This song is about Matthew Shepard who was tied to a fence and beaten to death in Wyoming. He is beaten because he was gay. The 12:53 AM Oct. 12th in the song was his recorded time of death. The first section of lyrics that uses that date is supposed to say "When the scarecrow died" on the second line. The "scarecrow" being Matthew Shepard, because he was tied to a fence and people passing by thought it looked like a scarecrow tied to a fence. Musically this song is one of the less complex songs on the album, but it does use a 7-string.
This song is about Matthew Shepard who was tied to a fence and beaten to death in Wyoming. He is beaten because he was gay. The 12:53 AM Oct. 12th in the song was his recorded time of death. The first section of lyrics that uses that date is supposed to say "When the scarecrow died" on the second line. The "scarecrow" being Matthew Shepard, because he was tied to a fence and people passing by thought it looked like a scarecrow tied to a fence. Musically this song is one of the less complex songs on the album, but it does use a 7-string.