Guernica

I realize that this song has been shown to be about Jesse's grandfather suffering from cancer, but I would like to share my first impression of what it was about.

I saw it as a song written about a loved one who is depressed and suicidal, and this is the narrator's (using narrator because i can't think of a better word right now) reaction to this discovery. I'm not sure if this would make sense to others or not, so I will elaborate.

• Ever since I was young
• your word is the word that always won
• Worry and wake the ones you love

Kind of an indication that the depressed person was in the narrator's life for a long time (childhood friend, for example), and their thoughts and opinions were important. The last line could be either a plea from the narrator to the loved one to "wake" their other loved ones to come to them, or the narrator "waking" them himself, as to surround the depressed person with love and support.

• A phone call I'd rather not receive
• Please use my body while I sleep
• My lungs are fresh and yours to keep,
• kept clean and they will let you breathe

Clearly, a phone call that someone you love is depressed and suicidal (having possibly already attempted suicide) is not the kind of phone call one would look forward to. The following three lines may not seem to fit this story quite as well, but I can see how they worked when I first heard them. Having been in a low place before (as we all have), I can understand the feeling of wanting out of my own body, being disgusted with myself. The narrator is almost saying "here, take mine if you hate yours. I will do anything to give you that breath of fresh air you need."

• Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
• I am the watch you always wear, but you forget to wind

Finding out that a loved one is in that sort of emotional state would (I imagine) take the wind out of your sails. I interpret the second line as the narrator saying "I am always here, close by, to help you out. You just have to remember that."

• Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these,
• so I sat alone and waited out the night
• The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed
• So I'm asking you to shine it up and stick around
• I'm not writing my goodbyes

As with the other interpretations, I saw the first line as the narrator lamenting being away from home/the person when the news came, making helping that much more difficult, if not impossible. The narrator ended up sitting up all night worrying by himself, being completely unable to find a silver lining in the situation. The last two lines are his plea to the loved one to "shine it up and stick around" as he does not want to lose the person ("not writing my goodbyes").

I'm going to skip a bit of the song, as this post is already getting rather lengthy, and just do a few more lines.

• I'm not letting you check out
• You will beat this starting now and you will always be around
• I'm there to monitor your breathing
• I will watch you while you're sleeping
• I will keep you safe and sound

This is the narrator telling the loved one that he (the narrator) will personally not allow them to commit suicide, or "check out." The depressed person will pull themselves out of this low point with the help of others, and "always be around." The narrator is even willing to be there at all times to "monitor your breathing," "watch you while you're sleeping," and "keep you safe and sound."

Well that's my take on it, I wanted to see if anybody else ever heard the same thing or if this was just something crazy.

hey..Guernica is a name of a painting by Piccasso..just thought i'd share

it's about Jessie's grandfather having cancer and he found out when he was on tour

This song has a case of the POD - Youth of the Nation-Intro (without the kids)going for it

not sure of this has anything to do with it, but Guernica is the name of a small town that was bombed by Spanish Nationalists during the Interwar Period

When I listen to this song I think of the singer getting a desperate call in the middle of the night from a loved one. Someone he loves but does not have a whole lot of contact with is sick and they need a transplant and they think he will be able to help them and they find out he can't (My lungs are freash and yours to keep, kept clean and they will let you breathe and If this is what I have to do I owe you every day I wake if I could I would shrink myself and sink through your skin to your blood cells Remove whatever makes you hurt, but I am too weak to be your cure). I think it might be the narrator's mom based on the whole I owe you every day thing. He obviously loves this person a lot, it sounds like he dropped whatever he had going on and took a flight to wherever they were the second he heard the news. He want's this person to be safe and he is going to protect them as best as he can.

Pretty much genious if you ask me. I love it when bands tell stories with their music and they don't just throw some stupid lyrics together about some sappy experience that has no real meaning. Another good story song is It Won't Be Long by BNO

I'm guessing this is about having to deal with someone you love or are close having cancer or some sort of disease.

Brand new has done it again!:)They are just great.

NICE

yeah i noticed it too, the drum intro ala POD

great song nonetheless