The Sparrows and the Nightingales

I think it's describing a kind of fascist world, where everything's unnatural. A warlike society built on lies where everything's flashy and showy (I think of Nazi parades, in the song you can hear the sound of marching soldiers) but people feel dead and empty inside. It seems like the narrator is comforting the people who resist this world, telling them that truth and beauty still exist and the people who made this dead world may be able to fool the people but they can't alter what is true reality, they can't fool god. History will show them for what they are.

(That probably sounds really dramatic, but hey, it's a dramatic song.)

Gorgeous song...incredible lyrics...breathtaking.

This song totally speaks to me. I believe everything about "God is on your side" isnt that uplifting and positive? I like it. Nice.

The german part of the song translated to English is...

"where is the leader me leads? I wait still…!"

wo ist der führer der mich führt? ich warte immer noch ...!

The German part is already translated in the main lyrics, second paragraph:

where is the leader who leads me i'm still waiting ...

I don't really know what this song is about, I think it is about seeing everything in balck and white, and the sadness of this. God is always a very predominant figure in Wolfheim lyrics.

i like this song but i have no clue what it means

I like LaLaLogic's interpretations. It is pretty militant at times (Who fights this holy civil war/ a million men in uniform). And the video is kind of at well, especially the intro (I think). To me, I hear him being lost, looking for someone to follow, someone who will lead him right. I noticed that when he sings it live, he really emphasises "Dividing presence from our history" (which is how he says it live), so I wonder if he's not thinking about his country's stigma even today and stuff? That's what it makes me think of anyway, but that's partly because it sounds like a direct response to the older people in my family yelling at me for listening to Germans.

"It is pretty militant at times (Who fights this holy civil war/ a million men in uniform). "

Yeah, I suppose the entire interpretation of the song will rest on whether or not you take that line to be sarcasm or ironic, or not.

Oh, this is a weird song and very sad. I don't know what it means but I want to throw in some new aspects. When you hear it and when you are German, than "where is the leader who leads me?" is a very.. vell.. a phrase like it is to everyone, whereas "wo ist der führer der mich führt" (which means exactly the same) sounds very negative, reminding of Hitler, who called himself Führer. I don't think that it is a coincidence, that the German term is used first after the war is mentioned. I think the song is about someone being lost, not knowing where to go, what to think, whom to follow. He is looking for someone to guide him, but we know, that this can absolutely go wrong (see Hitler). God doens't seem to be a big help. He watches and divides a lot of things from others but does not take the role of the leader.. nor does anyone else. It is all to ourselves to decide what is right and what is wrong.

Personally I think this song is an embrace to everyone who upholds intelligence, reason, empathy, love and understanding in life while not being religious. For me it feels like the song is saying: while you can pretend you're doing Him a favor and that He will reward you for your efforts in racism/fascism/wars in His name, you are completely missing His true point when you're suppressing/forcing or even worse; killing other people for the sake of it.

The song is saying, for me at least, that if there actually IS a God, the people who don't neccessarily believe in God but DO try to live an honest and good (as in: what you don't want to happen to you, don't do that to another-kind of way) eventually WILL get to heaven. Because God is on your side, dividing sparrows from the nightingales, cruelty from tenderness and warships from the ferryboats. God is on your side, in your personal quest for Good and Evil. Regardless. Because He loves you. If he exists, of course. :)