Re-Arranged - Limp Bizkit
"Life is overwhelming, heavy is the head that wears the crown..."I was working out yesterday per usual and I had my iPhone in tow. I cued up my music and this 14 year old song (goodness, I'm getting old) popped up into the shuffle. As I was attempting a three-minute plank, I tried to block out the pain I felt from this dreadful position and focused solely on the music. I listened intently to the lyrics and remembered just how good this song is. Because Significant Other was released in 1999, I was a little kid in junior high when I first heard this song. I didn't understand all of the palpable angst that I sense now in this song. It's the perfect song for anyone that has to eliminate and do away with any excess baggage in their life in the form of another person.
Who is this person? When I hear this song, I imagine a dreadful soul who feeds off the misfortune or perceived weakness of another person. Some people refer to this as social cannibalism; I've heard this phrase before and I think this definition is the most fitting:
Social cannibals take pleasure in the problems, difficulties and failures of others. They feed on weaknesses in others to elevate themselves. It’s dangerous to be in their company because you might end up in their pot.
-Source: http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/social-cannibalism/
That's why in the first stanza we hear that Durst would love to "disappoint" the person when he doesn't fall down. Why is it that this kind of baggage can even be a part of someone's life when the person that engages in this behavior sounds so dodgy and cruel? I think it's because a lot of these people are pretty cunning and hide their intentions, at least initially. As they build relationships with us, and then elevate themselves in our weakness, they create the illusion that they make us better, stronger. We then grow to believe that we need them and wonder, how on earth we ever survived without them. And then, it just hits you. You finally see the animal within the person and you try to break away, even though they insist that you cannot get by without them. So then you question and doubt yourself and retreat back into this person's control.
Re-arranged is the anthem for the person willing to change this cycle and dynamic; the person who is finally able to let go and look back to see how they are better off. There is so much bravery in letting go. To stand up and live on your own, that is true courage. To realize that all you needed in the end to make you happy was you. You truly have to re-arrange your thinking. And even if you end up suffering in this process, you show that person that you can survive; that you're still here. And finally you reach that epiphany in the song when you hear:
"Your disposition i'll remember when I'm letting go.
Of you and me, we're through and re-arranged...
You're no good for me, thank God it's over."
In the beginning and the end of the song, Durst says, "Just think about it, you'll get it." I can't tell if he is addressing the listener who may be in the same predicament of the person in the song or if he's referring to the "social cannibal." If that line is for the cannibal, I'm sure it will fall on deaf ears. I'd imagine that it would be quite difficult to be that introspective and see that at the end of they day, you're that person that thrives off of the misfortune of others. I think the most likely outcome would be that the cannibal would feel the urge to feed their desire to elevate themselves and they'll go on searching for the next one in line that they can control. And they'll hold on to tight to this next person until he or she finds the courage to re-arrange.
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