| Rise Against – Hero of War Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song is easily one of Rise Against’s (RA) most touching and depressing song, even going so far as to compete with September’s Children (more commonly known as ‘Make It Stop’). I cannot stress enough how wrong people are who say this song is pro-war. Nothing about RA is pro-war, and they have openly voiced their disgust with war, which disproves that they would ever even consider writing a song about war, let alone release it on an album which is about anti-war. Hopefully this song, and its interpretation, will help illustrate that. The song starts out simple enough “He said son, have you seen the world…that sounds pretty good.” Here, a man is being recruited (the He in reference could either be Uncle Sam or simply a recruiter) with simple truths (you get to carry a gun, and travel, and you do get paid some money) hiding much deeper things behind them (war). The next part refers to boot camp, where they get their uniforms, their heads shaved, they start becoming soldiers. Morals are still high, they don’t seem to care that they are all becoming identical. Same strength, fitness, appearance, uniform, etc. They don’t care, because they haven’t noticed it yet. “A hero of war. Yeah that’s what I’ll be…proud of me” Here, the main character has high spirits and knows what he wants to be. He has a vague (unclear and very narrow-minded) idea of what war is. He just knows he wants to be famous, he wants to make people proud, he wants to mean something to those close to him, an icon to look up to. “I’ll carry this flag to the grave…I trust” This part, although small, is of very big importance. The flag is his belief- in himself, the cause he’s fighting, America as a whole, his determination. Here, he is willing to go do anything for his country. He loves America and is willing to die for it (not knowing what he’s saying), and also giving a bit of foreshadowing to the death and gore of war. “We kicked…my man”. The main character has been deployed and is overseas. He is presumably on one of his first missions, an abduction and interrogation one. “We took him away, a bag…again and again.” Here, the man’s faith wavers. He sees the pain he’s bringing to others, ripping people away from families, scaring children, etc. He tries to get his comrades to treat their hostage with respect, but eventually caves in due to peer pressure, and joins in, beating, urinating on, and absolutely humiliating him. The chorus is sung again, but this time slightly more solemnly. He still believes, but not as strongly as he has seen firsthand what they go through. He is not quite as certain as he once was, and is having second thoughts about what he might have gotten himself into. “She walked through bullets and haze… white as snow” The character is presumably in a firefight. A small girl begins to walk toward him. Following protocol (and possibly an order) he asks, pleading and begging her to stay where she is. The little girl (who may not have spoken English or known what was going on) keeps going, and the main character, following protocol (or orders) shoots and kills her. Slow motion takes hold as he recalls the incident, how everything happened as recognition takes hold and his mind is scarred by the incident, killing an innocent who tried to surrender, and a small defenseless child nonetheless. “A hero of war, is that what they see? Just medals and scars, so damn proud of me.” The main character has returned home, and has what he originally asked for. Appreciation, medals, the deference of others. However he isn’t happy, though. None of that matters to him now. His mind, self-worth, love, etc has been stripped from him, leaving him a hallow shell of the person he once was. “I brought home that flag, now it gathers dust” The flag (symbolic) doesn’t matter to him anymore. He has given up on those beliefs he once had, no longer caring for or believing them, having seen the reality behind it firsthand. “But it’s a flag…that I trust.” He still loves and respects his country and its symbol, but he doesn’t stand for their actions or beliefs (evidenced by his flag gathering dust and him no longer tending it, flying it, or using it). “He said son, have you seen the world? Well what would you say, if I said you could?” The main character recalls his first day, how this whole ordeal started with two simple questions, two simple questions followed by a couple of almost lies that led to him losing himself. |
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| Rise Against – Make It Stop (September's Children) Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song is, like many of Rise Against’s (I will now abbreviate them from here on as ‘RA’ for simplicity) songs, can have the meaning understood from their music video, given here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP4clbHc4Xg However, the story behind the music video, and the stories in the lyrics, are a different matter and what I will address in this meaning. During the song there are several references made to a young man by the name of Tyler Clemnti, a short bio on him can be read here: http://www.tylerclementi.org/tylers-story Now, with these established, I shall begin. The main story behind this song, and where it comes from is that lead singer Tim McIlrath’s nephew was friends with a kid who killed himself due to bullying. He (the nephew) wrote a bit of the start to this song to honor his friend. He gave it to Tim, and he made it into a song to honor the Children of the September mass suicide. They filmed the music video (linked above) in the gymnasium of Tim McIlrath’s old HS, where he himself was bullied for his Heterochromia Iridium (having two different colored eyes (in his case brown and blue)). The story starts off with ominous children singing a single chant: ‘woah, woah’ etc. These children are the representation of the nine children who killed themselves in the September children suicide. “Bang bang…flags raised?” Here, the nephew recalls how close he was to his friend and how shocked he was that he could have missed the obvious signs of something being wrong. Now, he’s gone for good and there’s nothing to change that. “Think back…he died” he recalls fighting alongside his friend through the bullying, thinking they would make it through. His friend collapses on the ground, crying and unable to take it anymore. Then, standing and wiping away his tears, he kills himself. The next part of the song is an interrogation to those who claim they bully gays in the name of a loving God, asking them what kind of a loving God condemns someone for being themselves. Perhaps that God isn’t the truly loving God they should be following if this is what He, what they, want. The truly loving God, as the last verse states, is the one who will stop the hatred. The refrain is simple enough to understand, to a point. “Make this…this end.” Is simple: a call to arms to stand up for those being bullied for who they are. The next part, “Eighteen years…singing waoh, waoh.” This part requires being familiar with the story of Tyler Clemnti and how he killed himself by jumping off of the George Washington Bridge at the age of only eighteen. The next verse, ‘bang bang…shotgun’s loaded!...I demand!’, is a reference to how many cases of bullying go, leading up to two different scenarios when the child’s capacity breaks. They either kill themselves (from the closet walls), or go on a spree and lash out against their peers. “From a nation…I can’t change.” Here, RA condemns and chastises those who have bullied, and chastises America as a whole for being ‘free’, yet hating people for being ‘free’, or for being who they are, something they can’t change. “It’s always darkest just before the dawn. So stay awake with me, let’s prove them wrong!” This is by far my favorite part of the song. A call for those being bullied to hold fast, to show those hurting them just how beautiful of a person they are, just how strong they are, that they are above those hurting them, and that most importantly things WILL get better in life. Then we go back to the refrain. “The cold river washed him away, but how could we forget?” This is again reference to Tyler Clementi and his suicide. How even though he died, it’s not possible to forget what he went through or the injustices imposed upon him. “The gatherings hold candles, but not their tongues.” People will show him ‘respect’ and show up to his funeral, gather to remember him in their fondest memories, but even after death they gossip. They judge. They hate. Even in death Tyler, and kids being bullied, can’t escape the hatred. Even after taking their life those bullying can’t stop or learn a lesson about what they did. “Too much blood has flown from the wrists, of the children shamed, for those they chose to kiss.” Too many kids, ashamed for who they are (not even necessarily just LGBT, although they are the main focus, but bullied kids as a whole), have done things like cutting. Just to feel something, even physical pain, just to feel something, anything, in their depression brought on by bullying. “Who will rise…brand new dawn!” Next in the song, Tim sits at a desk and names off some of the kids who killed themselves in the September Mass Suicide, along with how old they were. Ending with Seth Walsh, a boy of merely thirteen when he made the permanent decision to take his own life. The refrain is sung again, but this time with some editing. “This life chose me, I’m not lost in sin, I’m proud I stand, of who I am, I plan to go on living!” One last final cry for those being bullied to hold on just a little longer, hold on until things get better and they can see the brand new dawn. In addition to this amazing song they wrote, RA also partnered with anti-suicide foundations, such as the It Gets Better Foundation to make an even deeper impact in the lives of people in the hopes of finally being able to ‘make it stop’. |
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| Rise Against – Survivor Guilt Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Rise Against has always been overtly clear in their hate for war. Such songs as “Hero of War” make this clear. This song is similar to Hero of War, but not so much the individual soldier’s view of war so much as how we should be seeing it, for the truth of what it is: pride. The beginning of this song (not given in these lyrics) include a conversation between two characters whereby they discuss countries and how they’ve fallen. One of the points given is: “All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours? How much longer do you think your little country will last?”, followed by a brief pause and an uncertain answer: “Forever?”. Although not part of the lyrics themselves, this demonstrates how brainwashed citizens of America are into believing that we are superior, above-the-law, and totally invincible when, in reality, we are anything but. The first verse of this song gives a typical image- blocking entrances, closing doors and sealing exits. Locking down a building or structure during a firefight. Typical imagery of typical war. The next line, however, is a common U.S. military saying, “All gave some, some gave all” (reference to losing a life fighting), but followed by a question “But for what?, I want to know”. Why did these soldiers need to die? Why did they need to fight? What were they fighting for that was worth dying? Rise Against (which I will now abbreviate as RA for simplicity) calls authority into question for sending our soldiers to die. The refrain is probably the most touching and depressing part of this song. A soldier has returned home, only to find out most people truly don’t even recognize him. Most people don’t know his trauma, what he has witnessed and gone through. There’s no trumpet blazing or red carpet rolled out in front of him, no one pays him any attention, thanks, or respect, hence “Carry on, don’t mind me.” RA recalls what the soldiers have gone through: trauma, lost appendages, lost sleep, P.T.S.D., comrades’ (friends’) deaths, being subjected to taking the lives of others, missing out on important life events and being forced to be stripped from their families, etc etc. The soldiers have veritably given their lives to the war, to defending this ‘great’ nation, and in return for giving everything, sometimes even their lives, they receive nothing in return. Most are even called back to war, being asked to give even more to their country after they just gave everything they thought they could. They’re asked to once again place their life in the hands of a government that loves its war. “Fought your fight, bought your lie, and in return I lost my life.” The lyrics in this part are self-explanatory, with the ‘lie’ being the government brainwashing them, us, into believing war is necessary. War is glorious. War is how heroes are made. War is how we make our country better. War is how we help other countries find the right government. War is how we solve problems. In return for being brainwashed into believing this, those brave enough to take up the fight die. Again, ‘what purpose does this serve?’ is RA calling into question the authority of the government and what gives them the right to ask people to go die overseas. The next verse is a family’s approach to someone serving overseas. A fallen flag and a purple heart (which can also be given for injury while serving) are signs of someone who has died in service. Clearly, in this verse, someone has died (obviously). ‘A family all but torn apart’ is how families are literally being torn apart by this- they say goodbye to their loved ones for months, even years, on end, thinking in their head that the government will protect them and keep them safe, that they will see them again, which many tragically now know to not always be the case. Their loved ones don’t return with medals strapped onto their chest or pride radiating from their faces, they return in coffins. These families never got to say goodbye to loved ones, or give their final words to them, or be with them at their passing like when someone dies of old age. Instead, one of their family members is stripped away from them, and they are instantly forced into coping with the fact that the person they had once known is now gone forever. “I fought with courage to preserve not my way of life but yours”. This is not natural, no one wants to live like this or have this happen. The only person who is happy with this, what is happening, is the government. Next we come to the song’s bridge. “The cowards preach from pedestals with words of courage and resolve”. The cowards here are the politicians, asking brave men and women to go do something that they themselves would never be able, or want, to do. The words of courage and resolve is the brainwashing that they do, rallying the people into a fervor until they are asking to be sent overseas, thinking about how great it must be if what the politicians said is true. The media portrays these traumatized people as superhuman heroes, and young men and woman think that they, too want to be like that. “But one thing that'll fuck 'em all ‘Cause is freedom isn't free”. What they don’t tell the masses, the people signing up, and what inevitably shatters their beliefs, is the fact that freedom truly isn’t free. People die. People go mad. People who return from war are changed. They’ve seen and experienced things no one ever should, fearing for their lives and the lives of those around them for days on end. Next RA speaks out against recent wars in the Middle East, things like operation ‘Desert Storm’ where soldiers are forced to fight for their lives in a foreign, desolate land in a blistering heat that they are not used to, laden with countless utilities and in an army uniform. Hostile, painful, horrible conditions. ‘A sacrificial…of the weak.’ The politicians and government don’t care about how many people die or how many suffer. What they care about is one thing: The money they earn from weapons production during war. The money they make by attacking other countries. ‘An artificial…easily deceived?’ Can we not see that they are attacking others without rhyme or reason? How can we be so easily brainwashed into thinking another country, innocent men and women, are our ‘enemies’? How can we think that war is the only option? Then we come back to the discussion between the two men that started this song. The first, who thought America would last forever, tries to defend the government: ‘What you don’t understand is that it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees’. What he means is that it’s better to die fighting for what you believe (America) than to live in servitude of someone else (like America before the Revolutionary War). The other man disagrees and counters this claim ‘You have it backwards. It’s better to live on your feet than to die on your knees.” If we live an upright, correct life (on our feet), what do we have to fear from other countries? We don’t have to worry about them attacking, subjugating, and executing us (die on our knees). If we don’t go invading other countries for the purposes of money, if we as a country don’t forcefully interfere in the affairs of other countries, then we as a country are safer than any amount of military could makes us. ‘Come…lesson ignored?’ Let’s stop and think this through. Don’t blindly follow and do what they tell you. We’ve ignored common sense for too long, and it’s time we finally listen to it, because what we are doing right now is throwing lives against the wall in an endless scheme to generate government revenue and increase their power, and our dependence, upon them. |
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