A Light On A Hill

Correction: "You can own the STAGE but the lights and glares will not make you real."

This is a song about a musician's life on the road and the relationship with his family back home. He cheated on his wife while on tour "just said the first three words that popped into my head" then immediately regretted it and wished he could take it back, realizing that he has essentially abandoned his family. The wife knows that he's been cheating on her one the road and she's mad at him because he has kids but he's not willing to tell them what's really going on. "my woman is cold, our children are stoned and worthless. They're all waiting for you to tell them the truth, the truth is a line that you'll never use."

When he first met his wife she was drawn to him as an icon, she just saw the glamor of the stage and the rich privileged image associated with rock stars, but that's not really how their lives are. "Her dignity shown so brightly like a light on a hill, and she burned for me and no other man came near her flame. Bad country songs, the deafening twang of the rich white kid blues. You can own the stage but the lights and glares will not make you real."

At the end his wife is giving up, she realizes that she was wrong about how she thought life being married to a musician would be and that she can't deal with the relationship. She admits she isn't meant for that lifestyle and she leaves him. "She whispers to me I was meant to be free, this life that we built is deadly. She crawls from my bed, runs a comb cross her head. She crawls to the train and drives herself home."

one of the best songs on the album, beautiful.

Does anyone else think that the "Light On A Hill" is a reference to John Winthrop's speech concerning one of the Massachusetts colonies?

That's what it instantly reminded me of, but...I'm not sure if it's related or not.

But this song is definitely one of my favorites of theirs. I think I prefer their slower stuff to the faster songs.

this song sounds like two people who, basically, had a one night stand. "tangled up like balls of string" -- tangled in bed? they wake in the morning and realize what they've done--maybe they're good friends, maybe they're strangers, maybe they're cheating on their own lovers. either way, they can’t be together.

"i just said the first three words that popped into my head" -- he says "i love you" to her, but he doesn't mean it, or she can’t accept it. the last verse is really vivid in painting a picture of the girl telling him that she can't be with him, ("she whispers to me i was meant to be free, this life that we built is deadly") so she gets out of bed and leaves.

this song is not about a one night stand but about 2 people in a long affair that is all "tangled up like balls of string". he loves her "i just said the first three words that popped in my head" and she loved him "she burned for me". But he is tired of being in the affair "let me off the bus, I'm tired and sore and should probably change clothes". the kids are his and hers but they think that someone else is their dad and he tells her to tell them the truth about who their real dad is. the rest to me is unclear.

i agree with them being in love and him being tired of the affair (which i think is a marriage) as the soundsystm said, but i think that he is their dad, and they just can't be together anymore. That's what the truth in "They're all waiting for you to tell them the truth" means. I think that is why she left and why he's all alone now.

to me, its two people who are going through a rough time, and need a divorce. they have kids, and they need to tell them that they can't be together anymore.

fantastic song...one correction though, i believe "shown so brightly" is supposed to be "shone so brightly" (as in past tense of "shine", which lights do)

beautiful song. <3

I think its about two people who had been in a very long relationship, and this song kind of tells how it begins to disintigrate. She just feels trapped and wants to be free, and although I get the feeling that He isnt too estatic in the realatioship either, her leaving kind of crushes him. Because the "her dignity..." part reflects on when they first started out and were so in love....the fact that He brings it up shows that the relationship still has some sort of meaning to him.

I do agree that maybe it was written to describe an affair (a long one) but for me it describes exactly what supernaranja said in the beginning. i can definetly relate to feelings of being trapped in a long and unhealthy relationship, and i can remember when things were perfect in the beginning, and then it just fell apart. beautiful song, and no matter what it means to the author, your personal meaning will be prominent in your head.