I'm really glad that you are embarking in the sonata arctica journey. This song was written in 1999, and they are still kickin *sses 25 years later. Lot of good music to discover from them!
If you're wondering what happened in the intro, Toni(vocals) was playing a small rib on Jani(guitarist). Toni is supposed to start singing after the first melody plays out but he just sat there looking at Jani instead, so Jani started laughing and repeated the bar
After my divorce many years ago, this song was my "fight song" 😅 They are great live, but it's hard to find good quality of their best songs on yt, at least my favourites because they are almost 20 years old already 🤯 I like their new music too and they are still touring, grey hair and all 😅
I have to mention one really really important aspect you do not hear in the live version of that very album: Normally the song Ends with the first Verse but in the last sentence there is a little change: There he sings: "Before the war I'm the man who lived next door" changes to -> "Before the war I'm the man who lived..." implying that the empty shell he has been after the war, doesnt live a normal life at all anymore. This is by far the best description of how you feel after all that years at war seeing such horrible things...
Also watch the 2008 Wacken version of this song. You can see more of the drummer, he always looks so happy when playing. Sonata Arctica - TALLULAH suomiLOVE (A sad love song performed with an a orchestra in a TV-studio for father and daughter, by her request as a surprice to him. That's the idea of SuomiLOVE, surprise someone dear to you with a song.) Sonata Arctica - MY LAND Masters of Rock 2015
