Dancing for Rain

I think most of u are wrong... I think its about how we are "bledding dry" the third world and the rest of the poor in this world. One sign would be "the worlds colide but the distance remains", obvouisly about globalisation... "we point the finger never accept the blame" would mean, we know what we are doing but still dont change it, still dont buy fairtrade and support cocacola and such stuff. the drought symblozes the situation were in and the rain would be a solution, so they re dancing for rain. the "singer" is either a protester against this injustice or an poor of this world. but whatever he is, he will never be kneeling, he wil fight to the end.. what u think about this interpretation?

we drink the air but its STILL not the same

I disagree with everyone.

I imagine a small village who is in the middle of a drought. A building catches on fire, so there is no water. Rushingly, the village forms one of the those bucket lines, where pails of water are tossed down and thrown on the fire. There is no water, except for a river. The family trapped inside the building is of a rivaling village, so the men eventually, even though they could get the river water, they say "forget it" and let him die.

Reasoning:

"Were losing daylight but i cant work any faster. under the veil of dust we go on. So close your eyes. What if it all disappears in the shadows, that reach for the stars?" -Working hard to put out the fire, eventually they relize they are helping the man inside, who is of a rivaling village. Close your eyes = imagine, what if it all disappears in the shadows that reach for the stars? What if the enemy died in that fire? It would be good.

"if i held my ground would you ask me to change? this drought bleeds on now were dancing for rain" The man trapped is thinking 'If I stay here, in this fire, are you going to ask me to change? Not become the enemy, the rival?' They keep telling him to become like his enemies so they will save him. He is praying for rain, since no one will get water during the drought.

"we drink the air but its so not the same" the air is not the same, it is now smoke. He is breathing to smoke.

"these worlds colide but the distance remains we point the finger, never accept the blame" Worlds collide. He is in the enemy's town, but they won't help him because of who he is--the distance remains. Pointing the finger and not accepting the blame either means they will pass off his death to each other, or representation of the fact that they are enemies because they accuse.

"the waters come but the fire still rages on here" The water is going to the lower level floors, not where he is, and where the fire is.

"the men all shrugged their shoulders and left" They finished evacuating everyone but the trapped man, so they all pretended not to notice and left.

"we sleep so sound in rooms just up the stairs will you save us like you saved them?" The town saved their own people, not him. Will you save us?

So, it is a trapped man in the town of his enemies, and no matter how nice he is to them, the distance remains, and they will not save him due to the fact that he is there. I believe this has to do with the war, we, USA, are helping everyone in other countries, but not the people in America who are living in our own country. We save the others first.

I am probably so wrong, but it is my opinion. Correct me if you feel need to.

This, to me, sounds like us looking at third world countries, all of the problems that exist between us and the lack of will on our side to do anything about it. It's just my interpretation, it could be anything, but it's not about any specific deity. Given how ethical RA are and all of the issues that religion has caused, it's really not about your church/faith. If it is, I think thousands of RA fans would be bitterly disappointed.

Ok kids, here we go: this song is not about a relationship. I'm not sure how you do it, but every song on this forum has at least one person who has translated the lyrics into their personal high school crush/emo/whatever thing, hence the posts stating "I think it's about a girl." Just stop, really.

This song is not about the nonexistence of God. It doesn't fit Rise Against's lyrical agenda.

We all know that Rise Against is from Chicago, right? Right. This song is about The Great Chicago Fire, which happened in the late 19th century.

There was a drought before the fire, and no one really knows how it started, which explains the chorus. (Worlds colliding is a reference to the mayor of Chicago having to ask for help from surrounding communities, which would have been quite a culture shock for people from the small towns surrounding the big city.) The fire covered roughly 2000 acres, destroying Chicago's water system, thus rendering the city's fire department unable to do anything. This explains 'the water's gone, but the fire still rages'; and also 'the me shrugged their shoulders and left'.

The time frame of the fire was during the industrial revolution, which explains the reference to sleeping upstairs, as living conditions were cramped into high rise apartment buildings.

The fire burned itself out when rain began to fall, three days after it started.

The line about swallowing your lies is most likely about the first suspect/scapegoat, Catherine O'Leary: a woman, and catholic (who weren't very popular at the time). Being that women had very few rights at the time, there would have been no social consequences for framing her for the fire.

The rest is just artistic filler meant to convey the trauma and panic that something like this would cause.

actually, it's still not the same. buy the cd and read the lyrics.

stReve is right..it's STILL not the same.

I guess you could interpret this song in a lot of different ways. For me, it's saying that we should be proactive in solving problems as opposed to just hoping for a solution.

we point the finger, never accept the blame and i know.. i know

Self-criticism? anyway, great song. Can't wait to see them live.

Ok.. These lyrics aren't 100% correct, so I'll post the correct versions of the parts that are wrong.

1. "what if it all disapears in the shadows? now reach for the stars"

SHOULD be: What if it all dissapears in the shadows, that reach from the start.

2. (Has been said) "We drink the air but it's so not the same."

SHOULD be: We drink the air but it's still not the same.

3. (not too sure about this one) "the waters come but the fire still rages on here"

Could be: The water's calm but the fire still rages on here.

4. "you've let me try but i'm still breathing "

SHOULD be: You've bled me dry, but I'm still breathing.

Cleared that up, moving on to the song.

I think it's about problems that have been going on for a long time. "this drought bleeds on now were dancing for rain " means that the problems continue, while we're searching for answers.

That what I think. Rise Against is the greatest band ever..

Damn.. made a typo..

1. "what if it all disapears in the shadows? now reach for the stars"

SHOULD be: What if it all dissapears in the shadows, that reach from the stars.