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download Still A Mile Till Dawn at download stores HERE and on Bandcamp HERE
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download the album Country Side at download stores HERE and on Bandcamp HERE
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Country Side is produced by and with lyrics by Paul Robert Thomas, and with music licensed for use exclusively to Paul Robert Thomas
“Still A Mile Till Dawn” is a poetic and urgent meditation on a society in decay, shadowed by war, disillusionment, and looming transformation. Below is a detailed synopsis of the lyrics, examining the themes, imagery, and emotional core of the piece.
“Still A Mile Till Dawn” unfolds like a cinematic journey through a broken world teetering on the edge of reckoning. It blends apocalyptic imagery with personal confrontation, social critique, and a haunting sense of time running out. The song explores the tension between memory and forward momentum, mourning and resistance, as it moves through surreal, symbolic landscapes haunted by war, deceit, and institutional failure.
Opening Verse:
Take off your dirty halo / Your broken wings too / Stoke up the volcano / I got something to say to you
The song opens with a confrontational call to strip away false sanctity and illusions of purity (“dirty halo”) and victimhood or martyrdom (“broken wings”). The speaker demands raw truth and readiness for upheaval—signaled by “stoke up the volcano,” an image of latent, explosive emotion or revolution.
Second Verse:
Your hat’s full of confetti / Red poppies on the graves / Reading the tombstone graffiti / Fading from another age
This verse juxtaposes the frivolity of celebration (“confetti”) with solemn remembrance (“red poppies”—a reference to war dead). The “tombstone graffiti” suggests forgotten voices or warnings from the past, now eroding. There’s a sense that history’s lessons are being ignored or misremembered.
Refrain:
There is no time to mourn / We’ve got a mile until dawn
A powerful motif. “No time to mourn” emphasizes urgency over grief—resistance or change cannot wait. “A mile until dawn” becomes a metaphor for the final stretch before revelation, transformation, or catastrophe. Dawn, normally a symbol of hope, here carries the weight of consequence.
Middle Verses:
These verses move through a broader social and political landscape:
Cornfields and Streets:
Ravens in the cornfield / Gamblers on the streets / Looking for a good deal / To help them fall on their feet
“Ravens” evoke omens of death; gamblers represent desperation or risk in uncertain times. There’s a scavenger-like sense to these figures—everyone is trying to survive in a morally ambiguous world.
Swallowing Big Words:
Getting fat on big words / Swallowing all they say / But they’ve been misheard / On this Memorial Day
This critiques propaganda, hollow rhetoric, and miscommunication. “Memorial Day” adds layers of irony—honoring the dead while repeating old mistakes, numbed by empty platitudes.
Storm and Repetition:
No refuge from the storm / And still a mile until dawn
Reinforces the oncoming reckoning. The storm is emotional, social, even spiritual. And yet the journey—this mile—remains incomplete.
Rooftops and Riots:
Running over rooftops / A faked crash scene below / Baiting the riot cops / Who sold out long ago
Becomes part of the rebellion—evading surveillance, defying corrupt authority. The “faked crash scene” symbolizes manipulated tragedy or distraction tactics, while the riot cops are no longer agents of justice but complicit.
Nuns seeking asylum / Truth’s in short supply / Prison inmates smiling / Wearing that old school tie
This section offers dark, surreal imagery of institutions collapsing or inverting. Nuns (symbols of morality) are now refugees. Truth is scarce. And the “old school tie” worn by prisoners alludes to elite privilege and corruption—perhaps the real criminals are those in power.
So many still to warn / Only a mile until dawn
The repetition here builds emotional momentum. The warning is urgent and widespread. The speaker feels both responsibility and helplessness in the face of impending change.
The song returns to its first lines and images, emphasizing cyclical patterns—false purity, forgotten history, and the ever-looming crisis. But the repeated final line—“We’ve got a mile until dawn”—now carries more weight. It implies that despite all the decay, warning, and struggle, something—possibly redemption, reckoning, or revelation—is just on the horizon.
The song builds toward a metaphorical dawn—possibly societal collapse or awakening—suggesting a race against time.
Decay of Institutions: Repeated imagery of broken authority (riot cops, corrupt elites) implies institutional failure.
Memory and War: References to poppies, tombstones, and Memorial Day critique how societies remember and misremember history.
Resistance and Awareness: There’s a call to strip away illusions, confront truth, and sound the alarm before it’s too late.
“Still A Mile Till Dawn” is a compelling poetic narrative that functions like a protest song wrapped in mythic imagery and cinematic atmosphere. It confronts the listener with a sense of spiritual and political urgency, warning that the time for passivity has long passed. There’s still a mile left—but dawn, for better or worse, is coming.
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Still A Mile Till Dawn lyrics
Take off your dirty halo
Your broken wings too
Stoke up the volcano
I got something to say to you
I got something to say to you
Your hat’s full of confetti
Red poppies on the graves
Reading the tombstone graffiti
Fading from another age
From another age
There is no time to mourn
We’ve got a mile until dawn
There’s Ravens in the cornfield
There’s gamblers on the streets
Looking for a good deal
To help them fall on their feet
Getting fat on big words
Swallowing all they say
But they’ve been misheard
On this Memorial Day
No refuge from the storm
And still a mile until dawn
A mile until dawn
A mile until dawn
Running over rooftops
A faked crash scene below
Baiting the riot cops
Who sold out long ago
Nuns seeking asylum
Truth’s in short supply
Prison inmates smiling
Wearing that old school tie
That old school tie
So many still to warn
Only a mile until dawn
So many still to warn
Only a mile until dawn
So many still to warn
Only a mile until dawn
So many still to warn
Only a mile until dawn
Take off your dirty halo
Your broken wings too
Stoke up the volcano
I got something to say to you
I got something to say to you
Your hat’s full of confetti
Red poppies on the graves
Reading the tombstone graffiti
Fading from another age
There is no time to mourn
We’ve got a mile until dawn
We’ve got a mile until dawn
We’ve got a mile until dawn
A mile until dawn
Paul Robert Thomas
PRS Tunecode 712463EM
ISWC T-331.531.290-0
from COUNTRY SIDE, released March 31, 2025
Produced by and with lyrics by Paul Robert Thomas, and with music
licensed for use exclusively to Paul Robert Thomas
all rights reserved
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