Greta Van Fleet

The Barbarians

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The Barbarians Lyrics

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"The Barbarians" lyrics
Greta Van Fleet Lyrics
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"The Barbarians"

Children with their toys of war, oh oh
Birthright of death with a fiery breath
Funeral of innocence, oh oh
Painted up in red and dressed in lead, oh yeah

Are we prisoners or renegades?
Well, I've done my time, oh whoa
Behold visions of burning skies
Alas, Babylon, whoa
Whoa oh oh

Mothers of barbarians, oh oh
Were your young so spry
When they left to die? Oh yeah

Are we prisoners or renegades?
Well, I've done my time, oh whoa
Behold visions of burning skies
Alas, Babylon, whoa
Whoa oh oh

Submitted by

eternaltearsofsorrow On Apr 01, 2023

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EternalTearsOfSorrow

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2023-04-01 01:04:12

1 Meaning

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by EternalTearsOfSorrow MOD

3y ago

In simple terms, barbarians are warmongers. This song lyrically seems to take the term & levy it towards the government of US with clues like “toys of war” for instance, a country like the US would most comply with such a metaphor. Also there are other clues dropped as well throughout but simply put, this is an anti-war song. However, it features some major differences from others which conventionally fall into this classification. For instance, we can say that some of the lyrics rely on Biblical-levels of symbolism.And secondly, even though the narrator isn’t a soldier, he is putting himself into the mix. He is not one of those types who is dissing the powers that be, the warmongers of the world, as some type of an outsider. This isn’t an us-versus-them type of scenario. Rather he appears to be the type of person who is cognizant of what is actually happening.

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