Etron is right, but not all there. It's certainly not just WW1 specifically.
'Few are the sins of the fathers .... ' is a play on the fairly well known biblical quote "The sins of the father will be visited upon the sons" or to that effect - Exodus I believe.
It's indicating that we are especially blessed and have not had to pay the price that our predecessors did, we've haven't had to live the hardness of our fore-fathers etc. etc. It sets up the rest of the song. Our job now is not to forget this, to respect this and make sure we don't make the same mistakes that lead back to some of that stuff.
And it's not just about war, but the bitterness of divided societies, depressed and unjust economic situations among other things - stuff we've not fully sorted out either of course.
@PapaJ I know this is an old comment, but I had to say that it's exactly how I interpreted it. Like you said, it's about honoring the past by not repeating it. You put it very eloquently :-)
@PapaJ I know this is an old comment, but I had to say that it's exactly how I interpreted it. Like you said, it's about honoring the past by not repeating it. You put it very eloquently :-)
@PapaJ - I think you kinda get the point, but you miss the focus of the very title. FORGOTTEN YEARS refers to the years between wars. The phrases "pre-war years" and "post-war years" exist because wars are forgotten less often than the peaceful years. Overall, history is poorly remembered. So, everything is mostly forgotten. As it should be. Information is infinitely vast. The purpose of life is not to reproduce the past in our memories of everything that has happened. We should live. But, of the things we remember, we would do well to remember the peaceful years, not just...
@PapaJ - I think you kinda get the point, but you miss the focus of the very title. FORGOTTEN YEARS refers to the years between wars. The phrases "pre-war years" and "post-war years" exist because wars are forgotten less often than the peaceful years. Overall, history is poorly remembered. So, everything is mostly forgotten. As it should be. Information is infinitely vast. The purpose of life is not to reproduce the past in our memories of everything that has happened. We should live. But, of the things we remember, we would do well to remember the peaceful years, not just appreciate the sacrifices within war years. Remember the great times in peace, remember the sacrifices and efforts to maintain peace as well. So, read through the lyrics. You can find explicit references to what I refer to. I think you get the general appreciation of past heroes and their sufferings, but the song is NOT focuses as a tribute to them. It is a call to celebrate the actual times of peace. You can see news media do 24/7 obsessive coverage of wars. You will never see news media have weeks of obsessive coverage directly focusing on peace. Ever. Thus the song about what we would do well to remember. Thanks.
Etron is right, but not all there. It's certainly not just WW1 specifically.
'Few are the sins of the fathers .... ' is a play on the fairly well known biblical quote "The sins of the father will be visited upon the sons" or to that effect - Exodus I believe.
It's indicating that we are especially blessed and have not had to pay the price that our predecessors did, we've haven't had to live the hardness of our fore-fathers etc. etc. It sets up the rest of the song. Our job now is not to forget this, to respect this and make sure we don't make the same mistakes that lead back to some of that stuff.
And it's not just about war, but the bitterness of divided societies, depressed and unjust economic situations among other things - stuff we've not fully sorted out either of course.
@PapaJ I know this is an old comment, but I had to say that it's exactly how I interpreted it. Like you said, it's about honoring the past by not repeating it. You put it very eloquently :-)
@PapaJ I know this is an old comment, but I had to say that it's exactly how I interpreted it. Like you said, it's about honoring the past by not repeating it. You put it very eloquently :-)
@PapaJ - I think you kinda get the point, but you miss the focus of the very title. FORGOTTEN YEARS refers to the years between wars. The phrases "pre-war years" and "post-war years" exist because wars are forgotten less often than the peaceful years. Overall, history is poorly remembered. So, everything is mostly forgotten. As it should be. Information is infinitely vast. The purpose of life is not to reproduce the past in our memories of everything that has happened. We should live. But, of the things we remember, we would do well to remember the peaceful years, not just...
@PapaJ - I think you kinda get the point, but you miss the focus of the very title. FORGOTTEN YEARS refers to the years between wars. The phrases "pre-war years" and "post-war years" exist because wars are forgotten less often than the peaceful years. Overall, history is poorly remembered. So, everything is mostly forgotten. As it should be. Information is infinitely vast. The purpose of life is not to reproduce the past in our memories of everything that has happened. We should live. But, of the things we remember, we would do well to remember the peaceful years, not just appreciate the sacrifices within war years. Remember the great times in peace, remember the sacrifices and efforts to maintain peace as well. So, read through the lyrics. You can find explicit references to what I refer to. I think you get the general appreciation of past heroes and their sufferings, but the song is NOT focuses as a tribute to them. It is a call to celebrate the actual times of peace. You can see news media do 24/7 obsessive coverage of wars. You will never see news media have weeks of obsessive coverage directly focusing on peace. Ever. Thus the song about what we would do well to remember. Thanks.