Sodom, South Georgia

The reason why you all can't figure out why the town is named "Sodom" is that you assume the beautiful music and peaceful lyrical imagery means the song is supposed to be taken in a positive note. It isn't. The song, while indeed beautiful, is actually pretty negative. The music and lyrics are filled with regret, hidden below the surface. Allow me to explain based on how I hear the lyrics, not just the music.

The father of the narrator (whether the narrator is Sam Beam himself or just some fictional character for the song, I don't know) is a member of the KKK. Probably one of the senior members. He's killed a lot of people, a fact he's been able to keep hidden from the law, and now that he's on his deathbed, away from jail or any sense of earthly comeuppance, he's relieved to have essentially gotten away with it. He may have even just confessed his crimes, pleased to know that it's too late for any arrests.

The narrator, on the other hand, does not share his father's racism, and intends on raising his newborn daughter differently. As one generation ends in violence and sin, another is born anew, ready to help right the wrongs of the past. The narrator loves his father, however, if only because he's his father. The recognition of his newfound responsibility raising his daughter the right way, combined with his surprisingly loving feelings toward his despicable father (whom he can't help by marvel at how precious he is in death), fills the narrator with a newfound understanding on the power each individual holds to make the world a better place, to save the "Sodom" of racist south Georgia that he lives in.

The real key in understanding how I came to this conclusion is the constant reference to the color white; such a motif is not a coincidence, but a direct clue as to how the song is to be interpreted. With that in mind, the rest of the song has to be viewed through those lenses, in particular the interpretation a few lines:

-"buried in Christmas bows and a blanket of weeds"

The Christmas bows alludes to the perception of happiness and wholesomeness in the average day of Sodom, the way the town would like to view itself. What could be less evil than presents on Christmas day? And besides, whatever evil there is is pretty well hidden, beneath that blanket of weeds.

-"woke like a tree full of bees"

But if whatever was hidden beneath that blanket of weeds was revealed, it would cause quite a stir, yes? Everyone would be agitated and panicky, the quiet disturbed by someone or something shaking the nest. But what could rattle everyone so?

-"slept on an acre of bones...slept like a bucket of snow"

An acre of bones is a lot of bones; probably a few hundred people, if not close to a thousand. If there are that many dead bodies, why does the town of Sodom sleep so soundly? Imagine if your town lost hundreds of people, it would be a local crisis. And metaphorically, there's no reason to say "a bucket of snow" unless you want to highlight the whiteness of those who sleep. A bunch of white southerners sleeping soundly while the bodies of hundreds rot beneath them, in a town named after an Biblical city of "immorality".

-"white tongues hang out"

The few people said that the white tongues are tombstones, but tombstones don't "hang out" of anything, that's what actual tongues do. And tongues are used in speech, it's how we talk.

Maybe Papa's tongue "hung out" while he was "smiling". Maybe he peeled back the "blanket of weeds" to reveal the "acre of bones" beneath the wholesome "Christmas bows", setting everyone off like a "tree full of bees". See where I'm getting at here?

-"all dead white boys say 'God is good'"

To me, this is the biggest clue as to what the song is about: if white boys think God is good, what do "black boys" say? "God is not good"? If so, why would they think that? Sam Beam felt the need to point out that this is what WHITE boys think, not just any boy, so that's not to be ignored. And given that the line holds great importance in the chorus, it's essentially the central line of the whole song.

A dying white boy would think that God is pretty good if he never had to answer for what he did, or believes that he won't in the afterlife either. And that's what the narrator finally "understood": his racist, murdering father died believing he was morally righteous. He'd better not let Lady Edith feel the same way, and since she has just been born, he has all the time in the world to make sure their similarities end in how their limp heads fall (Papa's falling because he just died, Edith's falling because she can't hold her neck up without her father's help).