If this song doesn't haunt your dreams then you are a robot.

i just finished reading crime and punishment by dostojevski yesterday (finally) and read these lyrics for the first time today after having loved tje song for a long time and i never would have noticed the simlarities if i hadn't just read that book (obvi) but i think i see quite a few references in this song it is not precisely a songversion of the book or even part of the book nor is it as philosophical or deep (crime and punishment is nearly 700 pages long so there is a little more space to delve into the mindset of the characters) but there are in my opinion nevertheless a feeling to it of that book and recurring themes "It's alright to kill and it's alright to steal if you're willing to hold up your part of the deal. There are plenty of things that are worth dying for but you'll never know until you open that door. And reasons for living are seldom and few and if you see one you better stick to it like glue, yes it's true, it is true." these lines are almost taken from the book cause the very theme in the book is exactly what is right and what is wrong shown by the case of raskolnikov - the main character -kills an old lady and her sister (the last one by accident though) and throughout the book reflects on whether it was right or wrong. he comes to the conclusion that it was wrong because he got caught and not because it's wrong killing and that he's not worthy of killing because he's no napoleon. the the "willing to hold up the part of the deal"-thing the "stick to it like glue" i think is a reference to a prostitute named sonja who follows him to siberia for all the nine years he's gonna do his sentence. "No matter how brilliant a woman, you're only a kid." sonja is much younger than raskolnikov and he always seems annoyed with her naitivity and ignorance and faith by the way which might explain the lines "Was it the devil, or was it the lord who gave you those words, the ones I never heard?" because they never formulate their feelings toward each other but you can clearly see the love they have at the end of the novel and it is quitely hinted that raskolnikov becomes more of a believer at the end and sonja less of one. these are just a couple and the most clear examples of references i see and i don't intend to claim that the song is about that book because i don't think it is and i think that the interpretations of the song being about the civil war is not bad either (even though they wrote it earlier doesn't mean they didn't reinterpret the song for this album. i don't think they just put old random stuff on an album this conceptual) but i think it is interresting if he truely drew on dostojevski's great (litterally) classic novel and it gives the song a nice little twist

Actually this song was written in 2005 for TA's first EP so it has nothing to do with the civil war

'There are plenty of things that are worth dying for but you'll never know until you open that door.'

I am living on the brink of this statement right about now.

It's not Cassie Ramone. It's Jenn Wasner from Wye Oak.

when a sad song fits perfectly, life feels a little nicer

To me this song is deeply poignant. I believe it speaks to the absolute isolation that mankind experiences as individuals, to resulting existential nausea, and then their failure to understand their fellow humans on their existential journeys "the reasons for living are seldom and few but if you see one you better stick to it like glue". Then to the realization of the fact that you can't understand your fellow man only accept him and the life he leads as his own choice made of free will "Its alright the way that you live, its alright".

sort of an homage to the paradox of a relationship, how you're forcing someone against nature to commit, how that's selfish, how you have no right to restrict them. if you're willing to cheat knowing that you have an amazing partner, it's your prerogative, he won't stop you because it's not up to him, it's alright the way that you live.

i don't know, that was my pretentious little run-on interpretation. this song is beautiful and horrible and it makes me reevaluate my relationship, which is i guess the sort of point

this song and battle of hampton roads are prolly my favs of the new album!

I think, like the rest of the album, it's a parallel between the civil war and modern day problems in America, more specifically New Jersey. So an allegory of the civil war. The problems in modern times with a friend or girlfriend/boyfriend is similar, in the singer's view, to the problems between the union and the confederacy.

"We could build a nice life together if we don't kill each other first. Are you just too fucked up to understand me or is it the other way around? Maybe it's both, and I just don't know which is worse."

These lines can be interpreted as a member of the union army saying it to the confederacy (vice versa) in terms of actually killing each other, or a domestic dispute in modern times in terms of killing their relationship if they can't fix their problems.

9. Loving this song! Saw it on here yesterday. New to me. The only part I don't agree with is how "life is so cruel". I disagree. I think people can be cruel, but life is what you make it.

The part about suffering for a person I never would have understood had I not met my old friend Scotty. I have never suffered for a person 'til him. I think he suffered a lot for me too. But NOBODY suffered more than his wife. She has put up with more than any woman should have to deal with because he is gay. How do come to terms with that? That is true suffering. And then if he decided after years of being gay (and putting her through hell) that he was in love with a woman! Well shit! That's brutal. So they needed to make me suffer more (than I did in real life) and that is fine.

But my partner would never want anyone to suffer. Not even me. He felt shitty about the fact that I had honkin feelings for this man, but he didn't doubt that I still loved him. He just said WHATEVER. Do what you need to do to get over it. He said -you are the loser who fell in love with a gay sociopath. Figure it out. He didn't say "Let's GET EM!"

And I have always gotten everything I have ever wanted in life. Always. Spoiled you say? Nah. Just been lucky and thankful, too. But I didn't "get" my old friend (the gay sociopath) and it was the truest suffering I've ever experienced.