Lyric discussion by GraceMaybe 

Cover art for Red Dress lyrics by TV on the Radio

This song rocks my face off. Best antiwar song I've heard...possibly ever? It's up there, no question.

The only thing I have to add is that the song is yelling at us for being so passive. Compare the war in Iraq (or Afghanistan, for that matter) to Vietnam, and you see that they're pretty much the same: we're in a far off country we have no business being in, fighting a war we can't win, chasing after invisible boogie monsters (Communism/Terrorism). But unlike Vietnam, when the people spoke up, protested, rioted, or did SOMETHING, people now are not. "'Hey Slave,' They called, and we caved, and we answered."--yeah. The narrator doesn't like it, and is about as angry at himself as everyone else: "Cause I'm fat and in love, and no bombs are falling on me for sure. But I'm scared to death that I'm living a life not worth dying for.//It's a trap, that much is plain."--he's not doing anything, he sees the trap that he and all of us are falling in, he doesn't like the prospect, but he's not doing anything about it, and neither are we. "And I know that it sounds mundane"--you've heard this all before, and it sounds like nagging, or so he thinks, and feels that this whole song is futile--"But it's a stone cold shame, how they've got you tame and they've got me tame."

Awesome. \m/

PS I like the bitter and sarcastic jab at narcissistic facebook/myspace/other social networking sites: "But send snapshots of all your sweet pain." Ouch.