| Against Me! – Rapid Decompression Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Laura, her, and she. Don't be disrespectful =/ | |
| Rise Against – Hero of War Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Here's my take on it: I'm pretty sure that this song is a criticism of troops, nationalism, and other blunders of war and the military mentality. It's a narrative spoken 1st person from the view of a soldier, this is done to make more apparent that there is an incongruity between the band's message and what the kid says. Basically, the kid's statements are an ironic device to satirize the mentality that people like this have when going into the military. The kid is naive, he takes "carrying a gun", "seeing the world" and "getting paid" as "pretty good". It's not a well thought out decision that uses a lot of careful though before making, and the reasons are pretty lousy for the severity of the choice being made. The simplicity of the lyrics and the response given show that maybe he's not too bright or much of a thinker and instead is just going along with what he is told. Then, the minor detail of the boots is pretty much really not that significant. He's looking for minor things that are positive to help rationalize his decision. The lines about the hair are parallel with this, more rationalization. The lines about making friends is also supposed to be ironic, because the "activity" they're bonding is in learning to fight; there's a pretty strong contrast between making friends and learning combat skills that will be used to kill other human beings, and this points out the cognitive compartmentalization needed to take part in a war. This is made even more clear when the line speaks of removing a man from his family and friends. Then the chorus is a criticism of the romanticism of war and troops. He wants recognition and honor, and the citizens who have the same romantic notions of war and troops will give him just that. That he will carry the flag to the grave if he must shows that he's dogmatically attached to his nationalistic pride and nothing will remove him from that. He's unquestioning and uncritical of what is going on around him. He is on the "Good" side. Next, he goes on to describe a capture situation. Sure, children cried and were obviously troubled and devastated, but he got his man; this is all that mattered. Then the removal with the covered head just shows how the detainee isn't even a person to the soldier, just "one of them", despite being removed from his family and friends. Sure the kid is naive, but he has some recognition that the detainee has a life, but in the next verse he will show that his conscience is overridden by his crowd following mentality, as he joins in with the others in degrading and beating the prisoner. Second chorus: It seems that after the prior verse, that there may be a bit of implied sarcasm in his thinking, although it isn't too apparent. So I won't make that call. Then, a woman approaches. He begs at her to stop, because he doesn't want to have to kill her. He knows that if she doesn't stop that he will fire. Of course, the shouts of an american soldier probably don't mean much to a middle eastern, who probably doesn't speak or understand english, nor would the soldier understand anything spoken by her (quick digression: sure I may be making assumptions about the nationalities of both parties, but the dialect of the army recruiter suggests an american [calling him "Son"], plus, this a newer song [from 2008 I think], set in a sandy area[blood soaked sand], so the assumptions are fully justified). This is why the white flag is so important. It is a universally accepted sign of surrender, and should cross any language barriers between the english speaking troop and non-english middle easterner. Then finally, the last chorus. He's a bit jaded about what people see him as, maybe a bit wiser. They look at the idea of what he is, a romanticized view of the soldier, but he might now acknowledge what is actually behind the scars and medals, and his romantic view of fighting in war may now be much less than that of others. The lines about carrying the flag have changed, he didn't carry it to his grave, but brought it home to gather dust. His purpose is served and he's done, but now has time to sit and think, now his goal is met, he has not much else to do and the "high" is fading. He realizes that his love for the flag remains, but the addition of the word "only", in the context of the entire song and the final line show that maybe he has some doubt about whether he could have acted differently, not been caught up in nationalistic pride, not have relied so strongly and unquestionably on a symbol, and maybe trusted another flag (i.e. the white one). Finally, he's thinking back to the beginning, what began his entire journey, and whether or not he made the right choice. That's just my two cents worth, I'm sure I'm going to be bashed to hell for it. |
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