This could be way off the intended meaning, but here's what i picked up on.
To me, this song is talking about a pilot who flew a bomber plane in WW2 (that was before I saw the lyric correction, anyway. Now I'm thinking something more to do with oil drills in Mexico). Its like this pilot spent all his time watching other pilots flying around when he was a kid, idolising them, -"You spent your mornings down by the tracks/You had the drivers sign your arms"- and grew up wanting to be just like them. But then when he became a pilot he realised how much he had glorified them, and how they in fact did some awful things, like bomb innocent people, or in this case trick and screw people over - "Through all those other souls that I’ve bought with this oil".
Now, it seems like there's a boy who's following him around just like he did when he was younger, only this boy found out about the bad things he's done before he had the chance to become a pilot. So the guy tells him in defence - "But kid I’m a pilot/It’s all I believe in"- as if to say, "No, I don't really care about what my job makes me do, I'm a pilot because I love flying". To me - "You can ride on my back" - is the guy saying to the boy, if you still want to be like me, I'll help you get there.
I'm not sure what the bridge is referring to -"If I stay in this room/They'll remember me for my youth" - but possibly he's in the hospital, wounded, and he's saying "If I don't tell anyone else about the bad things I've had to do, they'll love me forever", his youth being the time when he was most loved/popular. He even considers giving up - "If I give it all up..."- but returns to his first defence of - "But kid I’m a pilot/It’s all I believe in"- to justify what he's done.
This is probably waaaaay off the real meaning, but no one else had posted anything so I figured I might as well share my opinion. Regardless of what its about, the song is beautiful and haunting, and I absolutely love it and all of Fanfarlo's other songs.
This could be way off the intended meaning, but here's what i picked up on. To me, this song is talking about a pilot who flew a bomber plane in WW2 (that was before I saw the lyric correction, anyway. Now I'm thinking something more to do with oil drills in Mexico). Its like this pilot spent all his time watching other pilots flying around when he was a kid, idolising them, -"You spent your mornings down by the tracks/You had the drivers sign your arms"- and grew up wanting to be just like them. But then when he became a pilot he realised how much he had glorified them, and how they in fact did some awful things, like bomb innocent people, or in this case trick and screw people over - "Through all those other souls that I’ve bought with this oil". Now, it seems like there's a boy who's following him around just like he did when he was younger, only this boy found out about the bad things he's done before he had the chance to become a pilot. So the guy tells him in defence - "But kid I’m a pilot/It’s all I believe in"- as if to say, "No, I don't really care about what my job makes me do, I'm a pilot because I love flying". To me - "You can ride on my back" - is the guy saying to the boy, if you still want to be like me, I'll help you get there. I'm not sure what the bridge is referring to -"If I stay in this room/They'll remember me for my youth" - but possibly he's in the hospital, wounded, and he's saying "If I don't tell anyone else about the bad things I've had to do, they'll love me forever", his youth being the time when he was most loved/popular. He even considers giving up - "If I give it all up..."- but returns to his first defence of - "But kid I’m a pilot/It’s all I believe in"- to justify what he's done.
This is probably waaaaay off the real meaning, but no one else had posted anything so I figured I might as well share my opinion. Regardless of what its about, the song is beautiful and haunting, and I absolutely love it and all of Fanfarlo's other songs.