I think this song is far more personal to James than being about soldiers off to war but everyone is entitled to their interpretation. It has a great dream like quality, rich in symbolism. Ultimately it is about James' feelings toward his mother. Remember that he starts the song addressing his mother.
There is a tradition where a lighted candle is lit and left in the window to help travellers find their way back home. In this song it sets a metaphor of the home being the family and the love that holds the family together. That love keeps a person returning to their family, their mother, throughout the journey of life. The travelers represent the author who like all children sets out on the journey of life looking to be cared for. A hero is someone who saves you, protects you and cares for you. This also the role of a mother. The Hero of the Day that he seeks is his mother.
But in this case something is wrong because the window itself is lit on fire suggesting that the person at home is over zealous in their desire for the travellers to return. Their love could actually destroy the home. The idea of being overwhelmed by his mother's love is common in James lyrics, like the Apron strings around his neck in Mama Said or the fury he feels in Dyer's Eve. And just as in Dyer's Eve he feels unprepared to face the world due to being sheltered from it by his mother, James expresses that same fear and anger toward his mother because now that he is on this journey and she is gone he feels vulnerable to the world and worries that he may fall by someone's wicked ways. He wonders if his mother can hear her baby crying, does she know the pain he feels? All he can hear is her sighing. Now that she is dead all that remains is the whispers of her voice in her mind.
As the song progresses you feel that transition from the soothing mellow intro that is like being cradled by his mother's love to that furious anger expressed as the music breaks into the verse about the dreams and the waking screams which is him living through the pain and anger he feels toward a mother he can no longer reconcile with. And then of course the song ends with the repetition of the whole point of the song, that the world is trying to break him and his need to feel her love again. Always James wants love but is afraid of it because love is control to him.
I think this song is far more personal to James than being about soldiers off to war but everyone is entitled to their interpretation. It has a great dream like quality, rich in symbolism. Ultimately it is about James' feelings toward his mother. Remember that he starts the song addressing his mother.
There is a tradition where a lighted candle is lit and left in the window to help travellers find their way back home. In this song it sets a metaphor of the home being the family and the love that holds the family together. That love keeps a person returning to their family, their mother, throughout the journey of life. The travelers represent the author who like all children sets out on the journey of life looking to be cared for. A hero is someone who saves you, protects you and cares for you. This also the role of a mother. The Hero of the Day that he seeks is his mother.
But in this case something is wrong because the window itself is lit on fire suggesting that the person at home is over zealous in their desire for the travellers to return. Their love could actually destroy the home. The idea of being overwhelmed by his mother's love is common in James lyrics, like the Apron strings around his neck in Mama Said or the fury he feels in Dyer's Eve. And just as in Dyer's Eve he feels unprepared to face the world due to being sheltered from it by his mother, James expresses that same fear and anger toward his mother because now that he is on this journey and she is gone he feels vulnerable to the world and worries that he may fall by someone's wicked ways. He wonders if his mother can hear her baby crying, does she know the pain he feels? All he can hear is her sighing. Now that she is dead all that remains is the whispers of her voice in her mind.
As the song progresses you feel that transition from the soothing mellow intro that is like being cradled by his mother's love to that furious anger expressed as the music breaks into the verse about the dreams and the waking screams which is him living through the pain and anger he feels toward a mother he can no longer reconcile with. And then of course the song ends with the repetition of the whole point of the song, that the world is trying to break him and his need to feel her love again. Always James wants love but is afraid of it because love is control to him.