Fly On The Wall

I've done a lot of song interpretations before, but this one's challening. I'll give it my best shot.

Trevor begins with a discussion of a vision of heaven. He makes use of contrast between his present state and desired state. His present state is earth where he deals with Satan's temptations, but the desired state is heaven completely in the presence of God. The "kings and queens," are citizens of heaven, because there is no place richer and with more treasures than heaven. Living there is fit for royalty. He then makes a number of contradictions, as if he is being pulled back and forth between Christ and Satan. He senses "cold and dark" creeping up on him, but is then renewed with Christ's "fire." Then he feels "divided," but is reunited with Christ. At one point, he feels "free," because he is the presence of God, but at the next he feels "chained" because Satan is clouding his vision. The cycle is seemingly never-ending. Satan temporarily wins when he can no longer "see it [heaven]," meaning that he has lost sight of Christ and obeying Satan. We compromise "truth" (aka Christ) by sinning. We follow our own desires which reflects a belief that earth can provide more than heaven, making heaven "overrated."

The next stanza is a prayer. Trevor prays for broader perspective and the ability to discern spirits. He wants to "see it all," so he can never be fooled by Satan's tricks. The "fly on the wall" is a metaphor for clear vision. The fly can see all that is around him when he's high up on a wall. Nothing can take him by surprise. Trevor asks that he learn "to accept what he can't control" which is pretty self-explanatory. In this case, he's specifically referring to Satan tempting him. Satan will never let up, and he knows this, but he's praying that God will help him never let up either. He then discusses speaking out for Christ like by sharing testimonies of what God is doing in his life ("share what I saw"). However, he has problems with denial like the disciple Peter did when he claimed to have "never seen [Jesus] before." He's being too quiet about his faith. Finally, Trevor acknowledges that he's let Satan get the best of him, and has allowed him into his "head." He "holds the keys" which is Jesus, the solution to all his problems.

In the third stanza, Trevor basically says to Satan that enough is enough. Notice how the volume of the song dramatically increases at this point. This is because Trevor is no longer being quiet about Christ like he was earlier. He says "I don't think" which expresses uncertainty on his part. This ties back to his inability to discern spirits. He's often not sure if he's dealing with temptations from Satan designed to tear him down or trials from Christ designed to strength him. But he's pretty sure it's Satan because it's unlikely that Christ would cause him this much and type of "hurt and pain," so he tells Satan to "beat it." He asks Christ to "change" him, so that he can be an inhabitant of heaven ("kings and queens"). The solution to his condition is belief. He has a belief problem. The Bible says that if we love Christ, we will obey his commandments. And if we believe Christ existed and did all the things the Bible says he did, how can we not love him? Thus, his issue must be belief, which is why he prays that he can "learn to believe."

Now, the fourth and final new stanza (the others are repeats). Trevor thinks of a plan to fix his problem. He plan is to "build a wall." This is figurative language which expresses his idea to shelter himself away from all harms. He's going to isolate and withdraw himself from temptation. He believes that this will "separate him from all the pain." He begins acting on his plan (building "brick by brick"). He succeeds in executing his plan, but his plan has an unintended consequence. In trying to isolate himself from Satan, he has also isolated himself from Christ, the light, who is "the sun." Being neither in the presence of Christ nor Satan, he "becomes numb," in the presence of nothing. In the final line, he realizes that his plan was misguided. He needs to be in the presence of Christ. The correct approach is to be in the world but not of it, as Paul teaches in the Bible. His motivations were pure, and he was right to pray about it, but he missed the big picture. It's like "making bullets to a broken gun," where the bullets are the details and the broken gun is the big picture. It's best for us to turn to our sword of truth (where the gun is a modern day sword): Christ as revealed in the Bible, and then Christ will provide the bullets we need to fight off Satan.

In stanza 5, Trevor repeats his prayer, because his first plan didn't work. He needs to check with Christ again on what to do.

In stanzas 6 and 7, Trevor emphasizes his mission to resist Satan by repeating his previous declaration two more times. Note that I say resist and not defeat because Christ has already defeated Satan. Christ will show him what to do soon enough. In the meantime, he just needs to "believe."

There is an interview with the song-writer & lead singer about th story behind this song... http://www.newreleasetoday.com/article.php?article_id=1279

From how I see it, it talks about the corruption of the government. Now that's far stretched for a Christian band, but hear me out.

The other night I had a dream [Just starting the song, I had a dream] It was a world full of kings and queens But it was cold and dark as the night We were the fire on a moonlit We were divided we were the same We were free but we all wore chains [We all supposedly are free in the US, but are we really? We all wear chains.] We couldn't see it but we create it A place between truth and overrated [The reality we CHOOSE to believe, rather than the truth or the "overrated"]

If I could just see it all Just like a fly on the wall [Some of us wish to see the truth, we wish to see it all] Would I be able to accept what I can't control [Would we able to accept the truth behind the lies?] And would share what I saw Or just sit back and ignore Like nothing every happened and I haven't seen you before [Would we tell everyone the truth? Or we ignore it and forget it?] I'm on the run from the thief I let into my head [Is this the government coming after us for learning something we shouldnt have?] I know I hold the keys so don't scare when I turn and shout

I don't think I need you anymore Take your words and your lies and just beat it I don't think I need you anymore Take the hurt and the pain I don't need it I want to live I want to be the change We can all be kings and queens If we can just learn to believe If we can just learn to believe [So here Trevor says we all wanna be free and control our life. Decide what type of freedom we have (with/without government, etc.) ]

We had a plan to build a wall A great divide that would never fall To separate us from all the pain And keep us gathered turns locked away [We built a wall, a divide, to lock the "pain" away from our lives] And brick by brick we built it so thick It blacked out the sky and all the sunlight [We're losing basic control, too much shade leaves to darkness.] And one by one we all became numb We were making the bullets to a broken gun [What are we doing here? Why are we working for something that isn't real? We make the bullets to the broken gun.]

If I could just see it all Like a fly on the wall Will I be able to accept what I can't control And would share what I saw Or just sit back and ignore Like nothing every happened and I haven't seen you before I'm on the run from the thief I let into my head I know I hold the keys so don't scare when I turn and shout

I don't think I need you anymore Take your words and your lies and just beat it I don't think I need you anymore Take the hurt and the pain I don't need it I want to live I want to be the change We can all be kings and queens If we can just learn to believe If we can just learn to believe

I don't think I need you anymore Take your words and your lies and just beat it I don't think I need you anymore Take the hurt and the pain I don't need it I want to live I want to be the change We can all be kings and queens If we can just learn to believe If we can just learn to believe

I know, pretty suspicious. But it is entertaining when we think about all the things out government could be hiding. So I decide to place my thoughts on this.

The other night I had a dream It was a world full of kings and queens

[[ I believe the artist is talking about the children of heaven. It was a world full of God's children who, like kings and queens, are treasured ]]

But it was cold and dark as the night

[[ even though the world was full of these great people, Gods children, there was a lot of darkness and sin in the world ]]

We were the fire on a moonlit sky

[[ we were the light in the darkness ]]

We were divided we were the same

[[ we were all children of God but we divided ourselves by race, wealth, social standing, language, etc. without realizing we were really all the same ]]

We were free but we all wore chains

[[ God gave us freedom and free will but with that free will we put ourselves in chains by dividing ourselves from our fellow man, by abusing our free will to worship other things and sinning so we never were chained to a life without God's gifts that he had saved for us ]]

We couldn't see it but we created A place between truth and overrated

[[ So many people call themselves Christian but they only take pieces of the bible to use for their own purposes. The religion is full of Christians and those who twist it for themselves and others. Its not quite truth, its not quite overrated. ]]

If I could just see it all Like a fly on the wall Will I be able to accept what I can't control

[[ If i could see how all of this ended, the world, my life, would I be able to accept the outcome? ]]

And would share what I saw Or just sit back and ignore Like nothing every happened and I haven't seen you before

[[ I would see the many people weaving in and out of my life. I would see betrayal and love. I would see death and life. Would I try to warn people? Or would i let life take its course? ]]

I'm on the run from the thief I let into my head

[[ Your running from the ones who have twisted the religion, from the sin, from everything that would steal you away to a life from God... the parties, the alcohol, the drugs, the bad friends... ]]

I know I hold the keys so don't scare when I turn and shout

[[ You control your own life. You have the power to change whats happening to you right now. This is a warning to those around you that one day you are going to choose to wake up from this life of sin and shout... ]]

I don't think I need you anymore Take your words and your lies and just beat it I don't think I need you anymore Take the hurt and the pain I don't need it

[[ You dont need the sin or the life that you have lived so far. You dont need the people who have drug you down or twisted Gods words for their own purposes. People who have snuck their way into your life with lies in order to keep you from doing Gods will ]]

I want to live I want to be the change We can all be kings and queens If we can just learn to believe If we can just learn to believe

[[ You want to help Gods people wake up from their lives of sin too. You want to show them that regardless of race, wealth, social standing or language that they are all Gods children and they can be great if they just put faith in God and turn to him. ]]

We had a plan to build a wall A great divide that would never fall To separate us from all the pain

[[ Without God, we tried other methods to seperate us from the pain. Drugs, alcohol... whatever we could do to not feel the pain for the moment. ]]

And keep our skeletons locked away

[[ And to keep the bad memories and our past wrongdoings out - Reference to the phrase "skeletons in the closet." ]]

And brick by brick we built it so thick It blacked out the sky and all the sunlight 

[[ And over time our protective measures, the constant addiction and flooding of our lives with things to keep out the pain eventually locked out all the happiness and good we could experience in our lives. ]]

And one by one we all became numb We were making the bullets to a broken gun

[[ Eventually we locked out everything with the pain. We no longer felt happiness or joy. We were numb, not really living. We were trying to fix our broken lives but in the wrong way. ]]

Also I corrected two places in the lyrics because the version on SongMeanings was incorrect.

Also, some slight lyric corrections...

The other night, I had a dream It was a world full of kings and queens But it was cold, dark as the night We were the fire on a moonlit sky We were divided, we were the same And we were free, but we all wore chains We couldn't see it, but we created A place between truth and overrated

If I could just see it all Just like a fly on the wall Will I be able to accept what I can't control And would share what I saw Or just sit back and ignore Like nothing ever happened, haven't seen you before I'm on the run from the thief I let into my head I know, I hold the keys so don't scare when I turn and shout

I don't think I need you anymore Take your words and your lies and just beat it I don't think I need you anymore Take the hurt and the pain, I don't need it I want to live, I want to be the change We can all be kings and queens If we can just learn to believe If we can just learn to believe

We had a plan to build a wall A great divide that would never fall To separate us from all the pain And keep our skeletons locked away And brick by brick we built it so thick That it blacked out the sky and all the sunlight And one by one we all became numb We were, making the bullets to a broken gun

If I could just see it all Just like a fly on the wall Will I be able to accept what I can't control And would share what I saw Or just sit back and ignore Like nothing ever happened, haven't seen you before I'm on the run from the thief I let into my head I know, I hold the keys so don't scare when I turn and shout

I don't think I need you anymore Take your words and your lies and just beat it I don't think I need you anymore Take the hurt and the pain, I don't need it I want to live, I want to be the change We can all be kings and queens If we can just learn to believe If we can just learn to believe

I don't think I need you anymore Take your words and your lies and just beat it I don't think I need you anymore Take the hurt and the pain, I don't need it I want to live, I want to be the change We can all be kings and queens If we can just learn to believe If we can just learn to believe

Wow i like that last one. I love this band. this song was probably the hardest one even to guess on but there's on other i found may be similar and that's revelations. it states "were divided but were all the same", "were free but we all wore chains" such as the nonbelievers trying to change the christians or torture "world full of kings and queens but it was cold, dark as the night" kings and queens that were evil. "on the run from the theif i let into my head" he let the devil take control and is now trying to get away. when he finally breaks he gathers other "believers" and rebels from satan saying "i dont think i need you anymore take the lies and the pain i dont need it" then he turns to the non believers and say "we can all be kings and queens" of God if "we just learn to believe" they built a wall seperating the believers and non believers and became num from evil letting christ fill there soul. "we were making the bullets to a broken gun" they were about to release the wrath of heaven through God. just my opinion first timer here let me know what you think of it.

I love TWPotts interpretation and it's not invalidated by what Pezable reports about Trevor. While I enjoy the music (and the passion within) of Christian rock bands (TFK, Skillet, Red, etc.), personally I'm a secular humanist (agnostic). I can see the religious themes in this song, but I also see it as potentially an anthem AGAINST religious belief!

Hearing the first verse the first time really took me down that path (even though I knew TFK is a Christian band).

The other night, I had a dream It was a world full of kings and queens [we all have the potential to realize our dreams and potential, but something blocks us] But it was cold, dark as the night We were the fire on a moonlit sky [our intelligence is the candle in the darkness] We were divided, we were the same And we were free, but we all wore chains [though we are all people, everyone coming up with our own faiths and religions just divides and imprisons us instead of bringing us together] We couldn't see it, but we created A place between truth and overrated [by putting our faith in the unseen, we blinded ourselves to the reality surrounding us, and more importantly, to our fellow humans]

My ideas on this are echoed in this verse:

We had a plan to build a wall A great divide that would never fall To separate us from all the pain And keep our skeletons locked away And brick by brick we built it so thick That it blacked out the sky and all the sunlight [this shows how religion separates us, instead of bringing us together] And one by one we all became numb We were, making the bullets to a broken gun [we are fighting the wrong war (against a mythical Devil) instead of breaking down the barriers that keep us from cooperating to fix our real problems]

Sure, this is just my re-interpretation but sometimes Christian songs, looked at from a different angle, can actually highlight the dangers and problems with religion.

"If we can just learn to un-believe" :-)

I feel like the line "We had a plan to build a wall" has never been more relevant than it is right now. Fucking Trump.