It's coming down
These clouds could never save me
From such a juggernaut of weight
Your dance and jingle cabaret
It's coming down
The shadow's forming on the pavement
We face a watershed of hate
Just miles apart the world's away

[Chorus]
The sky is falling
And no one will live the last sea
The sky is falling
And no one will care as long as it lands over seas

It's coming down
This ship would never save me
My family from certain death
If we could leave, we would have left
It's coming down
My little girl is just a baby
And I'm scared that she wont make her teens
My fear just fuels the hate machine

[Chorus]

[x3]
I'm going to be strong enough
And not let my fear decide my fate
Surrounded by dream goers
I don't want any part of this

[Chorus]



Lyrics submitted by TrendyKidsSuck

Track duration: 04:21

"The Sky Is Falling" as written by Dustin Michael Kensrue, Edward Carrington Breckenridge, James Riley Breckenridge, Teppei Teranishi

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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The Sky Is Falling song meanings
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28 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I love Thrice fans, so smart and well spoken. No name calling or "this song rocks", just discussion and interpretation.

    About the shadows on the pavement line, I see it like this. Clouds dont leave very specific shapes when it comes to shadows. They're just blobs while a bomb or whatever is falling from the sky would leave a more definite shape in the shadow. Since the clouds could never hope to save us, there shadow is being replaced. Also when I picture someone watching a cloud from the pavement, it seems to me they would be surprised. They're not looking up at the sky anticipating it, there just walking doing there thing and they see a shadow and go "oh shit" :o which makes me think of unsuspecting civilians who have nothing to do with why the sky is falling. Hope that helps but your post was two years ago so I'm talking to myself :)
    Flag MATTGREINERWASNTHEREon November 30, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I see a lot of comments here about the iraq war, and while some of the comments here have convinced me that the current conflicts in the middle east played a role in the creation of this song, I have yet to see anyone mention the things that I had thought of regarding it's meaning.

    Some of you Thrice fans may recall that a percentage of the procede's from the Vheissu were donated to the non-profit "invisible children", an organization concerned with rehabilitating and educating children who had been recruited into Ugandan militias. That right there says that Thrice has a worldwide scope in mind with their music, and when I heard this song for the first time, the first thing I thought of was african conflicts like the apartheid or in uganda. Many of which are mirrored in the Sunni/Shiite conflicts as well as the Muslim/Israeli fighting. America did not even come into my mind as a player in this except as the subject of the line:

    "The sky is falling and no one
    Will care as long as it lands overseas"

    Refering to how little the average American person (Or really even the average person in any modern developed country) cares about anything other than their own personal comfort and advancement. Meanwhile, families from conflict torn countries are worried about whether their children will live another year. The theme in the lines:

    "I want to be strong enough
    To not let my fears decide my fate
    Surrounded by jingoists;
    I don't want any part of this
    I want to be strong enough,
    To not let my terror turn to hate"

    Describes the cycle in so many of these types of conflicts, the Sunni/Shiite conflict being a perfect example of one group seeking vengeance on another group, which results in a violent reaction from that group, and so on, back and forth, fear and hate fueling in one group fueling fear and hate in the other, despite the fact that the groups are usually very similar (miles apart but worlds away), the separating factor being the loyalistic fervor that they work their members up into over perceived or actual wrongdoing.

    Just my take, like I said, I saw it as a song about a much more international problem, not completely focused on the middle east alone.

    As a side note, I'm not sure what's the significance of "shadows forming on the pavement"? I saw someone suggested that it referred to the silhouettes left behind by people in the blast of a nuclear bomb, I also saw something about it being the shadows of bombs falling, I suppose it could be either; but I had expected it's meaning to tie closer into the preceding line about dancing a jingo cabaret...
    Flag endlesvydon August 12, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is most definitely about war. However, its not about not seeing it.

    I believe that this song is about war, undoubtedly; but i believe he's trying to say that he along with everyone sees the war and violence and chaos spreading across the skies. He's just saying that we are turning a somewhat blind eye.
    We all know that there are bombs falling but that we say we do things without doing anything is the same as not doing anything about it.

    "My little girl is just a baby,
    And I'm scared that she won't make her teens
    But my fear just fuels the hate machine"
    this stanza is talking about his family and how is afraid that other people's wars will reach his doorstep and will take his family from him. His fear of this fuels the machine that causes paranoia and causes more and more bombs to be dropped as a..."PRECAUTION".
    Flag orangesodandgrapes93on February 25, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:sabio nailed it. and i can see how vaultedskies got that interpretation but i also think you took the verse "If we could leave we would have left," a little too literal. i think what dustin is trying to say is if he could escape the drudgery of war and the effects it has on him and his families life he would have. i don't think he is saying he would leave america, but at the same token i think he is saying that if he could he would leave all america's war confrontations so to speak. good interpretation by both.
    Flag pnicholas425on September 10, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i always kinda thought of the song as coming from the pov of an iraqi civilian but i do like the idea of WWII jingoism as well. Either way the actual war that it involved/s is not as important as the general idea of the song because it is relevant today. I think its about someone who is directly effected by a war with bombs dropping on their roof and so on. And they feel a lot of fear, naturally, for themselves and their family. the song is about their struggle to conquer the overwhelming desire to begin to despise and blindly hate the other side of the conflict because they are aware that that way of thinking is what the terrorists are thinking. they dont want to become the terrorist! so there is this powerful inner conflict that is happening basically.

    what is terrorism? spreading TERROR
    Why has it been so successful recently? because the "terror turns to hate!" and hate is unproductive and blinding. it is what terrorism is all about!

    i know i was sort of rambling but i think you can see my idea. other people were poking at it above
    Flag lconnell55on July 08, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:p.s. I agree with sabio. The refference to Jingoism is definitely a nod to WWII. I think that Dustin is showing how easily history can repeat itself
    Flag lyricalrockstaron August 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think the song Broken Lungs dealt more with our perspective of a tragedy, namely September 11th. The second track, The Sky Is Falling is another perspective during tragedy. I think its written from the perspective of an Iraqi while we were bombing them. I think these two songs show how this horrible event truly made a full circle and affected so many innocent people, on both sides.
    Flag lyricalrockstaron August 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I am talking about the terrorists that YOU have been referring to this whole time. The terrorists that are around today. I think generally terrorists today really are motivated by religious extremism.

    Anyway, I don't really know why we keep going on about this WWII vs. War in Iraq thing. I think it is pretty obvious to everyone that Dustin is taking aim at the War in Iraq, but uses WWII to show what could come from a war.
    Flag sabioon August 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:What terrorists are you talking about, the US's "bad guys" or the actual classification of a person which is world wide and I would definitely say isn't always motivated by religion.
    Flag Zeproton August 20, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Oh yeah, I definitely agree that this song is taking a shot at the war in Iraq. But I think Dustin uses WWII to make a comparison.

    As far as terrorists, I think they are more motivated by religious extremism than Jingoism or nationalism. I was talking about how the US does not really fall into the whole Jingoism category
    Flag sabioon August 20, 2008   Link

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