Love Vigilantes (New Order cover)

It makes most sense to me if the song is telling of a dream he had.

He is away fighting, is so tired and homesick, and has this dream where he is getting his wish to return home but then it turns into a nightmare which materializes his fear of dying before he gets to go back. The song ends the same way it started like maybe this is a recurring dream and/or fear.

he just came from the "Land of the Sun" - that's Argentina, this song is about a soldier who died fighting in the Malvina's (Falkland Islands) war between Argentina and Britain in 1982. the song was my favorite song back then, being the child of a warrior myself, and now that i travel to Argentina regularly it really has meaning.

I find it interesting that this cover seems to change the words a little, and the meaning changes, too. In the original, the wife's eyes were sore. In this, he sings that the wife's eyes "did soar." (The song clearly sounds like 'did soar' as well.) In the original, the soldier had died, and his wife had cried her eyes out. This seems to imply that he physically walked into the house and her eyes soared when she saw him because the telegram had been a mistake. Anyone have thoughts about it? I think Iron & Wine's cover leaves it more open-ended than the original. I'm not convinced, but it's a theory about the shift in lyrics.

outside of this being an awesome song...I think it almost has a sarcastic take on soldiers at war. Their only ticket home is to die? idk..just a thought

also, if her eyes were to "soar" they'd be looking to the heavens, right? and if they were sore she'd obviously be crying. So, they could basically be the same thing. That's the beauty of music I guess, it can be interpreted however the listener hears it.

When I first heard this song, I just thought it was the sweetest little story. I thought he came home and his wife had received the letter in error. Then I listened to it again and the realization that he could just as well be dead began creeping up on me, and that was depressing. It's a beautiful song, though, and I like to think that it's open-ended on that.

I love this song. I think the meaning is pretty obvious. at the end he realizes that he is dead, kind of like the sixth sense. this song is so sad.

i agree with you. this is a most beautiful song

yeah I thpught it could have been that he died and didn't knnow it......but now that I notice it could be said that the letter was mistaken.... the meaning can be arued both ways....the song poses no contradictions....make up your own mind

This song is amazingly sweet, somehow, even though speaking of death and war. I just heard this song on the new album and it is another song with amazing poetic meaning. I'm not so sure that the soldier is dead however. I'm sure many disagree, as I can see with the comments above, but that is the beauty of Iron and Wine songs, there are hidden meanings and everyone can derive their own meanings. Another beautiful song from Sam.

when i first heard the song, i didn't think too much of it. but after listening to it a few times i thought it almost sounded like an anti-war song. the way the narrator talks about the war almost sounds like sarcasm or as if he doesn't really believe what he is saying. the only part that sounds sincere is that he wants to get the hell out of there. and in the end, it appears that the narrator is dead which only makes one feel even less supportive of the war.

just my thoughts.