Song Review: Slipknot — Snuff
Snuff is very vulnerable, a naked song about a real human on the edge. Being in a very difficult complex situation. As Corey Taylor himself said it’s a song about someone who helped you to go through a lot and suddenly they let you down. Someone that you were relying on but they were not feeling the same. The pain could push you to the edge, but if you survive, you reach new horizons and you grow. Snuff is about an unhealthy toxic relationship that you are aware of, yet you cannot move on, you don’t let go. It’s about how different contradictory emotions pass by in a manic depression way. A minute you are angry, the other you are sad. You love and hate at the same time.
Snuff refers to Snuff movie which by simple definition is a “pornographic film in which an unsuspecting actress or actor is murdered at the climax of the film” or “a violent film that shows a real murder”. The sadomasochistic lyrics is well aligned with that definition.
The song has a heavy emotional weight. With powerful vocal of Corey Taylor each word penetrate to your bones. He sings deep from his soul, because its personal for himself and he had lived every single word. If you watch his acoustic live performance of the song, you can feel the honesty in his voice. An honesty you cannot fake.
Here you read an autopsy of Snuff:
So, if you love me, let me go
And run away before I know
My heart is just too dark to care
I can’t destroy what isn’t there
Deliver me into my fate
If I’m alone I cannot hate
I don’t deserve to have you
Ooh, my smile was taken long ago
If I can change I hope I never know
Have you ever been in a relationship that you know is wrong? you know its hurting you and its unhealthy, still you want it. It pushes you to a madness of conflicts. You are suffering, but you cannot leave. There is one interesting verse in the lyrics “I don’t deserve to have you”. It’s literally the definition of being in relationship with a narcissist. You know that you are being manipulated, but you still feel guilty and you think you are not enough for the person and you don’t deserve their love.
At some point you get to an awareness that you need to do something. But you are too desperate. So you start to struggle with your emotions. You question everything. It reminded me of a scene from Donnie Darko (2001). Its about how complicated life and human is and you cannot simply divide emotions and actions into good or bad. The teacher is giving a speech about how everything goes under Fear or Love. Anger, hatred, lie, etc. goes under Fear and Kindness, compassion, empathy, etc. goes under Love.
But Donnie comes up and interrupts the teacher saying that life is not that simple.
Its so true. You cannot categorize every emotion and action under Love and Fear and then suggest that we humans should only love. I don’t care if your therapist/shrink says so. Society and social sciences suggest us to be a part of the system at any price. Psychologists and psychiatrist prescribe you pills and practices to keep you sane or better say a functional gear in the machine.
But how can you love if you cannot hate? How can you be kind if you never get angry? How can you be sane all the time? Don’t you ever explode? I believe human emotions come in pairs like whole binary meaning of universe. Everything is in pair and in contradiction. In real love there is a bit of hate. If you are not able to hate it means you don’t care. We cannot love everything all the time.
In the lyrics the protagonist claims that he is incapable of love and his heart is too dark to love:
My heart is just too dark to care
I can’t destroy what isn’t there
But then later we see that he still make love to the letters of his lover. Its one of those painful paradoxes many of deal we it. We want to deny our feelings, but deep down we know we still have a heart and we miss our love and it always hurts. This contradictions do not represent weakness, but being human. Its so valuable and admirable that Corey Taylor expresses himself in the lyrics so freely and with no shame or censorship. So, many others who relate know they are not alone.
I still press your letters to my lips
And cherish them in parts of me that savor every kiss
I couldn’t face a life without your light (without your light)
But all of that was ripped apart when you refused to fight
Finally, the song ends with naked shameless yet strong words of a broken soul. He asks his love to spit her pity into his soul because nothing matters anymore. He is too damaged and in his lowest to have any shame. Also behind “You never needed any help” lays a lot of meaning, depending on your experience and how you interpret it. It could be about a person who doesn’t care about anyone, specifically about the relationship because for the partner its a game, and she has many other plans to save herself, including selling him. In the end, the nice beautiful angels tell all the lies to keep controlling. They smile, they behave, they please, they are poisonously positive, they give attention and confirmation, they pretend, but they don’t mean any of that. That’s how they take control. But there is not joy when there is no pain. You cannot feel the sand and the sea with your clothes on.
So, break yourself against my stones
And spit your pity in my soul
You never needed any help
You sold me out to save yourself
And I won’t listen to your shame
You ran away, you’re all the same
Angels lie to keep control
You can also watch the amazing analysis of Julia Nilon on the song’s vocal here:
