Kings of Leon: Pyro Meaning

Song Released: 2010

Pyro Lyrics

Single book of matches, gonna burn whose standing in the way

Burning down the mountain, better call on the fire brigade

Bury all the pictures and tell the kids that I’m ok

Even if I’m forgotten you’ll remember me for a...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Mar 2nd 2011 !⃝

   i think this song is about simply just losing all that you love and everything around you. All that you've ever cared for has just slipped away in the blink of an eye. There is nothing left to do but to burn it all away and start again. Find something more meaningful to hold on to. If we never had these experiences then we wouldn't learn any lessons in life. The Kings of Leon are just trying to tell us to keep moving forward and take one step at a time and just live your life. Its experiences like that, that make us the people we are everyday.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jan 24th 2011 !⃝

   I heard one of the band members talking about the song. It was inspired by an incident where a separatist family had a lethal encounter with the govt. He said this was a story from the perspective of someone who believed in his cause, but came to realize he was a part of the ugliness that he rallied against. Hence, he could not be the cornerstone. I didn't understand if he was talking about the father who endangered his family by being a radical or the FBI agent who was sent to subdue the separatists.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Mar 9th 2011 !⃝

   My interpretation of the cornerstone was a literal cornerstone. The cornerstone of a building is the first stone set and it determines where the rest of the stones on a foundation are set. It determines the position of the entire structure. By saying 'I won't ever be your cornerstone' it seems as though what's being said is that 'I won't ever be the most important piece in your life.' It seems as though most of the rest of the song is how he is abandoning the life where he is never as important as something else.
4. DrDan

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   Mar 7th 2013 !⃝

   I originally thought this was a song describing their disappointment with their father, who is a southern evangelist but also an alcoholic. "I'll never be your cornerstone" reflects the unreliable nature of all alcoholics. If you know what the band's childhood was like, the reference is obvious.
   Unfortunately, my interpretation was totally wrong. In an interview they said it was about (I think it was in Ruby Ridge, MO?) the time the ATF confronted a rural gun-nut, that led to the death of his brother (and wife?). And the gun-nut wants to burn it all down. The end of the song says "watch her roll..." Referring to the fire rolling down the mountain.
   
   The JC interpretation above is totally wrong and totally lame.
   
   Does anyone know what the theme of the video is? Is it about facing Judgement Day? Is it about the sinning of man? Why do the nice people in the video rise first, then the bad people? Shouldn't they have gone to hell? Is it about their sins being forgiven?
5. anonymous

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   May 5th 2012 !⃝

   I heard an interview a while back but don't quote me on the specifics. it is about a supremist religious family that live up on a mountain and the locals go up to confront them and things get out of hand and shots are fired and the family dog is shot and the father wants to go down the mountain and burn everything down. that is where PYRO comes from.
6. anonymous

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   Feb 1st 2012 !⃝

   the lyric at the end says it all, but hes actually saying "watch her roll" not "want your love" or "Whats your roll". lol
   purchase the album before you just assume the lyrics.
   (cause now were both sound like @ssh0l3s :)
7. anonymous

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   Jan 5th 2012 !⃝

   damn they ....the line is i wont ever be your corner stone...
8. anonymous

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   Aug 13th 2011 !⃝

   accepting that everyone disappears, the song is telling us how they feel about letting go and getting us to the change they are faced with and learning to move on. Its hard not to expect what you already know is going to happen.
9. anonymous

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   Aug 8th 2011 !⃝

   But what does pyro mean?
10. anonymous

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    Mar 27th 2011 !⃝

    The comment about the separatist family is correct. One of the members did an interview on Sirius and stated it.
11. anonymous

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    Mar 19th 2011 !⃝

    I personally think this song is truly moving. What my interpretation is getting out of a destructive situation because in the music video, in a bar, a pedophile is with an elementary school girl and getting her drunk, probably to take advantage of her, there is a stripper who looks sickly, a man who stands up for a woman who is being verbally abused by her boyfriend and stands up for him, but is brutally beaten, and a very obese woman with a sick veteran and in the end, the ones in trouble all float away toward a light, what I think symbolizes a new beginning, the girl escaping the pedophile, the stripper doing something better with her life, the man brutally beaten having his wounds healed and the woman he stood up for being OK, and the woman, I believe, passing away, allowing the veteran to get the correct help he needs. It truly is haunting and beautiful and is my favorite Kings of Leon song, for there is so much emotion poured into the lyrics.
12. anonymous

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    Feb 3rd 2011 !⃝

    Getting used to not being used to someone.
13. anonymous

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    Jan 19th 2011 !⃝

    I guess the cornerstone is an allusion to Jesus Christ, who loved unconditionally.(cf.,e.g.:HB Ps 118:22 and others cf.Bible Encyclopedia)
    People aren't able to do that, at least not all the time. They get tired, disappointed and confused, sometimes. The person in the song is at the end of his tether. And in his confusion, loneliness and in a state of separation he shouts out all his despair, by saying that he wants to get rid of everything around him. He wants to burn it all down, he's furious and sad. But eventually he needs love, help and compassion. (Want your love, can you feel it?)
    And there is this saying that those who do not seem to deserve love, need it the most.
    So finally, I think the song is about love and what happens to people if it gets lost.
14. anonymous

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    Jan 18th 2011 !⃝

    Firstly an awesome song the band have really moved on from the storm that was Only By The Night. I think this song is about some one who feels like they are second best in a relation ship. The person here is at a loss with no direction in their life.They want no reminder of what used to be...they are burning it with a box of matches...and they dont even wish to be remembered...they will be forgotten after a day.Its quite dark and pensieve i think. Alot of death metaphorically and realistically emotionally and physically. Great tune, simple but quite deep.
    Stays with you.

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