i cant believe no one has commented on this song. its such a good opener to Cookie Mountain. i love the horn samples and the drum beat. its different. one of the best CDs of 06. i really have no idea what its about. i need to look into it more.

My favorite song so far.

sounds like a failing relationships ending in masterbation

i think this song is basically about conflicting moral and ethical issues, and the hypocrisy of institutions like religion and government

Class song.I think that it's about a relationship thats broken down but it's so complex!Its like gibberish to me in some parts.

I think people are pretty much there with the breaking down of a relationship thing. Yet instead of using stereotypical woe-is-me sloganeering the song uses highly evocative and complex language.

Firstly I think the role of the horn loop is pretty central. I've heard it compared to the crying of a dying elephant before and that kind of makes sense. It's something powerful dying, something powerful full of grief. This symoblically links to the relationship based subject matter stating either that a strong relationship has died or that the singer may appear strong or is strong usually but is completely heartbroken within.

The first stanza's him describing that the relationship ended due to fighting ("war") and now he can see they weren't really compatible in the first place ("square peg") with additional slight sexual overtones highlighting the fact it's not "I was in love" but "I was a lover".

In the next stanza I think the "clone" is the womans new boyfriend and the singer has fantasies of fighting and beating him ("mano y mano") to win her back while he is languishing in his room filled with grief (the "bed of nails" is his own bed he is sleeping on but finds the loss too painful to get to sleep). The section with them not making eye contact is heartbreaking, they keep coming into contact but can't even speak. The priest class bit seems confusing but I think the singer is hinting he tried to fill the gap she left with religion and found it unsatisfactory ("inert") , nothing could fill that void.

The next two sections almost are a plea regarding what's being lost. The singer states how the couple's relationship was fun and full of life ("we liked to party"). The section regarding "three volume tome" is somewhat confusing, but I read it as the a sort of hint, the couple were having fun but underneath they found it hard to properly communicate their feelings (relying instead on "jive")

In the next stanza the loss of the relationship is painted as "criminal" the singer just struggling to believe it is over and that it's termination was worthwhile.

The final section seems to be him stating or fantazising that she too feels empty without him, they are just "tempting fate" i.e. messing with what 'should be' by being apart. Nothing can fill that void he states again before finishing with his final cry of despair "I was a lover before this war".

Wow that was long, hope somebody finds that interesting lol.

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with the very interesting interpretation by JonnyRamone. It's pretty cool, but I really don't think this song is about a relationship, I think it's about the current political climate. Allow me to break it down for you:

I was a lover before this war - obviously he's upset about the war, but I almost think this is written from the pov of Bush, "holed up in a luxury suite behind a barricaded door"..."cleaned up, gone legit, we liked to party" (reference to alleged cocaine use and drunk driving convictions prior to political office). The priest class is his newfound religion helping him justify things to himself.

The brown shirt is a soldier, and the seduction is the idea of convincing people that the war is just/noble/worth the sacrifice. But he won't look him in the eye b/c he knows it's bullshit. The slow dance with commerce is a nod towards his economic fascination, but it's a slow dance b/c the economy has been slow to recover since the recession of 2001.

"Talk to kill time" references the flailing admin. trying to worm their way out of commitment to the war, everyone keeps talking but no one's doing anything. "It's been a while since we went wild" alludes to diminishing patriotism, and the sleepwalking through the trial is that we went into the war blindly.

The bourbon and god this is a southern pride allusion, and how people who voted based on religion are running out of excuses. "It's really a crime," well...duh.

I didn't mean to go on a political rant, I just think TV on the Radio did.

xoxox

I think it is pretty clearly a homosexual affair with a priest and repression of these feelings

this song is responsible for making tv on the radio my new favorite band.

kickinarse2nite: spot on!

I was a lover, before this war

for those of us living in williamsburg diring 9/11 - we had quite the view. On the island you don't get the perspective- from across the bridge in brooklyn, we saw everything. It was quite unsettling.

held up in a luxury suite, behind a barricaded door

We used to live in what not are SOHO style lofts, in old factories with cement floors and high celings. Kyp from TV on the Radio served coffee for years at a local watering hole. We were all able to scrape by on shit jobs and drink on rooftops at night, it retrospect it ws a time and a place that we'll never get back.

now that I've cleaned up, gone legit

we try to get "normal jobs"

I can see clearly: round hole
round whole, square peg don't fit

I die. What an opening. Better than Neighborhood #1?

This sounds like what "Blind" off the Young Liars EP would sound like if it were mixed, scrambled, abstracted & creepified for Cookie Mountain. It covers the same 'past relationship' ground that's found in many TVoTR lyrics, but is far more haunting and intepretive.

I sort of agree with kickarse, that this is from the POV of bush, but I think it is a wider reaching thing, from the POV of the republican party. Here’s how I interpret it:

The republican party, represented by the elephant, is dying, hence the dying elephantish sound throughout the song. Notice the quick fade out of the elephant sound when it is in mid trumpet, insinuating it will there yapping one day, then abruptly ending. The party used to consist of only rich people, but they have had to do all kinds of things to be more accessible to the mainstream (held up in a luxury suite, behind a barricaded door now that I've cleaned up, gone legit)

Now somewhat generally accepted, the once snooty ones can see the error of their ways in the past (now that I've cleaned up, gone legit I can see clearly: round hole round whole, square peg don't fit.)

Unfortunately from this persons POV, the future doesn’t look good either, so like a child, they have closed out the reality of what is going on around them (I'm locked in my bedroom, so send back the clowns) I think the “clowns” are media, democrats, etc. people holding the party accountable.

The brownshirts were the military wing of the nazi party. Their leader for the last 15 years of their existence: Hitler. A man that bush and the republicans are often compared to due to their similarities to fascist/prefacists. They would never admit it, but they secretly admire Hitler for his accomplishments. (my clone wears a brown shirt, and I seduce him when there's no one around)

They are now fighting with Hitler for the dubious title of most brutal empire, which they have no doubt will be way better than hitlers failed attempt at world domination (mano y mano, on a bed of nails bring it on like a storm, till I knock the wind out of his sails)

The democrats are not much different really, and occupy the same town (DC). They don’t fight each other bcuz they are so similar, but just to be safe they nod when passing by.(And we don't make eye contact, when we have run-in's in town just a barely polite nod, and nervous stares towards the ground.)

To Bolster support for the last few elections the party has embraced the evangelical nutcases, but the reasons were totally numbers oriented (plastic) and they have done hardly anything for the holy rollers (inert)( I once joined a priest class, plastic, inert)

As much as they pride themselves about knowing about all things money, they are like children, just doing the motions. Most people slowdance cuz they don’t know how to dance at all, so they just rock back and forth and hope nobody notices, here the economy is what they speak of, and like a kid peeking up a girls skirt, they see it, but have no clue whats going on in there. (in a slowdance with commercelike a lens up a skirt)

The party did do a lot of warring in a short period, making TV news literally and figuratively “live” for a while (And we liked to party and we kept it live )

To keep the jive speakers (a stab at black folk, but I think meaning non-republican) in line, the party laboriously created talking points, etc, to actually change the speaking of the time. i.e. against the war = not supporting troops. They hand the language to be used directly to the people (and we had a three volume tome of contemporary slang
to keep a handle on all this jive)

People are bored and tired of the current state, but nothing is happening just talking (Ennui unbridled, let's talk to kill the time)

Republicanism is usually found in older adults, generally after they have been in other parties or had different beliefs. Many have given up and are out to pasture..(how many styles did you cycle through before you were mine?)

I thin that here the “we” changes to Americans in general, who pay zero attention to the stupid shit that these knuckleheads are doing to our country. It’s a crime because we let war criminals and the like happen on our watch.
(and it's been a while since we went wild and that's all fine
but we're sleepwalking through this trial
and it's really a crime it's really a crime it's really a crime)
it's really criminal

We have been on top of the world for so long that we keep getting ballsier and ballsier in our worldwide interaction, like it will never bite us in the ass in the long run (We're just busy tempting, like fate's on the nod)

Our days are numbered…the gas tanks are empty, the support base is gone, but we still believe that our way is the righteous one.
(running on empty, bourbon and god
it's been a while since we knew the way)

Having not received much for their support, the holy rollers have generally pulled support
(and it's been even longer since our plastic priest class
had a goddamned thing to say)

This brings the mega question: what does the title mean? I think the “war” is actually a nationwide struggle for our identity, we were lovers, as a country, during the prior century but have become something different, meaner since 9/11.
I was a lover before this war

Brown Shirt or brown·shirt (brounshûrt)
n.
1. A Nazi, especially a storm trooper.
2. A racist, especially a violent, right-wing one.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Brownshirt
http://www.bartleby.com/61/6/B0510600.html

Since when was the US all lovers before 9/11? That's a weak analysis. The other political stuff is just vague enough to be interpreted that way. George Bush doing coke barricaded in his luxury suite? That's a ridiculous analysis. If this IS a political song, it's not a very good one.

I like the interpretation that it is about a relationship going bad.

can't it be both? Elvis Costello melded political imagery with songs about relationships ("Two Little Hitlers"), why can't TVOTR? Great, great song with lots of overlapping metaphors/references and no clear definition - muddy, and perfectly so.

just a song with kinda crappy lyrics that probably don't signify anything that you don't force it to.

I agree that it is likely to be a political song. If it is than it would make me appreciate it much more. And the lyrics are not "crappy". I think the songs that are harder to decipher usually have deeper meanings. I think having to think hard about song lyrics is what constitutes them as being good. Thats just my thought. I love this band. They are so expirimental. I just wish I had discovered them earlier.

Gay lovers. Duh.

This song is one of my favorites from this band.
i feel like this song is about a man that is about to commit suicide because he had to leave for war and it ended a relationship. he was also exposed to many things in war and it has led to is unstable mindset.

I just read through this song utterly convinced it was about a homosexual relationship and discussion over a breakup. Then I read it through again and I thought it was about our country's relationship with military law and governmental conduct to a degree where I thought it was a completely new song entirely. Then I looked at it from more perspectives, and this song describes so many different ideas in the exact same words to ridiculous levels of intricacy.