Someone in this message string noted the use of various colors in the song. I too am intrigued by it. A repetitious use of a basic theme is never for a basic purpose, not with a band like the National. Then another person clarified that the last lines seem to include yet another color, yellow. I thought about that and what seems to me to be the over-arching theme of making everyone your enemy, and then I remembered that Homeland Security uses a color-coded threat level. Of 5 colors, at least 4 (if you accept that the last lines use yellow) are present in the song. In order of increasing threat, the color coded levels are green (for low, the only one not used, but also the least interesting or dramatic), blue (called "guarded," or a general risk of terrorist attacks), yellow ("elevated," meaning a significant risk of terrorist attacks), orange ("high," meaning a high risk or terrorist attacks) and red ("severe," meaning a severe risk of terrorist attacks).
The first stanza notes that blue young bodies are laid to rest in the old red violets (note, violet, or purple, is a secondary color on the color wheel composed of equal parts red and blue, but anyway...). This may mean that later, when the thret is blue (guarded), the past severe (red) attacks (911) mean that our blue guardians are dying because of that severe past event.
The next stanza, many observe above, seems spoken by a father protecting his family. I agree. That level of concern and protection is always at least high, even without evidence. Homeland's orange level is called high, and it means a high risk of terrorist attacks.
Finally, there is the last stanza (or lines), that may say, "Yellow voices swallowing my soul. . .soul . . .soul. . ." There now and seemingly almost forever exist persistent (and sometimes uninformed, and sometimes overconcerned, and sometimes appropriately worried, and sometimes sensational, and sometimes mean, and sometimes racist, and almost always disappointing) voices telling us the threat is always signficant, always elevated, always yellow. Why? Who? Where do you put this frustration? The difficulty in the answer explains why the teller is losing his soul over all over this. That no one person can be fingered only adds to it all. And, thus, there are no definite villains, we (me?) all had a part in this scary, unsettling mess, and: I am afraid of everyone.
Someone in this message string noted the use of various colors in the song. I too am intrigued by it. A repetitious use of a basic theme is never for a basic purpose, not with a band like the National. Then another person clarified that the last lines seem to include yet another color, yellow. I thought about that and what seems to me to be the over-arching theme of making everyone your enemy, and then I remembered that Homeland Security uses a color-coded threat level. Of 5 colors, at least 4 (if you accept that the last lines use yellow) are present in the song. In order of increasing threat, the color coded levels are green (for low, the only one not used, but also the least interesting or dramatic), blue (called "guarded," or a general risk of terrorist attacks), yellow ("elevated," meaning a significant risk of terrorist attacks), orange ("high," meaning a high risk or terrorist attacks) and red ("severe," meaning a severe risk of terrorist attacks).
The first stanza notes that blue young bodies are laid to rest in the old red violets (note, violet, or purple, is a secondary color on the color wheel composed of equal parts red and blue, but anyway...). This may mean that later, when the thret is blue (guarded), the past severe (red) attacks (911) mean that our blue guardians are dying because of that severe past event.
The next stanza, many observe above, seems spoken by a father protecting his family. I agree. That level of concern and protection is always at least high, even without evidence. Homeland's orange level is called high, and it means a high risk of terrorist attacks.
Finally, there is the last stanza (or lines), that may say, "Yellow voices swallowing my soul. . .soul . . .soul. . ." There now and seemingly almost forever exist persistent (and sometimes uninformed, and sometimes overconcerned, and sometimes appropriately worried, and sometimes sensational, and sometimes mean, and sometimes racist, and almost always disappointing) voices telling us the threat is always signficant, always elevated, always yellow. Why? Who? Where do you put this frustration? The difficulty in the answer explains why the teller is losing his soul over all over this. That no one person can be fingered only adds to it all. And, thus, there are no definite villains, we (me?) all had a part in this scary, unsettling mess, and: I am afraid of everyone.