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Army Corps of Architects Lyrics
Leaving the central state from shallow ground
Home in the valley, but the rent's paid south
You said the urn was half full when I said it was half empty
With what was left of our fair city
Call in the army corps of architects
To flatten the skyline and begin again
I knew the years would move quickly
But never quite as fast as this
So bring the discrepancies, I'll pour the drinks
Home in the valley, but the rent's paid south
You said the urn was half full when I said it was half empty
With what was left of our fair city
To flatten the skyline and begin again
I knew the years would move quickly
But never quite as fast as this
So bring the discrepancies, I'll pour the drinks
Song Info
Submitted by
raydeeyohed On Jan 22, 2005
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Very cryptic song. Hard to say what it's saying exactly...
Something like, life is so crazy. You can just pick up and leave and tear down your former life and change everything, and time's moving so fast that when you try to look at it optimistically or pesimistically, it's all just an urn in the end, and all the little details, the discrepancies, mean nothing. So what can you do but pour the drinks? Amen.
Just discovered this song, and it's become one of my favorites of theirs. It's got a beautiful haunting yet optimistic tune which matches the lyrics perfectly. Great song.
this is probably my favorite dcfc song. Same as ben too. i love how it fades out. but I was very upset that they didn't play it when i saw them last.
Deliberate nailed the metaphor about the city but I think there is a key typo in the lyrics above... It should be "Leaving the central STATES FOR shallow ground"... And that the urn represents more directly the end/death of the relationship.
I believe one lover is leaving to pursue her dreams of fame and fortune (Shallow Ground) after years of a seemingly stagnant relationship - which she believes is for the better (Half-Full) while the other, our speaker, is left broken-hearted and helpless to conced the fact his lover is leaving.
I like this song...makes me feel really mellow.
endings, but with the razing of everything old, perhaps the hope of something new?
Who else votes that 'x awful eifel x' is an ass? Cause I do. But props to you, cause it's true...
I feel like this is a song about the need for renewal...going back home and, realizing how much it has changed, suddenly having to come to terms with how much you've changed as well.
I agree that the song is about renewal, but it doesn't seem to be about the kind that anyone really desires. The part about the urn being half full vs. half empty seems to indicate a pretty sharp difference in thinking between the speaker in the song and the subject. The line about discrepancies also supports this. I think that perhaps the city and the skyline is a metaphor for the landscape of the relationship. I would guess, in the end that the song is about a relationship that, despite the best of intentions, just wasn't working out because of fundamental differences in beliefs. So now, the relationship must change (likely to being friends, indicated by the pouring of the drinks). It seems sad, but friendly.
I love this song. I think as far as the music goes, it's one of DCFC's best. Lyrics wise, I love that it's to the point but still open to interpretation. I think it's really about building a new life. But I think the narrator chooses to focus on the fact that his old world is being torn down rather than looking at the new world being built for him.
chilling and warm at the same time. that same view out of the car window.