| Regina Spektor – Laughing With Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Well, it seems like the other lines are about times when laughing at God is easy. So maybe it's easy to laugh at God when you're talking about people who say they're his followers are being so angry that they're ridiculous. Like "Ha! Those people are crazy! That's God for ya." That's my take. |
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| Regina Spektor – Laughing With Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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You're right to point out that the Bible shows God to be the ultimate cause for everything that happens. But it also points to people's selfishness, etc. as the more immediate cause. If no one was selfish, there would be no violence, for instance. And why would God delight in wars, famines, etc., only to tell his people to go give their lives to serve the victims of these things (which he does)? Just some thoughts. Thanks for your post, and beautiful song, eh? ( : |
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| Regina Spektor – Laughing With Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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How come (if I can ask)? I've totally done that before. |
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| Regina Spektor – Laughing With Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Thanks everyone who helped me get over the "laughing with" idea in the last line. It seemed so non-sequiter to the rest of the song. I was taking it literally, like she was saying "But it's all good in the end because we're all in on God's joke and can laugh together." This just seemed so pat and fluffy and didn't fit. Whew! Ok, as for the rest of the song, I'm pretty much going to sound like a broken record. I agree to the "atheist in a foxhole" assessment of the first set. With the "God can be funny" chorus, I think she is pointing out that it's hypocritical for us to make light of God. And I think with the "crazies" part she's saying of course the crazy people make it really easy and fun to dismiss God's existence. They are ridiculous and make for an entertaining straw man. And she is my hero for pointing out how ridiculous to believe that God is our friendly grandpa or vending machine in the sky (her metaphors obviously more poetic). I love that she says "at a cocktail party"--to me it's the quintessential setting for "eat, drink and be merry." It's no big deal that we're wasting our lives on ourselves and ignoring our maker. And I think here's one place where the "funny" chorus ties in with the "foxhole" verses: when we ignore God, we ignore all the people he made who are "starving or freezing or so very poor." She doesn't make the connection explicitly, but we don't think about these people when we're at cocktail parties usually. That last thing is probably me reading in, though because I've been reading a bit at dontwasteyourlife.com, and that's what I've got on the brain. Anyway, this song made me feel how flippantly I've been living my life lately. And OF COURSE that it's wrapped in such fine and nuanced beauty doesn't hurt. Dear Regina. (I've only read the first page of comments so don't shoot me if I'm out of the loop for the last few) |
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