Woke up to a brand new skyline
We licked our wounds and mourn the dead
Swallow the story hook and sinker
Is that what we meant when we said
That we never would forget?

Are we fools and cowards all
To let them cover up their lies?
Cause we all watched the buildings fall
Watched the scales fall from our eyes

A fire burns beneath Manhattan
Still we breathe with broken lungs
We act like none of this matters
Is that what we meant When we said
That we'd sing what must be sung?

Are we fools and cowards all
To let them cover up their lies?
Cause we all watched the buildings fall
Watched the scales fall from our eyes

We want answers
Scream from the roofs
We want justice
We want the truth



Lyrics submitted by brooks450

Track duration: 04:15

"Broken Lungs" as written by Dustin Michael Kensrue, Edward Carrington Breckenridge, James Riley Breckenridge, Teppei Teranishi

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Broken Lungs song meanings
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81 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Here's the thing guys, sometimes you can't know everything and you have to accept what others say. Like professionals. When a doctor says I'm ill I believe him, because he went to medical school and has spent his whole life doing this every day. When a contractor tells me it takes 72 hours for the concrete to set, I believe him because he obviously knows better than me. When a whole entire panel of engineers, physicists, and scientists review the events of that day, published in the 9-11 commission report, and also various independent research, and 100% of them say the collapse to the WTC towers were caused by airplane collisions, you must believe them.

    Find me one engineer or metallurgist who says that the jet fuel couldn't have heated the steel to a point at which its yield strength lowered, causing it to deform plasticly and making the floors above it collapse on top of it, subsequently taking down the whole building. Find just one. Seriously, the people who say 9-11 is a conspiracy are completely unqualified and speaking BS. It's essentially the equivalent of your pastor telling you cancer isn't real. One source. Please, one credible, published source...oh yeah there are none. Stop buying into the crazy America.
    Flag dmnuthirceon August 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:First this song appears to be about the popular 9-11 conspiracy, as much as I hate it I spent hours researching and I am afraid it is so. Thrice are a bunch of idiots. Here is the best source, although heavily edited I feel the point is obvious: youtube.com/…

    I really much preferred thinking this song was about us invading Iraq on the still rolling momentum of us seeking revenge for 9-11. That seems far less crazy, and possibly a great topic for a song. This is what I will tell myself every time I listen to this song. Because 9-11 conspiracy is retarded. And I refuse to accept that Thrice is retarded.

    Even Osama Bin Laden released a video tape in the days after the attacks saying in his experience as a CIVIL ENGINEER (he can design skyscrapers, bridges, etc!) he believed the floors above the impact would fall, but not those below. He was plesently surprised at his success when a whole building fell down, then the next. Search it bro.
    Flag dmnuthirceon August 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:In response to those that don't think these lyrics are Thrice-like in their political and specific nature or disagree about 9-11, I'd say if a band finds the need to question the official story of 9-11, this is probably the least controversial and most open-minded way to do it. I say this because the main point is a lack of knowledge ("we want the truth" etc.) and not a specific theory. It's not insulting, stereotyping, rebellious, or disrespectful. I think the music's softer but dynamic sound sort of conveys this attitude, that we have to be careful on the subject since deception is everywhere.
    Flag Lampala1203on July 18, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Okay, so I decided to break this song down line by line to explain to the ignorant users that dismiss the 9/11 conspiracy, accept the conspiracy theory proposed and perpetuated by the media, NIST, FEMA, etc., and seem to think Thrice's recognition of this would make them crazy (funny considering the political, social, and spiritual content of Dustin's lyrics). One last tidbit before I begin, the next song on this album, "The Sky is falling" speaks a lot of jingoists. For those that do not know, a jingoist is one that operates based on blind, fervant nationalism. AN example of a Jingoist would be half of the comments on here that accept that religious terrorists orchestrated and made the attacks on 9/11, that fires brought down the towers and building 7, and a plane hi the pentagon. There is far, far, far more evidence against the official story and nearly none that supports it. Not to mention that those that are accused of the attacks are not driven by religion, but to quote Thrice, "Different God, Darker Skin." So, here we go:

    Woke up to a brand new skyline
    (The towers are no longer there)

    We licked our wounds and mourn the dead
    (People did what they could to recover from this shocking event)

    Swallow the story hook and sinker
    (This should be obvious. People believed and still believe the official story. It also important to note that this line becomes extremely ambiguous if we are to think that this song is not about 9/11truth)

    Is that what we meant when we said
    That we never would forget?
    (The slogan of 9/11 is never forget, yet mention 9/11truth to anybody and they immediately dismiss the conversation because "it's been 10 years" or "it's over now." Also, when one claims they will never forget something, it is implied that they will continue to think about and investigate it.)

    Are we fools and cowards all
    To let them cover up their lies?
    (Again, should be obvious, and has no application without the 9/11truth meaning. Disbelievers are ignorant, naive, and afraid of the consequences such a theory)

    Cause we all watched the buildings fall
    (Essentially all Americans have seen this happen)

    Watched the scales fall from our eyes
    (and now the number of American's opening up to the truth is increasing, and the majority of foreigners
    have dismissed the Al-Qaeda, fire-based collapse theory since Sept. 12th, 2001)

    A fire burns beneath Manhattan
    (Not only did numerous individuals, such as firefighters, rescue workers, Gov. Pataki and Guiliani, and many others report molten metal underground and around Ground Zero, but NASA thermal imaging of the area showed that the temps under Ground Zero remained extremely high for weeks)

    Still we breathe with broken lungs
    (For a very long time after the 11th, the toxins and dust were still in the air, and have caused inumerable problems with the respiratory systems of first responders and others)

    We act like none of this matters
    (Just as those on here openly deny 9/11truth for absolutely no good reason, and others state, "It happened 10 years ago," and building 7 was only shown falling once on the mainstream media since 9/11.)

    Is that what we meant When we said
    That we'd sing what must be sung?
    (We are not singing what must be sung because it is the hard truths that people do not want to hear that they need to hear the most)

    Are we fools and cowards all
    To let them cover up their lies?
    Cause we all watched the buildings fall
    Watched the scales fall from our eyes
    (see the earlier chorus)

    We want answers
    Scream from the roofs
    We want justice
    We want the truth
    (If this is not a scream of frustration at naysayers and the sad excuses of debunking and answering the questions the countless thousands of architects, engineers, rescue workers, family members of those that died in the attakcs, and others,and a declaration of 9/11 truth, then I have absolutely no idea what it could be).

    I have shown that this song's lyrical content loses continuity and meaning if a "it's about 9/11" theory is proposed, but it is regained if we realize it is about the suspicion and denial of the official story. If anybody else wishes to still think this song is not about 9/11truth, then I think you have the extremely daunting task ahead of proving such. This song is very obvious, and the fact that I had to point this out shows the passive, ignorant, and naive mentality of Americans. Three steel and concrete buildings collapsed "due to fire" that day, and not one steel structure building has fallen due to fires before or since, and this is including steel-core skyscrapers that were fully engulfed in flame for far more than a couple of hours. If the Pentagon was hit by a plane, how did it leave such a small hole, and there was never a seat, wing, engine, or any other part of a plane found there? I will stop here, otherwise I will end up crashing songmeanings' servers with the amount of information that can be presented to explain 9/11. People really need to start researching, learning, and using critical thinking, instead of just dismissing like the good little complicit slaves they are.

    Flag Dachrizziston July 14, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:^Same here welcome2space.

    Ironically enough I post this comment on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

    But anyway I only wanted to mention an interesting tidbit I found-

    The part that says 'scales fall from our eyes' comes directly from the book of Acts, chapter 9, in the Bible, when Jesus appears to Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul is blinded by Jesus' light. When later he regains his vision, it is described as 'something like scales fell from Saul's eyes'.

    Something I stumbled across. Certainly no coincidence.
    Flag TheAbstruseMeaningon September 11, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Almost every song on Artist In The Ambulance has lyrics that could be directly related to the Illuminati. Very interesting. The song that stuck out the most to me was Don't Tell And We Won't Ask.
    Flag welcome2spaceon September 06, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I'm not sure where everyone is getting the conspiracy theory idea from. "The story" he refers to is probably the story that Iraq had WMDs. "Are we fools and cowards all/To let them cover up their lies" is about the lies and the foolish and cowardly decisions that lead to the Iraq invasion. I think that the lines "'Cause we all watched the buildings fall/And watched the scales fall from our eyes" are meant to have a bit of time in between them. Everyone watched the buildings fall, so they were spurred to action. But they were spurred to the wrong action, and then it was revealed that the government exploited the event to bring about that action so the scales fell from their eyes. It doesn't have to be about a 9/11 conspiracy or Afghanistan at all, just about the very well-established fact that there were forged documents and outright lies used to support the invasion of Iraq in the aftermath of 9/11.

    It goes deeper, of course. This is a pattern that can be seen throughout human history; for thousands of years governments and churches have controlled the masses with similar tactics.
    Flag shadow1515on September 02, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion:This song bugs the hell out of me. It's incredibly well-written, and the themes it emphasizes are important (questioning authority, demanding the truth, and so on)... But its subject matter is a conspiracy theory that's no less absurd than the Illuminati or the Masons secretly controlling the world government.

    It's bullshit, plain and simple. We don't know everything about what happened that day, and we never will because of the millions of people indirectly involved, the extreme complexity of the events, the close connections with national security, and the right to privacy for the victims' families, but of what we DO know, there is nothing to even remotely suggest that anything other than the "official story" happened. ALL of the evidence points toward it, ALL of the points in "Loose Change" have been debunked as much as is scientifically possible without rebuilding the damn things and crashing another pair of planes into them.

    Dustin is an incredibly intelligent, well-read, and gifted lyricist, but he's so far off the mark on this one, and it disappoints me.
    Flag DubbaEwwTeeEffon April 23, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:I think it's possible that, when he's talking about fools and cowards, he means those who refuse the notion that the wars being waged today are wars of ideology. Are we fools and cowards all, believing that Islam really is a religion of peace, occaisionally hijacked by a misguided few with misinterpretations of terms like "Jihad" and "put unbelievers to the sword"?

    We watched the scales fall from our eyes - after denying that the terror attacks of the 1990s were part of an organized group of religious zealots, the West was forced to acknowledge on the 11th of September that we faced an insidious, cunning foe, who sought our death and cared not a bit about collateral damage, even the deaths of their fellow Muslims.

    Instead we swallowed that theirs is a religion of peace, never mind the attacks of 7/7 in England, the attacks on subways in Spain, the failed bombing on Christmas Day of 2009. Disregard the Talban's subjugation of women, or Saddam's use of chemical weapons on the Kurds throughout the 1990s.

    I'm not submitting this as the be-all, end-all interpretation of this song, but so long as people are so willing to maintain that this song is based on a Judeo-Christian, neo-con conspiracy theory, I don't see what would stop someone from believing this song is based on an anti-West, anti-American conspiracy of equal scope and danger.
    Flag Paladin114on February 07, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Totally agree with pushtenkcirrus's thoughts on Thrice's explorations of Freemasonry, up from Vhiessu. Artist had some definite political themes as well. To summarize everything, as I have read all comments, push and NayThin have the meaning down closest I think. Dustin is not so much saying that 9/11 was an inside job, but he is simply pointing out that there are things we, the people, were never told, there are issues that were deliberately hidden in the shroud of that day and the official story. I applaud Thrice for the bravery to write a song like this, knowing they would receive criticism and controversy. Just goes to show what a great band they are. I can't believe anyone would disrespect them for that.
    Flag TheAbstruseMeaningon August 25, 2009   Link

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