Kneel And Disconnect Meaning

My Kneel and Disconnect Meaning is largely influenced by the theme of "The Incident" album (which I will explain in this article).

Here are the Lyrics for the song:

Now to understand these lyrics, you must realize what the album is about.

This is what Steven Wilson said about the album:

"There was a sign saying ‘POLICE – INCIDENT’ and everyone was slowing down to rubberneck to see what had happened... Afterwards, it struck me that ‘incident’ is a very detached word for something so destructive and traumatic for the people involved.

And then I had the sensation that the spirit of someone that had died in the accident entered into my car and was sitting next to me. “The irony of such a cold expression for such seismic events appealed to me, and I began to pick out other ‘incidents’ reported in the media and news,” continues Wilson.

“I wrote about the evacuation of teenage girls from a religious cult in Texas, a family terrorizing its neighbors, a body found floating in a river by some people on a fishing trip, and more. Each song is written in the first person and tries to humanize the detached media reportage."

So what is the "Incident" for Kneel and Disconnect?.

The lyrics describe someone who seems to just drift through life.

The first lyric, "Kneel and Disconnect" refers to Wilson's previous Traditional job, where he worked as a Computer technician. As the job often entails getting down on your knees to work on the computers.

The disconnect portion is literally talking about connecting and disconnecting wires. But Metaphorically it is talking about how he became increasingly disconnected from reality because these "Traditional" jobs often suck the life out of creative types (People who are Artists and Musicians etc.).

The Second line "Waste Another Year" is saying that he is accomplishing nothing meaningful with this job.

He simply does the work, brings home a pay check, and does nothing good, or bad with his life.

The Last 2 lines have two meanings.

1st first meaning for "Fill the Application, Start a new Career" is that these lines are simply to reinforce the idea that his job is monotonous, and meaningless.

He reinforces this, by saying that every year he starts a new career, because they are just that common and uncreative.

The 2nd meaning, is that he is talking about quitting his "Traditional" job, and giving it up for a life of music, which is much more meaningful to him.

This song is about Steven Wilson's transition from being a normal, 9-5 job person, to being a creative genius, and the decision to give up that old, secure life, for a new one of uncertainty and excitement.


If you haven't done so already:

(That's A Clue!)

-Andrew Muller, Editor (Thursday, October 8th, 2009.)

Return from Kneel And Disconnect Meaning to Song Interpretations

Return from Kneel And Disconnect Meaning to Home Page

New! Comments