"Sixteen Military Wives" by the Decemberists

This song is literally about people dying and pain it causes other people, and other people not caring. Its theme is that people are losing sight of important things because they are becoming so superficial and self-centered. The news is reporting things we don't need to know. Celebrities are too wrapped up in themselves to actually care about things. All this is happening while people are losing their families to war and disease and various other things. The music is light and happy which contrasts with the heavier lyrics. The cannibal kings represent normal people who are taking in the destroyed celebrities and desolate military wives as fuel to entertain themselves and (per se) quench their thirst.