i went to a five for fighting concert last night and John spoke about this song a bit. It's loosely based on a true stroy- he met a father and son one day right before the son was leaving for Iraq. John asked how hard it was for the father, and the father played it off (he fought in vietnam and was a tough guy) but said it was tough for the mother. John knew that it had to be rough for the father too, so he wrote a song talking about a father's worry.
in the song a father learns a soldier in his son's unit has been killed- but he doesn't know if it was his son or not. He can't stand to sit at home and wait for the call, so he goes out on a drive and tells his wife to leave two lights on if the son is alive. At the end of the song when he says 'my eyes burn' it's meant to be either eyes burning from the two lights or eyes burning from the tears of not seeing the two lights. John meant to leave it open because he said "some stories have happy endings and some do not"
but, the day before the concert, John heard from the father who inspired the song and found out that the son had served his time safely in Iraq and was safe at home. so i guess there were two lights.
i went to a five for fighting concert last night and John spoke about this song a bit. It's loosely based on a true stroy- he met a father and son one day right before the son was leaving for Iraq. John asked how hard it was for the father, and the father played it off (he fought in vietnam and was a tough guy) but said it was tough for the mother. John knew that it had to be rough for the father too, so he wrote a song talking about a father's worry.
in the song a father learns a soldier in his son's unit has been killed- but he doesn't know if it was his son or not. He can't stand to sit at home and wait for the call, so he goes out on a drive and tells his wife to leave two lights on if the son is alive. At the end of the song when he says 'my eyes burn' it's meant to be either eyes burning from the two lights or eyes burning from the tears of not seeing the two lights. John meant to leave it open because he said "some stories have happy endings and some do not"
but, the day before the concert, John heard from the father who inspired the song and found out that the son had served his time safely in Iraq and was safe at home. so i guess there were two lights.