| The Classic Crime – Salt in the Snow Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Coming to this conversation rather late, but I just wanted to point out (as others, I think, have tried) that to argue endlessly about whether this is a song about God or something else is sort of a pointless exercise, because nobody can win; all it really does is detract from appreciating the song. I know several songwriters, some fairly successful ones, and have had this conversation with them a number of times. But you don't need to -- just read magazines, website, whatever; look at interviews with people who write songs and notice how they almost never want to answer the question "what is this song about?" There's a reason for that. Well-written songs are poetry, and poetry (like God, I might add) is something that every person approaches differently. If you ask a songwriter what a song means, I guarantee you there's a good 75% chance they will respond, "what does it mean to YOU?" Because that's the thing of it, isn't it? If a song is written well, it will mean something to you and it will mean something to me and it will mean something to lots of people, and whether that's all the same thing doesn't matter much, does it? I don't know Matt McDonald (who co-wrote the song with bandmate Justin Duque), but my guess is that one of the reasons he resists being labeled a "Christian Band" is because that's a label, and labels are limiting. Every song the band performs then has to be viewed through the lens of Christianity, and why would you want to do that? I suppose there are Christian bands whose goal is to write devotional music and to evangelize through their art, but I suspect the TCC boys have something larger than that, something more universal, in mind. SO .... try this. You can think of the song as being about God, or Fate, or Luck, or Love, OR a girl. It doesn't matter. The idea is that the songwriter is admitting he does not have full control of his life, or perhaps of his destiny. In reality, there are many forces that exert control over us, and you can admit this or you can stubbornly pretend it's not true. I think the song is a sort of cynical, tired, maybe slightly angry (hence: "are you listening?") prayer. But that doesn't mean it's religious. That prayer, that pleading to be treated well and to receive the things that we need, can be to God, or it can be to a particular person on whom you rely, or it can be to something more amorphous -- to fate, to the universe. To whom or to what do YOU look for these things? Whoever or whatever that is, that's who this song is about *to you*. And that's all that matters. These principles are universal; the object of the poetry is not important, the message is. |
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