Lyrics for Thin Blue Flame as interpreted by black eye event

Thin Blue Flame Lyrics
I became a thin blue flame
Polished on a mountain range
And over hills and fields I flew
Wrapped up in a royal blue
I flew over Royal City last night
A bullfighter on the horns of a new moon’s light
Caesar’s ghost I saw the war-time tides
The prince of Denmark’s father’s still and quiet
And the whole world was looking to get drowned
Trees were a fist shaking themselves at the clouds
I looked over curtains and it was then that I knew
Only a full house gonna make it through

I became a thin blue wire
That held the world above the fire
And so it was I saw behind
Heaven’s just a thin blue line
If God’s up there he’s in a cold dark room
The heavenly host are just the cold dark moons
He bent down and made the world in seven days
And ever since he’s been a’walking away
Mixing with nitrogen in lonely holes
Where neither seraphim or raindrops go
I see an old man wandering the halls alone
Only a full house gonna make a home

I became a thin blue stream
The smoke between asleep and dreams
And in that clear blue undertow
I saw Royal City far below
Borders soft with refugees
Streets a’swimming with amputees
It’s a Bible or a bullet they put over your heart
It’s getting harder and harder to tell them apart
Days are nights and the nights are long
Beating hearts blossom into walking bombs
And those still looking in the clear blue sky for a sign
Get missiles from so high they might as well be divine
Now the wolves are howling at our door
Singing bout vengeance like it’s the joy of the Lord
Bringing justice to the enemies not the other way round
They’re guilty when killed and they’re killed where they’re found
If what’s loosed on earth will be loosed up on high
It’s a Hell of a Heaven we must go to when we die
Where even Laurel begs Hardy for vengeance please
The fat man is crying on his hands and his knees
Back in the peacetime he caught roses on the stage
Now he twists indecision takes bourbon for rage
Lead pellets peppering aluminum
Halcyon, laudanum and Opium
Sings kiss thee hardy this poisoned cup
His winding sheet is busy winding up
In darkness he looks for the light that has died
But you need faith for the same reasons that it’s so hard to find
And this whole thing is headed for a terrible wreck
And like good tragedy that’s what we expect
At night I make plans for a city laid down
Like the hips of a girl on the spring covered ground
Spirals and capitals like the twist of a script
Streets named for heroes that could almost exist
The fruit trees of Eden and the gardens that seem
To float like the smoke from a lithium dream
Cedar trees growing in the cool of the squares
The young women walking in the portals of prayer
And the future glass buildings and the past an address
And the weddings in pollen and the wine bottomless
And all wrongs forgotten and all vengeance made right
The suffering verbs put to sleep in the night
The future descending like a bright chandelier
And the world just beginning and the guests in good cheer
In Royal City I fell into a trance
Oh it’s hell to believe there ain’t a hell of a chance

I woke beneath a clear blue sky
The sun a shout the breeze a sigh
My old hometown and the streets I knew
Were wrapped up in a royal blue
I heard my friends laughing out across the fields
The girls in the gloaming and the birds on the wheel
The raw smell of horses and the warm smell of hay
Cicadas electric in the heat of the day
A run of Three Sisters and the flush of the land
And the lake was a diamond in the valley’s hand
The straight of the highway and the scattered out hearts
They were coming together they pulling apart
And angels everywhere were in my midst
In the ones that I loved in the ones that I kissed
I wondered what it was I’d been looking for up above
Heaven is so big there ain’t no need to look up
So I stopped looking for royal cities in the air
Only a full house gonna have a prayer

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amateurxxstanding
05-23-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song is about the hypocrisy in religion.

"Heaven’s just a thin blue line
If God’s up there he’s in a cold dark room
The heavenly host are just the cold dark moons
He bent down and made the world in seven days
And ever since he’s been a’walking away"

Josh seems to be questioning the dependability of believing in a God when we live in a world full of hatred and injustice. He finds that instead of relying on salvation in Heaven, he seeks solace through embracing his life on earth.

amazing song. incredible album.

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bubbagump
06-23-2006

Rated +1 
I love this song.. all 9 minutes of it!
there's so much to interpret and a lot of symbolism..
this is what I understand but I might be way off-

--ok.. the first stanza seems to have some Shakespeare references… from Caesar’s ghost to the prince of Denmark (hamlet?)…and I was wondering if the “war-time tides” line has anything to do with the quote in Julius Caesar “there is a tide in the affairs of men…” -just a thought?

--and then there’s the whole heaven/hell theme. Ritter mentions the small line between heaven and hell, “Heavens just a thin blue line” and he appears to be the only thing saving everyone from hell, “became a thin blue wire that held the world above the fire.”
From there he questions God’s existence altogether and then concedes that God is there but not watching over us “If God’s up there… been a’walking away” I really like the lines- “Mixing with nitrogen… or raindrops go.” Nitrogen is French for lifeless so maybe that’s meant to add to the loneliness. A seraph is an angel, the highest order of angels. And seen as a caretaker of God’s throne so in those lines “Mixing with nitrogen… or raindrops go,” it seems not only did God abandon man but His caretaker left God, too.

--then Josh talks about war fought in the name of God in the next few lines: “Streets swimming with amputees… not the other way around”

--then there’s the Laurel and Hardy theme… those 2 were a comedy duo a long time ago (slapstick comedy, Hardy was fat and the Laurel was skinny) but Hardy ended up dying (Ritter addresses his death with the “It’s a hell of a heaven…” line) pretty young of a stroke after losing over a hundred pounds- “the fat man is crying…” which threw Laurel into a depression. The duo was already fading troubles and after Hardy died Laurel quit altogether: “Back in the peacetime he caught roses on the stage Now he twists indecision takes bourbon for rage” shows their success and eventually Laurels depression. Halcion, Laudanum and Opium are all drugs. The rest of the stanza talks about how our society loves to hear about tragedy

--suddenly there’s a quick tone change and he sings about happier things, “all wrongs forgotten…” “…suffering verbs put to sleep…” “…good cheer.” yet it all seems sort of fake. And the line “Oh it’s hell to believe there ain’t a hell of a chance” makes it seem like the only reason he sings about happier things is: it’s better to fool yourself into thinking things might work out than know they won’t.

--and finally there’s obviously a major reference to poker (especially in the last stanza) but I’m not sure why..
“A RUN of Three Sisters and the FLUSH of the land
And the lake was a DIAMOND in the valley’s HAND
The STRAIGHT of the highway and the scattered out HEARTS”
..not to mention the constant “royal blue” and “full house” reference.

phew.. those are just my thoughts, awesome song anyway, Josh never lets me down.
i'd love to hear others' thoughts...

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wookie007
01-09-2007

Rated 0 
another masterpiece. i could teach class for a week just dissecting this song, and actually may do so! thanks bubbagump for your (marvellously lucid and very much along my thoughts) comments, and ameteurxx for a great summing up--very much what i think.

i do wonder --i'll have to study this a bit more-- whether there really is the reference to the holy land, or just the middle east, that i think there is --royal city as jerusalem perhaps?-- the missiles, amputees, refugees seem to fit. and i absolutely love 'bringing justice to the enemies not the other way around'. george w please take note!

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jlynnsayz
02-01-2007

Rated 0 
In addition to what everyone else thinks...I think this song has similar meaning to that of Girl in the War. I think it's another anti-war song.
Here is my interpretation:

In the first verse, he is travelling from our world over to the war sites. The references to Hamlet means we should learn from our past. The ghosts of the current war will come back to haunt us.
The second verse, the elusive "I" is hovering 'above the fire' - the battle fields. God is off in some remote room, not able to see/not wanting to see what we have created.
In the third verse, we are in the thick of the fighting. There is depression, bloodshed, terror. At the end of that verse, Ritter talks about the formation of a paradise Royal City. The "royal city" we, as America, are planning for Iraq. But like the last line, its hard to believe there aint a hell of a chance.
The last verse is how things should be...back at home. At home is where everything makes sense. It's the feel of the hometown that he is trying to get across in this song. No matter how much we try to make the Iraqis embrace democracy, what they, as well as us, really need is to allow for what works best for each of us.

That is just an overview of my thoughts on this song. The beauty of songs is that they can mean something different to different people.

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wookie007
02-04-2007

Rated 0 
not being american myself gives me a slightly different perspective on the anti-war message; just like girl in the war which still (and always i suspect) will be about the loss of faith and the destructuveness of violence to the human spirt, and antiwar in general, not just irag in particular. it's a bigger picture. we (and i mean the whole of the west here) have been meddling in other people's affairs for far too long, and generally screwing up the middle east (or at least helping!) for over 2000 years.

what a shame we can't seem to do what is right.

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wookie007
02-04-2007

Rated 0 
not being american myself gives me a slightly different perspective on the anti-war message; just like girl in the war which still (and always i suspect) will be about the loss of faith and the destructuveness of violence to the human spirt, and antiwar in general, not just irag in particular. it's a bigger picture. we (and i mean the whole of the west here) have been meddling in other people's affairs for far too long, and generally screwing up the middle east (or at least helping!) for over 2000 years.

what a shame we can't seem to do what is right.

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tupelodylan
02-12-2007

Rated 0 
"Streets a’swimming with amputees
It’s a Bible or a bullet they put over your heart
It’s getting harder and harder to tell them apart
Days are nights and the nights are long
Beating hearts blossom into walking bombs
And those still looking in the clear blue sky for a sign
Get missiles from so high they might as well be divine
Now the wolves are howling at our door
Singing bout vengeance like it’s the joy of the Lord
Bringing justice to the enemies not the other way round
They’re guilty when killed and they’re killed where they’re found
If what’s loosed on earth will be loosed up on high
It’s a Hell of a Heaven we must go to when we die"

Anyone else think that with these lines, Josh has summed up the Bush doctrine more beautifully and brilliantly than anyone else has?

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kambridgekid
02-18-2007

Rated 0 
in an incredibly brilliant and equally beautiful song the one line that absolutely stands out is...

And the whole world was looking to get drowned

a biblical reference of God's willingness to destroy all life on earth when Human kind dissipates from truly good to truly evil.

yikes.

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kambridgekid
02-18-2007

Rated 0 
and did anyone else enjoy the very wilco-esque finale?

i cannot wait to see him live again.

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ilovetorun
03-02-2007

Rated 0 
The line "They’re guilty when killed and they’re killed where they’re found" is a commonly misunderstood line from the Qur'an...its often quoted and used as anti-Islamic/pro-War propaganda kinda thing. So I think with this line, Josh is addressing how violent Islamic Extremists are.

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svenfromsweeden
04-09-2007

Rated 0 
i really love every ones take on this song. i find it odd that no one has really talked about the last verse and how much hope and love there is in it.

"The future descending like a bright chandelier
And the world just beginning and the guests in good cheer"

even after so much bloodshed and so many atrocities, mankind there is still hope. the last thing left in pandora's box sort of reffrence

i might be wrong but i think the last line "Only a full house gonna have a prayer" may refer to how only if we work together and understand each other can we make this a better world. sort of like john and yoko's war is over if you want it.

"Heaven is so big there ain’t no need to look up
So I stopped looking for royal cities in the air"

here again i think he is saying it is up to us to create heaven on earth and stop worrying about what comes after.

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nonnycries
07-29-2007

Rated 0 
In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful songs ever written. It's amazing.

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vanderghost
09-29-2007

Rated 0 
There are two great concerts of Josh Ritter in Amsterdam available on http://www.fabchannel.com
(Luckily I attended the last one)
He also does some explaining about this great song.

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kh991269
01-05-2008

Rated 0 
i find the thin blue line and thin blue stream along with the christian reference to referring to the interpretation of religion mixed with science. A reinterpretaion of christianity plus atmospheric science. Heaven as an atmospheric abnormality. And the idea is that he died like 1000 years ago and is in heaven now. maybe i don't i'm just bullshiting i've only listened to the song like 10 times but i still think it's his best work. it's crazy how there can be so much meaning by just describing places.

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MilkyJoe
02-19-2008

Rated 0 
I get what josh is on about with this track but like bubbagump pointed out the poker references in the last verse don't make sense.
I love the lines "trees were a fist..." and "lake was a diamond..." Beautiful imagery

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ac731
03-13-2008

Rated 0 
As a Christian i totally disagree. I dont think he's calling the existence of God into question so much as common (mis)conceptions about his nature as reflected in most of Christian culture and practice. "If God's up there" - as in if you separate him from the creation he has made. Or your doctrine from transformative truth. Maybe its my interpretation. I guess my relationship with Christ creates a lens through which i see everything. Either way, i got that we are never to be so heavenly minded that we not any earthly good. OR, we shouldnt keep our future ideal selves in focus and miss out on the daily work we have to do. I think this song is ultimately about being present- being completely with who you are with in the space you are with no desire for more. Shalom.

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theAlice
03-27-2008

Rated +1 
"Beating hearts blossom into walking bombs"

that line is incredible.

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mattcorden
05-08-2008

Rated 0 
I love the line

"Heaven's so big there ain't no need to look up"

To me that says that the world we live in is as beautiful as any heaven could be, so we should enjoy it while we're here. I agree that this is one of the most moving and beautiful songs ever written.

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tpeverett1
05-28-2008

Rated 0 
i love the double meaning in the line "the lake was a diamond in the valley's hand" i mean beyond the imagery of a diamond cupped in someone's palm, the continuation of the poker metaphor through the image is just too much. its the little things like that which make this song so amazing each time i come back to it. has anyone else seen the live acoustic duet with hillary hahn on violin? it's worth a listen

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bosoxforever1918
06-18-2008

Rated 0 
looked over curtains" is interesting is it another shakespeare reference to "the world is but a stage and we are all actors" (something like that) but he is seeing above and beyond the hopeless play?

god may be in a cold dark room but he still says its hard to find hope because you need it so much

if you look at alot of the lines backwards they mean something different but appear the same because the world is an illusion? i guess lol wrong ill keep thinking

best line by far is trees were fists shaking themselves because trees look like fists so its not farfetched and allows him to give them an image of frustration at god without saying anything like that all he says is trees like fists are "shaking" which they actually do and at the clouds as well


okay so now i think the poem has different interpretations backwards and forwards because he hasnt figured it out and there is no side to take on this poem i actually believe he is saying the world is how you see it and its just a thin line between living in a blue sky or a dark flame so thats why you need compassion or a full house,
only a full house has a prayer of beating or surviving with nature/a flush/ land/ and 3 of a kind or 3 sisters running away like loss or something

i wish he won it with a royal flush would have made a better poker reference but he does say royal blue so its there lol

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bosoxforever1918
06-18-2008

Rated 0 
o sorry i meant trees shaking themselves toward god not at god because they arent mad at god theyre mad about global warming or something

anyone who writes lyrics would know this song is not about the iraq war or i hope its not
artists tend to be more general
besides how do you know when he really wrote it he could have been seven years old during nam or something
oh yeah i dont see the home reference as much in this song so its a stretch but its in alot of his other songs especially hotel song
and whoever interpreted the qu'ran/kuran whatever
what is the actuall literal interpretation because i am seriously having a hard time picturing ritter reading it lol

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interpreting324
04-05-2009

Rated 0 
In the most simple interpretation, to me, the meaning of the song is clear:

He's talking about faith in the midst of evil. We have all these theories of god, yet sometimes things get so awful in this world we find anything hard to believe. We need god the most in these times, but he's absent. The speaker is clearly struggling with this. At first, the speaker tries to imagine what an ideal world would look like ("I make plans for a city laid down...), but knows that this could never exist ("Its hell to believe there ain't a hell of a chance"). However, in the last verse, he realizes that, the world, despite all the evil, can still have true beauty. He stops imagining his perfect world ("royal cities"), because he is able to see the good in reality ("heaven's so big there ain't no need to look up"). Perhaps he does not understand if god does exist -- but, it seems to me that he does believe that there must be a higher being because of the wonderful creation around him.

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losloseeboy
04-05-2009

Rated 0 
At tonight's show in Tarrytown, Josh dedicated this song to the Binghamton massacre.

Hope > Evil


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chrisandjen3
04-10-2009

Rated 0 
does anyone one ever think that in the beginning we had religion because we couldn't define the sun, water, wind ect..... now the only reason religion exists is to give hope in death?

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ausername
04-20-2009

Rated 0 
In all honesty. Everyone's gonna interpret this song differently. It's impossible to explain it, because it's ambiguous, but here's my go.

First of all, I think he's talking about death, and how it shocks us all. There's also a few literature references.

The whole bit about god being in a cold dark room is fairly easy. If he's up there, he's not paying much attention any more.

"Only a full house is gonna make a home" is probably talking about how people with huge houses and lots of money might not be as happy as a family that sticks together.

"Border soft with refugees, streets are swimmin with amputees" is what I'd consider to be an angry observation. Saying that people shouldn't be forced out of their homes, or have their limbs taken from them.

"If what's loosed upon earth will be loosed upon high, it's a hell of a heaven we must go to when we die" is, in my opinion, a calling into question as to what's wrong with the world today, and why so much is going wrong.

The Laurel and Hardy bit is, to me, talking about how two of the best friends can suddenly turn against each other.

Then he talks about how "It's Hell to believe, there aint a hell of a chance". I think this is him saying that it's hard to believe in God sometimes, but sometimes you should just stick through it.

The last verse is more light hearted than the rest of the song. Talking about all his friends.

That's what I think anyway.

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