| Falling Up – Intro The Gravity Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The chorus leads me to believe that this song could be an account of the Genesis flood: This is oceans in. Races start again. Cause you want everything. The "oceans in" line representing the flood itself. "Races start again" representing the split of tribes and tongues, along with the geographical separation caused by the flood. "Cause you want everything" representing roots of sin (pride, discontentment, etc) and man's attitude, correlating to God's desire to wipe the earth clean with flood waters. |
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| Jack Johnson – It's All Understood Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Warning: Long Explanation :) This song, like most art, has a direct meaning to the artist and several interpretations to the viewer/reader/listener. I find Jack Johnson to be a complex individual that constantly addresses the subject of God, Heaven and his own existence in his music. To me, this song actually rides a religious undertone all throughout. He begins by relating his concept to simple examples before revealing his feelings. It's definitely one of my favorites. I'll give my interpretations (pronounced: opinions), followed by the verse to give you the chance to read his words from a different viewpoint. In verse 1: Jack gives the listener an example of his point with a simple metaphor. He likens his faith to the event of seeing a joke in a movie preview. In the case of a comedy, as you sit in the movie theater there is an idea that what the rest of the audience finds to be humorous, is in fact 'funny'. In all actuality, 'funny' things are subject to individual interpretation and cannot be bound to fact; just like the word 'good'. What's good to me may be bad to you, therefore what I find to be good, can not be considered 'good' in general. 'Funny' is a also relative concept. At this movie, everyone is laughing at a joke that may or not have been funny to them (or even understood), but they laugh because this part of the movie is generally thought of as humorous. Jack tells this story as if he found the joke to be boring and has already heard it in the preview, however, knowing that the joke is 'supposed' to be funny, he'll laugh anyway. Furthermore as an audience, even if we didn't understand why or how it was funny, let's believe it is and laugh anyway. After all, everybody says that this part is supposed to be very funny, so we generally accept it as truth and react accordingly. [Everyone laughed at her joke, as if they’d never even heard it before. And maybe they were truly amused but every word that she spoke was a bore. And maybe it’s because they had seen the previews on the TV screen. Well this part is good and that’s well understood so you should laugh if you know what I mean. But its all relative even if you don’t understand. Well its all understood, especially when you don’t understand. And its all just because, even if we don’t understand, then let’s all just believe.] In verse 2: Jack continues to build upon his point about faith and religion. He simpliies a very complex idea that the difference between fact and fiction is merely interpretation. He uses the news media as an example. He quickly expresses the idea that by the time a story grows from the truth into news, that it often filtered through misinformation, opinions and flat out lies. This news becomes accepted as a 'fact' by many; tranforming the real truth into fiction by contrast. Imagine a shooting reported by a news anchor. The news anchor reports what the police report says from his own point of view. The police report contains a report from the criminal's activity from the policeman's point of view. Are we to expect that the viewpoint from a criminal and a policeman will be the same 'truth' for the same event? We would if it was in the Sunday paper. That's an example of context bending fact into fiction. But again, he states that it's all relative. If the shooter or victim were reading the story, it may be pure fiction (that's not why I did it, that's not what I said), but for some college student reading it on CNN.com a day later, it's the absolute 'truth'. "Fact is only what you believe. Fact and fiction work as a team." As he moves into the chorus again, he reiterates the idea that even if we don't understand the reasoning, or real truth, it exists and is understood (maybe not by us though). Then he leans toward an idea that faith in God seems more appropriate and real the less he understands it. I take the phrase "especially if you don't understand, then it's all just because" to mean that his belief in God is made even more real by the fact that comprehension of God and his own existence is outside of Jack's realm of his logical ability. It's as if he says that his faith in God is an idea that is so complex that he can neither figure it out nor disprove it in any way, so he is going to accept it. He understands that he is not supposed to understand it, which makes the concept even more powerful. [Everyone knows what went down, because the news was spread all over town. And fact is only what you believe. And fact and fiction work as a team. Its almost always fiction in the end. The content begins to bend. When context is never the same. And its all relative even if we don’t understand. And its all understood, especially when we don’t understand. And its all just because, even if we don’t understand.] In verse 3: So far, Jack has built up a deep contrast to his overall message. He has briefed us on the issues of conformity and false truth in the analysis of his own faith. Then he begins to sew his point together with both directness about the songs purpose, and some clever humor to ease the turbulence. To this point, his message has been vague. He has also been singing the majority of the song from a 3rd person viewpoint. To start off the 3rd verse he says "let’s all just - believe - that I was reading a book". Cleverly, he uses a single word to bind the phrases "let's all just believe" and "believe that I was reading a book". He does this shortly after explaining to you that belief is all a matter of relative interpretation. So "let's all just believe I was reading a book..." sounds as if he's saying that "I know I've told you not to believe anything you hear, but I need to finish this song, so for the sake of argument, pretend like the rest of what I have to say is still true." Quite the clever transition. In the next line, he doesn't clarify any feelings or opinions, but he does reveal the subject matter that he wrote this song for. "Suggestions on where to place faith, suggestions on what to believe." He continues with another clever line that goes "I read somewhere that you've got to beware, you can't believe anything you read." So now, Jack jokes by basically telling us that a book told him that you can't trust books. A funny paradox that continues to keep us at arms length from his actual point. This next line is where I feel that Jack pulls the curtain back to reveal the song. "The Good Book is good and that's well understood, so don't even question if you know what I mean". This line may not be the most clever, but is certainly the most powerful line in the song. Jack begins to deviate from his gentle thoughts about relativity and conformity, and makes a solid turn to back up his own beliefs. I do not sense any sarcasm in this line. In fact, Jack appears to almost be lecturing the listener, saying that "Look, just because I have a hunger for knowing what I am and why I believe what I believe, does not mean I don't believe it." "I accept that the Good Book (Holy Bible) is right and good in it's purpose, so don't spin my curiosity and intrigue toward life and God into something negative. I never said I didn't believe it. I said I didn't 'understand' it." [Then let’s all just believe-I was reading a book. or maybe it was a magazine. Suggestions on where to place faith, suggestions on what to believe. But I read somewhere that you’ve got to beware. You can’t believe anything you read. But the good book is good and that’s well understood, so don’t even question if you know what I mean. But its all relative, even if you don’t understand. Well its all understood, especially when you don’t understand. Well its all just because, even if we don’t understand. Let’s all just believe.] After the chorus, Jack jumps back into defending himself from against a seemingly unknown opponent (maybe public criticism or criticism from religious communities about his religious viewpoints?) Whomever this is, Jack defends his right to question who and what he is. Jack implies that his curiosity does not equal Aetheism. He claims that these critics have "missed the point" and as a result, have blamed him for misinterpreting his message, saying that he doesn't "believe." Finally, Jack decides to open the door back up, teasing us by once again surrounding his faith with a cloud of doubt and relative acceptance. The second "I believe" is followed up with the words "...I guess", as Jack reconfirms the idea that he still has uncertainties surrounding God and his faith. Then "...I guess" is tied into the last sentence "...I guess it's all relative." As he fades out, Jack remphasizes the fact that no matter what the belief is, it's always going to be relative to two things; the believed truth and the absolute truth." [But there you go once again you missed the point, and then you point your fingers at me and say that I said not to believe. But there you go once again you missed the point, and then you point your fingers at me and you say that I said not to believe. I believe. But there you go once again you missed the point, and then you point your fingers at me and you say that I said not to believe. I believe...I guess. I guess its all relative.] My Summary: I'm convinced that this song was written in response to some publicized criticism about Jack Johnson's religious beliefs. Jack comes to his own defense in the last verse, solidifying his points into a two-headed message. This message is one (like most of his songs) that many of us can relate to. Jack expresses his belief in God and the message of the Good Book (Holy Bible), but also defends his right to question his faith and his life. As he finishes telling you where he stands, he reminds you that although he believes, it really doesn't matter to you anyway. Like a funny joke, or the 'facts' in a news story, it's all a relative truth. |
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