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All is quiet his tired eyes
see figures jotted down
And clothes all strewn around
the bedroom flood
Now nothing's adding up
And nothing's making sense
She's sleeping like a baby
She doesn't like a baby
She doesn't know he wasn't meant for this
I'm missing the war
I'm missing the war all night
Missing the war
He drove home again
Pissed and beaten
Its really no big deal
It happens all the time
Its no big deal
I'm missing the war
I'm missing the war all night
Missing the war
I'm missing the war
'Till beads of sunlight hit me in the morning
So much time so little to say
Time may fly
And dreams may die
The shaking voice that tells him go
Still thinks he might
He knows he won't
I'm missing the war
Missing the war all night
Missing the war
see figures jotted down
And clothes all strewn around
the bedroom flood
Now nothing's adding up
And nothing's making sense
She's sleeping like a baby
She doesn't like a baby
She doesn't know he wasn't meant for this
I'm missing the war
I'm missing the war all night
Missing the war
He drove home again
Pissed and beaten
Its really no big deal
It happens all the time
Its no big deal
I'm missing the war
I'm missing the war all night
Missing the war
I'm missing the war
'Till beads of sunlight hit me in the morning
So much time so little to say
Time may fly
And dreams may die
The shaking voice that tells him go
Still thinks he might
He knows he won't
I'm missing the war
Missing the war all night
Missing the war
Lyrics submitted by kevin, edited by refraction
Track duration: 04:19
"Missing the War" as written by Ben Folds
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Many of the interpretations above drift towards love, being single, marriage, etc, especially with the advent of amateurboy's interpretation nearly 8 years ago already. However, I'm going to side with a few of the other interpretations and not decipher this song so deeply--I believe the song is literally about what it says it is about; Missing the War. I believe Ben has said in an interview or a few that the song is about this, however I may be very wrong.
All is quiet, his tired eyes
See figures jotted down
And clothes all strewn around the bedroom floor
Now nothing's adding up
And nothing's making sense
She's sleeping like a baby
She doesn't know he wasn't meant for this
In the army, life has order. Soldiers have a set schedule and lives that are, for the most part, planned out. The protagonist of the song obviously is home from war and is suffering from culture shock--loss of order, nothing as adding up, nothing making sense, clothes everywhere in a mess. The figures he sees could pertain to images of war, or maybe even a reference to Rorschach tests from therapy. The girl he is with, he's used to not getting good sleep and always being alert in a war zone, and seeing her sleeping normally like a baby irks him. She doesn't know how much this really bothers the protagonist.
I'm missing the war
I'm missing the war, all night
Missing the war
I'm missing the war
The chorus reinforces his pain. For most of us, our emotional plights hit us the hardest at night.
He drove home again
Pissed and beaten
It's really no big deal
It happens all the time
It's no big deal
"Pissed and beaten" I would assume is drunk and weary from a long night of drinking. With his life having fallen apart the way it did, it's no surprise that he turned to drinking and comes home just about every night drunk. However, it's no big deal--it happens all the time.
Till beads of sunlight hit me in the morning--he has to wake up and start a new day again, hiding his pain.
So much time so little to say--much time has passed since the war and will continue to pass, and he will continue to keep his pain in, as there is not much he can do about his situation other than to nod and say yes to make it through life.
Time may fly
And dreams may die
The shaking voice that tells him go
Still thinks he might
He knows he won't
Time will continue to go on, and after all he has been through and seen, obviously his hopes and dreams have been broken in many ways. The voice telling him to "go" is either asking him to go back to the war, to which he knows he cannot for one reason or another, or is telling him to continue to pursue his dreams and aspirations, to which they are null and void, hopeless, and he can never really be happy anyway.
Anyone who's done any reading about wars knows that soldiers hate the spans between battles because they're so monotonous and dull. Perhaps he's saying his life is too peaceful and he misses the struggles he used to have.
I also like the idea kind of put forth by billseph that there's a really monumental event happening somewhere and he's literally missing it.
as someone who actually almost went to war but was discharged at the last minute, to me the song is about literally missing a war. then questioning every decision in your life since then and wondering if you should go back. its about not feeling like you fit in the civilian world and dealing with all the accompanying frustration and self-doubt.
i dont think thats what ben fold's actually intended, but it works for me.
He's a bit of a coward, or he cares too much, depending on the way you look at it. He doesn't want to upset anyone, so he plods along in his own way, but in the process he makes himself unhappy. He wants to change, but won't.
Ben wrote this song as an epilogue to "The Last Polka," and I thought of the song way differently after reading that.
If you look at the songs as songs about abusive relationships...The Last Polka is the fight, violent and saying things they know they'll regret (You've been pushing me like I was a sore tooth) and Missing the War is the aftermath, when both of them are sniffling in different corners, stuck in their relationship.
I love this song so much.
I didn't understand this song until my sister expressed passionate disapproval of it's "self-centered" content. It was also her boyfriend-at-the-time's favorite song, so I put 2 and 2 together...
A somewhat similarly themed song might be 'Good Life' by Weezer, where Rivers longs for more exciting days (although Rivers is suffocated by his self-imposed isolation, rather than a soured relationship).
ben is too brilliant for all of your feeble minds!!
even mine...
Toward the end of the movie, Sly has a biit of a monologue... it goes like this...
Colonel Trautman: It's over Johnny. It's over!
Rambo: Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! It wasn't my war! You asked me I didn't ask you! And I did what I had to do to win, but somebody wouldn't let us win! Then I come back to the world, and I see all those maggots at the airport, protestin' me, spittin', callin' me a baby killer and all kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me?! Huh?! Who are they?! Unless they been me and been there and know what the hell they yellin' about!
Colonel Trautman: It was a bad time for everyone Rambo. It's all in the past now.
Rambo: For you! For me civilian life is nothin'! In the field we had a code of honor. You watch my back I watch yours. Back here there's nothin'! Col. Trautman: You're the last of an elite group. Don't end it like this. Rambo: Back there I could fly a gunship, I could drive a tank, I was in charge of million dollar equipment. Back here I can't even hold a job PARKING CARS!!!! UUHHHH!!!!! Wha...I can't...oh, I jus--omigod. Where is everybody? Oh God...I...I had a friend, who was Danforth. Wha--I had all these guys man. Back there I had all these fucking guys. Who were my friends. Cause back here there's nothin'. Remember Danforth? He wore this black head band and I took one of those magic markers and I said to Feron, 'Hey mail us to Las Vegas cause we were always talkin' about Vegas, and this fucking car. This uh red '58 Chevy convertible, he was talkin' about this car, he said we were gonna cruise till the tires fall off. We were in this bar in Saigon. And this kid comes up, this kid carryin' a shoe shine box, and eh he says uh 'shine please, shine.' I said no, eh an' uh, he kept askin' yeah and Joey said 'yeah,' and I went to get a couple beers and the ki--the box was wired, and he opened up the box, fuckin' blew his body all over the place. And he's layin' there and he's fuckin' screamin', there's pieces of him all over me, jus like--! like this. And I'm tryin' to pull em off you know? And ehe.. MY FRIEND IT'S ALL OVER ME! IT'S GOT BLOOD AND EVERYTHING! And I'm tryin' to hold him together I put him together his fucking insides keep coming out, AND NOBODY WOULD HELP!! Nobody help me. He sayin' plea I wanna go home I wanna go home. He keeps callin' my name, I wanna go home Johnny, I wanna drive my Chevy. I said well WHY I can't find your fucking legs. I can't find you legs. I can't get it out of my head. I fuc..I dream of seven years. Everyday I have this. And sometimes I wake up and I dunno where I am. I don't talk to anybody. Sometimes a day--a week. I can't put it out of my mind...fucking...I can't.....
Now, if you think I am serious about that, you are gravely mistaken, i was just tryin to have a little fun... but it is a different way to look at it, in a more literal sense... the code of honor part is interesting haha.
Peace Kids,
Timmah