This truly is an amazing song! I couldn't get it out of my head for days! Personally, I'm not quite sure what the song is about, but a friend of mine is convinced that this song is about the war in Iraq. And when listening to t he lyrics, bearing this in mind, it does seem to ''fit''.
''my brother dreaming of a new land'' i.e. a young soldier (the fictitious brother of the narrator?) who is still hopefull and excited about ''the new land'' that he will visit. I can imagine that the idea of travelling to such a completly different part of the world might be appealing if you're a 'dreamer'.
''where the rivers'' could possibly be a direct reference to Iraq, the country lies between two mayor rivers (Eufrates& Tigris) and was known in ancient times as: Mesopotamia (''in between rivers'' from the greek words ''mesos''and ''potamos'')
The ''don't have to go'' could be that the narrator doesn't want to lose his brther in the war, and then follows the ''i know, you know'' which is a possible flashback to one of their discussions.
''but if you gotta go''; if you really feel that you have to go, then you have my blessing ''safe travels''
''we expect you back'' we hope that you will survive, we want and need you here
''know how to climb a tree, i assume you do'' children climb trees and it looks like the younger brother is still so ''innocent'' and together with the ''dreaming'' in the first line this all gives the feeling that the young man simply doesn't quite know what he is getting himself into.
''it's still a war down there'' is the narrator that tries to warn his brother that being a soldier is not quite what he is expecting, it is not a game like climbing trees.
This truly is an amazing song! I couldn't get it out of my head for days! Personally, I'm not quite sure what the song is about, but a friend of mine is convinced that this song is about the war in Iraq. And when listening to t he lyrics, bearing this in mind, it does seem to ''fit''.
''my brother dreaming of a new land'' i.e. a young soldier (the fictitious brother of the narrator?) who is still hopefull and excited about ''the new land'' that he will visit. I can imagine that the idea of travelling to such a completly different part of the world might be appealing if you're a 'dreamer'. ''where the rivers'' could possibly be a direct reference to Iraq, the country lies between two mayor rivers (Eufrates& Tigris) and was known in ancient times as: Mesopotamia (''in between rivers'' from the greek words ''mesos''and ''potamos'')
The ''don't have to go'' could be that the narrator doesn't want to lose his brther in the war, and then follows the ''i know, you know'' which is a possible flashback to one of their discussions. ''but if you gotta go''; if you really feel that you have to go, then you have my blessing ''safe travels''
''we expect you back'' we hope that you will survive, we want and need you here
''know how to climb a tree, i assume you do'' children climb trees and it looks like the younger brother is still so ''innocent'' and together with the ''dreaming'' in the first line this all gives the feeling that the young man simply doesn't quite know what he is getting himself into.
''it's still a war down there'' is the narrator that tries to warn his brother that being a soldier is not quite what he is expecting, it is not a game like climbing trees.