Holiday

I think he's talking about the invasion on the Middle-East. Yes, honest.

"Holiday, oh, a holiday And the best one of the year Dozing off underneath my sheets While I cover both my ears"

Means bombs falling and protecting from it.

A vegetarian since the invasion She'd never seen the word "bombs" she'd never seen the word bombs blown up to 96 point Futura She'd never seen an A-K in a yellowy day-glo display A t-shirt so lovely, it turned all the history books grey

This girl who lived there didn't what boms were, and what AK47s looked like. And her t-shirt will be in all the history books forever, to show how bad the conflict was.

Half of me is the gasoline But the other half's the surf

Since the Middle East is basically oil, and the oil is shipped to the sea in those huge tankers, that's why it's such an importante place to have control over.

I think this song is about a girl in the middle of a war longing for a vacation. I don't think it's the middle-east though. A few things point to it being set in England in World War II:

The word 'holiday' seems to reference British English where holiday often means vacation.

"A vegetarian since the invasion" references how many people were vegetarian during the war due to a lack of meat production.

"96 point Futura" is a font that would have been used on a front-page during that time. You wouldn't see Futura on a front page these days.

I just love this song, it speaks to the sense of longing amidst chaos we all face.

Ok so the first verse, to me, indicates that the subject of the song is being immensely sarcastic and ironic. " the best one of the year". Even the tone of the song is ironic for it is lighthearted and fun, when the songs meaning is serious. The next two lines talk about how he is dozing off and trying to dream of a holiday but at the same time he can not sleep because of the noise of war. And again the chorus talks about the subject of the song imagining a day without war and calling it a holiday. Then the song starts to talk about a republic on the beach, which immediately makes me think of Beirut Lebanon. I don't know of VW intended on the song taking place in Beirut, but the imagery matches Beirut's juxtaposing nature, for it is a city surrounded by partying, youth, and beach life, but is often the victim of air raids and bombs. The next verse talks about a family who had become vegetarian after losing their appetite for meat. The family has realized that people are being killed and treated like animals, and they can not stand the thought of eating any kind of blood during war. The "she" in the song seems to be young and has not experienced war ( like Lebanon in the 80's). And I like the witty reference of the word Bomb being "blown up" to 96 pt Futura, which is a geometric san serif typeface that I beleive is the typeface that VW uses on their logo...it is at least immesely similar. I like the next line too that talks about the A-K's and comparing the destruction to day-glo which is a neon paint. This pain was often seen in tees in the 80's...but all of the history books were turned to gray. This alludes the the fact that history books can not capture the horror of war, and students are almost separated and sheltered from the gruesomeness of war, for pictures and words can not capture what war is really like. Then he talks about contrasting imagry of the beach. He says I have a car, I have bug stray and I have a healthy sense of worth, but on the other hand half of our ocean is filled with gasoline from the war. He can not escape it's harm, even on his day at the beach. That goes back to the original chorus asking " if I wait for a holiday, could it stop my fear?" Back to the idea that this takes place in Beirut. In Beirut, the people have this sense of live for today. Party now worry later. You can have your "Holiday" and endure a war.

"she'd never seen the word bombs blown up to 96 point futura"

"I got wheels, I got Cutter spray"

History books grey.

i never thought i'd see my favorite typeface mentioned in a song. thank you, vampire weekend.

I'm still waiting for my copy of the album to get here, but I'm pretty sure it's "red," like the teacher makes the books blush.

About the war in Iraq.

So I got my copy today, and the line is, according to the lyrics insert, "A t-shirt so lovely, it turned all the history books gray." I like the misheard version better. Kinda like "The devil swam the backstroke all the way from France."