It’s a brushfire spreading, feeding as it moves
And it’s a disappeared glacier, it’s an airborne flu
It’s your disbelieving eyes logging concrete miles
It’s your yawning conscience and your lawyer's smile
It’s an occupied country foaming at the mouth
It’s no smoking gun, no mushroom cloud
It’s a military mother with a boy in hell
And it’s a flag-draped casket and oil well
It’s an Argentine schoolgirl gagged and bound
And it’s a torture camp and it's a long way down
It’s the constant bracing shock of now
And it’s the whole damn world turned inside out, alright
And it’s a march to extinction with your god in step
Puts his name in your mouth, puts his cross on your neck
It’s a farm boy sprinting over desert dirt
And he's panting the 'our father' in staccado spurts
It’s his automatic rifle and it tells no lies
That's his truth in your stomach, it's no alibi
But the trouble lies on the other side
With an equal truth prepping for his holy night
Sees the crescent and the star blink in the virgin sky
And hears the call of milk and honey from the afterlife
And as he eases to the checkpoint he is calm and sure
It's collateral damage, it’s the cost of war
It's another bag of bones for the gods to sort
It's just another bag of bones for the gods to sort
And it’s a species disappearing, all the birds fly south
In a January heat wave, in a pulsing crowd
It’s an African militia, kids with submachines
It’s a conflict diamond on your bride-to-be
It’s the mission of modernity - go get what’s yours
Til there’s nothing left over to go get no more
And it’s not what we're owed but it's what we've earned
And its closer than we realize and it's time now to burn It's time now to burn, oh it's time now to burn
My take on the lyrics:
It’s a brushfire spreading, feeding as it moves And it’s a disappeared glacier, it’s an airborne flu It’s your disbelieving eyes logging concrete miles It’s your yawning conscience and your lawyer's smile It’s an occupied country foaming at the mouth It’s no smoking gun, no mushroom cloud It’s a military mother with a boy in hell And it’s a flag-draped casket and oil well It’s an Argentine schoolgirl gagged and bound And it’s a torture camp and it's a long way down It’s the constant bracing shock of now And it’s the whole damn world turned inside out, alright
And it’s a march to extinction with your god in step Puts his name in your mouth, puts his cross on your neck It’s a farm boy sprinting over desert dirt And he's panting the 'our father' in staccado spurts It’s his automatic rifle and it tells no lies That's his truth in your stomach, it's no alibi But the trouble lies on the other side With an equal truth prepping for his holy night Sees the crescent and the star blink in the virgin sky And hears the call of milk and honey from the afterlife And as he eases to the checkpoint he is calm and sure It's collateral damage, it’s the cost of war It's another bag of bones for the gods to sort It's just another bag of bones for the gods to sort
And it’s a species disappearing, all the birds fly south In a January heat wave, in a pulsing crowd It’s an African militia, kids with submachines It’s a conflict diamond on your bride-to-be It’s the mission of modernity - go get what’s yours Til there’s nothing left over to go get no more And it’s not what we're owed but it's what we've earned And its closer than we realize and it's time now to burn It's time now to burn, oh it's time now to burn