The fact that some comments here attribute the meaning to events decades after it was written speaks to its timeless quality, but obviously it wasn't meant as a prediction.
The signature vocal loop running under it all becomes a kind of auditory cage surrounding everything on top; it's all the same, there is no escape. In the few moments that overlay the loop are like a struggle to break free, though it never really happens. It's like the song is an lament, a dire against the indifference of the cold modern world.
Most of the imagery would relate most closely to the rise of the 1950s/60s military industrial complex. During the Cold War more than half of the US and Soviet nuclear arsenals would have been "delivered" via airplane bombers. Hence "Here come the planes" could be interpreted as the end of the world.
However, for Anderson who came of age in years of Vietnam war, she was as likely referring to shocking level of indiscriminate bombing, especially that of Cambodia which only really became public in the late 70s. This was just a couple of years before she wrote the song.
Certainly every conflict we've seen since that time has only reinforced the message.
The fact that some comments here attribute the meaning to events decades after it was written speaks to its timeless quality, but obviously it wasn't meant as a prediction.
The signature vocal loop running under it all becomes a kind of auditory cage surrounding everything on top; it's all the same, there is no escape. In the few moments that overlay the loop are like a struggle to break free, though it never really happens. It's like the song is an lament, a dire against the indifference of the cold modern world.
Most of the imagery would relate most closely to the rise of the 1950s/60s military industrial complex. During the Cold War more than half of the US and Soviet nuclear arsenals would have been "delivered" via airplane bombers. Hence "Here come the planes" could be interpreted as the end of the world.
However, for Anderson who came of age in years of Vietnam war, she was as likely referring to shocking level of indiscriminate bombing, especially that of Cambodia which only really became public in the late 70s. This was just a couple of years before she wrote the song.
Certainly every conflict we've seen since that time has only reinforced the message.
[Edit: corrected grammar]