Fifty on Our Foreheads

When I listen to this, more and more my interpretation of it is around the actions and implications of different generations and their relationship with the planet, our collision course towards destruction and ultimately our futile attempts to save it.

[Edit: Grammar]

Sounds to me like it's about soldiers going off to war.

"On the cusp of vessel eighteen, A look of terror in our eyes, The moonlight licked the face of danger, Innocence made us like soldiers, Untouchable and golden, A quilt of darkness dotted with our teardrops..."

They're heading off for war, where their innocence will soon be lost and probably filled with sadness at the prospect of what/who they're leaving behind, hense the "teardrops" on the "quilt of darkness".

"I know you're sad i'm leaving, So this may hurt a little, But girl, look from your window late tonight... You think my heart is frozen, While yours is slowly grieving, You see the boy you love start burning in the sky."

Sung to the girl he loves that he's leaving behind. He's telling her not to worry and that, no matter what happens, he still loves her and always will.

I think that's enough to explain what I think, but if you look through the rest of the lyrics you can probably draw the same conclusions, because this is long enough already. Haha. :)

This song reminds me alot of "With or Without You" by U2. Not nething bad, just an observation, love this song

They explain all their album tracks here:http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CoLg4qRcAc

--This is my interpretation of the song and LYRICS CORRECTION in stars:--

"On the cusp of vessel eighteen, A look of terror in our eyes, The moonlight licked the face of danger"

--They are in an Apollo mission to the moon, stuck in a ship, and something is going wrong--

"Innocence made us like soldiers, Untouchable and golden, A quilt of darkness dotted with our teardrops..."

--They are not soldiers due to the words "innocence made us like soldiers"--

"I know you're sad I'm leaving, So this may hurt a little, But girl, look from your window late tonight..."

--The girl is heartbroken that he has to go on the mission--

"You think my heart is frozen, While yours is slowly grieving, You see the boy you love start burning in the sky."

--She thinks he doesn't care and doesn't feel emotion while she is extremely sad he has to go, she will look up from her window and see a flash in the sky which is his ship and crew on fire dying in the sky--

"You are a dozen to the project, With a galaxy of questions, And all we heard was lies about the truth."

--The people who employed them for the mission told them it was safe--

"No choice but be obedient, Like prisoners of war, Caught on the wrong side of morality and youth."

--He was forced to go on the mission to the moon for money or some other reason and "caught on the wrong side of morality"--

"We thought about our loved ones, Tallying fifty on our foreheads, With the pen your mother gave me in the spring."

--Him and his crew knew that they were about to die and though about loved ones, tallied numbers with his pen that reminded him of his girlfriend and they waited for the death they could not escape--

"The sun beat at the windows, Within an hour James had cracked. Left the ship and died, still clinging to the wings."

--The sun through the windows of the vessel was very bright and the stress got to their shipmate, James, and he left the ship and died (no air) still floating and clinging to the wings--

"Start burning in the sky... Start burning in the sky... Start burning in the sky... Start burning in the sky... "

--In a way, my interpretation sounds like the TV show, "Defying Gravity". I know this is probably not about that type of situation but I interpreted it that way.

I read a quote from Charles somewhere that this was a sort of Ender's Game analogy. Young children being sent off on some secret outer space mission, with adults taking advantage of their youth and innocence.

So I think the lyrics are meant to be taken fairly literally, not as a metaphor for love or whatever....