I recently left the Mormon church and became an Atheist, and have for a long time found a lot of personal connection with this song. I can't say whether the song is about Mormonism or not, but I can certainly make it work. There are plenty of connections to be made.
I think another commented has the first verse right, dark times came and religion was the thing that squeezed out the cold, whether it was true or not. Second verse it speaks of "Upstate New York Autumn Brightly Covered Leaves" which I feel is speaking of Joseph Smith having his ""First Vision"" just by his home in upstate new york. Further bolstered by a line later "and here layed the father, here stood the son", Joseph Smith described seeing in his ""First Vision"" God, and his literal son Jesus (a different person) before him.
Then you have the line "where we were going it was built like a lie, but it sacred as the bible, so we didnt question why". I think anyone with any remote involvement with the mormon church can see how the story of "finding and translating" the book of mormon is very obviously "making it up". Just read some of the events that happened around Joseph "translating" his new scripture the book of mormon, and you can see the book comes about just like any other lie or cult. But, the book is held up by the church as equal footing, or greater, than the bible, describing the next line.
Then you have the other lines clearly talking about graves and dying, and futility. The song is a fantastic criticism of Mormonism and religion in general in my opinion. It's a perfect companion to the other criticisms of religion in the album like Unobstructed Views, St. Peters Cathedral, Codes & Keys, and Monday Morning.
I recently left the Mormon church and became an Atheist, and have for a long time found a lot of personal connection with this song. I can't say whether the song is about Mormonism or not, but I can certainly make it work. There are plenty of connections to be made.
I think another commented has the first verse right, dark times came and religion was the thing that squeezed out the cold, whether it was true or not. Second verse it speaks of "Upstate New York Autumn Brightly Covered Leaves" which I feel is speaking of Joseph Smith having his ""First Vision"" just by his home in upstate new york. Further bolstered by a line later "and here layed the father, here stood the son", Joseph Smith described seeing in his ""First Vision"" God, and his literal son Jesus (a different person) before him.
Then you have the line "where we were going it was built like a lie, but it sacred as the bible, so we didnt question why". I think anyone with any remote involvement with the mormon church can see how the story of "finding and translating" the book of mormon is very obviously "making it up". Just read some of the events that happened around Joseph "translating" his new scripture the book of mormon, and you can see the book comes about just like any other lie or cult. But, the book is held up by the church as equal footing, or greater, than the bible, describing the next line.
Then you have the other lines clearly talking about graves and dying, and futility. The song is a fantastic criticism of Mormonism and religion in general in my opinion. It's a perfect companion to the other criticisms of religion in the album like Unobstructed Views, St. Peters Cathedral, Codes & Keys, and Monday Morning.