So, a lot of people have now bought/downloaded the album, and I'd like to hear your opinions on what the songs are about. Please don't turn this into a Bush-bashing thread, theres enough of those as it is. This doesn't have to just be what the band members were thinking when they wrote these songs, but also how do you personally connect with them on an emotional/personal level. TLTGYA we know is about new Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and No More Sorrow is pretty clearly a Bush-basher. Hands Held High is obviously anti-war, but I'm curious as to peoples thoughts on the line 'With hands held high into a sky so blue, the ocean opens up to swallow you." Leave Out All The Rest, I'd say, is about Chester fearing that should his life/relationship with someone, come to an end suddenly, has he done enough to justify being remembered by the people in his life? And if so, he wants to be remembered for the right things. So, lets hear your thoughts people...
Which means that LP have kept something from their old songs, the use of you/me so that it can be relevant to any situation. Though I DO think that this song is about Bush. The lyrics are really relevant to Bush's actions, but I'll leave it at that.
Id really like someones approach on "Shadow of the day" Me and my Ex were trying to decifer this song...but what do you folks think?
Yeah, but they're also relevant to the actions of Saddam, Mao, Stalin... I'd say it's just about dictatorships in general.
I think Leave Out All The Rest has a lot to do with him coming to terms with his break-up with his ex-wife. Amazing song that one as well.
I agree, but I've deceiphered 3 different meanings. 1. the same meaning you thought of 2. suicide. he locks the windows, closes the blind, basically so that no one can see him end everything. the cards and flowers on the window are like the makeshift memorials people create for the fallen/deceased. friends pleading for you to stay meaning that they try to help, but he's so far gone that all he can think of is leaving this place. 3. a relationship that just ran into too many problems, there was no rekindling, the only way to come to an agreement was to agree to split for good.
No More Sorrow is about Bush, because he trades money for lives, his campaign is a disguise, and his time is limited. Which is true, because he's gone after 2008 and congress can pull the troops back during a given time period. So I think it's more about Bush than anything else.
Here are my thoughts on a few songs... Wake - The lyrics are so complex I can't decypher the meaning Shadow of the Day - I'm with Neil on this one... Valentine's Day - About someone he loved who died. I mainly think this because of the lyrics "and the ground below grew colder / as they put you down inside" Maybe the person who was dying in SOTD? In Pieces - I think it's about a relationship that's pretty much gone to the sh!tter, but he doesn't want to be the one to break it off...
Valentines Day is a confusing one... its seems to be clearly about his ex-wife leaving him, but then theres the line coreyc mentioned, which seems to be about death.
Yeah.. Valentine's Day does seem a song of a death of someone... on that day. and he didnt know it was like to be left alone on a valentines day and it wont be the same anymore, something like that. In Pieces i can easily relate to, due to relationship and def has a meaning about his ex wife. sucks so much about that. Shadow of the day is tricky... when it says sometimes good-byes the only way... is it talking about leaving or actual suicide?
I took the song up more as someone leaving then suicide, but when you think about it, it can go either way.
In Pieces for me has a touch of an antireligious theme. My ex girlfriend was a hardcore Christian, and put it far before me. Lines like "There's truth in your lies, doubt in your faith, all I've got's what you didn't take..." makes me think of her, because my being an atheist made her insecure about her faith so she had to get rid of me. Shadow of the Day is definitely about someone dying of a disease as Neil said. Cards and flowers on the window, friends begging for you to stay. It just reminds me of the setting on the hospital bed of a terminally ill stranger. The Little Things Give You Away, while it has been said to be about New Orleans, I have my own feelings. I take it more metaphorically. Like it is about trying to reach someone you love, and them not caring. You really love them, and they say they love you, but you can tell by their actions that they don't. "Don't want to reach for me do you, I mean nothing to you...The little things give you away". Given Up is simply about trying really hard, thing not working out (or downright failing) and wanting to die "Put me out of my fucking misery!" because of this. Reminds me of how I felt after my last relationship. Leave Out All the Rest is about leaving someone (possibly dying) and hoping they remember the good things about you, not the bad. I even saw it slightly as an ode to the fans they lost with Minutes to Midnight...just saying remember them for the music they loved, and ignore all the rest. Bleed it Out is kind of tough. Mike's verses are about being tied down it seems. Then Chester seems to pretty much be referring to throwing away all that is holding you back (using the phrase Bleed it Out to show it will be hard to move past it). This again could be referring to critics and fans who will sting them up for their change of sound, but the band has to evolve anyway. It could also be about leaving a painful relationship or anything.
I think i will agree with that one. Although i would like to put out another take on it. I think ti could be about a person going off to war "I close both locks....blinds and turn away" He's leaving home to be shipped out to war. 'Solutions arnt simple...goodbyes the only way" The solution to the war isnt a peice of cake, someone has to do something, and me leaving <the persons pleading to stay> is the only way to solve it. "THe sun will set for you, and the shadow of the day, will embrace the world in grey" Meaning, the shadow of the day being the war thats going on, embracing the world in grey. But since we are going off to fight this war, the sun will set for you. What ya think?
I definately agree with both of those. I like the way you thought of the change in their sound as the meaning behind Leave Out All The Rest, I hadn't thought of that at all.