Lyric discussion by hplvr1256 

Cover art for O Children lyrics by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

i personally think its talking about world war two because gulags are camps and in the end its talking about hopping on the train to the kingdom so its like when they took the jews to be killed by transportation of the trains and the kingdom is obviously heaven. at one part, it explains the nazis coming and breaking into the house and taking them out and another part explains how they would line them up in the street. but that is just my guess.

i found this song from harry potter and i think its just so soulful and beautiful.

My Interpretation

@hplvr1256 nah bro, I don't think it's about ww2, the gulags are used as a metaphor, then the rest of your theory is mind gymnastics. Besides, why would he say "It started off as a little fun". That would make a lot of more sense given Cave's history

@hplvr1256 nah bro, I don't think it's about ww2, the gulags are used as a metaphor, then the rest of your theory is mind gymnastics. Besides, why would he say "It started off as a little fun". That would make a lot of more sense given Cave's history