I believe this song is about Bob's opposition to the Viet Nam war. "Are you sorry when the lights begin to fade. Are you sorry for the promises you made" meaning, looking back, did someone really think was this a good idea. "Forty years ago when I was young", would have made him 20 Y. O. Or so, (the album came out abt. 2006) this was the middle of that war. "The ones that had to fall" were the soldiers that died there, so many went unwillingly. "The jungle not the desert heard the guns" Viet Nam as opposed to the Middle East. "We were told to understand", because nobody did. "Someday you'll be ordered to explain. No one gets to walk between the rain." Someday, someone will have to take ownership for that mess. Of coarse, this is my opinion. Beautiful song by a beautiful man!