The Decemberists – This Is Why We Fight

General Comment"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved."

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  @chewthegum

General CommentIn the live intro to this song Meloy said it was about miners. So I imagine it's about labor disputes (i.e., the kind they used to have, fighting for basic things like limited work weeks, no child labor, the right to go on strike and not get arrested, etc.). Not quite as dramatic as a war to make the world safe for democracy, perhaps, but it rather fits with the Decemberists' style to tell a story from the perspective of the people in it--to them, this would've been important enough to justify the dramatic imagery.

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  @MarkPhil
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  That's what they sing about, the hardships of people, death and war.

  Flag Astarte24on December 14, 2012  

General CommentA simple, yet powerful song that everyone seems to be insistently reading into about love and shadowy government politics(though the former does make an appearance). At ground level, it's about sacrifice in the face of adversity and the driving force behind those that make the ultimate sacrifice. Its about standing up in the face of oppression and certain death and fighting back. Better to die with your arms unbound, rather than living a slave.

At it's heart, it's a patriotic song. It's about maintaining the freedoms that all too many Americans have come to take for granted. Only until it's gone do we realize what we've lost.

Awesome song.

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  @donb
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  I agree with this interpretation

  Flag TheDirgeon April 02, 2011  

Song MeaningI interpret these lyrics as having a political overtone.

War and avarice describe today's government pretty well. The lust for war and control, as well as greed. The reason we fight and lie awake at night is because of the political unrest that goes on. Come attrition. We need a smaller hand governing us. The bride is quiet because of all the secrecy behind the closed doors of congress. The bride is also of unquiet things such as wars and oppression. We will fight the archers and the infantry to defend our rights to live and be human beings. When we die, we will die free with our arms unbound because we are free once again.

So bring it on big government. Push us too far and come hell, we will take our freedoms back from you.

Dunno. That's how I see it :)

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  @mrshotglass

General CommentAwesome Song Love The King is Dead :) What is the meaning of this song? War, love , hell all about the life ¿? I really don´t know but i think is about face the life everyday, or maybe about a war or maybe a love song wathever is a great song

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  @LuckyLight
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  So the song is really about hardships of a people, the revolution of a people. Our people. The "Come hell" is about that if we don't fight against such things, war will break out, the world will spiral into a deeper pit of hell than it's already in.

  Flag Astarte24on December 14, 2012  

My Interpretation"When we die
We will die with our arms unbound"

Created an account just to note that, though people are suggesting that this line is about love, it's clearly about the willingness to sacrifice in order to attain freedom. And commitment to one's freedom even in the face of danger and the likelihood of sustaining personal harm. And yearning for freedom.

To me, it seems a little overwrought in the context of the US, though I suspect this is what he had in mind as well. Not that I'm unconcerned about the loss of some civil liberties in the US, but it doesn't resonate very much. But I can see this in the context of social movements--social movements happening now as well as historical social movements. Civil rights, LGBTQ rights, all of the liberation movements seen in US history... And people committed to living and dying as free and emancipated subjects.

In another context, it was a very timely song given recent events in Egypt and Tunisia--and given other uprisings in the Middle East and Maghreb. It makes me think of the martyrs who died in those countries fighting to live and die with their "arms unbound."

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  @christinalee

General CommentMy take on this song was that it was about the endless fight against oppression and tyranny. In the video the older kids were oppressing the younger kids, rationing food, dehumanizing them; and the breaking point was when they punished that girl, the kid with the glasses sweetheart. In my mind the lyrics were saying come the war, come the avarice, come the reek of bones, come hell, in the fight for freedom against a tyrannical and oppressive power, hence the "when we die we will die with our arms unbound" meaning that they will die free peoples and not slaves. Also, did anyone notice the parallel to the American Revolution? The main grown up kid was wearing what looked to me a British military red coat uniform as worn during the time period, while the kid with the glasses who snapped and rose up with the flag was wearing a sort of blue American continental army uniform worn during the time.

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  @flyinglambchops

General CommentI have an interpretation that is very similar to the one by pt8218, and it hit me like a bolt out of the blue when they were playing the song at the gym the other day.

pt8218 mentioned the "Why We Fight" films from the WWII era. Well, there was a mini-series on HBO about ten years ago called "Band of Brothers", about the 101st Airborne E Company that parachuted into France as part of the Allied invasion at Normandy. It's a good show and I have to admit that if I flip past the reruns on cable I am stuck on the couch all afternoon. Anyway, there was one episode actually titled "Why We Fight". By this time in the series, the Germans were pretty much whipped and the war was starting to wind down. As the pace of the action slowed the soldiers had time to start thinking about what is the point of war and was it all worth it. They were tired and burned out.

Then one of the soldiers, out on patrol, stumbles across a concentration camp set up outside of the village. When they go to investigate they are met face to face with the horror, "the reek of bones". As they try to process what they are seeing, the incomprehensible evil that they have exposed, they realize why they are there and why their sacrifice was not in vain.

There is one scene where the commanding officer walks into the camp and this ragged skeleton of a man walks up to him and hugs him. That was the first thing I thought of when I heard the lyric "Come to me now, come lay your arms around me". What a heartwrenching thing to see.

In summary, the lyrics in the song start by describing war with terms of "avarice" or greed and "attrition" or loss. As it progresses, lyrics like "die with our arms unbound" demonstrate that sometimes there are reasons "why we fight", above and beyond the political machinations of this world.

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  @JohnnyAppleseed2

General CommentThis is one of my favorite songs on this album, but I have a point of annoyance to share: Colin's enunciation. Each time he sings "Come hell," it does it a little differently. When I first heard this song, I thought he was saying "compel" at the beginning because he pulls the words together. In the final repetitions, he inexplicably adds what feels like an "m" and an "f" to the "hell"s. It's most obvious when I listen through headphones.

I don't think it's intentional and I still love this song.

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  @Eruwenolorien
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  I agree, except I think it is intentional. I couldn't even understand archers ("come the oichas") before I read the lyrics and he also pronounces infantry like infanCHy. I couldn't believe he was American when I looked it up. This aren't pronunciations from anywhere in the US, so unless he has some kind of speech defect with producing "R" sounds, this has to be an artificial accent.
  
  That said, it doesn't really bother me, I still love the video

  Flag whalestheron October 10, 2012  

General CommentColin has said at least a half dozen times the song is an anthem to Socialism! It's not about Patriotism per say or big government. Just the opposite it is about achieving unbound freedom from the oppression, which requires that good people rise up and fight oppression in what ever form it takes. Currently that form is the Oligarchy that has risen up to wrest control of the government, news media and as a result human rights from the people worldwide. Only a dysfunctional and oppressive corporate run state could convince much of its population that their elected officials deserve a full salary ($100K+) pension for life after only 4 years of working less than 100 days a year and full health insurance benefits, and that not only should it's citizenry not be entitled to affordable health care or even collectively bargain for such things as health care, or a pension after 20 years of hard labor.

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  @david13564