I have been lucky enough to see Brett preform 4 times (and even got to meet him), and before one of his shows, he went on a local radio station to talk and sing a few songs. The radio host asked him about this song, and he explained a lot of it, including the first part when he's talking about being in the plane. The news that he hears about was finding out the results of the previous election- and it made his hear fall to the floor. The feeling was mixed among his counterparts on the plane. As indyflip has discovered, a lot of his writing it quite literal, and to me, this simplicity makes his songs all the more honest and beautiful.
The second verse makes my heart explode every time I hear it because I can so identify with the nearly unbearable shame and sadness; unable to see why people just don't understand some things, like the stupidity of war, inequlity, etc., (he also expresses this in songs like I Asked When and Ain't No Reason)... yet somehow managing to find hope in humanity; knowing that if we tried, we could make "a better life than this".
I have been lucky enough to see Brett preform 4 times (and even got to meet him), and before one of his shows, he went on a local radio station to talk and sing a few songs. The radio host asked him about this song, and he explained a lot of it, including the first part when he's talking about being in the plane. The news that he hears about was finding out the results of the previous election- and it made his hear fall to the floor. The feeling was mixed among his counterparts on the plane. As indyflip has discovered, a lot of his writing it quite literal, and to me, this simplicity makes his songs all the more honest and beautiful. The second verse makes my heart explode every time I hear it because I can so identify with the nearly unbearable shame and sadness; unable to see why people just don't understand some things, like the stupidity of war, inequlity, etc., (he also expresses this in songs like I Asked When and Ain't No Reason)... yet somehow managing to find hope in humanity; knowing that if we tried, we could make "a better life than this".