| Jars of Clay – Light Gives Heat Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@pavelkomarovon One of the things I've always respected about Jars of Clay is that they're able to grapple with issues related to their faith in a way that largely avoids "Christianese" jargon. I'm not as skilled at this as they are. (Shoot, if I could do that, and I had some actual musical talent, I'd be in a band writing songs like these instead of just rambling about what I think other people's songs mean on the Internet.) Also, I wrote that interpretation literally almost a decade ago. Thinking about it now, I'd say: (a) The members of Jars of Clay are Christians who often point out flaws in the typical "Christian" way of thinking about things through their songwriting. You can see this as far back as songs like "Love Song for a Savior" from their very first album. While their audience isn't exclusively Christians by any means, I think when a song like this is trying to convict the listener of some things they need to rethink, Christians are usually the target of that critique. In other words, I tend to assume they're trying to highlight hypocrisy within the Church, rather than pointing out the misdeeds of someone outside of it. (b) Because I felt that this song was critical of typical "American Christian subculture" ways of thinking that many of us don't realize can be hurtful, I used some of that jargon deliberately in my personal interpretation, as a way of highlighting how myopic this attitude can be. I say "some" because there are terms you pointed out like "come alongside" that I never even realized fell into that category of "Christianese" jargon. Perhaps to some extent I've lived in that bubble, too, though that's hopefully less true for me in 2017 than it was in 2007. In any event, if some of that terminology was triggering for you, I'm sorry about that. I get the gag reflex when songs by certain other Christian songwriters are loaded down with that sort of jargon, so I can understand where you're coming from. (c) I don't remember if Songmeanings had the ability to tag a comment as a fact, personal experience, my opinion, etc. back when I originally posted that comment. They added it for good reason. I did say "appears to be" because of course I was interpreting the song through my own lens and the things I'd observed to be true. You came at it looking through a different lens, having had different experiences, and I enjoy that songs like this can be written in a way that you think it's about one thing until you talk to somebody else and find out they had a very different experience with the exact same set of lyrics. (d) Your broader interpretation makes all kinds of sense, too, and I agree regarding your statements on church and state needing to stay separate. Both at home and abroad, I've seen a lot of evil done in the name of religion trying to run governments and vice versa. Even when it's my own religion, I don't want that from my government. |
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| Five Iron Frenzy – Fahrenheit Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Wow, 12 years later, and I only just now realized that the end of this song quotes the melody from the "Anywhere the wind blows.." part at the end of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Pretty cool. I did not know my classic rock history when I first heard this one. | |
| Bon Iver – Calgary Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I just drove from Calgary to the US/Canada border the other day. He's right; there really IS nothing to the south. | |
| Anberlin – Down Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The "You" in the song could be a girl and it could still be about his relationship with God. Meaning, he's apologizing to her because he's not in the spiritually healthy place he'd like to be in order to have a good relationship with her. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Please tell me someone else noticed the glaring similarity between this song and "The Unwinding Cable Car". |
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| Lifehouse – Had Enough Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I guess I interpreted this song as the girl being physically there in the relationship, but not mentally/emotionally there. Maybe she's depressed. Maybe she's grown distant from the guy but doesn't know how to articulate it or doesn't want to say so. Maybe some experience has scarred her. Whatever the case, he reaches for her and she pulls away, so it's a lot like living with a ghost even though she's still a flesh-and-blood person that is part of his daily life. He's been suffering in silence, trying to make it work, but she already checked out of the relationship in her mind a long time ago, so this song is the guy finally speaking up and giving her the ultimatum - either put some effort into this relationship, or I'm gone. it fits well with the next two tracks on the CD, "Halfway Gone" (where he discusses already having one foot out the door) and "It Is What It Is" (basically the process of being honest and accepting that neither of them are interested in keeping the relationship going any longer). | |
| Norah Jones – Man of the Hour Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| A love song to a dog from the same woman who wrote a breakup song addressed to coffee. Brilliant. | |
| David Crowder Band – How He Loves Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I love this song, but one little theological nitpick: "And we are His portion and He is our prize" Shouldn't that be the other way around? "Portion" implies need, and we need God, not the other way around. "Prize" could go either way, I suppose, but implies something that's delightful to have, not necessarily a need. |
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| Rob Thomas – Wonderful Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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To respond to navii's question: "I was actually wondering.... Do you still have to be put on a mask to find/keep people's approval after high school? Even, if you're not a 3-time Grammy-winning recording artist?" Usually, the answer is yes. But then it depends on the people. And whether you're a Grammy-winning artist doesn't really change that. (I think the Grammys are a stupid popularity contest, personally.) To most of the world, you're only as cool as the last thing you did that was important enough to make headlines. (Or at least local news.) So to be on the top of the popularity totem pole, you have to prove yourself again and again, which I'd imagine is very tiring. Some people exhaust their entire lives trying to do this. Others eventually realize that popularity is fickle and fleeting, and just settle for being liked by the handful of people who understand and accept them. What the hell does this have to do with Rob Thomas? Well, he and his band have been out of the spotlight for a while, and I think that factors into the criticism of anything RT or Matchbox 20 are working on now. The longer you take a break, the more your new stuff is expected to be some huge chart-topping comeback (especially if you've won THREE GRAMMIES!) or else you're mocked as a commercial failure. RT was probably aware of this when he wrote this song - wrestling with whether to play the game and see how long he can keep his identity current with what people expect a big pop star to look/sound like, or whether he should just ditch that and be himself and if the rest of the world doesn't like that, then oh well. I say he should go the unpopular route and just do whatever the hell he wants. I'm not sure whether he's doing that or just trying to find the middle ground - I like his music, but I don't think it's anything particularly amazing. I see him experimenting with styles in a few places, but then in others I see him falling back on a lot of tired radio cliches. Maybe tired radio cliches fit his personality; I don't know. Maybe he could be 100% himself and I wouldn't like it. But I'd critique it on the basis of the songwriting and musicianship, not on whether I think he's got what it takes to be at the top of the Billboard charts and win Grammies and be the heartthrob featured on teenybopper magazine covers. That stuff's silly. Just make good music, Rob. |
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| Future of Forestry – If You Find Her Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Eric Owyoung said in a concert that he wrote it for his wife. So I don't think any spiritual double meaning was implied. Just 'cause they're a Christian band doesn't mean they can't write simple love songs if they want to. God is present in romantic relationships even if songs about them don't explicitly invoke His name. But if other interpretations work better for you, there's nothing wrong with that. |
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| Vienna Teng – Radio Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This seems to be a "what if" scenario involving a suicide bombing in San Francisco. The verses seem to describe this horrific incident and its aftermath actually occurring, while the chorus is sort of a "la la la, I'm not listening" response from far away. The implication seems to be that tragedies like this are much easier for us to ignore when they don't happen on American soil. We can just turn off the news and act like it's just a plot twist in a favorite TV show. Also, this is such a minute detail, but it's interesting to me that she starts a verse with the phrase "Outside they're handing out..." in this song as well as the song "City Hall". Both songs take place in San Francisco, but the situations they describe are polar opposites. "City Hall" describes newly married gay couples eating donuts and pizza pie and celebrating their mass nuptials. "Radio" describes fate being handed out to the wounded - the triage nurse has to decide who lives and who is too far gone to save. |
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| Alanis Morissette – Giggling Again For No Reason Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Note that she's driving up the coast on Highway 1 in this song (which puts the setting in California), and in the song "Torch" (which is right before this one on the album), she states that she misses their "Big Sur getaways". Highway 1 is the only road in and out of Big Sur. I think the implication here may be going to an old favorite place that she used to enjoy with a man she was very attached to, and making new memories of that place as somewhere she can enjoy on her own. Kind of way of establishing self-worth and independence and not being haunted by old memories. Or something. | |
| Barenaked Ladies – 789 Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This song cracks me up, especially the wisecrack about Pluto. One thing I don't get - why would the Chinese be out of luck if 9 was missing? 8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture, and it would still be there. |
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| House of Heroes – Metaphor in Parentheses Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Note the similarity between the melody of this song's chorus and the Christmas carol "We Three Kings". | |
| Jars of Clay – I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Did I miss something? At what point did Jars of Clay ever record this song? It's not a bad song, but it somehow seems unlike them to cover it. | |
| Jars of Clay – It Is Well With My Soul Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| The band actually recorded this version of the song under protest. They were working on their hymns album, "Redemption Songs", with minimal help from the label, who wasn't really interested in the project, and deemed it too downbeat and depressing to be something they'd be interested in releasing. The label asked the band to try recording an upbeat take on "It Is Well", something that they could potentially use as a radio single, so the band went ahead and did it despite not really agreeing with the idea, which is why the mood of the music here (with the happy Beatlesque melodies and all that) doesn't really fit the lyrics of this classic hymn. | |
| Jars of Clay – Be Thou My Vision Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I've gotta say, as much as I love the original hymn, this is about the most God-awful version of it that I've ever heard. Definitely the worst recording in the entire Jars of Clay catalogue. | |
| Jars of Clay – Light Gives Heat Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This is an emotionally gripping and troubling song. It appears to be about Christians doing good work, but with selfish intentions - wanting to show the world how good they are and win brownie points, and basically trying to convert people in less privileged countries to a Western way of thinking, confusing American culture with the actual teachings of the Gospel. The song seems to be a plea from the poor and needy, saying that while they need food and water and the money that is required to make these changes happen, they also need to be respected as people who God loves, and not just as a means to an end. We have to learn how to come alongside them in their sufferings instead of just callously throwing money at their problems. | |
| Jars of Clay – Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This is an old Petra song, covered by Jars of Clay for the "Never Say Dinosaur" tribute album which came out in 1996. This version is notably different from the original, due to the programmed drums, the non-standard time signature used during the intro and guitar solo, and the overall more tense feeling. I believe it also marks the first time that Matt Odmark played an electric guitar on a Jars of Clay studio recording (the band's self-titled album was almost exclusively acoustic). | |
| Jars of Clay – The Chair Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This song was released on the original soundtrack to the 1996 film "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and also as a B-side on the "Crazy Times" single. The movie was about a suburban mother who had no recollection of her former life as an assassin working for the CIA. I'm not sure whether the lyrics intentionally make reference to the plot of the film, or whether the song was chosen for the soundtrack after being written for some other purpose. | |
| Jars of Clay – Rudolph Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| A joke song played during the Christmas season in the band's early days. They parodied Nirvana while Charlie's keyboards brought in the melody line from "Carol of the Bells". It's an amusing novelty in the Jars of Clay repertoire, and it can only be found as a live bootleg since it's not on any of their albums (including their recent Christmas album). | |
| Jars of Clay – Redemption Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| It's a song about God showing up in a place that is seemingly desolate and abandoned. There are no God-forsaken places, despite how many wrong turns our lives might take. | |
| Jars of Clay – Overjoyed Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| One of Jars of Clay's most cryptic and poetic songs. I believe that it's about a Christian's former transgressions being erased, and the slate essentially being wiped clean. This person's former identity was shrouded in wickedness and embarrassment, and God changed that name to joy and purity. We continually recreate the sinful self and go back to our old follies, and God continually creates the innocent, righteous self despite that. Salvation is a continuous process. | |
| Jars of Clay – Nothing But the Blood Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| The guest vocalists on this song are The Blind Boys of Alabama. A friend of mine finds it ironic that a Black Gospel group is singing about being made "white as snow", though obviously that's a case of getting your metaphors mixed up. | |
| Jars of Clay – New Math Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This one sounds like it's about conflict in relationships (perhaps specifically of the romantic variety?), and how they change the logical rules that you'd expect to apply. The simple mathematics that dictate 1+1=2 get thrown out the window and you have to learn to adapt in situations where you have to do what's loving instead of what's fair and justified and 100% equal for both sides. | |
| Jars of Clay – I'm in the Way Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Pretty simple song - no matter how far you think you've fallen, you're not beyond the reach of God's grace. (Grace seems to be a repeating theme for Jars of Clay.) | |
| Jars of Clay – Headstrong Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This one's from the various artists project "Roaring Lambs" that came out in 2000, themed around the idea of Christian art making an impact on culture outside of the Church. The song appears to be about legalism, and the frustrating and seemingly fruitless endeavor of trying to talk a legalist out of their reasons for being so hard-nosed. It's an exploration of what it looks like when people within the Church act in a way that is contrary to their purported belief in the concept of grace. |
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| Jars of Clay – Grace Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Second line of the chorus should be "I love the way Your calling overflows". This one's fairly simple - it's a description of what God's grace means and how it pursues us despite how we are in love with the prison cells we've put ourselves in due to our own sins. Grace is more powerful than our tendency to reject it and try to earn our own salvation. |
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| Jars of Clay – Grace (Hudson & Wells Demo) Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This is an earlier version of the song that can be found on their rarities disc "The White Elephant Sessions". A few lines from the verses were swapped around before the final version was recorded for "If I Left the Zoo". The chorus is also completely different in this version - it's darker, more in line with the desperation of some of the songs on "Much Afraid". It's interesting to note that this version of the song does not actually contain the word "Grace" in the lyrics, which makes me wonder if that was the original title of the song. (The word appears in the chorus in the final version.) | |
| Jars of Clay – God Will Lift Up Your Head Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I believe that these lyrics came from an old hymn text that the band discovered, and either the music for it had never been composed, or it had been lost, so they chose to write their own melody for it. | |
| Jars of Clay – Fly Farther Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The band was performing this song live during their "Tour on a Stick" in 1996, and at the time it was intended to be on the Much Afraid album, but it didn't make the final cut (which I believe was either because it didn't fit thematically, or the album already had too many slow songs). It can be found on their rarities album "The White Elephant Sessions". I believe it's about one of the band members' grandparents - a testament to their marriage, which lasted 50 years. They've described this as their "sappy country song". Alison Krauss sings backup on this song, and I believe she also played violin. It's a beautiful song. One of my all-time favorites by the band despite its rare status. |
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| Jars of Clay – All My Tears Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| In addition to the original version by Julie Miller, this song was covered in 1995 by Emmylou Harris, which probably remains the best-known recording of the song. | |
| Derek Webb – i see things upside down Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Though this song gives the album "I See Things Upside Down" its title, the song title is actually "What Is Not Love". | |
| David Crowder Band – Can You Feel It? Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The first few choruses actually have "can't" instead of can. So the first chorus should be: When I can’t feel You there When I can’t feel You there When I can’t comprehend that You are there You are there You’re everywhere You are everywhere And the second chorus should be: When we can’t feel You there When we can’t feel You there When we can’t comprehend that You are there You are there You’re everywhere You are everywhere The final chorus is correct as you have it. |
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