This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
The war is passed
Now she tells him again
You should fetch the plans
The [ ], the [ ] you see
Leeway
Like the sun over the closing door
Whispered Caroline, walks down the steps
So feel the pain, feel the pain
The Heathen, the Heathen
Like the Heathen, the Heathen
From the crowd "Come Children of the Called"
And in the sect, they hurry around the closing door
So feel the pain, feel the pain
The Heathen, the Heathen
Like the Heathen, the Heathen
The Heathen
Like the Heathen
Like the Heathen
God look out for the Heathen
The Heathen
One more nightmare calling
Across the farthest fields
The night skies are dawning
Takes this much as you
Trees come down
Fall
There's a girl in a green dress
She's got eyes like fire and lips so tame
She's huddled by the girl who's crying in the red dress
Hunger for life in this dying dying age
Dying age
This dying age
Back in Gehenna
All great plains of the Earth
Are now lightened by fire
Now gather on the wrecked land
From these horsemen in iron
This is fear
You've all turned up
Now the atmosphere
Is thicker than blood
From Gehenna to here
A release of sin
It's become our lair
We
The Nephilim
Room full of people
Now scarred and distressed
The time's now happened
And the captured in a mess
The girl in the shawl
Crashes to the floor
Crying: "Open the gates
To the Devils' hordes"
See the woman thrive
In the blood from Heaven
Burn in banished fire
Like a scene called Hell
See the bloody fire
To you is forsaken
Burn this banished fire
Burn
Burn Hell
Centered by the arts
Most brutally
People are scarred
By cruelty
Oh
When malevolence falls
And what about ours
This message is clear
Now open up the ground
See the woman thrive
In the blood from Heaven
Burn in banished fire
Like a scene called Hell
See the bloody fire
To you is forsaken
Burn this banished fire
Burn
Burn Hell
Burn Hell
Burn Hell
Now she tells him again
You should fetch the plans
The [ ], the [ ] you see
Leeway
Like the sun over the closing door
Whispered Caroline, walks down the steps
So feel the pain, feel the pain
The Heathen, the Heathen
Like the Heathen, the Heathen
From the crowd "Come Children of the Called"
And in the sect, they hurry around the closing door
So feel the pain, feel the pain
The Heathen, the Heathen
Like the Heathen, the Heathen
The Heathen
Like the Heathen
Like the Heathen
God look out for the Heathen
The Heathen
One more nightmare calling
Across the farthest fields
The night skies are dawning
Takes this much as you
Trees come down
Fall
There's a girl in a green dress
She's got eyes like fire and lips so tame
She's huddled by the girl who's crying in the red dress
Hunger for life in this dying dying age
Dying age
This dying age
Back in Gehenna
All great plains of the Earth
Are now lightened by fire
Now gather on the wrecked land
From these horsemen in iron
This is fear
You've all turned up
Now the atmosphere
Is thicker than blood
From Gehenna to here
A release of sin
It's become our lair
We
The Nephilim
Room full of people
Now scarred and distressed
The time's now happened
And the captured in a mess
The girl in the shawl
Crashes to the floor
Crying: "Open the gates
To the Devils' hordes"
See the woman thrive
In the blood from Heaven
Burn in banished fire
Like a scene called Hell
See the bloody fire
To you is forsaken
Burn this banished fire
Burn
Burn Hell
Centered by the arts
Most brutally
People are scarred
By cruelty
Oh
When malevolence falls
And what about ours
This message is clear
Now open up the ground
See the woman thrive
In the blood from Heaven
Burn in banished fire
Like a scene called Hell
See the bloody fire
To you is forsaken
Burn this banished fire
Burn
Burn Hell
Burn Hell
Burn Hell
Lyrics submitted by DjangosClouds
Trees Come Down Lyrics as written by Carl Mccoy Alexander Wright
Lyrics © Royalty Network
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Haven't got a clue what the lyrics are about but I love the second section, when the drums go crazy so I had to put the lyrics up! I figure it's something to do with the aftermath of a religious war but it's hard to tell.
I like the Trees Come Down AD version better, even though it is considered unoffical:
youtube.com/watch
It clearly is about war, could be a nuclear one: "Worship the Sun", people going insane in the Armageddon like surrondings.
The live version with just the second section is awesome and intense. The lyrics are oblique but seem to refer to the apocryphal gospels which include stuff about the Nephilim, the giant children of fallen angels on earth. Karl Ove Knausgaard, who when younger studied theology, wrote an odd novel about this stuff. Not very illuminating.