no one is denying that this song is written about a soldier dying in war and it is a letter to his wife. when i first heard this song it was halfway through on the radio and i kept thinking it was about different things until i heard the part about soldiers or something. this song is really moving and i love it... it makes me cry when i sit really listening to the lyrics. however, i can easily see how someone could relate this to their own life struggling with terminal illness (such as cancer) or even something like depression. "lay me down in that open field on the edge of town" could refer to any cemetary or even just any field on the edge of a town - it could just be a special place for the narrator. "halfway around the world" can be figurative... in mental illness (including depression) the person can feel so detached that it may feel like they are a million milles away... or maybe it could mean a hospital and the person is going in for surgery (it could be any type of surgery or treatment) - going in for surgery also can feel like you're a million miles away because you are usually sedated to some degree so you are groggy and you are in a sterile room without your friends and family. "war was just a game we played when we were kids" have you ever played doctor? or pretended to be sick? or it could be a play on words and the "war" we played as kids was the card game, whereas the "war" now is whatever the person has been battling with. again, no one is saying that that is what tim mcgraw was writing about... he was obviously writing about soldliers. no one is trying to take away that sentiment... but the purpose of music (and this website) is to connect and relate the songs to your own life. so if you are a soldier, then that interpretation is extremely personal to you and that is how it should be. but for those of us who aren't soldiers (and aren't married or related to soldiers), other interpretations are personal to us and that is the point of music - to connect with everyone.
no one is denying that this song is written about a soldier dying in war and it is a letter to his wife. when i first heard this song it was halfway through on the radio and i kept thinking it was about different things until i heard the part about soldiers or something. this song is really moving and i love it... it makes me cry when i sit really listening to the lyrics. however, i can easily see how someone could relate this to their own life struggling with terminal illness (such as cancer) or even something like depression. "lay me down in that open field on the edge of town" could refer to any cemetary or even just any field on the edge of a town - it could just be a special place for the narrator. "halfway around the world" can be figurative... in mental illness (including depression) the person can feel so detached that it may feel like they are a million milles away... or maybe it could mean a hospital and the person is going in for surgery (it could be any type of surgery or treatment) - going in for surgery also can feel like you're a million miles away because you are usually sedated to some degree so you are groggy and you are in a sterile room without your friends and family. "war was just a game we played when we were kids" have you ever played doctor? or pretended to be sick? or it could be a play on words and the "war" we played as kids was the card game, whereas the "war" now is whatever the person has been battling with. again, no one is saying that that is what tim mcgraw was writing about... he was obviously writing about soldliers. no one is trying to take away that sentiment... but the purpose of music (and this website) is to connect and relate the songs to your own life. so if you are a soldier, then that interpretation is extremely personal to you and that is how it should be. but for those of us who aren't soldiers (and aren't married or related to soldiers), other interpretations are personal to us and that is the point of music - to connect with everyone.