Saved

I don't know why, but I relate this song to "The Lake and the River". In that song he says, "Transfixed like a light in front of me, It follows my soul" and in this one he says, "Illuminate and I will follow".

It's like both times he's being led by someone to safety. First his mother's ghost, and then someone like ihatehatehaters said, his father.

I think this song is awesome. I think it is about the boy being saved from the attack by who we will later find out to be his father.

I saw on the dear hunter forum that this one guy actually already had a song by song analysis and he seems to think that the person saving the boy here is actually his half-brother. Not sure how he spotted this but apparently Casey confirmed it.

Can anyone figure out what he sings in the background from the 3:10 mark which sounds something like, "everything you've done..."?

"everything you thought you lost you've found."

I think it's not his father who saved him, but someone else. In the end (Son, Father, and Life and Death) he assumes the life of this guy, hence he finds the life he thought he'd lost.

Amongst the stone and smoke We never laid before Images floating all about Life in the afterglow

My decaying mind pretends None of this ever happened We either learn to live a lie Or we're waiting here to die

And after all this suffering I could lie here for good With a mind on fire I try and stand my ground

Illuminate and I will follow...

Amongst the stone and smoke Rising above it all Broken but not beyond repair See how this soul fairs

From after all this suffering I could lie here for good But with a mind on fire I try and stand my ground

Illuminate and I will follow you

Everything you thought you lost you've found [x5]

Let's see how this all fairs

The private does what the general says, The general does what the president says, The president does what the first lady says So, so they say

I believe that it isn't another person who saves The Dear Hunter but rather himself. Throughout act II The Hunter begins to understand how cruel life can really be, but it isn't until this point in act III, and after he joins the army that he fully matures. Prior to this song he is scared and not used to the terror that comes with war, and bit by bit his innocence is broken down (by; The Tank, The Thief, The Poison Woman etc.), but with the breakdown of innocence there is a build up of maturity. It is at this point in the CD that he basically tells himself: this is life, this is what I signed up for, this is what I will live. I believe it is this self reassurance that ultimately saves him.

"From after all this suffering I could lie here for good But with a mind on fire I try and stand my ground"

this song is beautiful. completely and utterly beautiful.

STRANGELY confusing and sad.

From after all this suffering I could lie here for good But with a mind on fire I try and stand my ground -as in, "what if we suffer here and we just die" (at least that's what I hear from it)

Illuminate and I will follow you -"God, show up, appear and I'll believe and follow You" (again, my interpretation)

(My decaying mind pretends None of this ever happened) We either learn to live a lie Or we're waiting here to die -decaying mind = the reality -none of this ever happened = this could all be a thought