Interpretations:I Broke My Own Rule

From This Might Be A Wiki

A descent into madness[edit]

I feel like this song represents someones descent into madness after breaking a rule, maybe a family rule or a law. The repeating vocals represent the reverb your own head feels when you're stuck in your own head.

Jimmyzenshins311 (talk) 20:00, 2 June 2021 (EDT)

Locrian mode[edit]

My guess is that Linnell is hyperbolically "lamenting" that he broke a rule he had about not writing a melody in Locrian mode.

About the narrator's suicide[edit]

Cw: discussion of suicide as a thing people do

The song seems to be about a suicide attempt. Where dying is the "cost" you pay for absolute freedom. The narrator "lost the high ground" when they "jumped from the top of the statue of freedom from gravity", e.g a Tmbg-type name for the statue of liberty. A jump which is something a few different people have actually made.[1]

And now they will "float into the emptiness". "I lost the high ground" is about jumping from a high place.

The attempt was successful, and the character died ("I'm condemned to hell", "float into the emptiness"). The line "I don't have a leg to stand on" is about literally not having legs because you have no body.

His own rule was one against suicide. Similar to in "Hopeless Bleak Despair", suicide is being depicted as an absolute freedom from what crushes you in life, but the afterlife is depicted as literally hell "I'm condemned to hell") or at least (in this song) pretty lonely in the last verse:

"I'll lay me down down in the dark The dark and sad sad empty room room At the end the end of the hallway the hallway At the end way at the end of time"

A fun little tmbg rabbit hole for this song: As someone on this page already mentioned, this song is written in a musical mode called the Locrian mode. And it turns out the first written laws in ancient Greece were called the Locrian Code, (appropriate for a song about rules). The Locrian Code was written by a guy named Zaleucus. Unfortunately, Zaleucus broke one of his own rules and made the decision to kill himself. Here's the relevant passage from Wikipedia:

"Another law that he established forbade anyone from entering the Senate House armed. Faced with an emergency, he did so anyway, but when he was reminded of the law, he immediately fell upon his sword as a sacrifice to the sovereignty of the claims of social order."[2]

Rest in peace, Zaleucus, who broke his own rule. --Never (talk) 13:22, 3 June 2021 (EDT)

Never is a fucking genius. --You&Me!! (talk) 14:34, 3 June 2021 (EDT)
I love these long interps --Jimmyzenshins311 (talk) 19:25, 3 June 2021 (EDT)
Was contemplating making an interpretation, but you summed up my complete thoughts. --Lukehennisch (talk) 17:45, 2 November 2021 (EDT)

anti-masker actually wearing a mask for the first time[edit]

obviously tmbg are no stranger to writing from the viewpoint of an unreliable narrator, and i personally think this track is no different. at first, i almost thought this was from the point of view of a responsible masked person forgetting their mask in public and panicking, but all the hyperbole, tmbg's responsible stance on covid safety, and mentions of "freedom" lead me to believe the opposite. it sounds as if a devoted anti-masker wound up being "forced" to wear a mask in some public setting, or had a brush with contracting covid, and as a result, berates themselves for succumbing to wearing a mask.


What happens when, happens when the, when the freedom / Freedom you want, you want to have / To have comes at, comes at a cost, a cost you can't / You can't afford to pay /

this verse seems pretty black-and-white to me under this interpretation, and seems to bolster the idea of an anti-masker actually contracting covid at some point and realizing the danger of their dumbass anti-masker antics, like going to bars and parties.


Climb to the top of the statue of freedom from gravity / And you're at liberty to / Jump from the top of the absence of responsibility / And float into the emptiness /

this seems like the ideal life for an anti-masker, exercising their "freedom" to abandon all safety responsibilities and live life as selfishly as they please. however, all that awaits them when they do so is emptiness, which could represent the empty sense of morality anti-maskers have, and how their meaningless "rebellion" does nothing but hold the country back.


I like this! well thought out! This feels like a thing that TMBG wrights about! Good thinking DR. worm (talk) 22:45, 26 April 2023 (EDT)

Anakin Skywalker[edit]

This makes almost too much sense. This song is about Anakin Skywalker turning into Darth Vader. “I lost the high ground, lost the high ground” In revenge of the sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi states the iconic line “It’s over Anakin. I have the high ground.” “All is lost, all is lost, all is lost” Anakin turned to the dark side after losing the love of his life, Padme. “Now I’m condemned to hell” Anakin burned on the planet of mustafar before being rescued by Palpatine. “Abandoned by every, every friend” Anakin left the Jedi order after killing young trainees and telling his best friend, obi-wan, he hates him. “No leg on which to stand” Anakin lost both his legs in his fight with Obi Wan. In conclusion, it all adds up. SorryForHittingYourEye (talk)

I wanted to make a meme with Anakin saying "I lost the high ground" and then Obi Wan saying "All is lost all is lost"

So i think we had the same idea --⇂⇂↋ suᴉɥsuǝZ ʎɯɯᴉᒋ (talk) 07:51, 26 October 2021 (EDT)

Messy counters[edit]

This song is about leaving a mess on your kitchen counter tops. Oh no! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.197.232.134 (talk) 23:41 (EST), Nov 23, 2021

Imaginary comeuppance[edit]

In arguments, especially political ones, it's very common to perceive contradictions, hypocricies, and inconsistencies. It's tempting to bring these up as killer gotchas. This song is an illustration of how a debater imagines the other person will react in response: "Oh my god, here I was going around thinking I was pro-life, but then you pointed out that my support for the death penalty is in fact not 'pro-life!' My worldview has been revealed to be a flimsy house of cards!"

Of course, it never works out that way. This song is sarcastic; it plays out this extreme reaction to mock the idea that this sort of argument would make a dent, much less the demolishing impact people often assume.

Ecclesiastes[edit]

It's a straightforward adaptation of Qohelet/Ecclesiastes.

Meaningless! Meaningless!”     says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless!     Everything is meaningless.”

Trump and his ongoing antics.[edit]

Trump. He broke his rule. he lost. And If he breaks all the rules that he gets to make new ones. (at least in his mind) hence the "WE NEED A RECOUNT!!!!" "STOP THE COUNT" tweets we were blessed with. I will probably add more to this, but it's late, and I need to get back to my TMBG playlist. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. DR. worm (talk) 22:18, 28 March 2023 (EDT)

hi! i'm back! Did you miss me? I'm going to go into more detail: starting from the beginning of the lyrics, it talks about how everything is wrecked implying that everything is in a state of stress much like everyone was during the election. although this song is allegedly about keeping countertops clean I feel like it mirrors what everyone felt during the election deile drama and the timelines add up. It makes sense that they might steer clear from specifically saying that this is a political song If you're trying to keep drama on low. Moving on!

"What happens when, happens when the When the freedom, freedom You want, you want to have, to have comes at, comes at A cost, a cost you can't, you can't afford to pay" I mean that's just about describes the drama that we had to sit through right? the quote Freedom that he wanted came at the cost of the entire country's sanity sooo...... it makes sense to me. this is the same idea: "Climb to the top of the statue of freedom from gravity And you're at liberty to Jump from the top of the absence of responsibility And float into the emptiness" this is calling the literal symbol of the country* the absence of responsibility. if there's one person on this planet that's non responsible when it comes to the US's power it's him. I know this is getting political but it's a tmbg Wikipedia page so I hope you guys don't mind... tell me what you think of this, a couple of other theories seem to be pretty probably as well, like suicide, and an anti-masker wearing a mask. So, what do you think? How far fetched is this? DR. worm (talk) 22:48, 12 April 2023 (EDT)

  • statue of liberty