5 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
How You Survived the War Lyrics
You never change your mind once it's made up
Unless it's to crawl back on your knees
Is that the way you want it?
You get back to the wall
And put your hands up
It's a holdup
You give up like every time before
That is how you survived the war
You rarely multiply all these divisions
You give yourself the least of parts
I put on my green felt hat, pack our provisions
Playing a merry Prince of Thieves
You're not gonna lose this one
You don't have to cut and run
I think you can choose to love and what is more
That is how you survived the war
Now in a summer's day, spring a ripened plum
How will you live under the sun?
You follow the open road, remembering the guns
When you get lost under the trees
Unless it's to crawl back on your knees
You get back to the wall
And put your hands up
It's a holdup
You give up like every time before
That is how you survived the war
You give yourself the least of parts
I put on my green felt hat, pack our provisions
Playing a merry Prince of Thieves
You don't have to cut and run
I think you can choose to love and what is more
That is how you survived the war
How will you live under the sun?
You follow the open road, remembering the guns
When you get lost under the trees
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
to sum it up with another song title....'love is a battlefield' :)
To me this is about someone who does whatever is good for them, not carin gabout other people. its the classic "Well, you got out of that situation and saved yourself, but alot of people hat eyou now"
I agree somewhat with Porcupine179 but I think it can also mean that this person they're referring to chooses the easy way out, the path of least resistance. So then after the war, did they really learn anything or were they even affected at all by it?
That's just how I see it, by facing challenges we learn lessons, especially by our mistakes, if you just play it safe all the time, or take the selfish route- the experience isn't the same. Just how I see it!
I think this is one person trying to get the other to open up. Someone has survived a war (whether real or metaphorical) and it has closed them off to real human connection. "You're not gonna lose this one," she says. She thinks he has it in him to choose love instead of isolation and "safety."
i fully agree with kacheson. i think the subject of the song has been in some screwed up relationships, so they react to anything real and dangerous by running away. but the singer believes this person can overcome the past.