| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| It is not overtly about being mad at God, which is pretty obvious when you consider the lack of any cursing of God or even angry language directed him. It is a modern day psalm, holding in tension the goodness of God ("all the glory") with the evil in this world. This attitude is Christian in a way that the idea that we should praise God or rejoice *that* we're suffering, rather than rejoicing *in* our suffering, is not. If you doubt this, read Psalms 42-43, Romans 8, and familiarize yourself with some of the great hymns throughout history, e.g. "It is well with my soul". If the "all the glory" line were ironic, that would be an incredibly cynical attitude completely incompatible with "... when he took our place." Beautiful song. | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| It is not overtly about being mad at God, which is pretty obvious when you consider the lack of any cursing of God or even angry language directed him. It is a modern day psalm, holding in tension the goodness of God ("all the glory") with the evil in this world. This attitude is Christian in a way that the idea that we should praise God or rejoice *that* we're suffering, rather than rejoicing *in* our suffering, is not. If you doubt this, read Psalms 42-43, Romans 8, and familiarize yourself with some of the great hymns throughout history, e.g. "It is well with my soul". If the "all the glory" line were ironic, that would be an incredibly cynical attitude completely incompatible with "... when he took our place." Beautiful song. | |
| Caedmon's Call – Ballad Of San Francisco Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I heard them play this in concert, and Derek and Cliff kind of joked about it being a really light-hearted pop song without a lot of meaning. | |
| Alkaline Trio – You're Dead Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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"There's proof in the sky It's as thick as our skulls yet it's thinner than air" These lines I don't quite get. He must be talking about proof for God or specific religious claims, presumably Christianity. "And all the time they took talking in circles To get them off the hook would take miracle workers" The "they" clearly refers to religious people. I'm wondering what it is that he thinks they've done wrong, that they need to be gotten "off the hook". I guess their "blind faith". If Matt is talking about a friend who died from a drug overdose, as someone said above, he might start there in making sense of the mess. That is, if after the grieving process he is still wondering why things like this happen, often there are obvious causes. But sometimes not. As a Christian it is comforting to know that Christ suffered rejection, betrayal, and loss outweighing anything I've experienced. |
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| Mat Kearney – What's a Boy To Do Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This song is a man reflecting on his lack of a father. I think it's wrong to read an explicit Christian message into it. It uses Christian imagery and language. It's drawing on all of that, but it's unwarranted to infer that son of man = Jesus (here) or that the father language is referring to God or God the father. A lot of good comments so far... helped me put some things together. Here's my $.02: Young boys playing in the park turning their backs to take a shot You know I�ll stay sharp around here �cause they�re stoning and leaving type It�s the kind of love that comes and goes when there�s company coming around Whoever said the stuff about "stoning and leaving" being an allusion to stoning as a form of punishment I think is right. The young boys turn their back on this kid to "take a shot" or say something hurtful. He'll adjust accordingly, probably by thickening his skin and hardening up, because they're the type who will stone one and leave one behind. The interesting thing is the last line here. He goes from talking about the kids on the playground to his family, clearly. So there's sort of a connection between the "stoning and leaving type" and how his family only displays love when there's company. An interesting and informative juxtaposition. Daddy�s been looking down his nose at all of them And I�ve been looking round for someone to tell me who I am So his dad is the fault-finding and proud type, never one to affirm his son, hence he's looking around for someone to do that for him. This second line here informs all the various choruses. There's no man in his heart, not meaning God or the son of man but his father. He has no father giving him an identity the way a father should. He kept saying I was too young to finish a fight I�d die each time they came I never got to draw my knife This probably refers to his dad telling him that he's too young to "fight", which is probably a metaphorical way of saying face any significant challenge in life. Hence he never believes in himself enough to engage in anything significant, any challenges or whatever. Well it was just a pair of shoes in a middle school room with the world watching in An angel is crying I�m dying just a little inside as they ran away This is cryptic, especially the second line, but clearly refers to some kind of embarrassing incident in middle school. I'm pretty sure it's "angela" and not "angel", since the first word is "and", which isn't grammatically well formed if the next word is "angel", unless that's a name. Well I�ll stack all my books into perfect rows From the biggest down to the smallest ones And I buy all the perfect clothes Bullet proof and black, where I look like a son This comes after a a chorus in which he asks "what's a boy to do ...?" so it might be a sort of answer to that question, i.e. you stack your books neatly and buy certain clothes. In any event, this might refer to some kind of academic achievement that he goes to to try to seek his dad's approval, or some kind of identity. (Why books, otherwise? Unless there's no special significance.) The "bullet proof and black" clothes are expensive clothes that project power, success, status, etc. He wants to be able to withstand whatever comes at him from the outside and probably to be good enough for his dad, hence the last half line. The next stanza is about going to a party and getting busy with Missy. The "halfway rush of blood" probably refers to some kind of (halfway) exhilarating experience, whether drugs, sex, or whatever. It�s all quiet for the first time With no voices left to fall I saw a boy at the bottom of the bridge His car was left there on the top This is interesting, because the whole song has been a first person account. Here he's still in first person but seems to be switching to a sort of omniscient narrator perspective. It might refer to his soul ascending and looking down, a sort of out of body experience. This is plausible because it would preserve the perspective of the rest of the song, and it fits well with that first line about it being quiet for the first time, i.e. he's dead now and not tormented with all those questions about his identity or verbal assaults from others. The "boy" at the bottom of the bridge is probably the same boy from earlier, though now a grown man (or close) since he's old enough to drive. It�s four o�clock in the morning Didn�t need to be like this There�s a white sheet left to cover up What should have been a holy kiss It�s not like those days It�s not like I�m scared of you I think the "holy kiss" line is highly metaphorical. It's just saying that where there should have been love and support from others, chiefly his dad, there's now a suicide. The white sheet is covering up what's left of his life. I think the last two lines are him speaking defiantly to his dad, or to the world. A sad song about the brokenness in the world. There's Christian language, but one can be a Christian and write a good song about the fallen state of the world without every line having an explicit Christian meaning. Read Flannery O'Connor. |
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