"Working for the church while your family dies"

I ran across a song that's been haunting me for a while. I present to you Arcade Fire's "Intervention".

For full lyrics, check out this link.

However, you can get the point from the chorus below...

Working for the church
While your family dies
You take what they give you
And you keep it inside
Every spark of friendship and love
Will die without a home
Hear the solider groan, "We'll cry alone"

Note: Arcade Fire is not a Christian group... but I find their lyrics eerie. Reading the entire song, I'm not totally sure what this song is about... I'm still working through it... Any ideas? I'll probably revisit this at some point...

Note2: I do not, in any way, feel like this song. I do not think that while working for the church my family has died.

Note3: Somebody created a music video to Intervention by editing one of my favorite 1920's Russian Films, Battleship Potempkin. This film was shot in Odessa, Ukraine... at some point you'll see people running up and down a series of stairs... I've been there! Anyway, watch the film below:

Comments

[ttm]

Here's a link to an online conversation where fans speculate on the meaning of the song's lyrics: http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858539095

It seems everyone has a different take on the meaning: anti-Bush, anti-Iraq war, helping those in Haiti, and more. One person even suggests that the soldiers going it alone are former churchgoers turned atheists.

I find the lyrics a bit schizophrenic. I'm too tired to think about them tonight, but if you revisit the song in a later post, I'll probably join the conversation with enthusiasm.