Devil's Arcade

I need to point out more errors...it's thick desert dust on your skin.

also Where you lie adrift with the heroes

and The cool desert morning, then nothin' to save Just metal and plastic where your body caved

I think this song is about a lover lost in Iraq. There's "nothin' to save", this person was killed. They're drifting, dreaming of the life they should have had were it not for their death in the war. I don't see redemption here, just sad unnecessary death.

To me the song is about a soldier lost in Iraq, written from the point of view of his partner. Heard in that context, it's one incredibly moving and powerful song.

I'm a veteran and not really a big anti-war guy; but I love Bruce and know that he is. To me this is pretty much a flat out condemnation of the Iraq war. The Devil's Arcade is the game of war played by the pezzonovante (to borrow from Don Corleone) or the playground of big shots with soldiers as pawns.

The song is tough to unravel flow wise as the first paragraph seems to indicate a female with the inclusion of perfume in the lyric. Heroes getting made and bets getting paid all point to Iraq--slow poker games with Lt Ray in the "ward with blue walls" sounds like someone in a military hospital doing an arduous rehab/recovery. Metal and plastic where your body caved perhaps intimates a prosthesis of some type?

Buddys Charlie and Jim sound like fallen comrades. I somewhat concur with Barknoq except i think sex is involved only in the first paragraph. That's my dos centavos.

I am 100% sure it's about a soldier who's dying of combat wounds (narrated by his friend):

Remember the morning we dug up your gun The worms in the barrel, the hangin' sun

Somebody made a bet, somebody paid The cool desert morning, then nothin' to save Just metal and plastic where your body caved

In the ward with the blue walls, a sea with no name Where you lie adrift with the heroes Of the devil's arcade

Then, his lover visits him, promising him he'll recover:

A voice says "Don't worry, I'm here" Just whisper the word 'tomorrow' in my ear

His condition worsens as the song goes on:

Rising from a long night as dark as the grave On a thin chain of next moments And something like faith

At the end of the song, he dies:

A bed draped in sunshine, a body that waits For the touch of your fingers The end of a day

The beat of your heart, the beat of her heart The beat of her heart, the slow burning away Of the bitter fires of the devil's arcade

I think it's about the phases of romance and sex throughout life.

"[T]hose first nervous evenings" are about the early years of sex, the experimentation. Not to mention the weirdness of it, of helping her "get it in."

The "metal and plastic" thing, I imagine, is metaphor for sex in a car, OR, could be about an empty feeling of the college years, the drifting, meaningless one-night stands.

"A voice says 'Don't worry, I'm here,'" is about marriage, and the comfort of having a loved one by your side, someone who can keep things "mum" and keep your secrets and assuage your worries and insecurities.

"A house on a quiet street," talks about the later years. Sex is sporadic because it's now the twilight years. There's a fear of death, so there's hope for something after ("something like faith")

Finally, he speaks of "the touch of your fingers / At the end of the day." Perhaps this is about the ending. Sex is no more, but you still have each other, he still has "the beat of your heart," even though the "sun [is] burning away."

i think it is chronicling the thoughts of someone after a war.

The first three paragraphs are all about sex - that much can't really be denied. the third paragraph ends and sets the stage: the devil's arcade.

Next it speaks of heroes. the person gives his/her reasoning for joining hte service and fighting the war. "somebody made a bet, somebody paid" is a crack at the administration for betting on a war, and the person paying the price is the soldier.

Paragraphs 5 through 8 color in the scene- the "metal and plastic where your body caved" (the lyric came is incorrect as per the lyrics in the album booklet) talk about where he was injured, where he needed to be replaced with artificial parts of some sort. then it details the recovery in a military hospital among all the other heroes in the devil's arcade.

the final paragraphs detail all the little things our hero fights for, especially his/her lover.

the final line: "The beat of your heart, the slow burning away Of the bitter fires of the devil’s arcade" shows us that the hell that injured our hero was put through was, in the end, worth the price

not sure about the rest but pretty sure that the lines: You sleep in a dream Your buddies Charlie and gin And wake with a faint desert dust On your skin

A voice says "Don't worry, I'm here," Just whisper the word to mum In my ear. sounds like someone waking screaming from nightmares, possibly PTSD from combat. also charlie(slang for cocaine) and gin to medicate enough to sleep.

The lyrics are wrong in three points: original is: You sleep and dream of your buddies Charlie and Jim ... and then Just whisper the word 'tomorrow' in my ear ... finally the slow burning away ...

I think it's about a veteran whose soul has been lost to the devil during the war and menages to get it through thanks to love, that burns away the bitter fires of the devil's arcade

I agree with you TheMinstrelBoy. What a song. I got shivers once I realized what it was about.

And "get it in" probably refers to their first night together.