Black Cab Motorcade

You know it's kind of funny; with all the different and varied explanations you guys gave, you all have some elements of the 'official' meaning in them.

According to an interview with Chad (which I tried to find again but unfortunately couldn't), Black Cab Motorcade is about the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland.

far side is actually very close in his explanation; just try to imagine what he's saying as applying to Ireland. The posters above me have all made good points (many of which factor into this), so I don't really need to explain it much further.

Also, this is the same topic that Chad talks about in Olli Olli, so it seems to be a pretty big issue for them.

"The Black cab motorcade" refers to the several hearses after the columbine shooting and all the people who had lost.

"Oh please don't you get A little know fact about the place you set It's always an empty plate It's just there so we don't

Forget your loss and your history"

Refering to the feeling in colordo following the event.

and of course

"Was it worse then you fret The punishment you get Hollow points in the concrete"

The students who were punished after the horrific shooting.

I thought of it being like a gang thing. 1) It's exclusive to the youth, as seen by them being in school, and having curfews. Also the line "dont let her set another empty place" I assume to be a mother setting a table, and "another empty place" would be a child who died. 2) The scene depicted in the first stanza of "burned out windows, burned out brick" seems to be illustrating a ghetto to me. Also the refrences of Southside reenforce this idea to me. 3) Smith & Wessons are guns that are famous for being popular among gangsters, and are a weapon that is definately more likely to be wielded by a civilian than a soldier. 4) The way he gets the call and heads out to meet his friend, sounds like a gang brother to me. 5) The lines that paint your face sounds like it good be a gang tatoo. "Are you more than what you hate?" is especially relevant to one gangster killing a member of a rival gang. Both of them are really pretty much the same, yet they have a hatred for eachother instilled in them. "Forget your cross and your history" also sounds like the cross is a refrence of a gang symbol. Saying to forget that is telling them that you dont need to hold on to a feud between gangs. The song says that he doesn't need to go out and take revenge to claim honor. The ones that were lost will still be remembered in history even if you dont go out and try to take revenge.

I actually interpret this song to be about "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. State Radio's songs often include refrences to catholosism like in "Good Graces" and their dissatisfaction with the catholic church's actions. The "south side" is refering to Derry in the south side of Northern Ireland in which 13 innocent catholic protesters were killed on Bloody Sunday byu British paratroopers. "all curled around his knees" is refering to the IRA's tactic of kneecapping in which a person is shot through the kneecaps as a form of punishmet. The part about teachers and curfew really aren't refering to children, but to the treatment of the catholics by their opressors. the teacher is not meant to literally be a teacher, it's supposed to be like a british soldier saying when are you going to learn your lesson not to fight back? All of the parts about setting an empty place and forgetting your cross, is refering to the common feeling amoung this generation that this war is obeing fought over petty differences and it's a plea to the older generations to forget their differences, and stop continuing a fued just out of princinple. and actually, Black Cabs are a common sight in Northern Ireland.

Well this one must be lost At this ungodly time of day A broken curfew has a cost A tidy sum you'll pay Teacher won't you teach your lesson Though the young are hard to break Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson And the cost of school these days "

this song is a total reference to the tradgedy at Coumbine......

Fav song from this album!

There's no way there was hunger strikes at Columbine. I think this song has a lot to do with a very desolate middle-eastern country, maybe somewhere like Jordan? I think it's about a boy who skips school one day, then gets the hell beat out of him, and he never does it again.

drumgitarharmonica was right. it's definitely about columbine. "Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson" is referring to the company Smith and Wesson.

"Have you wailed for the likes of the walls and hunger strikes Are you more than what you hate "

They are not saying that there was hunger strikes at Columbine, but rather showing the shooters that their reasons for shooting weren't a good reason because there wasn't any "walls" imprisoning them or "hunger stikes" but rather just hate.

i think this song is about a country that fell to a dictator and to keep people in line he set curfews and sent black bags(death squads) on people who opposed the rules. this happens all the time alot of the time with our governments help. like Rafael Trujillo, in the dominican republic, castro in cuba,franco in spain, and pinochet in chile, every single one of those people did the same stuff . so this song is about a child who didnt realize that the curfew was serious and went out any ways and didn't come home and later one of their friends found them in the street shot (more then once) The punishment you get "Hollow points in the concrete" and after they shot him the drove off in the BLACK CAB MOTORCADE

In the album's booklet, they have the one lyric printed 'at this untimely god of day'. ha, i cant see how they would have mixed that up and not noticed it later, so its probably just an in-joke the band decided to keep.

I like everyone's interpretation of this song so far.. i'm sorry i dont have one of my own...