Landlocked Blues - Bright Eyes (Iraq War)
_Song Lyrics:
If you walk away, I'll walk away First tell me which road you will take I don't want to risk our paths crossing some day So you walk that way, I'll walk this way And the future hangs over our heads And it moves with each current event Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain Just stay in when it's looking this way And the moon's laying low in the sky Forcing everything metal to shine And the sidewalk holds diamonds like the jewelry store case They argue walk this way, no, walk this way And Laura's asleep in my bed As I'm leaving she wakes up and says "I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave Baby don't go away, come here" And there's kids playing guns in the street And ones pointing his tree branch at me So I put my hands up I say "enough is enough, If you walk away, I'll walk away" And he shot me dead I found a liquid cure From my landlocked blues It'll pass away like a slow parade It's leaving but I don't know how soon And the world's got me dizzy again You think after 22 years I'd be used to the spin And it only feels worse when I stay in one place So I'm always pacing around or walking away I keep drinking the ink from my pen And I'm balancing history books up on my head But it all boils down to one quotable phrase If you love something, give it away A good woman will pick you apart A box full of suggestions for your possible heart But you may be offended and you may be afraid But don't walk away, don't walk away We made love on the living room floor With the noise in the background of a televised war And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say "If we walk away, they'll walk away" But greed is a bottomless pit And our freedom's a joke We're just taking a piss And the whole world must watch the sad comic display If you're still free start running away Cause we're coming for you! I've grown tired of holding this pose I feel more like a stranger each time I come home So I'm making a deal with the devils of fame Saying "let me walk away, please" You'll be free child once you have died From the shackles of language and measurable time And then we can trade places, play musical graves Till then walk away, walk away So I'm up at dawn Putting on my shoes I just want to make a clean escape I'm leaving but I don't know where to I know I'm leaving but I don't know where to |
Commentary
Landlocked Blues, written by Conor Oberst, is an anti-war song directed towards the Iraq War. This song expresses the loss and sorrow of war with deep and profound language.
The lyrics convey a sense of loneliness, and weave a clear message of Obersts thoughts on the war through words that tell a story of the effects war has on those who have been through its horrors. Throughout the song, the lyrics are dynamic and strong, and draw me into the song, and into the message Oberst is trying to communicate. However these lyrics in particular capture my attention: "And I'm balancing history books up on my head But it all boils down to one quotable phrase If you love something, give it away .... But greed is a bottomless pit And our freedom's a joke We're just taking a piss And the whole world must watch the sad comic display If you're still free start running away Cause we're coming for you!" The power in these words make these lyrics stand out to me most. Oberst is singing about the spread of America's ideals and way of life, and how we impose this on other countries without respecting them as an independent nation. The phrase "if you love something, give it away" presents this primary idea of imposition clearly, in language that is simple, but profound. If one has something that they believe is "right", it should be shared. Later in the song, Oberst sings "If you're still free start running away....", and this represents the second part of this idea; the imposition. We, as America have forced upon nations our ideals, because we believe that they are "right", and he exposes this in his song. He says that our greed, and our hunger for resources and profit push America to try and empress these ideals upon other nations, "...we're coming for you!" Landlocked Blues strongly communicates a feeling of loss as a major point throughout the song, and this portrays the Iraq war as poignant and saddening; the men that have gone into this war have lost themselves, they are dizzy, and confused without any direction in life; almost as if they are a shell of what they once were. The phrase "walk away" reappears countless times throughout the song, which suggests a sense that these soldiers have no choice but to walk away; they have nothing left. This message clearly gives the listener a feel of the power behind this anti-war song. The Iraq War was mainly supported through the Bush doctrine, which stated that America needed to fight for the freedom of Iraq, and that it was necessary for America to take preemptive defense actions, and do whatever it took to free the people of Iraq. Landlocked Blues states that this foreign policy is hypocritical and untruthful in the lyrics mentioned above. The lyrics say that America uses the fight against communism and the fight for freedom of other nations as an excuse to invade Iraq; a weaker and communistic nation. The lyrics about running away convey a strong feeling of bitterness towards the listener, and I think that this bitterness originates in the foreign policy of the Iraq was, and how it was abused. The Bush doctrine states that the war was a preemptive strike of defense, and that to preserve the safety of the U.S., we needed to strike before new problems and danger arose. However these accusations of Iraq producing weaponry turned out to be false, which led to outrage and the bitterness we hear in the powerful, strong lyrics of Landlocked Blues. Landlocked Blues emphasizes the loss and emptiness of veterans and soldiers returning from the war, and directly answers how war affects the individual. The lyrics "I've grown tired of holding this post I feel more like a stranger each time I come home" drive home the message that the war tears at the mentality of individuals in the war, and dehumanizes them to the point where they feel like a stranger with their old life. Not only does war leave them emotionally and mentally scarred, this song expresses the sense that those who live are free only once they have died, because they have no language, no words to put into sense their experiences and their torn apart life. They can not escape reality, and that reality to them is unbearable. Overall, Landlocked Blues captures the essence of the loss in war in a powerful and poetic but still simple way in what I feel is one of the most powerful and true war songs I have heard. I agree with the message with this song not only because I am against war, but because the naked truth of the horrors of war are exposed in this song in a way that makes me think about war in a different way. Landlocked Blues is an influential war song in which the music and lyrics interweave to create a hugely authentic and original recreation of what it is like to be helplessly alive and angry. - Chloe Weinstock |