Rise Against: Hero Of War Meaning
Song Released: 2009
Hero Of War Lyrics
Have you seen the world?
Well, what would you say
If I said that you could?
Just carry this gun and you’ll even get paid.”
I said, “That sounds pretty good.”
Black leather boots
Spit-shined so bright
They cut off my hair...
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I think the lyrics for this song is pretty straight forward. I take it to be an anti-war song simply for the fact of what war does to a person placed in it. The whole song gives the listener imagery of what goes on during war and the things soldiers go through. Once soldiers come back people\families just see them as "Heroes of war" not knowing the trauma that they went through. This is a very touching song and should be an anthem for anyone that is put in war. Gave me goosebumps from beginning to end.
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More vietnam veterans killed themselves after the war than the amount that died in it, due to the realisation of all the terror and death they caused the innocent.
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I don't think that this song is insulting soldiers but more of telling everyone what they actually go through when they're away from home and fighting for people that they don't even know. The last time they sing the refrain, they say "a Hero of War, is that what they see? Just medals and scars..." A lot of people don't actually understand what soldiers go through. they live things and see things that ordinary people can never even start to comprehend. This song is ding anything but insulting soldiers!
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He enlist in the army to see the world not knowing the details of what he has to do.
When he gets there he's shown what he needs to do and learn.
He thinks the task is easy enough that he'll be able to go home and just claim being a hero.
Then its easy to show the transition from mindless soldier to a person with feeling
Then he joins in and he loses his morals as he joins in.
But after the accident with the woman he regrets it all because he didnt know what to expect.
The song isnt saying dont join the military its sayin know what youre fighting for and dont lose your self -
His song is about peace maybe? Like the only flag he trusts and loves is the white flag? Idk
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The interpretations of this song seem rather accurate. But it sounds more like an intimidation.. Or.. Scare.. To the man called 'son'. I think in-fact the entire story past the first verse is told by the person that called the man 'son' and could maybe have been due to the kid wanting to join the army.. Then this guy(well say soldier) convinces him not too.. In a sense then reliving his experience. I get this by the restated phrase at the end.. ' First two lines of the lyric'. It almost poses the idea that the entire lyric was the soldier reliving his past.. Then turning back to the man ahead. Wanting to join the army. All like.. Are you sure you wanna go through that ? .. Type thing. it's just how i viewed it. The soldier being a father, or soldier, or whtnot doesn't matter.. Just i see it as its that mans story all through. And the singer is just animating his story as a flip to 1st person in the verses?
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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As a soldier all you see is terror and sure you may shoot someone that is inocent but you didn't know and that's what gets to you is knowing that you have done stuff that you know isn't right you feel horrible have post stress disorder and it goes downhill from there unless you talk to someone about it but you have all those medals and scars that keep reminding you of those terrible times and that sure they think you are a hero bit truely you don't feel like you are at all
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Now before I start I just want to say I'm completely with the troops. I love America and the troops I'm not trying to bash them
ok the way I look at it when he says
"he said, “son,
have you seen the world?
well, what would you say
if I said that you could?"
he's clearly talking about a recruiter
talk to him about the military hes not trying to trick him iv have talked to a marine recruiter before and this is just part of what a recruiter might say and when he says
"just carry this gun and you’ll even get paid.”"
He's just giving you a quick summary of what they talk about
of course the next part is talking about boot camp
"black leather boots
spit-shined so bright
they cut off my hair but it looked alright
we marched and we sang
we all became friends
as we learned how to fight"
Then he sings the chorus saying then he's excited about joining
"a hero of war
yeah that’s what i’ll be
and when I come home
they’ll be damn proud of me
i’ll carry this flag
to the grave if I must
because it’s flag that I love
and a flag that I trust"
then he talks about a mission to capture one of the enemies
"i kicked in the door I yelled my commands
the children, they cried
but I got my man
we took him away
a bag over his face
from his family and his friends"
Then he talks about the interrogation and how they beat him for information
as he watches what they do he starts to wonder whether what he's doing is right or wrong but then just pushes those feeling aside and joins in on the beating.
"they took off his clothes
they pissed in his hands I told them to stop
but then I joined in
we beat him with guns
and batons not just once
but again and again"
Then as he tries to convince himself its all worth it says
"a hero of war
yeah that’s what i’ll be
and when I come home
they’ll be damn proud of me
i’ll carry this flag
to the grave if I must
because it’s flag that I love
and a flag that I trust"
Then he talks about some rioting they are trying to stop as he sees a girl coming towards him.
"she walked through bullets and haze I asked her to stop I begged her to stay"
But when she doesn't stop he's forced to shoot her.
"but she pressed on
so I lifted my gun
and I fired away"
as he watches her drop dead he starts wondering once again whether what he is doing is worth it *side note when he refers to the white flag its meaning she surrenders he live for he country*
"the shells jumped through the smoke
and into the sand
that the blood now had soaked
she collapsed with a flag in her hand
a flag white as snow"
Then he sings about how when he gets home and how he doesn't fell like a hero he just fells like they just praise him for his medals and scars and dont really care about how he got them or what he went through
"a hero of war
is that what they see
just medals and scars
so damn proud of me
and I brought home that flag
now it gathers dust
but it’s a flag that I love
it’s the only flag I trust"
overall I think the song is just talking about all the crap the soldiers go though and for what just more war and people who don't really care what they went through just that it was done
I think rise against is just trying to raise awareness for what the soldier really do and what they have to go through to do it -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I believe the song is about one of 2 things. 1) doing things you are not proud of to save your country. or 2) how us as civilians look at them as heroes but all they see is terror. of what happened in Iraq/Iran.
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I heard the song is about the lead singer's brother and all the war stories that his brother told him. Also about how people just see the glory and none of the pain or think of what it's like to kill people.
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Also when he says the white flag is the only flag he trusts he is saying he is not loyal to any flag except for a white flag that symbolizes peace
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The first verse is an army recruiter persuading the character to fight in whatever war is currently going on. The second verse sounds like the abuse of a POW. The third verse is about said soldier in the battlefield and he sees a woman he orders her to stop, but she ignores him, possibly because she doesn't trust him. He fires at her because he thinks the woman is a threat to his life so he kills her. He then notices that she drops a flag. It was a white flag meaning a flag of surrender. He feels guilty and dissillusioned with the heroism of the war because he has killed an innocent person. This is my interpretation of this song
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I really find this song quite confronting. It arises issues that sometimes are hidden or masked by the media and our own knowledge on war.
I presented this to my English/Literature teacher also and she was very taken aback.
This song (in my personal idea) represents a young man who is being approached by a officer or troop and asked whether he has traveled, and what about if he could. Its a interesting way of beginning the 'story'.
The young man later goes to war and witnesses it firsthand, at first being a little wary of how the troops are treating the 'enemy', but later joins in with his fellow comrades seeing as just another part of war - in reference to "But then I joined in"
After he fires at the lady and sees the white flag she was baring with her, it's a kind of wake up call about what they're doing and how it's wrong.
I believe the flag at the end of the song is the one the lady had and he was keeping it as a reminder about what he had done.
People that go to war, don't return quite the way they were originally. It affects them both physically and mentally. I don't personally believe that war is the answer, I just hope we find an alternative..
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