Glory

Radical Face

I was born when they took my name
When the world turned wicked, when I joined their game
But I turned and fought them
Like you always knew I'd do

I sat and dreamed at the foot of your bed
You split my skull and reached inside my head
And pulled out the pictures I'd been wishing I'd forget
And you stitched me up then
And wiped the blood from off my chin

Now I sit on the rooftop's edge
The muddy street beneath my swollen head
Trying to forget you
To believe we've never met

And the sky is wrecked, full of rotting clouds
From chimney mouths spewing smoke around
And I can't stop coughing
My lungs just won't calm down
But still I keep grinning
As the blood from my face stains the ground

A bird, caught in the wires
Bleating for help I can't provide, I'm not that big
I hope for the best but nothing changes, I'm sorry

But I was blessed with bad eyes
There's a lot that I miss but I don't mind, I'm not that old
I'll find out what broke me soon enough


Lyrics submitted by Mechanical Bird

Glory Lyrics as written by Benjamin Cooper

Lyrics © THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY

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Glory song meanings
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8 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment
    I saw him play live in Los Angeles last week and he said this song was about a soldier who defected from the army and went into hiding with his lover. They had a fight and she turned him in to the authorities, and the whole town came and stoned the soldier to death.
    spunawakeon October 17, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    It's almost as if this song is about having another person introduce you to a fresh world view. Someone who opens your eyes to the things you have missed along the way. An assisted paradigm shift you could say.
    CoryOOreoon November 05, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    this song is extraordinary. the lyrics will stay in my head forever. just amazing.
    thelightslippedon April 13, 2007   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation
    this is one of my favorite songs of all time and i think that ben is speaking of his faults in the world. how he fell to the evils of modern day society."But I was blessed with bad eyes There's a lot that I miss but I don't mind" i think in this lyric he is speaking metaphoricly how he does not see all the evils in the world and that he does not mind because it gives him less to worry about.
    willable11on August 20, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    great song. sounds to me like it's about regret, especially in regard to a current or former love--"the pictures I'd been wishing I'd forget", "Trying to forget you/To believe we've never met", "I hope for the best but nothing changes, I'm sorry"--This is could also be seen through the repeated use of blood imagery, symbolizing his having beeen wounded. The song also have a strong mood of despairity and futility,--"the sky is wrecked" and the idea of rotting clouds, as well as the bird stuck in a wire that he can't help and that all he can do is hope for the best. the last stanza also ties into this, "find out what broke me soon enough" sounds like there is something wrong with him that caused his problems, or at least to me.
    yipyipon December 02, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    written like a letter to an old friend. he seems temporarily trapped in painful memories. there is a sense that what broke him was himself. through the inner conflict you can almost feel him slowly discovering his way out of it. however wounds do not heal overnight...
    Breal2on February 01, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Some of this makes sense in an environmental sense. In the first stanza he's young and willing to fight for the bigger causes (changing the world), but, toward the end he realizes he can't make a difference no matter how hard he tries so he just gives up trying and accepts that he can't create real change. This verse, if taken literally, could be seen as a reference to pollution: "the sky is wrecked, full of rotting clouds from chimney mouths spewing smoke around and I can't stop coughing". And the imagery of a "bird caught in the wires" pits nature against technology (electric wires). I interpret this song as a person who found strength in the optimism and idealism of a lover who he joined in a fight to make the world a better place. Once the lover left, he became jaded and wasn't able to believe he had the ability to impact anything and gave up trying.
    skinnyloveron March 15, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Oh, and the music in the beginning mimics soldiers marching... I think that feeds into the whole "fighting for a cause" theme in the first stanza of the lyrics.
    skinnyloveron March 15, 2011   Link

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