The band brought it out as the lead single from their famed second album, “Toxicity”. “Chop Suey!” was released on 13 August 2001. It is considered to be Chinese in origin. But what really is the meaning of the phrase “chop suey”?Ĭhop suey itself is actually a popular traditional dish, dating back to at least the 19 th century. Marcos Siega, the director of the video, also directed the visual for the title track from the “Toxicity” album. And the “Chop Suey!” video is obviously a masterpiece in and of itself, having garnered well over four-million likes on YouTube as of 2019. Indeed concerning the explanation of the unusual title of the track, this song originally went by the unconventional title of “Self-Righteous Suicide”. But the band’s management reportedly did not approve the aforementioned title. So it was renamed to “Chop Suey!” And this is actually a parody of the original title, as it is derived from the mock statement “Self-Right-chop Suey-cide”.Īnd the term “self-righteous suicide”, whether it be pertaining to a drug addict or a martyr, would logically be based on the notion of someone willingly – so to speak – giving their life for what they believe in. But that being said, going back to the first sentence of this article, it has been speculated even by fans of System of a Down that this song actually has multiple meanings. Or that’s another way of saying that it can be interpreted from various angles, ranging from domestic violence to substance abuse to a critique of popular religious beliefs, if you will. We think perhaps it is meant to point to the idea of how Jesus, based on the way he died, is perceived differently from say a drug addict. Also in a way, since based on the Biblical tale, Jesus willingly went to his own death, perhaps such is what System of a Down is referring to when they mention “self-righteous suicide” in the chorus. Watch the full clip below.The bridge of the track also references a couple of lines from the Bible, specifically those uttered by Jesus while he was being crucified. It is not abundantly clear how exactly this ties into the overall theme as detailed above. They then proceeded to watch the music video for "Chop Suey!" while Rubin bopped along and marveled at what System of a Down had accomplished. Why have you forsaken me?' It's wild… The context, it doesn't really make sense to what's going on, it's rad." "It's the part, 'Father, into your hands. Rogan followed up by asking what part Rubin was talking about specifically, and Rubin took a second to think before the words came to him. "He opened it, first phrase he sees: that's what's in the song, and it's a highpoint in the song. So I said, 'OK, pick a book off the wall.' He picked a book randomly off the wall, I said, 'open it to any page tell me the first phrase you see.' "And we're sitting in the library in my old house and he said 'I don't have words for this' and we were finishing and it's like, OK. You know that song? It has this big bridge section in it where Serj , lyric writer - the singer - didn't have words for this one part of the song. "My experience is, when you are open and looking for these clues in the world, they're happening all the time," Rubin said. "And they're happening, often right when you need them… This System Of A Down song called 'Chop Suey!'… I think. During a new interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, Rubin recalled a time in the studio during the Toxicity sessions when Tankian needed a lyric to fill out that aforementioned section of the song, but couldn't muster up the inspiration in his own brain.
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