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Of Monsters And Men – Dirty Paws Lyrics 10 years ago
Okay this is not my opinion but a friends or rather a commentor from another website I think this explains the song nicely though there are probably many ways of more explaining

For anyone wondering:
The song is about WW2.
Germany was the bees
France and Britain were the birds
Americans as dirty paws
Russia as creatures of the snow
"The forest" is Europe
"The holes" are the trenches
"The killing machines" are the newly introduced artillery and turrets
The U.S. was called 'dirty paws' because of the presence in most international wars
And "The four dirty paws" are the wars that were 'popularly' fought - Revolutionary, Civil, WW1, and WW2.

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