I think the song is an exploration of the different ways in which we can cope with guilt.
In the beginning of the song, the two kids have done something wrong (killed someone, perhaps) and are trying to decide who is going to stay and take the blame for it and who is going to flee.
Instead, they decide that they'll both stay to cover up what they've done, dispose of the evidence and 'wait it out in the closet.' With the 'dead and buried underneath the yard' part - I'm not sure whether that is the children imagining what will happen to them if they are found to be guilty or whether they've killed someone and that is their proposed way of getting rid of the body.
Either way, they realise that burying things is not the way to fix things so they give themselves up. Things are still not fixed. Confessing doesn't take away the fact that they perpetrated the initial crime and they've learned things about themselves and each other through the experience that can't be unlearned ("That's a stain that won't dissolve" part).
The children come to understand that hiding guilt is not a solution but sometimes coming clean isn't either.
I think the song is an exploration of the different ways in which we can cope with guilt.
In the beginning of the song, the two kids have done something wrong (killed someone, perhaps) and are trying to decide who is going to stay and take the blame for it and who is going to flee.
Instead, they decide that they'll both stay to cover up what they've done, dispose of the evidence and 'wait it out in the closet.' With the 'dead and buried underneath the yard' part - I'm not sure whether that is the children imagining what will happen to them if they are found to be guilty or whether they've killed someone and that is their proposed way of getting rid of the body.
Either way, they realise that burying things is not the way to fix things so they give themselves up. Things are still not fixed. Confessing doesn't take away the fact that they perpetrated the initial crime and they've learned things about themselves and each other through the experience that can't be unlearned ("That's a stain that won't dissolve" part).
The children come to understand that hiding guilt is not a solution but sometimes coming clean isn't either.