Celebration Guns

Even though the song is meant for Guantanamo Bay it remind me more of the holocaust. because when i first heard this song I didn't even know about Stars and my interpetatoin was that it was about the Nazi oppression

Alexor: minus a billion points for using "fools" nonironically. Keep working on your arrogant music jerk routine though. Throw in a little wit with that passion and you’ll approach High Fidelity levels.

I thought this song was more about the collateral damage in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kids laughing and playing moments before missiles rain down. That’s my imagery. We encage them in our freedom by supposedly fighting for them though they would not wish it of us.

This song makes me think of the weddings that have been bombed in Afghanistan and Iraq in response to celebratory rife fire.

"So tomorrow there will be another number / For the one who had a name" would be changing living people into civilian casualty counts.

"Desert wind and a perverse desire to win / History buried in shame" Imagery, place setting, and commentary on the war.

"Are the beating drums / Celebration guns / The thunder and the laughter / The last thing they remember?" The chorus I see as talking about the wedding guests who were killed in these attacks. Did the victims even know what happened? Or were they just listening to the music, hearing other guests firing guns in celebration, listening to the others at the party laughing, when out of nowhere--boom? Did they know the thunder was planes dropping bombs, or did they just think it was the noise of the party?

"Then the next day / How will you know your enemy / By their colour or your fear?" Addressing the soldiers now. As episodeiv said, racial profiling in general, but also calling back to viewing all the people in Afghanistan and Iraq, or all Muslims, or all brown people or whatever, as the enemy. Even if all they're doing is celebrating a wedding.

"One by one / We can cage them in your freedom /Make them all disappear / Six hundred sixty six / Hundred sixty days / Two guards one uncharged" Guantanamo, of course, plus the biblical reference. I also think of the 'two guards one uncharged' as referring to Abu Ghraib.

"This morning's paper / Ink stains my fingers / My hands grow darker everyday" The ink/blood metaphor here is really nice. I think of it as the ink revealing the blood on our hands, but it also works well the way episodeiv says it, with us gaining culpability by reading about these things in the paper but doing nothing.

"Goodnight, sleep light, stranger." Yeah.

wow, you people amaze me. of course, most comments on "your ex-lover is dead" and "elevator love letter". why? because you morons think you're cool commenting on "love" songs. now, elevator love letter, sure. you can call that a love song. but your ex-lover is dead? fools. and this being their best song, or one of the best.. no comments. this song has the most story behind it. amy millan won't sing it live 'cause it makes her cry. so, it's yet to be played live. they sing "he lied about death" in its place. kehe. um. yeah. so.. it's about guantanamo bay. two words explain it all.

I'd give them credit. They didn't say Calender Girl was about love or some crap like that.

Whoever put these lyrics up didn't put them all in... "666 660 days..?"

So tomorrow there will be another number For the one who had a name Desert wind and a perverse desire to win History buried in shame

Are the beating drums Celebration guns The thunder and the laughter The last thing they remember

Are the beating drums Celebration guns The thunder and the laughter The last thing they remember

Then the next day How will you know your enemy By their colour or your fear One by one We can cage them in your freedom Make them all disappear

Six hundred sixty six Hundred sixty days Two guards one uncharged This morning's paper Ink stains my fingers My hands grow darker everyday

Are the beating drums Celebration guns The thunder and the laughter The last thing they remember

Are the beating drums Celebration guns The thunder and the laughter The last thing they remember

Goodnight, sleep light, stranger Goodnight, sleep light, stranger

The bit about the desert wind made me think it was more about Desert Storm or the current conflict in the Middle East. Now I know Guantanamo Bay is in Cuba, is it also a desert (this would be news to me)?

Beautiful, yet sad song. The instrumentals are simply wonderful. Oh, Stars, how I do love you!

youre more than likely right clarion, i dont think OP is exactly correct in his theories.