In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Did you know you were going to shoot
Off the top of a four year old girl's head
And look across her car-seat down into her skull
And see into her throat and did you know
That her dad would say to you,
"Please sir, can I take her body home?"
Oh wait, you totally did know... that that would happen
'Cause you're a jock who was too stupid and too greedy
And too unmotivated to do anything else but still be
The biggest and still do what other people tell you to do
You did it to still be a winner
You shot your grenade launcher into peoples windows and
Into the doors of peoples houses why should I care if
You get killed?
Off the top of a four year old girl's head
And look across her car-seat down into her skull
And see into her throat and did you know
That her dad would say to you,
"Please sir, can I take her body home?"
Oh wait, you totally did know... that that would happen
'Cause you're a jock who was too stupid and too greedy
And too unmotivated to do anything else but still be
The biggest and still do what other people tell you to do
You did it to still be a winner
You shot your grenade launcher into peoples windows and
Into the doors of peoples houses why should I care if
You get killed?
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I think Jamie is just using this topic of the war and the unquestionable infallibility of the troops to get even further under our skin. The War is irrelevant -- Jamie just wants to fuck with us.