Imagine Dragons – Radioactive lyrics

Imagine Dragons – Radioactive lyrics

I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive!
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive!

I raise my flags, don my clothes
It's a revolution, I suppose
We're painted red to fit right in
Whoa
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive!
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive!

All systems go, sun hasn't died
Deep in my bones, straight from inside

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive!
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive!

Lyrics taken from /lyrics/i/imagine_dragons/radioactive.html

Songwriters: Alexander Junior Grant, Benjamin Arthur Mckee, Daniel Coulter Reynolds, Daniel Wayne Sermon, Joshua Francis Mosser

Radioactive lyrics © Bluewater Music Corp., Universal Music Publishing Group

Submitted by 6370ily

Corrected by tuvlu

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7 meanings

+ 14
Crimson-Prophylaxis 2015-01-19 13:25:45

Everyone is interpreting it as something like fighting cancer, but they forget that sometimes can tell a story as well.
I think the song is just about a person living in a post-apocalyptic era after a nuclear war, where radioactive ash clouds fall on the earth and one can't even see the sun. Survivors are fighting each other for survival and dominance. The speaker is learning to survive in the chaos of the apocalypse. The part about the "sun hasn't died" means he hasn't lost hope yet. He is asserting that he will live on in the "New Age."

1 reply
l

+ 11
ladyH 2015-04-11 20:22:27

I feel like this song is about smoking heroin, from waking up sweating and aching in your bones to having to inhale chemicals to feel normal and good. Breaking in, shaping up and checking out on a prison bus could be reference to stealing for the habit, trying to get better, then getting in trouble while in a haze... or breaking in could refer to doing the drug, shaping up could refer to getting well, and checking out can be about nodding off on the drug. The music video seems like its about a bunch of drug dealers making and betting money on their beast (which is the drug), while the addicts are imprisoned below them because the drug is too powerful for them to beat. The girl that comes and saves them has a strong soul and power to finally conquer the monster and throw the drug kingpin into his own hell, while releasing the addicts from their prison cells and back into the world above ground.

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l

+ 8
LuckyGamer777 2015-03-18 17:55:28

I think this song is about how everything that this person knows has been destroyed and he has to overcome all of the challenges sent his way and it is hard for him because what has happened is so devastating to him and such a tragic event is hard to recover from.

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k

+ 5
kirby 2015-01-07 12:21:42

It means communism, they talk about red, and revolution, and a new age. What do they equal: Communism. Just like in animal farm, except they are dragons, but imaginary dragons, which is what the animal farm characters want so they can have power and mollie the horse is the bourgeoisie. Also great song.

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U

+ 4
Unregistered 2015-06-20 11:47:41

I think he is waking up to a world after a nuclear war. Everything was destroyed, as there is only ash and dust. He imagines a new age, a revolution that will be built by him, from dust. He feels a new power inside him, energy overflows him. There is still a hope, and he will start building a new world on the ruins.

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c

+ 4
Carla Van Ess 2014-10-31 00:35:01

I had Limited Small Cell Lung Cancer and I interpreted it to be having chemo and radiation for that. I am now in remission. I listened to this song every time I had to go in for treatment. My friends and even my doctor knew I was coming when they heard it playing.

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p

+ 1
PixieNewt 2014-12-09 14:04:54

I completely agree with Carla Van Ess! I was diagnosed with cancer at age 12, and (I'm approaching 14) and I perceived the song to be about cancer. I could see parallels with having PET scans, in which one has to inhale a radioactive tracer (in actuality I had the tracer administered intravenously, yet I witnessed people inhaling the tracer). "Breathing in the chemicals"

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