Behold A Pale Horse

I think "Such a strange celebration" is stating the irony of when the end of the world comes, people will be happy, instead of fearful and sad.

still have no idea what this song is about. maybe i'll post about it later. however, just want to correct. i think he said "change in the guard"

Frezear, this song, like most of the second part of the album is about the apocalypse. The second part of the album is about remembering to live and love and how our lives will end someday. the song borrows form the book of revelation with the seven angels and several billion dying. Along with the seven stars seven stands etc. (theres alot of 7's in the book of revelation). Hoever Tom reasurres us that God and the angels know who the true believers are and that we will be set free before the earth goes to hell,only if you believe.

"And they know who we are The seven angels sing And several billion die With the earth shaking Yeah they know who we are And they will set us free"

Not sure if Tom knows anything about the so-called "Indigo Children" but if he does I could definitely see these lyrics being about that. Really good song to lead into the album's final track.

When I first read the title of this song "behold a pale horse" i was confused as to why this would have been chosen, but i imediatly realized when "There's fire that eats up this world It's such a such a strange celebration All of eyes are burned by heaven and earth It's such a strange celebration" was said that this is a rider of the apocalypse, often times the horses are bones and so pale horse maybe means a horse with nothing but bones, and that the cleansing of the earth has begun. Kids laugh becasue they are innocent and have nothing to worry about.

This line "I am the living one I am the first to last" that has to be god, he lives in us all. he brought is into the world, he will take us out of the world.

as Tom is a freemason, I'm sure he's aware of the esoteric meaning of "revelation". It's not about the end of the world as we've come to expect it, but the internal purification process of those who have become "joint heirs with christ" Truly, it is not the infinite other, but the god inside who declares "I AM the living one, I AM the first, (the archetypal man, the word of John 1) and last (the final incarnation that fulfills the souls purpose in the earth school)

Titus 3:4-8 "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."

I find it strage how hard people will run away from the simple solution of just accepting His love and mercy. And there are a lot of people who call themselves Christian yet do not know Christ. They simply believe that there is possibly a god and that by trying to do more good than bad we will go to Heaven.

To me, this song is an obvious interpretation of the last days of this world. This song makes me think about the rest of the album. The whole thing is based on the concept of love, and humans needing one another to live at all. As well as living with other people, and love, you will also go down with these things.

Revelation 6:8 from the bible reads, "And I looked, and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with beasts of the earth."

Essentially, the end of the world is going to happen for the sole purpose of getting rid of the violence, hatred, and the wrong doings of all humans. This is why "It's such a strange celebration." In a sense it's a happy thing because evil is being wiped from the face of the earth, but also strange because you shouldn't celebrate death...

Tom always says that violence is never the answer, and love is one of the most powerful things we are given.

Conclusion, I think that Tom has mixed feelings of the idea of ending the world. I think he writes this song to say, "Yeah, it's a good thing that evil is being taken away, but why does it have to be done like this?" A good majority of his songs are based on love, why not use it instead of violence?

"Fighting violence with violence creates violence." - Tom Delonge