Beautiful Enemy Lyrics

Lyric discussion by veronda 

Cover art for Beautiful Enemy lyrics by Dar Williams

One of my favorite Dar Williams songs. It is a song about enemys and how sometimes they like to think the other is evil, when really they are just equal opposite forces. The song shows how they waste time/resources/... in the process of trying to outdo the other.

It shows both that conclusion that the other is wrong: "Can't they see that your reign is steely and torturous?"

and that the other group isn't actually savage, just competition: "We'll both live in a world of civilized people Though I've heard that my brand new church Has a slightly higher steeple"

It just reminds me of so many situations I see where people demonize the other side, instead of working together to accomplish the ultimate goal, which they do not realize is the same for both sides.