For me this song is about a desperate father, whose son has become estranged from him and perhaps run away from home, being plunged into a gang culture on the street, as shown by the lyric "When I lie, they're wide awake." Since Ethiopia itself is a very poor, desolate, wartorn country, it is meant to symbolize the empty life the son now faces, and the extreme danger he is in. The reference to the girl in the second verse seems to be a reference to the son's girlfriend, or perhaps simply a female friend whom the father is using as an intermediary to get through to his son. Above all, he wants to explain to his son that he truly loves him, and that he should avoid certain actions and never give up on pursuing his dreams, regardless of how turbulent and difficult his life becomes
For me this song is about a desperate father, whose son has become estranged from him and perhaps run away from home, being plunged into a gang culture on the street, as shown by the lyric "When I lie, they're wide awake." Since Ethiopia itself is a very poor, desolate, wartorn country, it is meant to symbolize the empty life the son now faces, and the extreme danger he is in. The reference to the girl in the second verse seems to be a reference to the son's girlfriend, or perhaps simply a female friend whom the father is using as an intermediary to get through to his son. Above all, he wants to explain to his son that he truly loves him, and that he should avoid certain actions and never give up on pursuing his dreams, regardless of how turbulent and difficult his life becomes