The Great Disappointment

I think this song is about waiting around for something that is perfect and it (obviously) not ever coming around. Be it a person, a thing, a feeling, what have you. It's about finding perfection and not getting it. The speaker is waiting patiently and keeps thinking whatever he's seeking will come, but it never does, and he ends up wasting away while waiting for it. That's the begining anyway. Then he starts to realize he's been decieved, realizing all the promises were lies. "So dies all innocence"... he feels spoiled and jaded, no longer innocent and expectant of whatever the desired object was. Just my take on it.

I understand how people think this is about religion, at first it seems like it, but I don't think it's the case. Davey seems to use Historical references and such as metaphors for something more recent, etc. The Great Disappointment was the time when people thought would be Christ's second coming. And of course, nothing happened. I think he uses the idea of waiting and losing faith, and The Great Disappointment to get the thought of waiting for something that will never come, blindly hoping something is going to happen, but you then realize it's not, and so losing faith in what you had believed in.

Thats a simplified version of MY interpretation, it could be completely wrong, as could many of the interpretations of any or most of AFI's songs (according to Havok himself), but Davey doesn't care if people interpret the song the wrong way. He writes in that vague way and doesn't usually talk about his songs so people get what they need out of his songs. Also, it could be something more personal, because he has said, most (if not all) of the songs are actually his feelings.

Anyways, that was my crappy interpretation.

Well, here's what I always thought:

Generally, as a kid, your parents dont tell you about death, and if someone you know dies, you're told that they went to "a better place". I imagine the speaker as a child who found about what death really meant before he was ready to know. He waited for his loved ones to reappear, or to catch one last glimpse of them, but it never came. He is feeling hurt and angry toward his deceivers, and devastated to finally know what it means when Grandma or anyone else "goes to a better place"...

i don't know what it means... but it's a great song

i don't know what it means... but it's a great song

The meaning of this song is fairly obvious to me.

It uses the imagery of him waiting in a graveyard to try and see the angels as a metaphor for him searching for faith.

"so near the cherised ones" is in reference to being with the buried bodies. The references to angels are very obvious.

Once the angels dont come he realizes it was all a lie and that what he had been taught and what he wanted to believe (religion, God) was in fact not real.

The end is then him dealing with this new revalation.

I may be wrong but I dont think I am. I love the song, by the way.

Sounds good.

this song is also the coolest song on the cd

this song is awsome

I always thought it was a song about losing innocence.