Chinaberry Tree

My God this song is so beautiful

I think it's about him realizing the darker side of the one he loves, the side that is coldhearted and vicious. Like in the line: "But I never learned how not to be," he sounds so innocent, so weak, as if he's pleading for her to understand how much he cares about her. Inevitably, it all falls apart, but it pains him all the same.

A chinaberry tree is a beautiful tree which provides poisonous fruits which are deadly and may cause death to humans.

Beautiful, but deadly That's how the girl which this song is about is described. He couldn't see the chinaberry tree - He couldn't see that though that girl was beautiful to him, she was poisonous inside

I think that he is bringing back some old, painful memories of the first time he fell in love, and how he was rejected and turned down and how innocent he was. He took it pretty hard - he's whole being was falling apart and needed his friends to hold him, so he's soul won't get completly broken.

It seems that as this song progresses, he turns from being with her to (suddenly) not being with her.

At the beginning everything seems fine. He mentions that he didn't see the chinaberry tree. The chinaberry tree is the one that will break them apart. Because chinaberry trees are poisonous, and they sprout at places you don't want them. He also sings that everything is heavenly, and that a life withouth the you-person is hard to picture.

So everything is fine, you can hear that by the music and the wonderful lead guitar but suddenly, the mood darkens.

"For the remainder of the war" could mean that "you" left because of something in the past, and he couldn't let that go carelessly away, because he cares and is there. This is proven by him describing sleeping problems, sadness and a need for someone who cares.

I agree with most of the comments here but I wanted to add the following.

There is a thing the narrator expresses twice: the importance of the "first love" (whatever it was) means to the narrator and how seriously it must be taken. First impressions last forever!

"Tears out for the world to see" means to me that upon suffering the true is revealed, that's why narrator considers the act of crying as a heaven, purifying experience.

From that point on I guess I say this out of my personal experience:

"don't interfere / part of her back was frozen" "don't be concerned / but I never learned how not to be" "as my first love said to me / I don't care, I'm not there"

The previous only means my stupid desire to try to fix people, to take the responsability of dealing with their problems. I must say, to my advantage, that I've never been wrong and I have always had this sixth sense to detect people that is broken in the inside.

"Hard now to picture a me Without a you" I think that this song is about a longing to be with someone, that has just rejected you. It seems like it's the first time you've run over the events of a break-up in your mind, and you can only remember the dark final moments.

for some reason I get the image that the other person is uncompassionate to the problems in the world, "I don't care. I'm not there" referring to a chatastrophe elsewhere or a developing country or w/e... and she's telling the narrator not to be so worried about things that don't really affect his life.

Chinaberry tree refers to a break up. The girl is the beautiful, yet poisionus chinaberry tree. My first love said to me: “Tears out for the world to see” That part is where the woman instigates the break up causing the persons "tears out for the world to see". The “Don’t interfere” is her saying leave me alone. Part of her back was frozen is her giving him the cold shoulder, and the remainder of the war is the remainder of the break up. “Don’t be concerned” is the don't worry about me line that the male would say to the chinaberry tree.

But I never learned how not to be As my first love said to me: “I don’t care. I’m not there”

This part is how he never learned how to stop caring about her, even though she did stop caring.

My whole being was falling apart So that I soon cried out: “Dear friends, hold me!”

Only his friends could help him now.

iron cat´s interpretation.. it is just so sweet.. nice to know whats a chinaberry tree love it =)