An address to the stillborn, lost brothers in arms;
To see the cursed earth claim to providence;
A pyramid New Jerusalem.
The dream is dead.
We're burning the carcass clean.
We pretend-but we never sleep.

500 miles to the faultline.
We decompose and decay.

Captivating the moment.
Spread the disease.
"We come in peace"
As if we almost believed it.
"Strapped to the back of a live grenade"

If there was ever a saviour.
She'd be the first to leave.

500 miles to the faultline.
We decompose and decay.
Ten thousand leagues through
the coal mines.
We hesitate and comply.

Equal in death only, subject to
our own betrayal.
Inhuman, suspending reality;
what you see is truthful, but lacking.
Misinformation is the new black.
Perfect rejects, we're all incomplete.
Disfigured at birth, we're
the human debris.
We're freaks.
We live.
We die. beneath the faultlines.
One more truth to bury.

500 miles to the faultline.
We hesitate at the light.
One day we rise through
the cold tide,
and face away from this
dead end failure to see.


Lyrics submitted by lookingfordolving

Faultline song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

1 Comment

sort form View by:
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    To me this seems to be saying that human beings are scum and giving the example of war and hegemony. Peter Dolving is a rather cynical philosopher who has previously done many songs about how he thinks mankind is scum.

    The idea of a faultline seems to be a reference to the territorial struggles that humanity is often engaged in.

    "An address to the stillborn, lost brothers in arms," seems to be Dolving starting by explaining to the stillborn that they haven't missed much, they would have probably ended up in an army killing and being killed.

    "A pyramid new Jerusalem," seems to be a reference to how the Jewish people fled from the oppression of the Egyptians and are now oppressing the Palestinians and using their previous struggle as an excuse for it. This is a prime example of the hypocracy that many countries partake in.

    The next 3 lines seem to refer to how the dream of peace and prosperity have failed but we still pretend like they are alive and well in order to justify our actions.

    "We come in peace ... strapped to the back of a live grenade," seems to be a reference to hegemony (America's hegemony in the middle east is the current example of this) and the lies that surrounds it.

    The rest goes on like that, I don't have the time to go through every line but just look at it with this idea in mind and you might see what I mean.

    -the-decieved-on December 19, 2008   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him. There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.