Not Long For This World

Album: We Are Not Your Kind (2019)
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Songfacts®:

  • After Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor split from his wife Stephanie Luby in 2017, he found himself struggling with severe depression. Writing songs for We Are Not Your Kind, during which he shared his suicidal feelings, gave him something to grasp onto.

    So decide, tell me how I'm gonna die
    'Cause I've already gone away
    Decide, tell me how you loved a lie
    It wasn't really hard to see
    Hard to see
    Not long for this world


    Taylor also alludes to the desire to self-harm.

    Cutting or scratching, they scar the same
    The angle is off, edges are soft, the mark remains
    I know I'm bitter and full of rage
    You would be too, what I've been through
    Knowledge is a difficult age


    The We Are Not Your Kind album came at just the right time for Taylor. He told Loudwire that opening up and venting about his mental issues saved him from relapsing into substance abuse. "To get rid of this emotional bile that I had been choking on for a long time and this sense that I wasn't good enough for anything, I needed a Slipknot album," Taylor said. "It took letting that out to realize that I had been through hell."
  • Taylor also criticizes people who are unsympathetic to those who live with depression.

    You don't seem to get what I'm saying
    And I'm sick and tired of explaining
    Good night, goodbye, good luck


    Taylor expands on this topic during the album's closing track, "Solway Firth," when he rails about being misunderstood. Percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan explained to Apple Music how "Not Long For This World" connects with "Solway Firth":

    "This song paints the end of the world not to be contrived. It's very important in the steps of the album. You start on step one, and you work your way to the end, till you're at the top. You either jump or you go back down. You could say it's setting up 'Solway Firth.'"

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