Girl In The War

Peter said to Paul "All those words that we wrote Are just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go" But now talkin' to God is Laurel beggin' Hardy for a gun I gotta girl in the war, man I wonder what it is we done

Because of Peter's primacy over the church after Jesus, Peter is often recognized as the gatekeeper to Heaven. It's like he is the judge of everyone and he decides who's in and who's not, so the rules for living that he and Paul wrote would be the Bible and as it turns out no one is modeling their behavior. When he talks to the big man its like confirmed through the Laurel and Hardy line that yeah, everyone is messed up. A girl in a war is something that is not supposed to happen, you know? So the phrase kind of means something immoral, something that shouldn't be. The girl is innocent. Peter's trying to figure out how we got to this point.

Paul said to Petey "You gotta rock yourself a little harder; Pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire" And I got a girl in the war, Paul the only thing I know to do Is turn up the music and pray that she makes it through

While Peter was the first Pope and basically the leader of Christianity, Paul did probably more for the religion in total in kind of an everyman's way. Peter's sitting on his throne in the vatican while Paul's out traveling and preaching and such. Also, Jesus declared Peter the rock of the church, the foundation with which he would build the church on. But Paul got shit done. So, in this verse Paul is telling Peter to be a stronger foundation and do something about this girl in the war problem they got going on. Obviously, a dove is a symbol for peace, so pretend what looks good isn't, and try to make a difference. But Pete responds with "the only thing I know to do is turn up the music" and act like theirs nothing wrong, and "pray that she makes it through." which is kind of ironic because, who is he praying to? That's answered in the next verse,

Because the keys to the kingdom got locked inside the kingdom And the angels fly around in there, but we can't see them And I gotta girl in the war, Paul I know that they can hear me yell If they can't find a way to help, they can go to Hell If they can't find a way to help her, they can go to Hell

Now the keys to Heaven (the right way to live) is totally lost, except for those inside know. I think the angels line could be Josh saying we can't see them, they're not even there, because really, has anyone ever lived up to exactly what God wants? But it most likely means we can't seem them so we can't emulate them, therefore can't get in. They can't hear his prayers from the last verse because they aren't listening. And now he's not praying he's yelling and still no one is listening. Obviously the next line is strong because Peter is saying those in Heaven can help, but they choose not to, and so they don't deserve to be in there. Those who know of the world's problems, especially the church, but don't do anything about it don't deserve their high seat, because they are as much at fault as anyone. Ritter uses Peter and Paul to tell the world, "everything is real fucked up and no one's doing anything about it." Especially the church. He calls the religion's leaders hypocrites for not practicing what they preach.

Paul to Petey "you gotta rock yourself a little harder; Pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire" But I gotta girl in the war, Paul her eyes are like champagne They sparkle, bubble over, in the morning all you got is rain Sparkle, bubble over, in the morning all you got is rain They sparkle, bubble over, in the morning all you got is rain

Her eyes are like champagne, she's crying beauty. But soon her eyes sparkle and go flat and she dies. Because once the champagne goes bad it might as well be rainwater. So the girl dies on account of the war, society is lost to evil. The world is lost to righteous living.