I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
On monday dealey plaza fills
with people on the way
to the court houses and meeting rooms
but me, I'm free today
And I traced the path the motorcade
took back in sixty-three
past the grassy knoll into the book depository
they put in a museum where they say the shots were fired
it's closed today but I don't mind
I'm already getting tired
There's photographs and headlines
and diagrams of the street
they’re showing the zapruder film
it's always on repeat
last night I dreamt I was the bullet
from frame 313
the one that scattered his head around the limosine
I was right there for his final thoughts, of john-john and jackie
and oh my God Big D
Back then everybody worried further to the south
missles screamed across Miami, trail and fall out
Teachers drilled their students hiding underneath their desks
To fear the twitchy trigger finger, of old Krushchev
but Cuba couldn't kill nobody, not like Dallas could
when I was growing up there, I understood
Remember when I’d pick you up
outside your mothers house?
the two of you were fighting, and we promised we'd get out
out far from the narrowness and the confines and the doubt
we'd leave behind all that we know and never turn around
cut the strings and tear away from all that kept us down
and oh my god big D
Now I fly out of Laguardia, or out of JFK
and I land at DFW and I drive down LBJ
and the houses and the shopping centers, don't make me afraid
Why they ever did, it's hard now to explain
But you, you never really left, for you was it the same?
and oh my god Big D
November 22nd I was at the kitchen sink
Just like everyone remembers where they were in ‘63
the shudder that shot through me with that unexpexted call
I locked the bathroom door and hit my fist against the wall
I should of come to rescue you, I should have should have yes
What happened in the past ten years, I coulda guessed
Remember when I would carry you, and lay you in your bed
and promised to take care of you, but I just left instead
Last night I dreamt I was the pills you swallowed down
I tried to come back up, but you wouldn't let me out
and I couldn't help but wonder, did think of me?
and oh my god big D
with people on the way
to the court houses and meeting rooms
but me, I'm free today
And I traced the path the motorcade
took back in sixty-three
past the grassy knoll into the book depository
they put in a museum where they say the shots were fired
it's closed today but I don't mind
I'm already getting tired
There's photographs and headlines
and diagrams of the street
they’re showing the zapruder film
it's always on repeat
last night I dreamt I was the bullet
from frame 313
the one that scattered his head around the limosine
I was right there for his final thoughts, of john-john and jackie
and oh my God Big D
Back then everybody worried further to the south
missles screamed across Miami, trail and fall out
Teachers drilled their students hiding underneath their desks
To fear the twitchy trigger finger, of old Krushchev
but Cuba couldn't kill nobody, not like Dallas could
when I was growing up there, I understood
Remember when I’d pick you up
outside your mothers house?
the two of you were fighting, and we promised we'd get out
out far from the narrowness and the confines and the doubt
we'd leave behind all that we know and never turn around
cut the strings and tear away from all that kept us down
and oh my god big D
Now I fly out of Laguardia, or out of JFK
and I land at DFW and I drive down LBJ
and the houses and the shopping centers, don't make me afraid
Why they ever did, it's hard now to explain
But you, you never really left, for you was it the same?
and oh my god Big D
November 22nd I was at the kitchen sink
Just like everyone remembers where they were in ‘63
the shudder that shot through me with that unexpexted call
I locked the bathroom door and hit my fist against the wall
I should of come to rescue you, I should have should have yes
What happened in the past ten years, I coulda guessed
Remember when I would carry you, and lay you in your bed
and promised to take care of you, but I just left instead
Last night I dreamt I was the pills you swallowed down
I tried to come back up, but you wouldn't let me out
and I couldn't help but wonder, did think of me?
and oh my god big D
Lyrics submitted by JackWabbitSlim
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first off, i fucking LOVE this song. it continues to give me chills. the song in itself is pretty self-explanatory. the song is comparing the kennedy assassination to the suicide of a friend. i think the song captures the parallels beautifully. kennedy died on november 22, 1963 in dalllas, texas and obviously his friend died on november 22. he will always remember exactly where he was when his friend committed suicide. just as everyone rememebers where they were when kennedy was shot.
P.S. my favorite line would have to be, "i couldn't help but wonder, did you think of me?" goddamn, it's just too good it hurts.