"Lonely Day" - System Of A Down
There’s something about Lonely Day that hits differently than almost any other song I've liked. It’s not just music; it feels like someone putting a feeling into words that most people struggle to explain. I absolutely love it. It’s one of my favorite songs, and the kind of song I can play over and over without ever getting tired of.
This is my top 10 on my MixTape playlist, and Lonely Day remains #2 only because While My Guitar Gently Weeps is not coming down any time soon. I would put both at #1 if I could.
To me, the song is not about general loneliness, but is rather tied to one person, the one who mattered most; Not just physically gone, but absent in a way that leaves a loud silence behind. The kind of silence that makes everything else feel empty. You can go through a normal day, talk to people, do everything you’re supposed to do, but there’s still that emptiness sitting underneath it all.
That’s what I love about this song. It doesn’t try to over-explain or fix the feeling. It just lets it exist. It acknowledges that sometimes, loneliness isn’t about being alone; it’s about missing someone who made everything feel alive.
For me, "loneliness" is just a word; normally, it means nothing special. It's not a state of mind, or a way to pass time (as in how some people prefer to sit somewhere and wish they were with a lot of people), or in the case of others, who write articles and conduct studies about "loneliness" but without studying the CAUSE of it. Usually, because they don't know how to fix it. It means nothing to study something while ignoring its cause. It becomes a matter of "power of suggestion" in the end, rather than fixing the cause. Meaning, keep talking about the loneliness epidemic will have a lot of people kill themselves, or start drinking or take drugs or meds, all meant to support Big Pharma, and funeral homes, which never run out of customers anyway, and thrive because they have been built into your society. 🤷♀️
Examples:
- You put people in cubicles where they can't see each other or talk to each other; People spend most of their days at work, so your society expects people to find "the one" when? In a short weekend? Trying out people right and left without putting in the time required to make a friend or find a husband? WTF? 🤔 When do people have the time or make the time to really GET TO KNOW another person? Hence, most marriages fail because one or both people went for the looks (or the lesser Evil), and forget there's a person under those looks who may or may not be suitable for them! 🤷♀️
- People are only allowed small talk in workplaces, if that, and gossip and back-stabbing matter more to people than creating a real connection with someone.
- People ride alone in their cars now because they're too precious to ride public transit - do you know how many people found life-long friends and/or partners while riding PT? Why don't you study that?
- Everyone's nose is in their phones - even when they have dinner with another person - and then have the nerve to complain they're "lonely." Are you kidding me?
- Kids are left alone with iPads! They don't play outside anymore, even though some have large yards with play structures.
- Men are scary, and a lot of women have been abused by other men and want nothing to do with them anymore. This is a different kind of "loneliness"; it is induced loneliness to protect from more harm. It's a lot SAFER to daydream about what could have been, than expose ourselves to other uneducated men who spread STD's like it's Halloween candy and have no respect for us.
- Most people aren't taught relationship skills, so of course, we end up alone because who wants to be annoyed all day, financially controlled, or abused? Raise your hand!
- TV stations blabber about the "loneliness epidemic", male or female, and literally NONE of them study any of the above factors I just mentioned.
- Isolating and oppressive workplaces (e.g., those where men can't talk to women for fear of being sued for harassment, and where women who have been harassed can't complain for fear of being laid off because companies care about the abuser, not the abused in America.)
- Having everyone drive alone and make traffic a nightmare, too.
- Not teaching both boys and girls RELATIONSHIP SKILLS before they turn 15, and how to be good friends and partners, since your "college" degree means nothing in relationships and/or traffic.
- Etc.