According to Rohin Jones of The Middle East, who wrote the song:
"verse one.
my mothers father killed himself when she was ten years old. her upbringing before that event was hellish to put it kindly. her father and sister were schizophrenic, which meant the money and attention of her mother and family was poured into them. she and her sister had severe malnutrition and health problems. her fathers tore her fences down is a picture of the effect of that event (and another) which stripped her of her ability to function as a person. when i was 17 my family had been going through hell for about 7 years at a particular church. ma was working about 50 hours a week for nothing in a pretty vulnerable environment under a person who i guess was a father figure. and dad was working as a groundsman for next to nothing. that environment had a similar effect on her as her upbringing. this is the second father. (in the lyric it is fathers). after a particularly damaging incident ma came home locked her self in her room with a packet of panadol and a plastic bag and was going to kill herself. the thought of her fathers suicide and the effects it had on her and her love for me and my siblings was the only thing she said stopped her. she only told me a couple years later.
the song is about the few incidents in my life where love has been truely communicated to me. i may share more in the future."
According to Rohin Jones of The Middle East, who wrote the song:
"verse one. my mothers father killed himself when she was ten years old. her upbringing before that event was hellish to put it kindly. her father and sister were schizophrenic, which meant the money and attention of her mother and family was poured into them. she and her sister had severe malnutrition and health problems. her fathers tore her fences down is a picture of the effect of that event (and another) which stripped her of her ability to function as a person. when i was 17 my family had been going through hell for about 7 years at a particular church. ma was working about 50 hours a week for nothing in a pretty vulnerable environment under a person who i guess was a father figure. and dad was working as a groundsman for next to nothing. that environment had a similar effect on her as her upbringing. this is the second father. (in the lyric it is fathers). after a particularly damaging incident ma came home locked her self in her room with a packet of panadol and a plastic bag and was going to kill herself. the thought of her fathers suicide and the effects it had on her and her love for me and my siblings was the only thing she said stopped her. she only told me a couple years later.
the song is about the few incidents in my life where love has been truely communicated to me. i may share more in the future."