The lyrics and theme are fairly clear--that we think we think all the answers in the world, but the more we live, the more we discover how complex and unclear the world is--"the more that I find out, the less that I know".
But it also seems to be a somewhat anti-war song, talking about "It's hard to know what I'm fighting for", "enemy lines", "kill him before he kills you", "I'm old and tired of war".
The "people I fear...who never have doubts" and "arrogant men and all the causes they're for" would be the government and hawk types--they're so damn sure the other side is made up of evil and the only answer is to kill 'em all, but "I hear the other man's words, I'm not that sure anymore"--the enemy, much like you, probably just wants to live their life and get along well enough to be happy, but they're told that you don't want that, just like you're told they want to ruin your life (Americans can think of Bush's "The terrorists hate us and our way of life and want to destroy us" speeches--which don't sound that far from the "they want to meddle with our governments, infect us with their culture, or destroy us via Israel" propaganda used to stir up hate in Middle East).
The song can be seen as talking about war metaphorically to refer to strife in relationships. But I wonder if he didn't mean it literally as well as figuratively.
The lyrics and theme are fairly clear--that we think we think all the answers in the world, but the more we live, the more we discover how complex and unclear the world is--"the more that I find out, the less that I know".
But it also seems to be a somewhat anti-war song, talking about "It's hard to know what I'm fighting for", "enemy lines", "kill him before he kills you", "I'm old and tired of war".
The "people I fear...who never have doubts" and "arrogant men and all the causes they're for" would be the government and hawk types--they're so damn sure the other side is made up of evil and the only answer is to kill 'em all, but "I hear the other man's words, I'm not that sure anymore"--the enemy, much like you, probably just wants to live their life and get along well enough to be happy, but they're told that you don't want that, just like you're told they want to ruin your life (Americans can think of Bush's "The terrorists hate us and our way of life and want to destroy us" speeches--which don't sound that far from the "they want to meddle with our governments, infect us with their culture, or destroy us via Israel" propaganda used to stir up hate in Middle East).
The song can be seen as talking about war metaphorically to refer to strife in relationships. But I wonder if he didn't mean it literally as well as figuratively.