China White

Did anyone make the obvious drug reference?
China white means heroin, I think it's about a guy growing opium poppies for heroin, implying other people are planning to steal his drugs or cops are after him.
And I believe in you in this case would mean that he believes in the plants, also explains the lines about rain.
You will see me in the news could mean he gets arrested.

think about it, it's not much of a stretch.

Indeed effigy, that would be the logical conclusion from knowing these lyrics. But you should also look at the lyrics for China White II...the "old man" kills the father of a child, and then enslaves the mother, telling the daughter that she is the next to die. Several lines in that song point to him using their remains as fertilizer for his "flowers". Maybe this is a little bit of a logical leap, but could the guy be addicted to killing? If the "flowers" are heroin, and he gets his "flowers" by slaughter and enslavement, then this guy is one sadistic bastard.

I think the story of China White and China White II is that this little girl's mother dies, and the father uses her remains to fertilize his garden. In China White, he's warning himself that he might harm his daughter (referenced in China White II), and so he's basically asking himself to commit suicide in order to both prevent her death as well as any harsher judgment from "the old man and his son", which I believe to be God and Jesus. I think, though, at the end of China White, he's already killed the daughter and is now going to use her to help his garden grow as well... I think he kills the daughter because the loss of his wife (her mother) is extremely painful for him, and like it it stated in China White II, she looks like both of them so her physical appearance is a constant reminder that he just can't handle. I think China White and China White II convey two conflicting pieces of his personality, and while both of them occur at the same time, the personality of China White succumbs to that expressed in China White II... it's a little confusing but EXTREMELY clever, one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever attempted to dissect.

I think it relates to real life in the sense that it is a metaphor for someone being unable to cope with a loss, therefore they feel the need to destroy every reminder of said loss so that they can "sleep at night"... so by destroying all these memories, they have made the situation "beautiful again", because just as the flowers grow at the gardener's feet, this person feels as though they have regained the power in this situation -- they are no longer vulnerable to this loss.

I love both of the China White songs, and I feel a strong connection to them...

The China White songs are about a gardener that becomes obsessed with a family and kills them.

and buries them in there garden

I agree with this. He Is Legend used to be a Christian band back in the day. "I dont believe in miracles, but I believe in You" is easily a reference to God. but i dont under stand the whole "You better buy a gun
Because I've seen them watching you
The old man and his son"
part because if God and Jesus were watching me I wouldnt need a gun.

because it isn't about Jesus or God.