All Systems Red

The first half of the song fills me with tears as the chimes of freedom fade away. The second half sends a chill up my spine as the chimes of freedom are only a memory.
I see parallels between this song's lyrics and various contemporary events, e.g., 9/11, the war on terrorism, the Iraqi war, wiretapping Americans, etc. Personally, the song takes me to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga with Frodo's mission to stop the encroachment of the Shadow of Mordor on Middle Earth.

The whole album to me is tinged with a lot of pointers towards the whole crappy war. I think this song is quite mixed between sadness and frustration, especially when it totally just takes off at the end. Possibly one of the best songs Calexico have done, definitely the most moody, direct and emotional.

This song is my favorite by Calexico for sure. I never thought about the war, but I see that it could relate for sure. I always looked at it from the point of view from a shitty town like my own. Like the singer is talking about his town.... "Nothing changes here and nothing improves All say my friends who just want out And leave these troubles behind" - Don't have to explain these lines.. "Scatter like paper in the eye of the storm Documented with a silenced note That's only heard from far away" - This to me would be those who left by suicide. The silenced note would be the gun shot. "More cards in play, following suit Everywhere you look, you only see red" - More people doing the same thing... red = blood? Ok... probably about the war, but this is the way I looked at it for a while.. pretty sad.

First, I want to apologize for the long thread.

At first I would have to agree with CcPunk with just frustration. It too is one of my all-time favorites. I travel a lot for work and it's one that stays in my cd player. But today I realized while listening that it may have a lot to do with 9/11 and its aftermath. Of course it is just an opinion, but here are quotes broken down:

"Felt a tremor stir beneath my breath That forecasts storms on the gallup poll Waking up from the nightmare news Hoping to read a sign in the morning air"

I remember waking up to the same news and the utter despair i felt. It was disbelief. The polls months after that morning were high. People were scared and it is a common idea in this country that if people are afraid or something is wrong with a country the polls jump (ie gallup) and more people participate (suchs as the recent presidential voting for 2008 and the high support for the war on terror ( I will go on record as not having supported the war in Iraq)).

"All say my friends who just want out And leave these troubles behind Scatter like paper in the eye of the storm Documented with a silenced note That's only heard from far away"

This one is tough, but after a while nothing changed in america for the better. It appeared in some way that we became more at risk and fearful. People were tired. There have been quite a few people who stopped believing in america. They either left the country (ex-patriates) or in mind stop caring and become complacent with the times. They realized they have no power at the outcome and it is as if they are far away.

"More cards in play, following suit Everywhere you look, you only see red Wonder when to call off the race Watching a horse running down its last legs When you think it couldn't get much worse The numbers rise on the death toll And the chimes of freedom flash and fade Only heard from far, far away"

You only see red line reminds me of the US alert system that was constantly red.Wonder when they will call of the race, find a solution, give us hope again. You wonder when it will end. Our security is at gamble. The rise of the death toll is perhaps the Iraq war and the deeper we go into the war, the less we feel this country represents true freedom and that our image elsewhere in the world is only looking worse. Only heard from far away is that we hear the words of freedom that our country tries to persuade us but our hearts have stopped believing those words. They have become faint echoes from our past, our childhood.

"I hear you can't trust in your own Now the grey is broken in the early morn And the words forming barely have a voice It's just your heart that's breaking without choice"

This quote shows his frustration and lack of ability to do anything about it. What he might say or think has no place anymore. He is losing hope.

"Everything you learned is distorted in your head Bouncing off the walls, unraveling the thread Staying up with the blue screen glow Forgetting everything you ever dreamed years ago"

This quote reminds me that after 9/11, people started to not care so much about what was going on and wanted to forget, hence the high ratings in reality tv (blue screen glow), excess greed (wanted to be celebrities and high numbers of plastic surgery). Your true self and dreams are gone. Just drown yourself into nothing to forget.

"When the dread is flowing down my veins I want to tear it all down and build it up again Hear your heart that's breaking without choice I want to hear those chimes ring again Ring again"

Just want to start again. Fix it. That's all. Which I feel is now why the 2008 elections are so heated as never before. People have been tired and frustration. They want to feel real again. They feel they finally can be heard.

Sorry for such a long thread. This song just inspired me.

Gallup is the name of a Poll Surveying company. They used to do the music charts as well.

The bit about "I hear you can't trust in your own" is probably aimed at that idiot Bush. I still can't believe idiots voted him in the first time, let alone a second time. Idiots.

But then it's the same in the UK - consistently voting in self interested idiots for a second term time and time again - and do we learn? No.

"Nothing changes here and nothing improves All say my friends who just want out And leave these troubles behind"