yourself for the things you should or should not have done.

born,put down and down learns the rules of society keeps himself in no expression.They punished him and he vows they will never change him through all he has lived through he has never shown what he could be no one will ever see he will never show who he could be.In his eyes they are unforgiven.They try harder to break him he tries to let them be happy with the lie they have created and he is pissed because he still has not broke free from the chains of people trying to control his life. He fights and fights for freedom but freedom he never gets he see's it and no longer cares he dies the same as he started.

Forgive me, forgive me not, forgive me, forgive me not. Why can't I forgive me?

Forgiveness is asked from someone. When you ask yourself for forgiveness, who is there to give it?

This song is the sound of one hand clapping.

Really, if you relate everything what they say in this song in the terms of buddhism, you can express everything told in it.

I understand why many feel that they can relate to this song. This is the reason why many people see the "meaning" of this song in different light.

The meaning, as I see it, is simple. The song has lots of questions that have arisen in the mind of men in all eras of humans. They all boil down to simple question of "why".

In my (buddhist) view, the answer.. well, let me phrase it like this:
I don't know the answer.. I don't even know what the question is!

That is the answer.

Stop all the fan in-fighting. Do you think anyone writes a song like this for it to be taken 100% literally? Of course not! It's for you to interpret, like poetry; so that everyone may gain meaning from it. Unless you are the actualy lyricist, stop speculating on what it's about, and just enjoy it! :)

the song was written with a certain meaning behind it and it is important to know it....but i also believe that James would not mind at all if the listener can relate the song in a way that makes it entirely personal to them....it is important to know James' story...but the great thing about any song is that you can look at the lyrics, and relate it to something that's entirely you!! im a singer/songwritter and i for one would want the listener to know my story, but also have it be as if the song was written for them!!!

METALLICA IS THA BOMB.COM!!!!!! (AND THIS SONG IS SOOO DEEP!!:)

Like all music the artist is expressing themselves in their song hoping we will understand their point of view. But we should also keep in mind that we can express the songs meaning differently inside ourselves. So we can all find a different meaning to a song and be right this is art not math.

the song is about james hetfield's childhood and how they kept him away from the world. He even said in an interview that the song was written about how he couldnt forgive his parents for what they did to him!

New blood joins this earth
(He is born)
And quickly he's subdued
(taken in immediatly)
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules
(Goes through learning his parents rules)

With time the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man strugggles on and on he's known

(Learns parents rules, deprived of childhood and never really given a chance at life)

A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away-eay

(wont give up)

What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been
What I've felt
What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free
Never me
So I dub thee UNFORGIVEN

(Didnt live up to potential, wont see what might have been, cant be himself so he lables his parents unforgiven)

Do some research before commenting!!! i saw some shit about it being about someone who had success stolen from them and

"The boy passes his love to his friends or girlfriend, looking for a shelter"

WTF!!!!