Welcome home
While away
They have tampered with the locks
And your things they rearranged
"We propose,
A better way"
Said the note they left behind
In their wake of disarray

You fell in place
Don't fall asleep
They'll find us here
I know a place
To disappear
As a voice proclaimed

[Chorus]
What we are is the sum of a thousand lies
What we know is almost nothing at all
But we are what we are 'till the day we die
Or 'till we don't have the strength to go on
'Till we don't have the strength to go on

Let us cry
Let us be
Let us open up our hearts
Without fear of anything
Faith alone's
All we need
To traverse this burning bridge
Now before it gets too late

You claim, "it's fine"
But the heart reveals
What smiles betray
Your sad sad eyes
Gave you away
And don't you know

[Chorus]

Our shoulders bear an awful weight
But still we trudge on just the same
Our colors run then leave a stain
They blacken our once honest name
How can we argue, tell me
Over the fury and the fire
How many times can we tell you that we
Are not like you, we see right through
The poor disguise that fails to fool
The wary eye is trained on you

[Chorus: x2]

Yeah we don't have the strength to go on.



Lyrics submitted by Yoshü

Track duration: 03:27

"The Strength To Go On" as written by Zach Blair, Joseph Principe, Timothy Mcilrath, Brandon Barnes

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


The Strength to Go On song meanings
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20 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:For a while I kept mishearing this as "what we are is the sum of a thousand LIVES", which I took to be a pretty poetic take on the whole 'no man is an island'/everyone is simply the product of the culture they are part of idea. I was kinda disappointed when I read the lyrics and realised it was "lies", which just seems like typical edgy anarcho-punk crap.
    Flag Negrul1on October 31, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This is not a solid meaning, but it comes to my mind when I listen to the song.

    My favorite book series of all time is the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It's a big , 12 book series with each book being 700 - 1000 pages. Like RA, the books are filled with meaning. I was reading one of the books, and this song came on. After listening to the lyrics closely, I seemed that this song was made for the book. No joke. It's almost as if it's the series crammed into a few verses. A

    Anyway, that's just my feeling. I doubt that RA actually based this song on the books, but they both have the same beliefs.
    Flag RiseAgainstSOTon December 07, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I think this songs meaning is that you are who you are and nothing can change that.
    Flag Jurubandoon February 13, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I know that I wasn't asked, yet I'll give a quick response, regardless.

    @ILikeThatPanda,

    I'm going to go ahead and venture a guess that few - if any - of these guys are Christian. Being that they stand in opposition to just about everything that Christian Society has created, I'd be blown away to learn otherwise. Frankly, with their world view, the way events are really going down and the way things are headed, I can't imagine why they'd believe in any god at all. Maybe Buddhism, at the worst.

    It is a damn good question though. Because I've wondered the same. Too bad the likelihood of them over proclaiming a religious-alliance (if any) is next-to-nil. And good on them for it. Don't let the nonsense get in the way of the truth, right?

    Flag Scottboy79on January 09, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:@Kumpi
    hero of war (at least cause i havent looked much into the others u said) seems more like its just about military overall, not just in iraq war..... audience of one does have parts (or all?) about military.... i know Tim said that one part is about the the system that if u lose ur arm in war they pay u some money and after ur medical benefit kick in (about 6 months after u get home) u have to pay that back.
    Also Collapse (Post Amerika) could say that it mentions the iraq war becasue it talks about a war in the desert were progress stands still, but that might not be about that and the rest isnt.
    is this song saying religion is a lie- "sum of 1000 lies" + "faith alone" (just kidding)

    altho i know they arent a religious band, i was woundering if all/any of them were christian(or jewish/muslim)? i know they say something abotu hell in a song, fall from gracy in Collapse and PRAYER of refuge, but i dont know if thats just them using phrases
    Flag ILikeThatPandaon January 08, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i love this song. it sends out a message of integrity. stand tall, no matter what other people say. just captures what RA is all about, not giving a flying fuck what others may say.
    Flag kill3rm0nkeyon October 06, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I also want to mention that the house in the beginning is symbolic of identity. Others have taken control of someone's personal, private space and left his or her identity in "disarray."
    Flag Durron June 12, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I'm getting an existentialist vibe from this song in the sense that the speaker and the one spoken to are struggling against people who are imposing their values/knowledge on them. One of the characters has been away (one interpretation is that he or she didn't stand up for their own beliefs) and therefore others have taken advantage of this - the lines "your things they rearranged" and "We propose a better way" show how others are trying to take control (similar to the 1984 feel previously mentioned). However, this person has allowed this to happen; he or she has become passive and "fell in place." The chorus is a pretty explicit statement about the meaninglessness of all the values and knowledge others have tried to define us with. The speaker simply wants to be himself("we are what we are"). The other character's passive nature causes him/her to become overly acceptive and say "it's fine" when really he/she knows that something is wrong. Their shoulders bare the weight of other people's false perceptions, dogmas, attempts to control, etc. The speaker knows that this is all a "disquise" and that we need to peel off all the false layers and figure out who we truely are by not succumbing to other people's ideas about our own subjective natures.
    Flag Durron June 12, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think almost every song on the album has references to the iraq war.
    Just the titles of "long forgotten sons," "hero of war" and "Whereabouts unknown" suggest this :P
    Flag Kumpion April 15, 2009   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion:at the end when he repeats the chourus twice the first time it sounds like "Lives" instead of "Lies" but all the other times it sounds like "Lies"
    Flag Gamester360on April 03, 2009   Link

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