It was crime at the time
But the laws, we changed them
Though the hero for hire's
Forever the same one

Introducing for the first time
Pharaoh on the microphone
Sing all hail
What'll be revealed today
When we peer into the great unknown
From the line to the throne?

Awakened to cheers
After years on the faultline
We are shocked to be here
In the face of the meantime
Pharaoh, all your methods have taught me
Is to separate my blood from bone

It will all fail
Feeling what I feel today
When we peer into the great unknown
From the line to the throne

Form a line through here
Form a line to the throne

Alone in the chain
It remains to be seen how
How well you can play
When the pawn takes a queen now

It was crime at the time
But the laws have changed
Yeah



Lyrics submitted by Statbucksbabe28

Track duration: 03:26


The Laws Have Changed song meanings
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24 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Sometimes I imagine, it`s just a song about the day, when marihuana is finally legalised.
    (just ignoring all parts of the lyrics, that not fit in :-))
    Flag kidgforceon March 16, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Great catchy and clever song. I like Perpetual Peace's interpretation of the lyrics.

    The music video appears to be working on a whole different level though.
    [ youtube.com/… ]
    Anyone able to intrepet the video's meaning, in particluar the captions appearing in the second half?

    ---
    Guy hands barman a photo.
    Barman: What you have already lost, consider as totally lost.

    ...
    Girl: What are you thinking about?

    Guy: What is this dance called?

    Girl: "The Electric Version"
    Girl: Vade retro! Vade ultra!
    Girl: You'll just have to take it.
    Girl: Take it 'til the end!

    Girls starts a synchronised dance routine with others on dance floor, beckoning Guy to follow. He does.
    Flag drunkon February 16, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Perpetual_Peace, everything you say is right on. There's all kinds of metaphor to be read into the lyrics, but everything you've said is what NP intended with this song. Zuckertalert, all those names and phrases are there, but they're metaphors for Bush's U.S. policies, not simply literal discussions of the bible. NP are definitely literary lyricists and they've got their references down. This song is a straight-up clear indictment and Neko Case sings her lines with such a heartbreaking, yearning, wistful keening that it makes the political emotional -- it almost has that "saudade" of Portuguese fado in a way, as if Bush wiped out everything that came before, leaving us aching with longing for a time so far past that we can't even remember what it was like to feel pride in America... GENIUSES!
    Flag Gillianizmoon March 21, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I'm just straight down with this being a song about Exodus; straight up Torah old testament. "Form a line to the throne" can be interpreted as when the Egyptians threw the newborn boys into the Nile, or when Moses and Aaron went and talked to Pharaoh. There's no mistaking the Pharaoh part. I like the song as one about Moses.

    "Great Unknown" is Mount Sinai and the Torah. The Pawn is the Jews, The Queen is the Egyptians. Moses is the hero for hire, but I do agree that the song references that the Hero Journey's always the same. "Blood from bone" the Lamb blood on the door-post before the Tenth Plague, whereafter the Jews ate the lambbone.
    Flag zuckertalerton June 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is one of the best New Pornographer songs definitly.
    Flag realfreakaynaughtyon June 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Great analysis Perpetual_Peace, but dude, you're harshing my Neko fantasy, LOL.
    Flag acrididaeon September 13, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This song is a scathing criticism of American Foreign Policy from 2003 onwards. The “crime” refers to the US breaking just war theory and UN resolutions in the invasion of Iraq. The US set a precedent of preemptive warfare, “changing the laws” as it were, from the post-WWII order that it had previously constructed, bypassing NATO and the UN and instead relying on ‘coalitions of the willing.’ The Pharaoh is President Bush, who along with his staff issued a new National Security Report in 2003 about America’s role in the 21st century (the “great unknown”). This report declared that America would seek to stop threats before they erupted in tragedy. After the many foreign policy failures of the 90’s, (Rwanda, Somalia, Kosovo, etc) the American people were awakened to “cheers after years on the faultline” – that is, years of inaction. The song suggests that this kind of policy of unilaterally going after every threat is unwise, “it will all fail.” The pawn, that is, a nation having almost no military capability, will win over the most powerful nation in the world (the ‘queen’). Now it remains to be seen how the rest of the countries and the United States will react to an emerging world were American unipolarity is not as solid as it was after World War 2.
    Flag Perpetual_Peaceon May 02, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It is an amazing piece of poetry - as are the majority on the NPs songs. This was the first one I ever heard and I got totally hooked. And I love the fact that it's speaking negatively about Bush - and it's not even that obvious. Fantastic!

    Also, don't you just love how the male and female voices totally compliment each other? Neko sounds awesome on this record.
    Flag butterflykiss84on December 22, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:But what's more important is that it's a great song of course.
    Flag Lost the Ploton October 03, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I SO agree with overkill49, and nstewart925 makes a great point. This is a great song, and (I know this sounds shallow, but) if it says something George W. Bush, something NEGATIVE in particular, I'm so interested. Hehe.
    Flag Lost the Ploton October 03, 2006   Link

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