the becoming

i beat my machine
it's a part of me
it's inside of me
i'm stuck in this dream
it's changing me
i am becoming
the me that you know had some second thoughts
he's covered with scabs and he is broken and sore
the me that you know doesn't come around much
that part of me isn't here anymore
all pain disappears it's the nature of my circuitry
drowns out all i hear there's no escape from this my new consciousness
that me that you know used to have feelings
but the blood has stopped pumping and he's left to decay
the me that you know is now made up of wires
and even when i'm right with you i'm so far away
i can try to get away
but i've strapped myself in
i can try to scratch away
the sound in my ears
i can see it killing away
all my bad parts
i don't want to listen
but it's all too clear

hiding backwards inside of me i feel so unafraid
annie, hold a little tighter i might just slip away

it won't give up it wants me dead
goddamn this noise inside my head

if this were pink floyd's "the wall", this (or maybe a warm place) would be comfortably numb. he's losing his emotions because if he paid attention to them the pain would be too much for him to bear. he's becoming a heartless thing, made up of wires. veins without blood. he's unafraid, he's comforted, because there's nothing left to feel. yet some part of him knows that the pain is still there, that ignoring it or making himself deaf to it won't make it really go away. he can shove it to the far points of his consciousness, but it will always be there waiting for his defenses to falter, as the noise inside his head.
-alexa

i beat my machine, it's a part of me, it's inside of me

the first lines of the song. what is his machine? perhaps it's his soul. maybe trent is degrading himself from the inside that's why it's a part of him, something he can't get rid of. almost like a habit.

i'm stuck in this dream, it's changing me, i am becoming

he can't return to the way things used to be. all of this is changing him inside and out. he IS becoming. but what is he becoming? someone he doesn't want to be perhaps, maybe an idol of his. maybe this is a good thing.

the me that you know had some second thoughts
he's covered with scabs and he is broken and sore
the me that you know doesn't come around much
that part of me isn't here anymore

trent had some second thoughts about what he was to do. the scabs could be from the inside when he was beating his machine as stated earlier. the person he used to be doesn't exist anymore because of this thing that changed him to become.

all pain disappears it's the nature of my circuitry
drowns out all i hear there's no escape from this my new consciousness

now that he's become a machine, something without feelings, he has no pain, he has no feeling, he has no sense of anything. since he's a machine he doesn't take in anything anyone says and there's no escaping what he's got himself into now.

that me that you know used to have feelings
but the blood has stopped pumping and he's left to decay
the me that you know is now made up of wires
and even when i'm right with you i'm so far away

once again, he USED to have feelings, but he doesn't anymore...he was left to decay, for what reason, i don't know, but he is dead and is now a machine, perhaps a robot because he is made up of wires now, and when you think he's with you, be it mentally or physically, he's really not there at all because he has no feelings.

i can try to get away
but i've strapped myself in
i can try to scratch away
the sound in my ears
i can see it killing away
all my bad parts
i don't want to listen
but it's all too clear

he can try to escape what he's in but he's gotten himself in too far. he can try to avoid what the others say and the voices inside his head but he can't. he realizes what it happening and he finally understands why this happened to him

hiding backwards inside of me i feel so unafraid
annie, hold a little tighter i might just slip away

this is my favorite part...we've heard rumors that annie may be tori amos. perhaps this song is about her while they were dating because he talks about having her (annie), hold him a little tighter because he's afraid he might slip away from her.

it won't give up it wants me dead
goddamn this noise inside my head

now he hears the voices inside his head. he knows that they want him dead but he is going to try his hardest to keep away from it. he'll never give up.
-Jay

the song is about a person who finds eventually that everything is artificial, cold, unfeeling, and uncaring, like a machine (mechanical noises). he finds he is accepting this, and it horrifies him when he wakes up from a dream of utmost compassion, of possibly his obsession, annie, holding him, understanding him. he wakes to a world of computer noises, a need for money, and a loss of respect for all things sacred. he realizes the world cannot understand him, and now that voice of his compassion is telling him to leave this misunderstanding world behind.
-dizz