Trees Get Wheeled Away

i think your argument (poison oak) is valid and supported in the lines to which you refer, but isn't the whole point of the song in the final two stanzas? more clearly the second to last: "so imagine what you want and then hold on to that thought cause that's as close as it will ever come and believe you're where you are and keep acting out the part but at the end of the end of the day the trees all get wheeled away and you'll be standing alone in a blank blank space"

i'd say it implies, all these images he's conjured up are just the meaningless day to day creations by humans, and he's not advocating any of them. none of these events or beliefs are important. you build up these things in life to make it comfortable and meaningful, but really, they are nothing by which to live. there is no truth in any of them.

sooo, i definitely don't think you can argue he's in favor of christianity, and i DO think the comparison of victims and christians losing blood is a stab at christianity. hes acknowledging a choice to ease the conscience, but (like i said earlier) he's not endorsing that choice.

"I am not who I become But what you make me into"

I love this line.

not a literary reference. conor just does it with a lot of young virgins. thats all.

"Anchormen spike their blood Wear masks of mud Cucumbers cut to fit their eyes And so no one would know how tired they've grown Of talking and telling their lies"

Ok, this bit is clearly stabbing news reporters in the heart. It shows how they're so obsessed with their image, that they don't care about what they say, they just like to stir up the media.

"While your TVs change stations Scroll messages Vctims and Christians both drinking blood"

Here, Conor is trying to show that you can look anywhere in life, but some things seem to be labeled as good and some as bad. Here he uses the comparative items, victims drinking their own blood and the blood of other victims around them (through being victims) and christians drinking the blood of Christ. A nice comparison. Both are drinking blood yet one is horrible and one is not. It shows the biased views everybody has on everything.

"And they pray for the destruction of all hatred More often, just those with hate for us"

We all know about how the governments say they are destroying the threat of terror. But they're just terrorising the other countries by starting a war against them. These lines suggest that they can pray for the destruction of all hate, but they forget that it is also themselves that hate.

"Because it hurts when you discover One's worse and one's better"

Here again, Conor is reinforcing the whole opinionated bias over all things important.

"To suffer or cause others to And you can live by your conscience Now guilt is a concept You're no longer subscribing to"

This is saying that it may be horrible that people are suffering, but causing more people to suffer is just stupid and ignorant. You can't fight fire with fire, right? But even though they do this, it seems they never feel guilty.

"There's a virgin in my bed And she's taking off her dress And I'm not sure what I am going to do There's a song stuck in my head And I can't help singing it Oh, how I hope my singing pleases you"

Both of these situations appear to be situations that Conor has not put himself into. Firstly, he's confused and feels like a mess that he's got some virgin (who, you should note, is unnamed for effectiveness) in his bed and he doesn't have a clue how to get out of this hole he's dug for himself. Secondly he's got a song stuck in his head, but he can't help it and he doesn't want to harm anybody by singing. This is metaphorical for also getting yourself into sticky situations, but not meaning any harm by what you do.

"Because I am not who I become But what you made me into"

Here Conor is talking about not being able to control what's happening to him. He gets dragged along the ground and made into what people want him to be.

"Oh, we got no health insurance No cellular service No disease they can cure But we need more money to burn So each person must learn the dollar amount they are worth"

Ok, so we have all those things that he says. But the people of the world are in such a capitalistic state that even without these things they'd care more about what their money says about them than what they are actually like. Again, being controlled by what's happening to you and portraying an image that isn't a true depiction of you, just as the anchormen were.

"And your pills make me dizzy Forgetting my body I watch as it walks away And I just keep drinking the poison And smoking the cartons A pack and a half a day"

This is about giving into temptation. He feels lost and out of control in all this rush to have the most money, the best image... whatever.

"So when time comes to claim me My friends and my family will gather around my grave And they'll believe that they knew me and love me and miss me And all call me by my name"

In this stanza, Conor is saying that not even his family and friends knew what he was really like under his mask of mud and cucumber eyes. They can say they loved him and that they miss him, but they never really know the real him.

"So imagine what you want And then hold on to that thought Because that's as close as it will ever come"

If you want to become what you really want to be, it's not going to happen. That's what Conor is trying to say in this whole song. You can hold on to the greatest of thoughts and aim to achieve it, but it's never going to come any closer than in your imagination.

"And believe you're where you are and keep acting out the part But at the end of the end of the day the trees all get wheeled away And you'll be standing alone in a blank, blank space"

You can make up this image around you. You can grow the trees of hopes, but in the end, you're just as hopeless as everybody else and the trees will get wheeled away. You'll be left alone, feeling lost and afraid.

"So believe you're who you are And stay in character But at the end of the play the audience walks away And you'll be a shivering cold on a well lit stage."

Esentially the same as the above verse. It states that you can stay acting out the part of somebody you're not, but when the audience isn't around to watch, you're pathetic.

I must say. Awesome lyrics from Conor.

the first paragraph is wrong it should be 'anchormen spike their blood| wear masks of mud' no 'and'

where can i get this sonG? i saw it live. . but where cna i get it

theres a version from a radio performance at http://www.smallbang.com/music/brighteyes.htm

i love this song, i first heard it at a bright eyes show and then i heard it again the other night when bright eyes performed on david letterman and it reminded me of that song and since then i've been trying to find it...this song is so amazing.

wo hoo

You can download it on kazaa now.