In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
If god had a name, what would it be?
And would you call it to his face
if you were faced with Him in all His glory?
What would you ask if you had just one question?
And yeah, yeah, God is great.
Yeah, yeah, God is good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What if god was one of us,
just a slob like one of us,
just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?
If God had a face, what would it look like?
And would you want to see
if seeing meant that you would have to believe
in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints
and all the prophets?
And yeah, yeah, God is great.
Yeah, yeah, God is good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What if god was one of us,
just a slob like one of us,
just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?
Just trying to make his way home, back up to heaven all alone.
Nobody calling on the phone,
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome.
Yeah, yeah, God is great.
Yeah, yeah, God is good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What if god was one of us,
just a slob like one of us,
just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home,
just trying to make his way home, just like a holy rolling stone?
Back up to heaven all alone, just trying to make his way home.
Nobody calling on the phone,
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome.
And would you call it to his face
if you were faced with Him in all His glory?
What would you ask if you had just one question?
And yeah, yeah, God is great.
Yeah, yeah, God is good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What if god was one of us,
just a slob like one of us,
just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?
If God had a face, what would it look like?
And would you want to see
if seeing meant that you would have to believe
in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints
and all the prophets?
And yeah, yeah, God is great.
Yeah, yeah, God is good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What if god was one of us,
just a slob like one of us,
just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?
Just trying to make his way home, back up to heaven all alone.
Nobody calling on the phone,
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome.
Yeah, yeah, God is great.
Yeah, yeah, God is good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What if god was one of us,
just a slob like one of us,
just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home,
just trying to make his way home, just like a holy rolling stone?
Back up to heaven all alone, just trying to make his way home.
Nobody calling on the phone,
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome.
Lyrics submitted by Justa
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this song is awesome. it's about how people always talk about God with such ease and never really think He/She might be the stranger you bumped into and then yelled at. He might be the homeless guy you look at with contempt or the quiet girl in your glass who you pick on, because you want to fit in. This song reminds me how cruel life can be and how lonesome we can get, no matter how wealthy or powerful we are, in the end of the day, when you are all alone in your fancy apartment and have no one to call to and have no friends who would invite you out.
@Chamiga Yelling at strangers? Looking at the homeless with contempt? Bullying? Chamiga most normal people don't do this.
I believe that this song has nothing at all to do with god, instead it has everything to do with people - Christians in particular!
It's "Just trying to make his way home, back up to heaven all alone. Nobody calling on the phone, 'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome." line in the song that does it for me. How do people see god, who is he, what is he? That is the question.
During the times of the plague columns of people would walk through the streets whipping themselves, trying to atone for the sins of the masses with their own pain, as if that would give god some sick satisfaction and make him lift the curse. But what would god really have thought of this public spectacle? During the inquisition people were tortured and burned for not believing. Would god have enjoyed this?
We humans are very good at justifying just about anything to ourselves. I can have that piece of cake if I go for a walk. I can lie on my tax return because the government isn't using the money properly anyway. I can kill these people because GOD told me to. But what would he really think?
What if the guy on the bus was god? How would you treat him? Would you set up a fancy formal function with priests and choirs - removing yourself and hiding away because he is the BIG GUY? How about just talking to him? "What would you ask if you had just one question?", how about 'How are you'?
Ultimately I think the point of the song is if god was just a guy on the bus, would you get to know him? Or just stick with what the church (whichever denomination you identify with) tells you? Maybe god is alone, nobody calling on the phone, because nobody can be bothered getting to know him anymore.
Just my thoughts.
I like your thoughts :)
Thank you. This is the best interpretation of the song that I found. Even though this seems like a Christian song, it is equally applicable to other religions if we replace the references to Jesus and Pope with similar instances from other religions. The central message of the song is:<br /> <br /> What would you do if God was standing right next to you ("a slob like one of us? Just a stranger on the bus...") and you did not know? Would you just ignore him and go about your everyday life, as many of us would? Would you run back to your church/mosque/temple and seek him there, even though he was standing next to you? The greatest saints in every religion, like Mother Teresa, are those who found God in "one of us" and devoted their life to serving this "God" rather than the God in the churches, temples, etc. According to the Christian faith, Jesus became "one of us" to serve us. Can we do the same for "one of us"?
I love this song. Mainly because of the uplifting lead guitar line but the words are good too. And I like your thoughts. Like you I am an atheist mainly because of the great historic evils like the inquisition which you allude to. But I don't think all Christians are bound to be bad just because they believe. There are some good ones. <br /> <br /> The crux of this song is the same as the Jesus myth: a being fully a man and fully a god at the same time. An impossibility because man is flawed and god is perfect. This is a really clever ethical paradox and probably the crux of my own belief. I like the idea. <br /> <br /> Being good (or trying to be) for me grows out of really perceiving that we are all just human beings: flawed and pitiful but capable of kindness and compassion. In the song this is the way god is portrayed just a sad lonely guy going home on a bus. Jesus was that guy. Even Christians have to accept that. So this song at the same time challenges Christians. It criticises the pomposity of the Christian hierarchy (saints prophets etc.) by comparing it to the humble man (god) on the bus. But at the same time it asks you to feel sympathy for him. Sympathy is a form of love. To a Christian having sympathy for God has to precede having sympathy for a human (you cannot love man or yourself without first loving god.) But the song seems to put it the other way round. You are asked to think of god as a man not man as a reflection of god. I love this. And the last lines about no-one calling him on the phone (except the pope) are both poignant and witty. It pokes fun at the same time as inviting sympathy.<br /> <br /> I would add a little bit to your conclusion. I agree that this song is challenging the listener to think how they would treat god if he was just like another guy and they met him on the bus. But it could also be challenging us to query the existence of god himself. Is 'god' actually immanent in humanity ? What if god is nothing more than looking with compassion on another human being? <br /> <br /> You may well know the saying 'God is love' I have often seen this incorrectly construed as 'Deus est Amor.' The correct translation is 'Deus est Caritas.' The latin caritas is the word which gives us the modern 'charity' it means love but love in the sense of sympathy/compassion. For me both the soaring music and the tone and sense of the words give rise to feelings of sympathy hope and faith in humanity. Because I too am an atheist I find that very uplifting. I also really like that it presents Christians with the conundrum of deciding whether they feel sympathy for the guy because he is human or because he is divine. I can say both. They can't.
Each person imagines God in a different way. We all have our perspectives about Him/Her/It.
And I know a lot of people think, "If God is so great, how did he let all these wars happen, etc..." TO ME, God didn't go wronge...we we're the ones who made the earth the way it is today. We we're the ones who made the wars, and the inventions, and the hatred, and the love. This is our own outcome. And if God didn't stop the wars...he sure didn't make it worse. Their could have been much more worse outcomes! We are the ones that have to fix these problems because we created it! If God came to our rescue everytime something bad happened...it would be a daily routine to crash airplanes, kill people, etc...because we would know God would fix it.
God is making us stronger...life cant always be meadows filled with daisys and roses...we have to learn how to deal with our problems.
Thats just my conclusion. We all have our perspectives about this topic, and this song was Joane Osborne's. Plus, listing to this song always makes me wonder all the questions she asks.... Plus, I'm just a 12 year old kid who to some people dosin't have an opinion at all. If you're like that...you can just ignore this post. But this is my feeling towred this topic.
I pray that you will grow old still having that perspective of God. because there are so many people who, when they were young, they rely, believe, and have fears on God. but when as time passes by, all what they believe in life is gone.
Not to be a jerk or anything, but how can God exist when there are so many bad things in the world? How can God even be real when he allows people to use him as an execuse to control the masses? In my opinion, religion is a way to control the people, to escape the bad things around you instead of fighting them and pray to something that perhaps doesnt event exist to help them or at least give them a second chance.
@BrokenPiano You posted this 11 years ago. I hope that as a 23 year old, you have maintained and expanded on your views! I was shocked to read your age.
Such a wise perception. I'v e no doubt that you, even years later, are a thoughtful and very wise and compassionate person. Compelling, and relatable, BrokenPiano. Very well done. Thank you.
Somehow, I have trouble seeing this song as simple "yaaay everyone be Christian!", since the song does end with God going off to his heaven all alone, and nobody is calling him on the phone.
It's a condemnation of Christians who say the words but don't actually believe. The ones who forget all about the whole "love your neighbour as yourself" parts of Christianity as they rush to point out how SAVED they are and how they've got a reserved ticket to heaven and you sinners are all going to burn, and we'll stnad up there in heaven and laugh at your misery 'cause that's what good Christians do, and that's what they would do to God if he was just a slob like one of us.
You apparently have not met Christians who don't stand on a street corner and shout about condemning others. We have many layers of believers. It's typical that many believe we are all screaming maniacs who condemn others for not being in our club, because they don't believe in God in the name of His Son, Jesus. It seems you mistakenly assume that all who love Christ are Holy Rollers, yelling and manipulating anyone in their path if they don't believe as we do. The majority of us simply want to share the experience that comes with knowing the Lord. Many people have relief once they know that there's something beyond their understanding that can help them in this crazy world. "Peace on Earth". It means something to Christians.
Just came back from Carrefour, Haiti (Jan. 16,2012)
Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered this song. The Missions workbook we used on our team spoke of how difficult it is to enter another culture, and really identify as one of the people. I think I've learned that a little more, and how what Jesus did for us was so TOTALLY OVER-THE-TOP AWESOME. Our group of Americans, worked alongside Haitians rebuilding from the devastation of the 2010 earthquake during the day, but we went to a safe location at night, with a cot to sleep on. We had people make us food that wouldn't get us sick. We didn't have to go down to the well to pump our bathwater. The facility was guarded while we slept. We had very gracious hosts. But the people we went to help might always be at a distance from us, because we really didn't live in their worlds. We didn't sleep in a tent made of construction tarps, cooking whatever food we might have on smoky charcoal fires. We didn't speak Creole. How would they understand that God's love moved us to reach out to them. We hadn't become one of them, even though we are all in the human family.
God did become one of us (Philippians 2:5-11). He left it all behind to become one of us. Not just being God, He was born of the line of an earthly king, but even that he left behind that too, born as a common man; "a slob like us." He worked daily, and went home sweaty at the end of each day. He got hungry, and felt heat exhaustion. The gospel of John 1:14 says, "And the Word [God] became flesh and dwelt among us, .." Before that, (1:6) "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." Yeah, I think there were (and are still) many who don't want to look him in the face. We tend not to want to be distracted from our pursuits, by his inconvenient presence.
In one of the comments, someone said something about this as just a hypothetical thing, which IF you believed in God, it might have meaning. This too is one of the points of the song; "And without faith it is impossible to please him [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)
Is God still one of us?
Jesus himself says he is. (Matthew 25:31-46) v.45 "Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one one the least of these, you did not do it to me.'" He identifies himself with the face of the poor. In Genesis 1:27, "So God [says he] created man in his own image [with his face], in the image of God [with his face] he created him, male and female he created them." Did you ever use the expression, "They all look alike." Well, if we were looking at frogs or hamsters it might be easier for us to understand. Nevertheless, with all the uniqueness and individuality that God has imparted to people, we all look alike. Your face is his face, the same as those that mother Theresa cared for, or the same as you might encounter today. Will you see the face of God in them, and be struck with AWE.
I'm so glad the rest of the message isn't pessimistic, that God is only listening to the Pope, maybe. He hears me too, and all who will draw near to him by faith. Hebrews is a great book in the Bible, saying of Jesus, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:15,16) The stuff gets much better after that!!! Read on.
I'm so glad to remember the song this morning.
bitter huh daf?
god is great but are you willing to believe it ? lotsa ppl say no cos they've never see him and that he lets bad stuff happen what if one day he came up to you and said 'hey im real and im not the baddie" You wouldnt be able to be an atheist or even a sinner, could you handle that ? God gave us free will to stuff up and do anything we like, thats why he's not one of us . it would be an invasion of the right he has given us.
God is nothing like you or me God is great .
This song has always amazed me from d 1st time I heard it. This song to me speaks to us human beings and us putting God as mystical, celestial being . It makes us think about how we threat our fellow men. The lines "What if god was one of us, just a slob like one of us, just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?" makes us wonder how would we feel if God was just like us? Walking the same streets as us and facing the same trials were facing... This song comforts me in a sense it makes remember that I am not alone in this world..:)
I'm not a Christian, but I feel the same way about this song. Despite its references to Jesus, Pope, etc. (which you can replace with similar references from other religions), I don't see it as a religious song, but rather, a song about us struggling with our religious identities. The central theme is: what if God is not a immortal, supernatural entity (as you said), but rather just "one of us")? Will we ignore this mortal God ("a slob like one of us", "a stranger on the bus"), and seek our Gods in churches, temples, and mosques once a week? Our faiths tell us that God became "one of us" (Jesus, Muhammed, etc.) to serve us, and the saints that we know (Mother Teresa, etc.) devoted their lives to serving "one of us". Why can't we do the same, instead of fighting religious wars over whose God is better?
@darlene1624 <br /> Yeah I would go along with most of that, people not just those who see themselves as believers or worshippers of Western faith, but the ordinary guy on the street, HOW do we treat each other ? As we would like to be treated of course! That slob on the bus could be us at any time in our life and when we are at our lowest a little compassion or humanity would be most welcome, somewhere along the way most of us have forgotten how to be human to our fellow man or woman, regardless of our faith. I have received some great acts of genorosity and kindness from Muslims, yet suffered pain and suffering fromso called Christians, funny old world sometime!
Okay, I want to add my 2 cents. I'm a christain kid who believes in God, but I don't think this song is nesscessarily talking about whether you believe or not(which everyone is makingit out to be)I think it's about being scared to notice something amazing about someone just because of physical traits. Like, in the song, Joan sings aobut how God might be a lonely slob, and she then says "would you want to see if seeing meant that you would have to believe." Well, to me, that means that we as humans are quick to judge without going deeper into a situation or personality. It's saying, "Would you want to work hard to get past the appearance, or do you want to take the easy way out and just brush him/her/them off?" The whole thing about God might just be the writer's way of emphasizing the rediculousness of bigotry.
I think the song is trying to make God relatable. When religion puts God out of reach, too perfect, too inaccessable, only the Pope can connect. God WAS one of us. That is the point of the incarnation. God got born. Born poor. Soiled his diaper, was an awkward teen, all of it. God knows our condition because he lived it. I think when the chorus says "yeah, yeah God is good" it's being sarcastic. The writer expects a backlash from the people who want to make Jesus a frozen statue again rather than a guy with halitosis in the morning.
I think this song brings people face to face with the realization that GOD is real. This song asks questions of faith and asks the listener do they want to know GOD. I personally love this song it is beautiful and Joan has an awesome voice.