Mind you, this is all my interpretation
(Verse One)Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin' by
But "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly
First verse is refrence to childhood and the divorce of (the songwriter's) parents.
(Refrain) But I know a place where we can go
That's still untouched by men
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
Doesn't refer to any actual "Place", more of a state of emotional detachment from the world, where the singer, and his (Hers?) lover can be together to forget about the world.
You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
"Best defenses" meaning emotional barriers the lover erects to protect herself from the probable loss of the singer (Likely a soldier). "End of the innocence" is the ending of the childhood part of his life, as the singer moves into the cold, brutal realities of going to war.
(Verse Two)O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie
The second verse is more complex. Line one is taken from the song America the Beautiful. The second line intones that America may not actually be so secure beneath the veneer of security. Line three is the turn (of industry) from the manufacture of consumer goods into munitions, while line four tells of whom gives the order to do so. "Tired old man we elected king" could refer to any political leader, but may also be refrence to big business.
Lines five and six refer to our perception of the military (As America's gift to the world) of being undefeatable, but the truth that we make military mistakes quite often and soldiers (And civilians) die needlessly because of it (Such as was the case in the Viet-Nam conflict, and many more recent ones in the middle-east). The line "Since daddy had to lie" doesn't refer to the songwriters father, the father-figure that the government assumes (
Ala Big Brother).
(verse three)Who knows how long this will last
Now we've come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say goodbye
I dont have an easy interpretation for line one. Lines two through four are about growing pains in society (leaving the past, metaphored by quaint small towns)
The last three lines are the singer's words to his lover, before he says goodbye (and possibly off to war).
