Beat (Health, Life and Fire)

for some reason I think this is a song about an angry girl who is angry at herself and upset with her parents and bewailing her dysfunctional state. They raised her to believe she would have a prosperoous future but she grows up to find that she is in a world of shit and she aint happy.

I think she is always leaving home when she gets pissed off or they get in a fight cause of "how can you stand it when I run when I run like a bandit."

I also think she runs around with a guy they don't approve of and she doesnt love him but she likes that he keeps her "warm" from the part about wearing him in the lining of her jacket.

I think she is also is trying to kick heroin which she uses in times of "emergency" cause gunpowder is also a slang for a type of heroin. and the battle she is reffering to is the battle without heroin.

The last stanza I think might refer to her living in another city or something and neither side wanting to make the move to visit the other or symbolically reach out to the other. Its like a war and for this reason I really like the choice of the military drums. It seems really resonant to me also cause, I dont know if this is the case with the song writer, but many Vietnamese americans in America who are around 20's to 30's were either refugees or their parents were supporters of south vietnamese govt. and often involved in the military and probably affected by the vietnam war. I think this might have some influence on the song on some level. but who knows unless the song writer says something specific. This is just my guess.