Act III: Life and Death - The Dear Hunter
Track List:
Writing On A Wall
In Cauda Venenum
What It Means To Be Alone
The Tank
The Poison Woman
The Thief
Mustard Gas
Saved
He Said He Had A Story
The Beautiful Life
Go Get Your Gun
Son
Father
Life And Death
In the beginning:
Curious where this goes. A quick glance at the title I suspect the main character will be going to become a combatant in WWI. I will not have an uninterrupted listen today, rather I am starting at 7:30 AM and will hopefully finish on my lunch break. As time is limited; time to listen.
Writing On A Wall
Perhaps foreshadowing what is to come, mentions of war and the boy being prepared for it
In Cauda Venenum
We are at war. I thought that there might be some time between the start and when we entered the war but I was wrong. The main character questions humanity and reasons for war, acknowledging that the combatants are but pawns played in a game by the politicians. The song ends with thoughts of Ms. Leading. What a rush!
What It Means To Be Alone
The main character is horrified at the cruelty of war. Towards the end of the song he looks to heaven and accuses god of turning their back on humanity.
The Tank
The boy’s unit gets into a battle with a tank and he realizes that he has to choose between fleeing and abandoning his position or stay with his unit and die.
The Poison Woman
This song spins the tale of a serial killer who poisons her victims by tricking them into ingesting poison. Perhaps she targets soldiers who are lost? Not sure about the end of the song. She seems to have some sort of crisis of consciousness and gives away some of the poison.
The Thief
Another new character? The thief. Appears this person has been raiding the killing fields and the abandoned towns.
Mustard Gas
The boy has encountered mustard gas. He is horrified by this and again questions god. He reasons why an omnipresent being allows something like this to exist.
Saved
The boy is injured, unclear what the injury is, perhaps residual effects from the mustard gas. The boy realizes he can give up and just wait for the embrace of death or he can continue to fight and survive. He chooses to continue to fight. The song ends ominously wondering how the boy’s soul will be after the experience he has had. We then get a jingle about the chain of command with the leader being the first lady.
He Said He had A Story
A story about an encounter with a prostitute. Perhaps this was at The Dime. I don’t think it was an encounter the boy had with a prostitute rather I think this was a soldier’s tale perhaps. The interaction between the John and the prostitute doesn’t seem like it was the boy given the aggressiveness and lack of care from the John.
The Beautiful Life
I think the boy has become upset at the other soldier’s talk about the encounter with the prostitute. He is enraged and contemplates murdering the other soldier.
Go Get Your Gun
A song sang by soldiers trying to justify their actions and existence in this current conflict.
Son
So it appears that they are burying someone.
Father
I think that the John from He Said He Had A Story is perhaps the father, both of the soldier who died and was buried in Son but also of the boy. I think He Said He Had A Story was actually the tale of the transaction that led to the boy’s birth. So Son would be about burying the boy’s half brother. The first lines talk about the soldier’s mother finding out about the boy. The song ends with perhaps a plan to kill the father. Perhaps plans to meet the half brother’s mother. Lots of speculation here, he might try to impersonate the son.
Life And Death
I think this is the end of the war, there was life and death. The boy is reflecting upon his actions and inactions in the war and contemplating how it will affect his future.
Fascinating…
I am still really enjoying this and I am a bit upset that I’ve only got 2 more albums. I am curious as to what happens when the boy decides to meet his father’s wife. I am assuming the soldier he met on the battlefield just so happened to be his father who bragged about his encounter with his mother. I do think I missed a part of the story about a prophecy or something but I will learn more about that when I have finished the albums and search for lore explorations.
