Lyrics (Over)Analysis – Time is Running Out by Muse

My opinion with lyrics is that the interpretation of lyrics by the listener is just as important as the interpretation of lyrics by the songwriter itself. I said this in a previous analysis of songs but this will be the first time that point will be really relevant.

My interpretation of this song is that it is an anti-abortion song from the prospective of the foetus. Now you may go on and tell me that Matt Bellamy said that this song is about relationship break down or whatever other meanings that he has conjured up. However my reply is that I know the meaning of Matt Bellamy songs more than he does :)

(By the way, don’t try to extrapolate my personal opinion on abortion by these interpretation. My interpretation of the lyrics of the song is completely irrelevant to my personal opinion about abortion.)

So let’s start with the lyrics.

I think I'm drowning
asphyxiated
I wanna break this spell
that you've created

So the starts sets up that this foetus is about to die. He is drowning and is running out of air. This is because the foetus is about to be aborted. The foetus wants to break the maternal bonds (I wanna break this spell) between mother and child. The mother is going to abort the foetus and the foetus doesn’t want to have this love for the mother due to the betrayal.

you're something beautiful
a contradiction

However the foetus still believes that the mother is beautiful but recognises the contradiction of that. The mother is going to kill the foetus but the foetus still loves the mother because you can't break the spell.

I wanna play the game
I want the friction
The foetus now saying he wants to play the game of life. The foetus wants any problems and conflict that comes with that life (friction). This is responding to points by pro-choice groups that abortion should be ok to avoid the social problems of having a pregnancy in undesirable social situations.

you will be the death of me
you will be the death of me

This is self evident that the mother will be the death of the foetus.

bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it
Again, this is also about how the mother will be the death of the foetus. However I do like the language being used such as “smother” which paints a picture of mother smothering their baby to death. The foetus obviously believes that is the same moral equivalence as aborting a foetus. Also “won’t let you bury it” can also means that the foetus won’t let the mother forget what she has done. She can’t bury her sins and say that she didn’t really kill anyone.

our time is running out
our time is running out
you can't push it underground
you can't stop it screaming out

The line saying that the foetus time together with mother is running out. This is followed by the similar theme that you can’t just try to rationalise it away that this isn’t really murder or isn’t really killing, that you can’t stop the foetus screaming out. Although the foetus doesn’t literally scream out, it is a metaphorical way of saying that this is a living life that feels pain you are killing.

I wanted freedom
bound and restricted
I tried to give you up
but I'm addicted
This is a bit of repetition from the first verse. The foetus wants to live life but is helpless about its situation as it is bound and restricted inside the womb. The foetus has no choice in the matter. The foetus can’t simply break the dependency between the foetus and the mother because the foetus is reliant on the mother to survive.

now that you know I'm trapped sense of elation
you'd never dream of
breaking this fixation
The foetus is now saying that the mother knows that the foetus is trap and is under her mercy. She feels elated about having this control over reproduction.
However she will never break the bonds between mother and child.

I’m going to skip the next couple of section because there are repetition and I’ll just go to the last section of the song.

you will suck the life out of me

One of the methods of abortion is to literally suck the foetus out of the womb using the manual vacuum aspiration or electric vacuum aspiration technique.

That line refers to that technique.

bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it

our time is running out
our time is running out
you can't push it underground
you can't stop it screaming out
how did it come to this?
ooooohh

The song finishes off repeating the chorus. The chorus deals with the theme that the mother can’t hide that this is murder. The foetus is telling the mother that you can rationalise it away but you can never hide away from it. Also that the mother can never deny and break the maternal connection between mother and child because it is part of who we are (there is evidence that there are hormonal connection between mother and child). This can lead to issues such as post-abortion syndrome where the mother who believes that abortion is murder is killing a life end up feeling depress and guilty about their actions.

The song ends off with the line that “how did it come to this”
This is the foetus saying that they never done anything to the mother. The foetus is asking how the relationship between the mother and the foetus did broke down to the extent that the mother wants to abort the foetus. The foetus is confused by the mother’s behaviour and points out the pointlessness of it.

So that’s my interpretation of the song. Matt Bellamy wrote a brilliant and creative anti-abortion song (who would have thought of writing an abortion song from the prospective of the foetus. That's just awesomely creative)  without even realising it.