| The Pretty Reckless – House on a Hill Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Straightforward: I think this is a song bout the damage Protestant Christianity causes. "House on a Hill" sounds Eerily like the phrase "City upon a hill" coined by Jesus Christ, then used time and time again by protestants to emphasize the importance of their ends, from John Winthrop to Ronald Reagan. That said, I think this song twists this idea onto its head, rather than describing a place of wonder for all being a beacon of destruction for all the confused souls lost in the dark. Who are these lost souls in the dark? Well, I think it's the children. All of us are born ignorant. All of us begin life in the dark. To keep with the Christian metaphor, born into sin, and to stick with the twist on a head, this is why they are fine. They haven't yet been killed by the house the hill. Which brings me to wine, or as it is called in the church, communion. During communion Christians eat bread and drink wine, calling it the body and blood of Christ. Though not all churches the this seriously, the apostle Paul outright says that those who are unworthy who drink of the cup drink damnation upon themselves ("For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body," 1 Corinthians 29). For this reason I think drinking the wine is meant to signify communion as the point in which the child-like Christian becomes the adult follower of christ. When the child embraces the Light in the House on the Hill, becoming the bigot. It is at this point that their darkness, their innocence, is killed. Near the end of the song comes the theme of fading, which I believe to be stepping away from the light. Stepping away from religion. Fading into the darkness, and no longer being one with the body of Christ. And finally, beyond the lyrics of the song itself, you can't throw a stone in a Taylor Momsen song without hitting some kind of religious imagery that's been spun in some way. One of her songs is literally about going to hell for living a life Christians spurn. I don't think it's dangerous for me to speculate that judgment from Protestant Christians has been a part of her life, and to me this song represents the pain such judgment can cause when it is allowed to be used to indoctrinate the innocent. |
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