Rise Against has always been overtly clear in their hate for war. Such songs as “Hero of War” make this clear. This song is similar to Hero of War, but not so much the individual soldier’s view of war so much as how we should be seeing it, for the truth of what it is: pride.
The beginning of this song (not given in these lyrics) include a conversation between two characters whereby they discuss countries and how they’ve fallen. One of the points given is: “All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours? How much longer do you think your little country will last?”, followed by a brief pause and an uncertain answer: “Forever?”. Although not part of the lyrics themselves, this demonstrates how brainwashed citizens of America are into believing that we are superior, above-the-law, and totally invincible when, in reality, we are anything but.
The first verse of this song gives a typical image- blocking entrances, closing doors and sealing exits. Locking down a building or structure during a firefight. Typical imagery of typical war. The next line, however, is a common U.S. military saying, “All gave some, some gave all” (reference to losing a life fighting), but followed by a question “But for what?, I want to know”. Why did these soldiers need to die? Why did they need to fight? What were they fighting for that was worth dying? Rise Against (which I will now abbreviate as RA for simplicity) calls authority into question for sending our soldiers to die.
The refrain is probably the most touching and depressing part of this song. A soldier has returned home, only to find out most people truly don’t even recognize him. Most people don’t know his trauma, what he has witnessed and gone through. There’s no trumpet blazing or red carpet rolled out in front of him, no one pays him any attention, thanks, or respect, hence “Carry on, don’t mind me.” RA recalls what the soldiers have gone through: trauma, lost appendages, lost sleep, P.T.S.D., comrades’ (friends’) deaths, being subjected to taking the lives of others, missing out on important life events and being forced to be stripped from their families, etc etc. The soldiers have veritably given their lives to the war, to defending this ‘great’ nation, and in return for giving everything, sometimes even their lives, they receive nothing in return. Most are even called back to war, being asked to give even more to their country after they just gave everything they thought they could. They’re asked to once again place their life in the hands of a government that loves its war. “Fought your fight, bought your lie, and in return I lost my life.” The lyrics in this part are self-explanatory, with the ‘lie’ being the government brainwashing them, us, into believing war is necessary. War is glorious. War is how heroes are made. War is how we make our country better. War is how we help other countries find the right government. War is how we solve problems. In return for being brainwashed into believing this, those brave enough to take up the fight die. Again, ‘what purpose does this serve?’ is RA calling into question the authority of the government and what gives them the right to ask people to go die overseas.
The next verse is a family’s approach to someone serving overseas. A fallen flag and a purple heart (which can also be given for injury while serving) are signs of someone who has died in service. Clearly, in this verse, someone has died (obviously). ‘A family all but torn apart’ is how families are literally being torn apart by this- they say goodbye to their loved ones for months, even years, on end, thinking in their head that the government will protect them and keep them safe, that they will see them again, which many tragically now know to not always be the case. Their loved ones don’t return with medals strapped onto their chest or pride radiating from their faces, they return in coffins. These families never got to say goodbye to loved ones, or give their final words to them, or be with them at their passing like when someone dies of old age. Instead, one of their family members is stripped away from them, and they are instantly forced into coping with the fact that the person they had once known is now gone forever. “I fought with courage to preserve not my way of life but yours”. This is not natural, no one wants to live like this or have this happen. The only person who is happy with this, what is happening, is the government.
Next we come to the song’s bridge. “The cowards preach from pedestals with words of courage and resolve”. The cowards here are the politicians, asking brave men and women to go do something that they themselves would never be able, or want, to do. The words of courage and resolve is the brainwashing that they do, rallying the people into a fervor until they are asking to be sent overseas, thinking about how great it must be if what the politicians said is true. The media portrays these traumatized people as superhuman heroes, and young men and woman think that they, too want to be like that. “But one thing that'll fuck 'em all ‘Cause is freedom isn't free”. What they don’t tell the masses, the people signing up, and what inevitably shatters their beliefs, is the fact that freedom truly isn’t free. People die. People go mad. People who return from war are changed. They’ve seen and experienced things no one ever should, fearing for their lives and the lives of those around them for days on end.
Next RA speaks out against recent wars in the Middle East, things like operation ‘Desert Storm’ where soldiers are forced to fight for their lives in a foreign, desolate land in a blistering heat that they are not used to, laden with countless utilities and in an army uniform. Hostile, painful, horrible conditions. ‘A sacrificial…of the weak.’ The politicians and government don’t care about how many people die or how many suffer. What they care about is one thing: The money they earn from weapons production during war. The money they make by attacking other countries. ‘An artificial…easily deceived?’ Can we not see that they are attacking others without rhyme or reason? How can we be so easily brainwashed into thinking another country, innocent men and women, are our ‘enemies’? How can we think that war is the only option?
Then we come back to the discussion between the two men that started this song. The first, who thought America would last forever, tries to defend the government: ‘What you don’t understand is that it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees’. What he means is that it’s better to die fighting for what you believe (America) than to live in servitude of someone else (like America before the Revolutionary War). The other man disagrees and counters this claim ‘You have it backwards. It’s better to live on your feet than to die on your knees.” If we live an upright, correct life (on our feet), what do we have to fear from other countries? We don’t have to worry about them attacking, subjugating, and executing us (die on our knees). If we don’t go invading other countries for the purposes of money, if we as a country don’t forcefully interfere in the affairs of other countries, then we as a country are safer than any amount of military could makes us.
‘Come…lesson ignored?’ Let’s stop and think this through. Don’t blindly follow and do what they tell you. We’ve ignored common sense for too long, and it’s time we finally listen to it, because what we are doing right now is throwing lives against the wall in an endless scheme to generate government revenue and increase their power, and our dependence, upon them.
Rise Against has always been overtly clear in their hate for war. Such songs as “Hero of War” make this clear. This song is similar to Hero of War, but not so much the individual soldier’s view of war so much as how we should be seeing it, for the truth of what it is: pride. The beginning of this song (not given in these lyrics) include a conversation between two characters whereby they discuss countries and how they’ve fallen. One of the points given is: “All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours? How much longer do you think your little country will last?”, followed by a brief pause and an uncertain answer: “Forever?”. Although not part of the lyrics themselves, this demonstrates how brainwashed citizens of America are into believing that we are superior, above-the-law, and totally invincible when, in reality, we are anything but. The first verse of this song gives a typical image- blocking entrances, closing doors and sealing exits. Locking down a building or structure during a firefight. Typical imagery of typical war. The next line, however, is a common U.S. military saying, “All gave some, some gave all” (reference to losing a life fighting), but followed by a question “But for what?, I want to know”. Why did these soldiers need to die? Why did they need to fight? What were they fighting for that was worth dying? Rise Against (which I will now abbreviate as RA for simplicity) calls authority into question for sending our soldiers to die. The refrain is probably the most touching and depressing part of this song. A soldier has returned home, only to find out most people truly don’t even recognize him. Most people don’t know his trauma, what he has witnessed and gone through. There’s no trumpet blazing or red carpet rolled out in front of him, no one pays him any attention, thanks, or respect, hence “Carry on, don’t mind me.” RA recalls what the soldiers have gone through: trauma, lost appendages, lost sleep, P.T.S.D., comrades’ (friends’) deaths, being subjected to taking the lives of others, missing out on important life events and being forced to be stripped from their families, etc etc. The soldiers have veritably given their lives to the war, to defending this ‘great’ nation, and in return for giving everything, sometimes even their lives, they receive nothing in return. Most are even called back to war, being asked to give even more to their country after they just gave everything they thought they could. They’re asked to once again place their life in the hands of a government that loves its war. “Fought your fight, bought your lie, and in return I lost my life.” The lyrics in this part are self-explanatory, with the ‘lie’ being the government brainwashing them, us, into believing war is necessary. War is glorious. War is how heroes are made. War is how we make our country better. War is how we help other countries find the right government. War is how we solve problems. In return for being brainwashed into believing this, those brave enough to take up the fight die. Again, ‘what purpose does this serve?’ is RA calling into question the authority of the government and what gives them the right to ask people to go die overseas. The next verse is a family’s approach to someone serving overseas. A fallen flag and a purple heart (which can also be given for injury while serving) are signs of someone who has died in service. Clearly, in this verse, someone has died (obviously). ‘A family all but torn apart’ is how families are literally being torn apart by this- they say goodbye to their loved ones for months, even years, on end, thinking in their head that the government will protect them and keep them safe, that they will see them again, which many tragically now know to not always be the case. Their loved ones don’t return with medals strapped onto their chest or pride radiating from their faces, they return in coffins. These families never got to say goodbye to loved ones, or give their final words to them, or be with them at their passing like when someone dies of old age. Instead, one of their family members is stripped away from them, and they are instantly forced into coping with the fact that the person they had once known is now gone forever. “I fought with courage to preserve not my way of life but yours”. This is not natural, no one wants to live like this or have this happen. The only person who is happy with this, what is happening, is the government. Next we come to the song’s bridge. “The cowards preach from pedestals with words of courage and resolve”. The cowards here are the politicians, asking brave men and women to go do something that they themselves would never be able, or want, to do. The words of courage and resolve is the brainwashing that they do, rallying the people into a fervor until they are asking to be sent overseas, thinking about how great it must be if what the politicians said is true. The media portrays these traumatized people as superhuman heroes, and young men and woman think that they, too want to be like that. “But one thing that'll fuck 'em all ‘Cause is freedom isn't free”. What they don’t tell the masses, the people signing up, and what inevitably shatters their beliefs, is the fact that freedom truly isn’t free. People die. People go mad. People who return from war are changed. They’ve seen and experienced things no one ever should, fearing for their lives and the lives of those around them for days on end.
Next RA speaks out against recent wars in the Middle East, things like operation ‘Desert Storm’ where soldiers are forced to fight for their lives in a foreign, desolate land in a blistering heat that they are not used to, laden with countless utilities and in an army uniform. Hostile, painful, horrible conditions. ‘A sacrificial…of the weak.’ The politicians and government don’t care about how many people die or how many suffer. What they care about is one thing: The money they earn from weapons production during war. The money they make by attacking other countries. ‘An artificial…easily deceived?’ Can we not see that they are attacking others without rhyme or reason? How can we be so easily brainwashed into thinking another country, innocent men and women, are our ‘enemies’? How can we think that war is the only option? Then we come back to the discussion between the two men that started this song. The first, who thought America would last forever, tries to defend the government: ‘What you don’t understand is that it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees’. What he means is that it’s better to die fighting for what you believe (America) than to live in servitude of someone else (like America before the Revolutionary War). The other man disagrees and counters this claim ‘You have it backwards. It’s better to live on your feet than to die on your knees.” If we live an upright, correct life (on our feet), what do we have to fear from other countries? We don’t have to worry about them attacking, subjugating, and executing us (die on our knees). If we don’t go invading other countries for the purposes of money, if we as a country don’t forcefully interfere in the affairs of other countries, then we as a country are safer than any amount of military could makes us. ‘Come…lesson ignored?’ Let’s stop and think this through. Don’t blindly follow and do what they tell you. We’ve ignored common sense for too long, and it’s time we finally listen to it, because what we are doing right now is throwing lives against the wall in an endless scheme to generate government revenue and increase their power, and our dependence, upon them.