What will you tell your children
When they ask you "What went wrong?"
How can you paint a picture of a paradise lost
To eyes that know only a wasteland?
How will you justify
Justify watching the world die?

The clock is ticking, can't you feel our days are numbered?
Head first into disaster from which there will be no return
With narrow minds we decimate our one true home
Cast into oblivion, judgement is calling

Behold the pale horse
This is the funeral of the earth
Behold the pale horse
This is the funeral

The blind eye can no longer be cast
The clock is ticking, there is no second chance

The blind eye can no longer be cast
There will be no future, if we can't learn from our mistakes
The clock is ticking, there is no second chance
There will be no future, if we can't learn

A forced extinction closes out the age of apathy
The final act, sacrifice the world's ecology
The death of beauty, the death of hope
Cast before the throne of avarice, judgement is calling

Behold the pale horse
This is the funeral of the earth
Behold the pale horse
This is the funeral

The blind eye can no longer be cast
There will be no future, if we can't learn from our mistakes
The clock is ticking, there is no second chance
There will be no future, if we can't learn

I can't watch it burn
I can't watch it burn
I can't watch it burn
I can't watch it burn

I can't watch it burn
I can't watch it burn
I can't watch it burn

Behold the pale horse

The blind


Lyrics submitted by theDwearsP, edited by jerome1, AlexAsura, BlueDiamondx3

Dark Days Lyrics as written by Jeffrey Cleve Ling Benjamin Michael Gordon

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Dark Days song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • +5
    My Interpretation

    Dark Days is obviously an apocalyptic song. It’s an angry reaction, a response on what we think we’re doing. It’s a hard, unvarnished mirror they are holding in front of us, the cold truth.

    “What will you tell your children when they ask you: What went wrong? How can you paint a picture of a paradise lost To eyes that know only a wasteland” -It’s a reproach to the past and the current generation. Blaming them for the beautiful world we’ve lost. How could we do this to the future generation? How will you explain yourself when they ask you how the good old days were, while they live with the consequences we caused, due to ignorance, indifference and selfishness.

    “How will you justify Justify, watching the world die” -Again, how will you explain yourself. Because no matter what you’ve done, you’ve participated to this perished world at one point in your life.

    “The clock is ticking, can't you feel our days are numbered Head first into disaster from which there will be no return With narrow minds, we decimate our one true home Cast into oblivion, judgment is calling” -Everybody knows we’re damaging and destroying the world and it’s nature. And when we will reach the worlds limit, there will be no turning back. All we will be able to say is ‘what if…’. With our selfish minds we’ve been destroying the planet we live on piece by piece (decimate = thinning out, chopping of). Our indifference for the state of our mother nature will backfire, resulting in destruction.

    “Behold the pale horse This is the funeral of the Earth Behold the pale horse This is the funeral” -I’ve done some research on this ‘pale horse’, and it appears to be a reference to a chapter in the Book of Revelation (last book of the new testament). The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse. One by one the riders came. First the White Horse, representing ‘false peace’, the antichrist gaining strength and conquering the world. Second came the Red Horse, who brought war and slaughter. Third came the Black Horse, who let the crops die, what led to failing harvest, and resulted in famine and diseases. Last came the Pale Horse, bringer of death. So this pale horse represents the death of the earth, what led to its funeral.

    “The blind eye can no longer be cast The clock is ticking, there is no second chance” -When the world ends as we know it, you will no longer be able to act like you had no idea what was going on all this time. If the so-called apocalypse will happen it will be beyond recall, definite. We won’t be given a second planet Earth.

    “The blind eye can no longer be cast There will be no future if we can't learn from our mistakes The clock is ticking, there is no second chance There will be no future if we can't learn” -If we continue to live like this, there will be no hope for the next generation. And they’ll have to live with the mistakes we’ve made.

    “A forced extinction closes out the age of apathy The final act– sacrifice the world's ecology The death of beauty, the death of hope Cast before the throne of avarice, judgment is calling” -We will be forced into a world’s ending due to our indifference. We are sacrificing the Earth’s nature for our own good, which results in the destruction of it. Death of the beautiful nature we have and we should cherish. We are sitting on a throne of greed, and eventually we’ll pay the price.

    “I can't watch it burn!” -Horrible to witness what’s happening to our planet.

    “Behold the pale horse!” -Behold our ending

    AlexAsuraon May 14, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Clearly talking about the future of the earth and how we are killing everything around us

    SIeepwalkeron October 28, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I personally love the start of this song ... the bell chime and riff. Really pumps the song up with a good intro.

    @AlexAsura and @Sleepwalker both give good summaries of the song's meaning, and being Byron Bay boys you'd expect them to be quite in touch with environmental concerns.

    sokornyon March 26, 2015   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Awesome awesome song! Very angry! Parkway drive rulz!

    jonjonwinnyon September 26, 2015   Link

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