Waves

My interpretation of "No one cares about the waves at the bottom of the ocean" is this:

If you are at the bottom of the ocean, the waves at the top don't matter that too much to you. Since this is a pretty political song, I feel like it refers to people in Washington being so separate and disconnected from the people that they are in charge of. The real world is so far away from their own reality that they don't honestly care.

The song is about war, obviously. But the metaphor used here is that we only see what happens on the face of the war that the media shows us. 'All we're needing is a reason It don't need to be clear Singing songs to the news"

They show us the waves that break on the beach. But no-one cares or sees the waves at the bottom of the ocean that are just as present as the ones on the surface.

No-one sees every soldier that goes off to war, and what they contribute.

Their ripples have just as much an effect on the wave that break on the shore and without them the ones on the shore could not exist. But no-one cares.

No-one sees, No-one will remember the work they did.

No-one cares about someone that they don't know has died.

But they will make heros out of some...

'Someone's gotta' die and you don't have to love him'

And it will all be worth it to the government

And all the heartache caused 'We just act like we care'

All good points mpod, this song is really great in so many ways.

I think the first "We'll just act like we care" is talking about the government pretending to care and then maybe the others are about the general population and the media showing stories about the war pretending to care but no one really does unless they know/love someone that died. Our government spends absolutely ridiculous amounts of the American taxpayer money on war while its citizens fight and die in them and are basically forgotten. Meanwhile the planet/oceans can get polluted and destroyed and most people don't pay attention to what's really going on so if they never know it, then they'll never feel used. The world may change but it's always blue, always sad, always bad shit happening and will happen as long as our government spends on the wrong things and its people stay asleep and blind or think they are dying for a noble cause when they aren't.

Yeah, the more I hear it, the more I think it's probably aimed at politicians specifically than the isolationist feelings in the population as a whole, especially given the clear anti-war sentiments. Lines about military budgets and money support that since the politicians are the ones in charge of that sort of thing.

The government "at the bottom of the ocean" doesn't feel the waves that are at the surface (the war occurring on the other side of the world). Intellectually they know the "waves" are there but they don't really care because it's all distant to them, just numbers on a page, just statistics. It's not something they truly feel; the "Someone's gotta die and you don't have to love him" line references the many anonymous soldiers the leaders in Washington will never meet.

They forget that those numbers represent real human lives and that sending folks off to war rips people from their families. "All the pretty girls out there livin' with heartache / crying 'cause they're never gonna see their baby" makes me think of mothers, wives, girlfriends who say goodbye to their soldiers, some never to return.

I think everyone's right about the obvious cynicism and how most of the verses are aimed at politicians who send people off to squabble over petty differences, simply because it perpetuates the military-industrial complex and drives the economy.

But I interpret the chorus as the speaker trying to reassure himself by engaging in some escapism and a large-scale, bird's-eye view of things. Sure, everybody's always looking for someone to use. But in the scheme of things--on a geological scale--none of this matters. Life as a whole on this planet will keep on, far from the silly tiffs that serve as an excuse for politicians to start wars. Those squabbles won't last forever, because nothing lasts forever---except life, insulated from all of these "waves" (all of this human insanity) on the bottom of the ocean. Nature outlasts all of this pettiness, and the world stays blue.

this song is about an abortion or miscarriage, in my opinion

I think this song is about how everyone cares about soilders but no one cares about the families of the veterans or "the waves at the bottom of the ocean" thats why it says that the girl is crying cuz she'll never get to see her baby. Her baby is the veteran whos risking his life to protect america

Palestine, israel ha sbeen ethnicly clensing for many, many years since 1947/1948. "You cant fight a war with nobody to fight back" palestine has no army of its own and hamas is using crude weapons and old weapons vs israel having one of the most sophisticated armys in the world being a top 10 military power. No one remembering the waves at the bottom of the ocean is israel trying to make everyone forget about them as people and erase their history."we just act like we care" is israel pretending to target hamas when really its civilians and their indescriminantly shooting them 10k civilian deaths to 60 hamas militants so less than 1% accuracy at best). "We just need a reason it dont need to be clear" is them using hamas and claiming anyone within 2 miles of a hamas base or members a human shield as a reason to kill civilians and level buildings, "singing songs to the news" is their propaganda and view being the only one that makes it to the news and the news using language to make one more sympathetic to israel and make palestenians seem less than human. The only thing that didnt happen when this song was released was hamas fighting israel and even then they still just wanted a reason that doesnt need to be clear to shoot civilians kex going past their allowed water area or into the no go zone)