In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Staring at the carnage, praying that the sun will never rise
Living another day in disguise
These feelings can't be right
Lend me your courage to stand up and fight, on tonight
Stand up and fight
Now fighting rages on and on
To challenge me you must be strong
I'll walk your land but don't be long
Two million soldiers can't be wrong
Its no fun but I've been here before
I'm far from home and I'm fighting your war
(Not the way I pictured this, I wanted better things)
Some are scared others killing for fun, I shot a mother in front of her son
(Change this from my consciousness and please erase my dreams)
Fight for honor, fight for your life
Pray to god that our side is right
Though we won, I still may lose, until I make it home to you
I see our mothers filled with tears, we grew up so fast where did those years go
Memories won't let you cry unless I don't return tonight
So many soldiers on the other side, I take their live so they don't take mine
(Scared to make it out alive now murders all I know)
Nobody tells me all the reasons were here, I am a weapon so there's nothing to fear
(Another day another life but nothing real to show for)
Fight for honor, fight for your life
Pray to god that our side is right
Though we won, I still may lose, until I make it home to you
I see our mothers filled with tears, we grew up so fast where did those years go
Memories won't let you cry unless I don't return tonight
Staring at the carnage, praying that the sun will never rise
Living another day in disguise
These feelings can't be right, lend me your courage to stand up and fight
Watching the death toll rise wondering how I'm alive
Strangers blood on my hands, shot all I can
There were no silent nights watching your brothers all die
To destroy all their plans with no thought of me (no thought of me)
No thought of me
I walk the city lonely
Memories that haunt are passing by
A murderer walks your street tonight
Forgive me for my crimes, don't forget that I was so young
Fought so scared in the name of God and country
Living another day in disguise
These feelings can't be right
Lend me your courage to stand up and fight, on tonight
Stand up and fight
Now fighting rages on and on
To challenge me you must be strong
I'll walk your land but don't be long
Two million soldiers can't be wrong
Its no fun but I've been here before
I'm far from home and I'm fighting your war
(Not the way I pictured this, I wanted better things)
Some are scared others killing for fun, I shot a mother in front of her son
(Change this from my consciousness and please erase my dreams)
Fight for honor, fight for your life
Pray to god that our side is right
Though we won, I still may lose, until I make it home to you
I see our mothers filled with tears, we grew up so fast where did those years go
Memories won't let you cry unless I don't return tonight
So many soldiers on the other side, I take their live so they don't take mine
(Scared to make it out alive now murders all I know)
Nobody tells me all the reasons were here, I am a weapon so there's nothing to fear
(Another day another life but nothing real to show for)
Fight for honor, fight for your life
Pray to god that our side is right
Though we won, I still may lose, until I make it home to you
I see our mothers filled with tears, we grew up so fast where did those years go
Memories won't let you cry unless I don't return tonight
Staring at the carnage, praying that the sun will never rise
Living another day in disguise
These feelings can't be right, lend me your courage to stand up and fight
Watching the death toll rise wondering how I'm alive
Strangers blood on my hands, shot all I can
There were no silent nights watching your brothers all die
To destroy all their plans with no thought of me (no thought of me)
No thought of me
I walk the city lonely
Memories that haunt are passing by
A murderer walks your street tonight
Forgive me for my crimes, don't forget that I was so young
Fought so scared in the name of God and country
Lyrics submitted by afirewithin, edited by a7xfoREVer2009, RIPJimmyRev
M.I.A. Lyrics as written by Matthew Sanders Zachary Baker
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I know that this song is probably about the Iraq war since that's the current one (and it will definitely be taken that way since everyone thinks just about every song has something to do with the Iraq war). Personally I don't think it really matters which war is about, it's just the story of someone who goes to a war. Songs are better when they are more general, and there's no reason it has to be about Iraq instead of any other war.
That being said, I wouldnt really have got Iraq from the lyrics - Vietnam is the war that came into my head. It's the war I've most commonly heard associated with the phrase "M.I.A.", as there were a lot of soldiers who were never confirmed dead there, making there a lot of MIAs. It's a recent war so fresh in people's memory, but not so recent as to make a song about it "political". It was renowned for having a lot of very young soldiers fight in it, and for it to be difficult for some returning veterans to re-enter society (which is clearly the story of the soldier in the song). And it was a lot more bloody a war than the Iraq one.
Somehow the "shot a mother right in front of her son" makes me doubt it's specifically about Iraq too. I'm sure stuff like that has happened in the Iraq war, but in Iraq the Americans were first trying to overthrow Sadaam, then to merely deal with the terrorists and ensure the safety of the civillians from what are basically terrorists. That line just gives connotations of a different kind of war to me, more like Vietnam.
But again, I think it's just about war in general, and doesn't have to be about a specific conflict. Vietnam is just the one I thought / think of when listening.
@RuRoRul Definitely agree about Vietnam so many subtle references. One is 2 million soldiers. there were approximately 2.7 million that served in Vietnam from America. Another subtle one is I'm far from home and I'm fighting your war and I'll walk your land but don't belong refer to the biggest conflict in America about this war: it was never our war to join. there was no worldwide threat. nothing impacting America. we just decided to go to Vietnam in the middle of their civil war and fight for the losing side. we had no right to be there and in the end, we just left. we did not lose, we just left because it was never our fight in the first place. Finally, in the line, A murderer walks your street tonight<br /> Forgive me for my crimes this is a reference to how the people who came back from Vietnam were hated for their actions even though it was not their fault. all they did was follow orders from superiors.