Down In The Park
Marilyn Manson Lyrics

Down in the park
The setting is in a futuristic park, somewhere in the future.

Where the machmen meet the machines
This describes the interaction between the people and the machines. They coexist but there's a sense of the people being inferior to the machines.

play `kill-by-numbers'
There's a game being played where people get randomly killed by the machines, and it's almost normalized.

Down in the park with a friend called `five'
The artist is with a friend called 'five,' who we don't know much about but could be another human, or maybe something else.

I was in a car crash
The artist might be suffering from memory loss and isn't sure whether this is the product of a car crash, or a war.

Or was it the war
The alternative possibility is that the singer's current state is due to the experiences they had during a war.

But I've never been quite the same
Regardless of what caused the singer's current state, they feel like they've lost a part of themselves.

Little white lies like "I was there"
The artist acknowledges that they might be lying to themselves, and they might not even remember what's true anymore.

Come to "zom-zom's" a place to eat
'Zom-zom's' is a restaurant, and it seems like it's one of the few places where the people can go to just get some food and try to forget about the horrible things happening around them.

Like it was built in one day
'Zom-zom's' seems to be a new addition to the park and it's almost like it was built overnight, with the sole purpose of serving those who survived.

You can watch the humans
The singer is observing the people in the park, who are trying to pretend like everything is fine, while the machines around them are killing at random.

Trying to run
Some of the humans are also trying to escape, but the machines are always one step ahead.

Oh look there's a rape machine
This line is particularly horrifying, but it's a testament to how normalized violence has become in the park. The singer sees a machine designed to rape, and they can't even be bothered to express shock or surprise.

I'd go outside if he'd look the other way
The singer is ready to risk being outside, even with all the dangers, as long as the rape machine isn't looking their way.

You wouldn't believe
The things they do in the park are so horrible, that the singer can't even find words to describe them.

We are not lovers We are not romantics We are here to serve you
This is the chorus, and it's repeated throughout the song. It seems to be the machines' mantra, as they don't see the humans as anything more than objects to serve and kill.

Where the chant is "death, death"
The humans have given up on trying to resist, and now they're resigned to their fates. The only thing they can do is chant 'death' over and over again.

Until the sun cries morning
The park is like a never-ending nightmare, and the humans have lost track of time. 'Morning' might never come.

Down in the park with friends of mine
The singer, who we now know is a survivor in the park, is with their friends who are also trying to survive.

A different face but the words never change
The machines might look different, but their intentions are always the same. They're there to serve and to 'kill-by-numbers.'