Battalions

WARNING: huge long interp below. beware.

in my opinion, untitled 9 (symbolically the final demo) was written to the fans.

please say you'll come along tonight please sing the words we love don't say that you forgot them don't keep the hand we've come to hold i know you want to untie this rope and let it go

^ that verse sends a message to the fans along the lines of, "please stay true to us, even though you're ready to give up on us since we don't tell you anything (since brand new is notoriously secretive about, um, everything).

please pose my skeletal remains give me a working pen and i will live forever please let them love me though i fade i know you want to i know you want to i know you want to run away

^ there are rumors that at some point vinnie wanted to leave the band, hence running away... but i think it's more directed toward the fans. "let them love me though i fade" is talking about the fading of the band (specifically jesse and his fading determination to live the life he lived the last 3 years). "pose my skeletal remains" is a message to the fans- "send out something, anything that represents me (jesse) and what i've become -- give the fans a working pen, or let them write about it, and i (and the rumors about me) will live forever."

we're burning our own tonight the signal spikes when sorrows come they come on battalions

^ "burning our own..." could be talking about the band breaking up, but i don't think that's quite what they were saying... it seems more like they're trying to forget what they've done in the past (stylistically) and they're writing stuff that's new to them -- their best work (spiking signal) comes when they're sad. the ideas come on battalions, or all at once.

please keep the sounds from running out please let our steps fall soft keep them from hearing our talk please let some hope come with the day i know you want to i know you want to i know you want to run away

^ message to the fans: "please let us keep making music, but secretly, so no one really knows what we're doing. let every day bring us some new inspiration, and fans, hang in there, i know you want to let us go, but don't."

so we watch the time we keep you know that i am swift you know that i am quick you know that i am fast asleep

^ brand new is notorious for sending mixed signals. that's a perfect example. jesse contradicts himself by saying what you (the fans) know, which essentially shows that they don't know anything cos all the information they have is contradictory.

this is just a personal viewpoint, but brand new lyrics are famous for having incredible meaning buried in their lyrics. it can be seen that jesse and vinnie carefully craft every line, because every single song they've written holds so much truth in its words. i absolutely love them to death and it just amazes me how much they've embraced the term 'alternative' both in their music style and the way they write lyrics :)

This song is on the new album but with almost completely changed lyrics.

It's Archers off the new album... the music is very very very similar.

Does this remind anyone else of a U2 song? For me, it does for some reason.

Oh, and that line "Please pose my skeletal remains. Give them a working pen, and I will live forever." is genius. Pure genius. Brand New is genius.,.,.,.

here's what i get out of the chorus:

we're finding our own tonight my signal spikes when sorrows come they come on battalions we're burning our own tonight a little light to keep it on our own battalion

let me know what you think

The chorus of this song... I don't know what he's saying. I've read everyone's opinions, and I can see so many of them being correct. To me it definitley sounds like "signal spikes" rather than single sparks. I can also here finding or burning, but burning makes more sense for the second line as it would cause "a little light". I definitely hear battalion (as soon as I saw the song title Archers, I thought of the battalion parts of Untitled 9. And nearly shat myself when I heard the chorus to Archers). I can also hear both "when sorrows come" and "the time has come". The time has come makes more sense if it is indeed a signal spikes, as this song sounds like someone in a war. A signal spikes, it's time for them to fight the coming battalions. And depending on what the lyrics are, they're also burning the fallen members of their own battalion. The demos seem to me to be about a lot of things. There are so many war references... but it almost seems like they're using them to describe other things. Like, "I know you want to run away" after all of the battle references. It could be referring to how fighting on the frontlines makes you want to leave war, or it could be an internal battle. So cryptic. I love Brand New.

"we're burning our own tonight" does sound like "so what did you learn tonight" from archers! to whoever said that. go you.

in addition to the Hamlet reference, the lyrics //please pose my skeletal remains / give them a working pen / and I will live forever / please let them love me though I fade// are thematically similar to some of Shakespeare's sonnets, which talk about achieving eternality through his (Shakespeare's) writing.

My understanding was always that song is about when Vin was thinking of quitting the band, so they wrote this song about how the band couldn't go on without him. That's why it's called "The Edge Takes Over for Vin," because The Edge (from U2) would take over his spot in the band (jokingly, of course).

A little bit, but it reminds me more of the Killers....