Well, when I first heard the song I got the meaning of the "these Southern trees have the strangest fruit"; and the "we will overcome" and the "promised land" references definitely evoke the civil rights movements and Jim Crow and lynchings and all the other horors associated with it.
I don't think it is just about civil rights or black injustice though, the meaning is broader than that. Especially when you hear the next verse. I tend to think the whole "our fathers plant arms in foreign soil" line refers to the fact that in the 80s we funded and armed the Taliban to fight the Russians, but once the Russians were out, we basically just left the country in tatters and didn't do anything to help them, which led to a lot of bitterness and distrust towards Americans, which the Taliban and groups like Al Qaida were able to use to take power and oppress the citizenry. Then of course, after 9/11, we went to war in Afghanistan, and "our brothers died" and "no ones knows where it ends" because the war on terror is so large in scope and every time we invade a country and take out militants we end up taking out civilians too, and then their families are angry about it and end up joining groups like Al Qaida and it just snowballs out of control. And if our father's hadn't "planted arms in forgeign soil" by Arming the Taliban, (or even better, if we'd actually helped then rebuild their country a little instead of just ip and leaving when our interests were serve dby the Russians leaving) who knows how different History might have been? So it's kind of about the fact that the younger generation is now paying in blood for the mistakes of "our fathers".
I didn't think about it maybe being an allusion to being gay, but I like that interpretation and think it fits. Thinking out it deeper, the "our roads are paved with broken arrows" could likely be a reference to the fact that our country was built through genocide of native Americans.
The Uganda reference fits too, considering it often is suicide for people to just try to live their lives there; going out to find food or firewood can often get you killed, raped, or kidnapped by the militias to serve either as a soldier or a sex slave depending on your gender.
I think the song is meant to encompass all of these ideas, and more, because really it is about the struggles we have as a nation with our history, our present, and our future. Truly an inspired piece of music.
Well, when I first heard the song I got the meaning of the "these Southern trees have the strangest fruit"; and the "we will overcome" and the "promised land" references definitely evoke the civil rights movements and Jim Crow and lynchings and all the other horors associated with it.
I don't think it is just about civil rights or black injustice though, the meaning is broader than that. Especially when you hear the next verse. I tend to think the whole "our fathers plant arms in foreign soil" line refers to the fact that in the 80s we funded and armed the Taliban to fight the Russians, but once the Russians were out, we basically just left the country in tatters and didn't do anything to help them, which led to a lot of bitterness and distrust towards Americans, which the Taliban and groups like Al Qaida were able to use to take power and oppress the citizenry. Then of course, after 9/11, we went to war in Afghanistan, and "our brothers died" and "no ones knows where it ends" because the war on terror is so large in scope and every time we invade a country and take out militants we end up taking out civilians too, and then their families are angry about it and end up joining groups like Al Qaida and it just snowballs out of control. And if our father's hadn't "planted arms in forgeign soil" by Arming the Taliban, (or even better, if we'd actually helped then rebuild their country a little instead of just ip and leaving when our interests were serve dby the Russians leaving) who knows how different History might have been? So it's kind of about the fact that the younger generation is now paying in blood for the mistakes of "our fathers".
I didn't think about it maybe being an allusion to being gay, but I like that interpretation and think it fits. Thinking out it deeper, the "our roads are paved with broken arrows" could likely be a reference to the fact that our country was built through genocide of native Americans.
The Uganda reference fits too, considering it often is suicide for people to just try to live their lives there; going out to find food or firewood can often get you killed, raped, or kidnapped by the militias to serve either as a soldier or a sex slave depending on your gender.
I think the song is meant to encompass all of these ideas, and more, because really it is about the struggles we have as a nation with our history, our present, and our future. Truly an inspired piece of music.