I get the feeling that H considers betraying your own people (family, children, loved ones) as the most unforgivable thing. This is the theme of both “Brave” and “Afraid of Sunlight” as well as a number of songs before and after those albums. There do seem to be references to the Iraq war (or war in general), but it also seems like there is more than political commentary. The first lines sound like they don’t refer so much to guilt itself as to a person who embodies another’s guilt. Hence the references to smiling, laughing and looking at the weather. The first lines actually sound like the guilt of a man who replaced his wife with a younger woman and now wakes up every morning to the reflection of his betrayal in his new lover’s eyes. One of the most interesting things is that this song is in the first person as if the narrator were the one responsible for the negative events and consequences alluded to in the song. Together with the last line; “We did,” it seems like this is about everyone sharing in the guilt and everyone committing betrayal.
I get the feeling that H considers betraying your own people (family, children, loved ones) as the most unforgivable thing. This is the theme of both “Brave” and “Afraid of Sunlight” as well as a number of songs before and after those albums. There do seem to be references to the Iraq war (or war in general), but it also seems like there is more than political commentary. The first lines sound like they don’t refer so much to guilt itself as to a person who embodies another’s guilt. Hence the references to smiling, laughing and looking at the weather. The first lines actually sound like the guilt of a man who replaced his wife with a younger woman and now wakes up every morning to the reflection of his betrayal in his new lover’s eyes. One of the most interesting things is that this song is in the first person as if the narrator were the one responsible for the negative events and consequences alluded to in the song. Together with the last line; “We did,” it seems like this is about everyone sharing in the guilt and everyone committing betrayal.