Blueprint Of The Fall

i'm not particularly fond of punk songs about how bad the government sucks but i do like how Strung Out take a more artful look at this. i believe this song is about how the US is headed for destruction in the same way Rome fell. How an established civilization will find itself on top and loose sight of how they got there. America and out freedom.
the "one theif to rule them all" part, i see as the band expressing this song around how those in charge of us attempt to make things better only to make them way worse. the 'blueprint' would the history we are living of such a violent and fast paced culture.

the intro riff is killer, love the song

This is by far the best song ever, it's got the best drummer and the best guitarist in the world showing off in one song. I love it!

best *GUITARISTS, Safe2Say. Best GUITARISTS. Not to mention best bassist/songwriter, and best singer.

Rather than taking the "fuck Bush" approach like most bands were at the time, Strung Out offers a sophisticated look at how 9/11 changed everything and how its quite apparent corporations are ruling the world for their benefits over the peoples benefits.

They are talking about a very crazy and wrong belief. This belief have a lot of people fighting for. They believe that URSS, Cuba, North Korea, China before market, are just jokes. An incorrect use of a beautiful idea. An ideia that kill more people then the two world wars. Almost Everyone in the world in some point of their lifes believe that equality and socialism was beautiful, fair and trustful

We all were wrong. It kills and results in hunger and poverty.

The solution will destroy us.

The song is summed up in these lyrics: [our] blind pride [is] the blueprint to the fall of the entire human race

Here’s my line-by-line analysis:

Imagine a place where freedom’s just a word on the wall Surrounded by the wreckage of towers that could never fall (This alludes to the Twin Towers.‘Freedom’ is not just a word to Americans. It’s a concept that we glorify to an unhealthy degree. It makes us think we’re invincible, but we’re not, as evidenced by the attacks of 9/11.)

The company will avenge (‘Company’ is a pun. It refers to a military company and a corporation. Which of these two will avenge the loss of life is left intentionally ambiguous.)

Imagine the lies like bombs turn the shock and the awe For justice in time and a land where justice never was (He wonders what our country would be like if lies caused the same level of shock and awe as bombs. If they did, perhaps we could have justice in a place that has historically been unjust — presumably this refers to slavery)

One thief to rule them all (An allusion to Lord of the Rings — the best liar is the one who, like Sauron, is able to organize others to do work for him).

Along the Potomac and west toward the sea Through the ghettos past the monuments we all built to house the weak (A retracing of American history. The Potomac borders Washington, DC, and the expansion westward through Manifest Destiny took Americans “west toward the sea” in the 19th century. All along this pathway there are expensive monuments to our history and, ironically, modern ghettos. This is a symbol for the glorification of the past at the expense of our present.

It’s the blueprint to the fall of our place in history The end to what we all believed to be the hope to save this place

(This glorification of our past and its abstract, sometimes hypocritical ideals — such as freedom in a country of slaves — is the blueprint to our country’s demise. Even if we hoped this country would be the beacon to the rest of the world.)

And I walk among the flagstones through the graves An apocalypse is bloomin' in the sage (Reminiscent of Arlington National Cemetery — as in keeping with the Washington, DC imagery — he noted that these graves are foreshadowing our downfall. He uses sage, which is an herb symbolizing wisdom, to indicate, interestingly, that the wisdom of the founding fathers and our reverence for them and their ideals are leading us to an apocalypse.)

Dead presidents lined coffin text in biblical unrest (These monuments, along with the gravestones of soldiers — which he’ll revisit in the song “Black Crosses” — are still alive to Americans. He hints we should put them to rest.)

The blind pride, home genocide, And the secret wars we all missed It's the blueprint to the fall of the entire human race The end to what we all believed would be the hope to save this place (Less abstract lines. Our national pride, which is blind; our home genocide, including Native Americans and slaves; and our secret wars, such as in Latin America, will lead to this country’s downfall. This downfall would be the fall of not just America, but the hope of representative democracy, and even the human race as a whole.

wow no one wants to hear about how much you guys love the song, comments are for song meanings...

i agree with cyanide2060, seems to have to do with downfall of possibly America, but also possibly the entire world. mankind wasting away the earth. human pollution. etc.