| Protest the Hero – Nautical Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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About the "i'm still a cigarette softly smoking on a metal ashtray, i begged the place to let me burn and it whispered 'burn away'". This song is the prison guard/gunman speaking about his horrible inner dilemna he faced when having to execute Kezia who is seen as a "messiah" or "martyr" in this album. The cigarette is significant because they kill people, as does the prison guard. However, a cigarette smoking on a metal ashtray kills no one, because it is not doing it's job... it's not being smoked. And so after the gunman killed keia (the cigarette was smoked) he retired and just burned away the rest of his life... (did nothing his life was just a cigarette burning away for the rest of his time) as far as the "which turned out to be the closest thing to a fashion trend that was ever put on trial" this refers to the line before it which mentions customs and the least of our pride and sentiments. This is suggesting that Kezia's crime had to do with our social customs and morality. Since customs and morality are relative... (they can change over time and place for example adulterly used to be a capital crime, today it is legal) the fashion trends are our morals as they change over time. These theme of morals being tried comes up many times in this album. another way they say this is "never ask us to define our morals" doesn't get more plain than that |
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