In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I'm still at the front
But I don't, I don't fight
I'm gonna sit down tonight
I'm not buying in
But I can't - pull out
I'm just gonna sit down tonight
Listen to the silence in between
It's louder than the bombs that come screaming in
Listen to the silence in between
It's louder than the bombs that come screaming in
I'm gonna sit down tonight
I'm still in my trench
Cause I keep, the defence
I'm gonna sit down tonight
I'm not buying in
But I can't - pull out
I'm just gonna sit down tonight
Listen to the silence in between
It's louder than the bombs that come screaming in
Listen to the silence in between
It's louder than the bombs that come screaming in
Listen to the silence
I'm gonna sit down tonight
We're still at the front
But we don't, we don't fight
We're gonna sit down tonight
We're not buying in
But we can't pull out
We're just gonna sit down tonight
But I don't, I don't fight
I'm gonna sit down tonight
I'm not buying in
But I can't - pull out
I'm just gonna sit down tonight
Listen to the silence in between
It's louder than the bombs that come screaming in
Listen to the silence in between
It's louder than the bombs that come screaming in
I'm gonna sit down tonight
I'm still in my trench
Cause I keep, the defence
I'm gonna sit down tonight
I'm not buying in
But I can't - pull out
I'm just gonna sit down tonight
Listen to the silence in between
It's louder than the bombs that come screaming in
Listen to the silence in between
It's louder than the bombs that come screaming in
Listen to the silence
I'm gonna sit down tonight
We're still at the front
But we don't, we don't fight
We're gonna sit down tonight
We're not buying in
But we can't pull out
We're just gonna sit down tonight
Lyrics submitted by antispacemonkey
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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I think the song is about that moment when you stop and think about the decisions you have made or which you have to take. The war the singer talks about is life itself. And he is almost entirely on auto-pilot the whole journey through life. But now he stops: "I'm still at the front but I don't, I don't fight - I'm gonna sit down tonight". He doesn't despair, he doesn't take any superficial decision. He just stops and starts to hear his own deep thoughts. The result? "Listen to the silence in between - it's louder than the bombs that come screaming in". The silence may be anything: regret, remorse, depression, fear, uncertainty or all together.
That's exactly what my opinion is here since this song doesn't contain meanings or lines that can directly be related to war or any physical interaction in that way but on the other hand relates to a silence of subjective matter - the one in your head. Great thinking or29544 and a great interpretation of a touching song.
It means George Bush is a mother fucking dumbass.
It means George Bush is a mother fucking dumbass.
It's just an anti-war song, not directed towards a particular conflict but to outbreaks of war generally. I think it capture's anti-war sentiment beautifully and hauntingly - despite the inescapability of the conflict ('I can't pull out') the insistence that the singers will opt to 'sit down' (rather than take up arms) is touching. I think it means it something that the characters in this song are only 'keep[ing] the defence'. They're not lobbing grenades or anything.
A war-weary soldier is speaking: he no longer 'buys in' to the circumstances that have placed him into a wartime foxhole (although maybe he once believed in the cause). He has resolved and resigned that, whatever the outcome, he will no longer return fire in answer to the heavy attack he is under. He decides on the defiantly peaceful act of just 'sitting down' and listening for the silence between bomb bursts. In the last verse, when it states 'We' don't fight, it shows that common people do not want war, just a war-mongering ruling class that tries to make common people fight for them. Regardless of them, we all still have free choice not to take up arms against each other..