Talk:Chop Suey!

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Improvements

Ha Ha, you guys are all a bunch of brainless idiots!!!!!!!!!!!

For an October 2004 deletion debate over this article see Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Chop Suey!

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Quote - 'However, many fans argue it is a discussion of Serj's childhood, his friend and him were in a Chinese takeaway: a mental patient who had been recently released stormed into the building dressed as an angel and shot his friend repeatedly, leading to the lyrics "when angels deserve to die."' WTF?? SOAD songs dont have literal meanings and this sounds like a story someone pulled from their a**hole. If you go through every interview you wont find this information cos it doesnt exist. Ultrasound 19:23, 20 Aug 2005 (UTC)

"the song is actually based on a poem by Father Armeni about the Armenian Genocide (all of the band members are of Armenian heritage), especially in honor of those who were valiant enough to risk their lives in order to bring peace to the world and freedom to their people." -> WTF!?

The grammar of this article needs to be fixed. 84.129.99.227 18:28, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

It seems a lot of System of a Down fans "know" what the lyrics mean. But where are they getting this information? As I understand it, Serj usually refuses to comment on the lyrics, and I know he refused to comment on the lyrics of Chop Suey. If these interpretations can't be corroborated, they aren't encyclopedic and should be removed. CyborgTosser 22:23, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

This article is really really bad. I don't think this is the place for fans interpretations of lyrics. Plus the grammmer is terrible.

I was going to try to clean the article up a bit, but I found that most of it is a copyvio from a System of a Down fansite. Once the interpretations are removed there's little left to warrant this article existing. If someone can write up a solid interpretation of the song based on verifiable truths, then it may be worth keeping, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. - MattTM 22:34, Aug 25, 2004 (UTC)

I have never heard of the band or song but re I don't think this is the place for fans [sic] interpretations of lyrics. - the internet in general and Wikipedia in particular is full of song listings, lyrics, album covers and almost anything that offers nothing over and above the obvious. Ditto, most articles on books and stories are nothing but plot summaries - sterile and pointless in my opinion. I've tried in vain to find anyone on the internet actually doing things like analysis of lyrics, which seems to me something like scholarship. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not - Biographies and articles about art works are supposed to be encyclopedia articles. But of course critical analysis of art is welcome, if grounded in direct observations The implication is that the writer can and should write about this, but from a detached perspective. For instance, instead of These are a few suggestions on the meaning of the song 'Chop Suey!'. one might write The meaning of the song has been speculated on. Some popular speculations include... Also the writer should not assume that the reader knows the lyrics already – relevant quotations within the contraints of fair use will help make the article more generally interesting. Notinasnaid 13:19, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This article needs a serious cleanup. It's very poorly written; parts of it are certainly not encyclopedic.

On the whole, however, I think the song is well-known enough to justify a (balanced and encyclopedic) article about it.

Maybe if we removed all but the barest essentials and returned this article to "stub" status, it would evolve better the second time? The article would read something like: "Chop Suey! is a song by System of a Down from their 2001 album, Toxicity. As with many SoaD songs, the band refuses to comment on the lyrics; however, several interpretations of the lyrics exist." I think simply restarting may be the best solution, but I won't myself without the opinions of other users.

Until we can agree on a solution, I cleaned up the grammar and made the article a little less impenetrable (I hope.) - Fermat

Hey! All of you just "be bold" and edit this "without mercy"!--euyyn 00:02, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Say what?

I'm sorry, my command of historical facts is a bit wobbly. Could someone explain what the "Russo Japanese War" had to do with the Armenian massacre? func(talk) 01:26, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Erm..

Is there much point saying that the word suicide can be heard in the 'final cuts opening seconds' when the lyrics, at least before any censor gets to mangle them, includes the words "self-rightous suicide". Its in more than the opening seconds...

The article doesn't just note that the word "suicide" can be heard, it reveals that the phrase "We're rolling 'Suicide.'" can be heard, which is a remant of when the song was to be titled, simply, "Suicide." In light of this, I find it a perfectly relevant inclusion in the article. --Dalkaen^T/C 22:18, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

I thought I heard something about suicide. . . —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.108.22.14 (talk) 15:56, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

A Subliminal Message?

Each time Serj says "Grab a brush and put a little makeup," if you are listning very closely, you can hear him say something like "toy with it a little"

Lsten! youll see what i mean.---California 5:01 P.M.

Hm, is there a particular chorus at which he says this? I don't hear that at all. It must be very quiet if it's there at all. --Dalkaen^T/C 09:53, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

Can't hear it off CD here - any chance you've got a psychoacoustically compressed version of it and you're hearing things in the artefacting? --Kiand 13:40, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

It is after every time he says "grab a brush and put a little makeup." He starts saying it a little before the sentence is over, so it might be hard to catch. It sounds very echoed, so it almost dosent sound like speaking.

What are you listening to it on? After listening off the CD on a good stereo all I can hear after that sentence is a guitar harmonic from Daron muting the strings. There is an echo after "hide the scars to fade away the shake-up", but that's just another band member repeating the same line in a hoarse whisper. Graphia 01:33, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

No, its a voice i hear. Very soft, low, indistinct, and noticable. Its not the geetar, or bass, either. Look, ive had the CD for 4 years, and i just heard it 2 months ago.. CLEAN OUT YOUR EARS Plus, you have to REALLY put yur ear up to the speaker. You can hear it better on headphones

• Ah yes, I heard. I'd think it's just echo from the studio or guitar or something though. You should try yelling "Grab a brush and put a little makeup" quite loudly and see what you hear, eh? // James 11:34, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

...Interesting theory, but I agree with James. "Soft and low"? Since the bass is playing when Serj says it, that might be it. Still, has anyone tried checking it for backmasks? --Djwings 14:56, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

YOU ALL ARE DOING DRUGS DONT JUDGE HIM THIS WAS A GREAT SONG!

Plus a new way to look at it

The Suey in Chop Suey! Is not short for suicide at all, but rather, it is his GIRLFRIEND'S name. Chop Suey! Get it? It is about how he fells the relashonship is going, and he is complaining of how Suey is leaving her keys on the table and putting on makeup after a shakeup. He is referring to her when he says angels deserve to die.

I hope you understand better---California, 8:24 P.M.

• This is probably more appropriate for www.songmeanings.net than Wikipedia; critical analysis of and speculation about lyrics are not the same thing Graphia 00:58, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Yur one of those pessimistic type of people, huh?

Umm...............it is really easy to hear on your computer if u download a mp3 vrsion or put it on your computer from the cd, you can muffle things..............-My friend told me this

The lyrics

Y'know, wasn't it Wikipedia policy to not have copyright material, i.e. lyrics, in an article? Shouldn't we replace it with a link or something? ZanderSchubert 23:40, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

It is indeed a policy. I was bold and removed them. A link might be fine, though. --Dalkaen^T/C 00:31, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

_{darn, I should'a been bold... ZanderSchubert 09:01, 3 March 2006 (UTC)}

That's not bold. That's reasonable. bob rulz 08:30, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

The video

About the contribution by Djwings: The stage performances in the video were shot just for the video, they're not real concerts. Although I can't prove it, I'm quite sure about it. --Tzeck 17:16, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay, then edit it that way. I said I was probably wrong, so thanks for making it right.--DJ Wings- Freestyle here 14:57, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Although it wasn't during a real concert, in an interview Shavo or John said it was filmed by a hotel on Sunset Blvd, because the albums name refers to L.A, so they shot it there.

Sep 11

The following appears in the article:

"The album it appears on, Toxicity, was #1 on the charts during the week of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the controversy surrounding the popular single at the time led to Clear Channel Radio temporarily removing the song from its stations' playlists."

Wouldn't it greatly help the article to explain exactly what that controversy was? As far as this article is concerned, the meaning of the lyrics can't even be confirmed, so why all of the controversy? And what does it have to do with Sep 11, as none of the meanings given seem to have any relation to it. Livingston 19:09 17 April, 2006 (UTC)

I don't think the comments about Jesus are true at all. It doesn't seem to make any suggestion that Jesus expected to be saved.

I think the controversy was probably over the "self-righteous suicide" part. -- 12.116.162.162 16:03, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, the "self-righteous suicide" part, but also the "when angels deserve to die" one. Gracz54 17:09, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

in Chinese

the word 'Chop Suey' means 'fried fragments'. Don't know how relevant that is to the meaning of the song

it could have something to do with how the song sounds...

Chart position

The article contradicts itself...it says the song reached #1 in the article, but then in the chart position it says it reached 76...whats the deal. ChopAtwa 13:37, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

• If you'll see the article for the song "I'm Real" I'm Real then you'll see that this song is said to be the number 1 song during the September 11 terrorist attacks. Also the article Hot 100 number-one hits of 2001 (USA) Also says that the song I'm Real is the number 1 song. The statements saing that this is the number 1 song are misleading and possibly false, though it is possible it was the number 1 selling single, or number 1 in therms of airplay. However that needs to be specified and cited. Also the part about the song being banned is misleading and fallacious, as that list by clear channel was just a list of recommendations. 76.19.42.233 (talk) 16:50, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

Gospels

Uh, Luke is a synoptic gospel, if I remember correctly. And I'm relatively sure I do. John is the non-synoptic. --Dan Moore 05:35, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

OMFG: Hater Returns!

• Un-fucking-believeable! Yes, it's me again. The "wopper"[sic] of wops. As if you didn't know already, what relevancy does this track contain? Nothing. That's right. I hear no "subliminal messages", all I heard was bullshit about leaving your keys on a table, angels commiting suicide, and grabbing some stupid-assed brush to get some motherfucking makeup. I'm not shocked. I'm just fucking pissed off. Apparently, no one gives a fuck. So the next time you hear this album after buying it at the F.Y.E, or watch the music videos without going, "Oh! My little chinpoko hurts! I can't believe Serj said that!", just remember, you are the biggest stereotypical asshole listening to this, in words of Green Day, bullshit political punk rock music. As if you already know right at this moment, this fucking moment, we all know that the music is being comedic in politics and its total bullshit that its nuuml;-metal and not comedy rock like the other anal-cunts out there. In other words, you must be fucking retarded if you listen to this shit. -DtW