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floef-likes-everything · 11 months

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MCYT Song Analysis: They Don't Know You Like I Do - Imagine Dragons

Are you ready for some emotional damage? I love myself some Imagine Dragons and boy does this song hit different if you keep the Life Series in mind while listening to it. Maybe first just listen to it without reading my little rant first, just to appreciate it (can you tell I'm a big Imagine Dragons fan? Yeah, probably)

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(ps. please keep in mind this is all about the characters as opposed to the cc's of course :])

An essay on how this wonder of a song is so insanely desert duo / rancher duo / a tiny bit of flower husbands coded. We’ll go chorus by chorus and some lines are better than others, but just wait for the refrain to kick in.

He was never gonna make it Every pill he found, he'd take it Always on the edge of breakdowns But keeping it together somehow Just another cold November You called me, but I didn't answer I was so oblivious, now I'm asking for forgiveness

While this is the weaker chorus of them all, the first line is incredibly strong: ‘He was never gonna make it’. It can refer to both Jimmy and Scar, as everybody is always talking about them being prone to dying and you have the Canary Curse, of course. The lines after that are a bit more of a general vibe, but I like to relate ‘Always on the edge of breakdowns’ to the perpetual state of slight panic Jimmy is always in during the life series. We end on a banger, as ‘I was so oblivious, now I’m asking for forgiveness’ is just incredibly desert duo coded. Grian killing Scar with the creeper in 3rd life was him being oblivious and him pledging his life to Scar was Grian asking for forgiveness.

So, not the strongest of starts for this chorus, but the second one starts with one of the best lines.

For every single time I failed you I'm feeling like it's me that killed you Remembering the time they jumped you And I was too scared to help you Looking back, I can't erase it, I guess it's time to face it You never seem to know how to let it all go

‘For every single time I failed you, I’m feeling like it’s me that killed you’ does that need any explanation?! Grian and Scar are almost always connected in some way (yes, more in 3rd Life and DL of course) and I just can’t put in to words how this lyrics makes me feel. Grian DID fail Scar in DL and it got them both killed (Grian getting killed by the Warden). No, Grian, you’re not only feeling like you killed him you DID kill him. Often even, most times with intent.

The next line can be related to desert duo, but to me it’s more rancher coded ‘Remembering the time they jumped you and I was to scared to help you’. I can’t think of anything else but Pearl, Scott, Cleo and Martyn ‘kidnapping’ Jimmy. Jimmy called out to Tango for help BUT HE DIDN’T. I mean, sure, Tango wasn’t exactly scared but I can dream alright? I don’t think something similar happened to desert duo, but I can be mistaken. It’s been a bit since I watch 3rd life lmao.

‘Looking back, I can’t erase it, I gues it’s time to face it, You never seem to know how to let if all go’ is admittedly the weakest line of the chorus, but is still very DL desert duo coded. In my mind it’s about Scar who can’t let go what happened in 3rd life, he can’t stand seeing Grian with BigB.

Don't listen to a single word they say about you They don't know you like I do Don't listen to a single word they say about you They don't know you like I do

This, to me, is rachers / flower husbands. Maybe it’s just Jimmy coded, I’m just a big Jimmy stan alright? If you don’t get it, just read it again and then maybe just one more time for good measure. Everybody is always taking the mick out of Jimmy, in every series he is in but especially in the Life Series because he keeps on dying first. I’d like to imagine it does get in Jimmy’s mind. Despite it, Scott and Tango stuck with him. The Southeners didn’t really stick with him (which was his own fault, true) and the Bad Boys also didn’t feel the same. Now, it doesn’t apply as strongly to flower husbands as 3rd life was the first season and the Canary Curse wasn’t as much of a big deal. Tango stuck with Jimmy, however, when he didn’t have to. You had Scott who opted to team with Cleo instead of Pearl. Grian was continuously trying to get with BigB and while I love boat boys, Etho was actively trying to team with Bdubs. To me, the only truly strong pair were the ranchers. Nobody tried getting in between them and they didn’t try to break up.

Everybody saw you smiling, yeah, you were always good at hiding You were always asking questions so you wouldn't draw attention Everyone who used you, they never really knew you You're always showing up for everybody but yourself

This chorus is how I imagine Jimmy’s character. It might not be entirely cannon in all seasons, but think about it for a second. ‘Everybody saw you smiling, you were always good at hiding’, Jimmy tends to be the happy, go lucky type of person. Even when he is mad he can’t help but crack up at jokes others make. He hides how stressed he is about the possibility of dying yet again. ‘You’re always showing up for everybody but yourself’ is also a nice link to Limited Life, where he continuously throws himself into danger to try and protect Grian.

You might think ‘Floef, this is turning into a Jimmy song, you said it was also a desert duo song??’. Yeah, here comes the refrain, the best part of this flipping song.

See, I wish I could take it back, change the future and erase the past Grab the bullet out and pull you back I promise that I'd save your life like you saved mine But now it's far too late for that, and all I have is your story left to tell So let me tell it, let me tell

Read it. Read it again. Now read it with the desert duo story line in mind. Read it as if Grian is screaming this at the top of his lungs after he killed Scar. Now listen to the song (if you haven’t already) and appreciate the amazing music that goes with it.

‘Change the future and erase the past’ aka erasing the past in not killing him with the creeper, which might change the future so Grian isn’t forced to kill him again in the end.

‘Grab the bullet out and pull you back’ where the bullet is Grians fist and pulling it back meaning he never killed Scar. Or the bullet can be the creeper, whatever you prefer.

‘I promise that I’d save your life like you saved mine’ Grian didn’t really safe Scar at any occasion, other than continuously telling him to put his armor on. Scar tried, by offering his life to Grian right after he killed Bdubs. He didn’t want a fight or anything, he was ready for Grian to take his life so Grian could survive.

‘But now it’s far too late for that, and all I have is your story left to tell’ The past can’t be changed, so all Grian can do is talk about the things that happened (which is true for all seasons and winners, but still). It’s to late to make another decision, to late to change anything.

After this the song is mostly just without lyrics but I need someone to agree with me on this because MAN do I love this song.

Now, this entire refrain can also be linked to Jimmy, because Jimmy wants to change the future by not dying first yet again and erase his past deaths. The bullet can be his numerous final deaths, the arrow from 3rd life, Grian in LL, the Enderman in DL and the fall damage in Limited Life. I promise that I’d save your life like you saved mine is a nice Bad Boys reference, as Joel has said he was willing to give his life for Jimmy’s. But, you know, now it’s far too late for that so they can only talk about it.

Thanks for reading, as always :]

#mcyt song analysis #life series #3rd life #double life #desert duo #team ranchers #last life #limited life #Youtube

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