What is the meaning of this song "Aerials"?

[Tammuz]

The song Aerials from System of a Down from 2001 I find quite addictive to listen to. See lyrics below. But what do the lyrics actually mean?

(As it happens, I think quite many SOAD song have rather obscure or non-obvious song meanings.)

Life is a waterfall
We're one in the river
And one again after the fall

Swimming through the void
We hear the word
We lose ourselves
But we find it all?

'Cause we are the ones that want to play
Always want to go
But you never want to stay

And we are the ones that want to choose
Always want to play
But you never want to lose

Aerials in the sky
When you lose small mind
You free your life

Life is a waterfall
We drink from the river
Then we turn around and put up our walls

Swimming through the void
We hear the word
We lose ourselves
But we find it all?

'Cause we are the ones that want to play
Always want to go
But you never want to stay

And we are the ones that want to choose
Always want to play
But you never want to lose

Aerials in the sky
When you lose small mind
You free your life
Aerials so up high
When you free your eyes
Eternal prize
Aerials in the sky
When you lose small mind
You free your life
Aerials so up high
When you free your eyes
Eternal prize

 

[OLDMAN]

It sounds like a song about life and death, how we shouldn't go through life with a closed mind but instead be one in the river of others with our eyes and minds open (accepting) We don't want to stay in this human form and that is why we leave. It is a bit hippie dippy but quite beautiful in it's expansion of ideas. IMO

 

[Shake]

When you lose small mind
You free your life

I like this song, but had never really given much thought to the lyrics. It's funny, because now, when I feel lyrics are more readily available, I've found that some of my favorite songs I can't really relate to what's going on lyrically. So, apparently, it's not necessarily the message of the songs which endeared me to them.

Anyway, I've digressed enough for now. What I get now out of the above quote is that by removing negativity or toxicity (interestingly, another SOaD song, as I'm sure you know), or "small minds" allows you to live a happier, more fulfilled, less stressed life.

 

[KeepTalking]

It sounds like a song about life and death, how we shouldn't go through life with a closed mind but instead be one in the river of others with our eyes and minds open (accepting) We don't want to stay in this human form and that is why we leave. It is a bit hippie dippy but quite beautiful in it's expansion of ideas. IMO

I agree that it is about life and death to some extent, but as the first verse states, life is the waterfall. We all start and end the same, birth and death is the river, but we are all flung in different directions at the waterfall of life. In the philosophy of the first verse, life is the void we are swimming through when we hear the word (gain understanding) and lose our connection with everything else to gain individuality, but death eventually brings us back to that connection. Of course, when they start the second verse with "Life is a waterfall, we drink from the river then turn around and put up our walls", they totally lose me. Pretty typical of a SoaD song, there always seems to be some hidden meaning being teased, but it is surrounded by enough nonsense that you can make whatever you want out of it.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

I find a lot of songs have lyrics that make zero sense. That's why I Iisten mainly to instrumental music.

 

[Shake]

I find a lot of songs have lyrics that make zero sense. That's why I Iisten mainly to instrumental music.

This somehow reminded me that I also have some songs which were long time favorites to which I only knew a few of the lyrics until recently, when one can easily find lyrics online. The ones I'm thinking of though, I found the music so powerful and amazing that I found I didn't even care what the words were. The lyrics were floating softly on top of the music and knowing what they said made no difference to me. I liken it to that scene in The Shawshank Redemption when Andy puts the opera on over the prison PA. Red, in his narration says that being in Italian, he had no idea what the women were singing about, but it was so beautiful that he didn't even want to know.

 

[Tammuz]

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense, given that Serj Tankian, from what I understand, is into some Buddhist/Native American/New Age beliefs.

Speaking of songs with lyrics that make little sense, their song BYOB has very clear lyrics and meaning. I really like that song, but don't care much for the lyrics, or the political message they put into it. It's just nothing that is relevant to me personally, even though I can sympathize with the passion in the song.