What is the meaning of the song “We are 138” by The Misfits?
We are 138, We are 138, We are 138
We are 138, We are 138, We are 138
We are 138, We are 138
In the eyes of tiger
Do you think we’re robot clean
Does this face look almost mean
Is it time to be an android not a man
The pleasantries are gone
We’re stripped of all we were
In the eyes of tiger
We are 138, We are 138, We are 138
We are 138, We are 138, We are 138
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
I grew up listening to this song and most of my friends dismissed it as some wacked teenage crap that Glenn Danzig wrote to be weird or for whatever reason. But for me it seems deeper. First off 138 backwards is my DOB, August 31st(8/31). Second the obvious sexual referance, 69x2=138. Also, and I know this is just due to my subconsous waiting to see it again, it seems like this number is always there. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t glance at the digital clock at exactly 1:38. I also see it frequently in a series of numbers. Finally I happended to have a party and who should be there? Randy Blaine. Appearently some noted numeralogist who wrote a book I belive is titled “The Index of Corralations”. I asked him about 138 and what he told me sounded like some crap you would hear from a phycic adviser.
In the end I’m still baffled or maybe just mentally ill.
Please help.
Knowing The Misfits-- the real Misfits when ol’ Glenn was around-- it probably had something to do with a B horror or B sci-fi movie. I’ll see if I can dig it up for you.
the song mentions robots and one of my friends believes that 138 was the model number of the robots in a B flick. I never was able to substanciate this but I know what you mean, Plan9, Vampira, ect. Definently sounds plausable.
Based on George Lucas’s 1971 science fiction film THX-1138, this song reflects the anonymity attached to living with a number for a name in a 25th century police state.
On July 1, 1996 Bobby Steele e-mailed the following to the Misfits Bible:
“We used to have badges with a picture of a robot with 138 on his forehead. I wonder if Jerry has one, or remembers it… He [Glenn] used to tell us that if someone asked what it meant, we should just laugh, and in a mocking tone say “What? You don’t know?” and sound real snobby when you say it. Make them feel like every idiot but YOU knows what it means.”
Jerry Only told a similar story to a fan after the July 27, 1996 show:
“‘138’ is like people being treated as androids where you have a number instead of a name, so it’s like the human number would be a 138… We had buttons made once, they were robots with ‘138’ that looked like half human android kinda things, long before your Terminator or stuff like that.”
*Excerpt from The Misfits Book © 1989-2001 Mark Kennedy
found on www.onethirtyeight.com.
Well the best place to hid something is in the most obvious place, isn’t it?
evilive: “What did you intend for 138 to stand for? I’ve read Jerry Only’s and Bobby Steele’s take on it…”
Glenn Danzig: “They didn’t write it and they don’t know what the fuck its about it. It’s about violence.”
thanks
is Danzig right or just being a prick?
Well I omitted that part because didn’t think it was informative. I understand that there’s little love lost between Glenn and the Misfits so that comment was probably a little biased. And Glenn is behaving pretty starnge nowadays anyway (well even more than before).
Starnge and even strange sometimes…