I think most of you guys are overthinking this. To me, this song is very clearly about how short life is. Over the timeline of history, the length of our lives is just a “thin line”. The narrator is thinking about all the people who fought all these battles, conquered castles, etc. in England over the centuries. But they’re gone now and very little is remembered about them, and certainly for the vast majority of individuals who ever lived. So based on how short our lives are, living on this thin line, what are we supposed to do?
He doesn’t directly answer it, but I would say recognize the brevity of life, appreciate it, and live our lives to the fullest. Make each day count. And think about the kind of world we are leaving for our children, as he alludes to in the 2nd verse. Because we’re living on this thin line, there’s not very much we can do over the grand course of history, but we should still do what we can to help future generations have a better world.
Because inaction would be a crime, and it DOES matter what we do in our lives, even though we’re living on this very thin line. 😇
(Absolutely love this song, and also discovered it through the Sopranos lol, although I’ve loved the other Kinks songs I’ve heard.)
I think most of you guys are overthinking this. To me, this song is very clearly about how short life is. Over the timeline of history, the length of our lives is just a “thin line”. The narrator is thinking about all the people who fought all these battles, conquered castles, etc. in England over the centuries. But they’re gone now and very little is remembered about them, and certainly for the vast majority of individuals who ever lived. So based on how short our lives are, living on this thin line, what are we supposed to do?
He doesn’t directly answer it, but I would say recognize the brevity of life, appreciate it, and live our lives to the fullest. Make each day count. And think about the kind of world we are leaving for our children, as he alludes to in the 2nd verse. Because we’re living on this thin line, there’s not very much we can do over the grand course of history, but we should still do what we can to help future generations have a better world.
Because inaction would be a crime, and it DOES matter what we do in our lives, even though we’re living on this very thin line. 😇
(Absolutely love this song, and also discovered it through the Sopranos lol, although I’ve loved the other Kinks songs I’ve heard.)