i asked ted himself what this song was about since my brother and i had always been so confused about the lyrics w/ all the greek references and talk of DMZs (de-militarized zones). he gave me a short short answer but it made a lot of sense: "It's about growing up in America."
In the first verse he's literally saying that he made himself a DMZ, that'd he have nothing to do w/ the military and would not join the army. Despite this though he still felt the pressure from recruiters and promoters of the military.
As for the greek references, i'm not a classics major so i don't know. it's my theory that the line "Between the dense red clay and the deep blue sea, what horrors rage internally..." is speaking of america. the "dense red clay" is the american right wing and this reflects his feelings on them perhaps (they're "dense"). The "deep blue sea" represents the american left. The sea is of course a big theme on this album and seems to represent something positive throughout it. Ted Leo is extremely liberal and he might be saying what he feels about that side too.
through the rest of the song he's just talking about escaping the pressure of the military and living in a war hungry america. that's what i've figured out. anyway, ted's answer is definitive.
i asked ted himself what this song was about since my brother and i had always been so confused about the lyrics w/ all the greek references and talk of DMZs (de-militarized zones). he gave me a short short answer but it made a lot of sense: "It's about growing up in America."
In the first verse he's literally saying that he made himself a DMZ, that'd he have nothing to do w/ the military and would not join the army. Despite this though he still felt the pressure from recruiters and promoters of the military.
As for the greek references, i'm not a classics major so i don't know. it's my theory that the line "Between the dense red clay and the deep blue sea, what horrors rage internally..." is speaking of america. the "dense red clay" is the american right wing and this reflects his feelings on them perhaps (they're "dense"). The "deep blue sea" represents the american left. The sea is of course a big theme on this album and seems to represent something positive throughout it. Ted Leo is extremely liberal and he might be saying what he feels about that side too.
through the rest of the song he's just talking about escaping the pressure of the military and living in a war hungry america. that's what i've figured out. anyway, ted's answer is definitive.