The song is summed up in these lyrics: [our] blind pride [is]
the blueprint to the fall of the entire human race
Here’s my line-by-line analysis:
Imagine a place where freedom’s just a word on the wall
Surrounded by the wreckage of towers that could never fall
(This alludes to the Twin Towers.‘Freedom’ is not just a word to Americans. It’s a concept that we glorify to an unhealthy degree. It makes us think we’re invincible, but we’re not, as evidenced by the attacks of 9/11.)
The company will avenge
(‘Company’ is a pun. It refers to a military company and a corporation. Which of these two will avenge the loss of life is left intentionally ambiguous.)
Imagine the lies like bombs turn the shock and the awe
For justice in time and a land where justice never was
(He wonders what our country would be like if lies caused the same level of shock and awe as bombs. If they did, perhaps we could have justice in a place that has historically been unjust — presumably this refers to slavery)
One thief to rule them all
(An allusion to Lord of the Rings — the best liar is the one who, like Sauron, is able to organize others to do work for him).
Along the Potomac and west toward the sea
Through the ghettos past the monuments we all built to house the weak
(A retracing of American history. The Potomac borders Washington, DC, and the expansion westward through Manifest Destiny took Americans “west toward the sea” in the 19th century. All along this pathway there are expensive monuments to our history and, ironically, modern ghettos. This is a symbol for the glorification of the past at the expense of our present.
It’s the blueprint to the fall of our place in history
The end to what we all believed to be the hope to save this place
(This glorification of our past and its abstract, sometimes hypocritical ideals — such as freedom in a country of slaves — is the blueprint to our country’s demise. Even if we hoped this country would be the beacon to the rest of the world.)
And I walk among the flagstones through the graves
An apocalypse is bloomin' in the sage
(Reminiscent of Arlington National Cemetery — as in keeping with the Washington, DC imagery — he noted that these graves are foreshadowing our downfall. He uses sage, which is an herb symbolizing wisdom, to indicate, interestingly, that the wisdom of the founding fathers and our reverence for them and their ideals are leading us to an apocalypse.)
Dead presidents lined coffin text in biblical unrest
(These monuments, along with the gravestones of soldiers — which he’ll revisit in the song “Black Crosses” — are still alive to Americans. He hints we should put them to rest.)
The blind pride, home genocide,
And the secret wars we all missed
It's the blueprint to the fall of the entire human race
The end to what we all believed would be the hope to save this place
(Less abstract lines. Our national pride, which is blind; our home genocide, including Native Americans and slaves; and our secret wars, such as in Latin America, will lead to this country’s downfall. This downfall would be the fall of not just America, but the hope of representative democracy, and even the human race as a whole.
The song is summed up in these lyrics: [our] blind pride [is] the blueprint to the fall of the entire human race
Here’s my line-by-line analysis:
Imagine a place where freedom’s just a word on the wall Surrounded by the wreckage of towers that could never fall (This alludes to the Twin Towers.‘Freedom’ is not just a word to Americans. It’s a concept that we glorify to an unhealthy degree. It makes us think we’re invincible, but we’re not, as evidenced by the attacks of 9/11.)
The company will avenge (‘Company’ is a pun. It refers to a military company and a corporation. Which of these two will avenge the loss of life is left intentionally ambiguous.)
Imagine the lies like bombs turn the shock and the awe For justice in time and a land where justice never was (He wonders what our country would be like if lies caused the same level of shock and awe as bombs. If they did, perhaps we could have justice in a place that has historically been unjust — presumably this refers to slavery)
One thief to rule them all (An allusion to Lord of the Rings — the best liar is the one who, like Sauron, is able to organize others to do work for him).
Along the Potomac and west toward the sea Through the ghettos past the monuments we all built to house the weak (A retracing of American history. The Potomac borders Washington, DC, and the expansion westward through Manifest Destiny took Americans “west toward the sea” in the 19th century. All along this pathway there are expensive monuments to our history and, ironically, modern ghettos. This is a symbol for the glorification of the past at the expense of our present.
It’s the blueprint to the fall of our place in history The end to what we all believed to be the hope to save this place
(This glorification of our past and its abstract, sometimes hypocritical ideals — such as freedom in a country of slaves — is the blueprint to our country’s demise. Even if we hoped this country would be the beacon to the rest of the world.)
And I walk among the flagstones through the graves An apocalypse is bloomin' in the sage (Reminiscent of Arlington National Cemetery — as in keeping with the Washington, DC imagery — he noted that these graves are foreshadowing our downfall. He uses sage, which is an herb symbolizing wisdom, to indicate, interestingly, that the wisdom of the founding fathers and our reverence for them and their ideals are leading us to an apocalypse.)
Dead presidents lined coffin text in biblical unrest (These monuments, along with the gravestones of soldiers — which he’ll revisit in the song “Black Crosses” — are still alive to Americans. He hints we should put them to rest.)
The blind pride, home genocide, And the secret wars we all missed It's the blueprint to the fall of the entire human race The end to what we all believed would be the hope to save this place (Less abstract lines. Our national pride, which is blind; our home genocide, including Native Americans and slaves; and our secret wars, such as in Latin America, will lead to this country’s downfall. This downfall would be the fall of not just America, but the hope of representative democracy, and even the human race as a whole.