I think this song is about the South. I think the book could be seen as a history book of sorts. The grief and pain of slavery and the Civil War and the KKK and all the other bad stuff the South desperately wants to deny ever happened. The South, and in fact the entire nation, also want to deny that slavery's reprecussions are still very much alive in today's society. The South wants to simply forget about all the blood on its hands; all the lynchings, etc. "All the people come and gone never really lived." All the people's lives ruined by that society they would just deny. Even the part about "here's the time I took the blame . . . Here's the time we didn't speak for years and years" I think is about the South in relationship to the North, and about Reconstruction. Maybe it's a little far-fetched and not as literal, but it hit me instantly when I first paid attention to the lyrics of this song. I'm sorry this isn't articulated very well, but I think if you go through and read the lyrics with that idea in mind it will make sense. And just to clarify, I think Ben is criticizing the idea that we can just pretend the past never happened and move on.
I love this song.
I think this song is about the South. I think the book could be seen as a history book of sorts. The grief and pain of slavery and the Civil War and the KKK and all the other bad stuff the South desperately wants to deny ever happened. The South, and in fact the entire nation, also want to deny that slavery's reprecussions are still very much alive in today's society. The South wants to simply forget about all the blood on its hands; all the lynchings, etc. "All the people come and gone never really lived." All the people's lives ruined by that society they would just deny. Even the part about "here's the time I took the blame . . . Here's the time we didn't speak for years and years" I think is about the South in relationship to the North, and about Reconstruction. Maybe it's a little far-fetched and not as literal, but it hit me instantly when I first paid attention to the lyrics of this song. I'm sorry this isn't articulated very well, but I think if you go through and read the lyrics with that idea in mind it will make sense. And just to clarify, I think Ben is criticizing the idea that we can just pretend the past never happened and move on.
I love this song.