This seems to be a communist or socialist's ideal vision of The Revolution. "A river red with rebel blood to sweep us off our feet" - guerrilla armies revolt against the government and manage to restore equality. "The remnants of the leisure class will crumble! Smug bastards will be humbled!"
It starts out with the problem that needs to be fixed through an uprising. "This road leads to Rome, that road leads to ruin," and "the general's been screwing us around" (does this song take place in a military dictatorship?) so I'm guessing they're headed for ruin, and on top of that, "the land's no longer arable."
"The welcome was overstayed" - I'm thinking in terms of ecology because of the line about farming earlier in the song, but given the rest of the lyrical context, it could also be that the upper class overstayed their welcome in terms of the lower class putting up with them.
"I am the mustard on the wedding dress, the weevil in the watercress." That line is bursting with class warfare; anyone who's gotten married knows that wedding dresses are insanely expensive, though the mention of the wedding dress could also just represent the WASPish pomp and circumstance that the revolutionary wants to dispose of. ("Forcible miscegenation! No bow ties, Bo invitations! ") And, of course, watercress. Who eats watercress but rich people?
"Beyond the false horizon lies the rising up." It may look bad now ("Here comes the inquisition!") but just you wait: The Revolution is coming.
Hard to say if Sean is making fun of hipster radicals or if he actually believes this stuff, but whether the song is sarcastic or genuine, it's definitely about class warfare - actual, literal class warfare, like with guns and everything.
I really like this idea. Especially as i think there's even more that supports it such as "family and christian" line when communisam was always seen as the enemy of the church during the 20th centuary and " struggle to recall your names" when communism tends to look at people as a colective therefore it may be saying the people in the song sink into a collective socitey to the point they struggle to remember their names.
I really like this idea. Especially as i think there's even more that supports it such as "family and christian" line when communisam was always seen as the enemy of the church during the 20th centuary and " struggle to recall your names" when communism tends to look at people as a colective therefore it may be saying the people in the song sink into a collective socitey to the point they struggle to remember their names.
This seems to be a communist or socialist's ideal vision of The Revolution. "A river red with rebel blood to sweep us off our feet" - guerrilla armies revolt against the government and manage to restore equality. "The remnants of the leisure class will crumble! Smug bastards will be humbled!"
It starts out with the problem that needs to be fixed through an uprising. "This road leads to Rome, that road leads to ruin," and "the general's been screwing us around" (does this song take place in a military dictatorship?) so I'm guessing they're headed for ruin, and on top of that, "the land's no longer arable."
"The welcome was overstayed" - I'm thinking in terms of ecology because of the line about farming earlier in the song, but given the rest of the lyrical context, it could also be that the upper class overstayed their welcome in terms of the lower class putting up with them.
"I am the mustard on the wedding dress, the weevil in the watercress." That line is bursting with class warfare; anyone who's gotten married knows that wedding dresses are insanely expensive, though the mention of the wedding dress could also just represent the WASPish pomp and circumstance that the revolutionary wants to dispose of. ("Forcible miscegenation! No bow ties, Bo invitations! ") And, of course, watercress. Who eats watercress but rich people?
"Beyond the false horizon lies the rising up." It may look bad now ("Here comes the inquisition!") but just you wait: The Revolution is coming.
Hard to say if Sean is making fun of hipster radicals or if he actually believes this stuff, but whether the song is sarcastic or genuine, it's definitely about class warfare - actual, literal class warfare, like with guns and everything.
I really like this idea. Especially as i think there's even more that supports it such as "family and christian" line when communisam was always seen as the enemy of the church during the 20th centuary and " struggle to recall your names" when communism tends to look at people as a colective therefore it may be saying the people in the song sink into a collective socitey to the point they struggle to remember their names.
I really like this idea. Especially as i think there's even more that supports it such as "family and christian" line when communisam was always seen as the enemy of the church during the 20th centuary and " struggle to recall your names" when communism tends to look at people as a colective therefore it may be saying the people in the song sink into a collective socitey to the point they struggle to remember their names.