| Twenty One Pilots – Fairly Local Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Fairly Local by Twenty One Pilots is one of my favourite songs. The song for me, is really relatable as it depicts my day to day challenge to be a better person. The song is about a journey that I will be on for the rest of my life. To not repeat the same mistakes that I have made in the past. The song is written by Tyler Joseph who is a Christian, like myself. As Christians we strive to be more like Jesus, trying not to repeat the mistakes that we find ourselves making. That is where I feel that Joseph is coming from. He talks about his own day to day challenge to make a conscious decision to do better then he has done in the past. Twenty One Pilots let the listeners know that they have been down the path of making mistakes. But they have also been down the path of pursuing Christlikeness. Not only have the been down both these streets but they continue on them. They are ‘fairly local’ to these streets. In the first verse of the song, it talks about how Tyler is “evil to the core.” The next line says “What I shouldn’t do I will.”I believe what he is saying is that; because i'm evil to the core, I do what shouldn’t. The rest of the verse says “What I wanna save I’ll kill. Is that who I truly am? I truly don’t have a chance. Tomorrow I’ll keep a beat. And repeat yesterday’s dance.” This verse I think is inspired by a bible verse from Romans 7:18-19 which says “18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” The first line of the above section says that Tyler is going to kill what he wants to save. I think one example he could be talking about are his relationships with other people. He wants to save them, but inevitably he will end up killing them because he is “evil to the core”. If he wants to save these things, they must be of value to him. But what is he saving them from? I think he is saving them from himself and the consequences of his being evil to the core. He asks himself; if I really am evil to the core, and I end up killing what I value, then I “don’t have a chance”. Maybe as he realises how he made mistakes, he realises that he will continue to make these mistakes. The next day he will “keep a beat”, a beat that he has been playing for a while one and that he will “repeat yesterday’s dance”. Which I think is metaphorical for the actions that he has made. I believe that what he is saying here is that he will continue to make the same mistakes he has made in the past unless a change is made. Though he doesn’t mention it specifically, I think he is talking about his journey until he met Jesus Christ. Up until that point he was making mistakes with no hope in the future but to continue to make these mistakes and kill the very things he wants to save. But in the third verse he sings a very different tune. The two verses are split by another verse, a chorus and the bridge. In these he doesn’t tell the listeners the catalyst for his change in tune which is why I must assume that he, as a christian, is referring to how christ has changed his life like he has changed mine. In the third verse he says “I’m not evil to the core. What I shouldn't do I will fight. I know I’m emotional. What I wanna save I will try. I know who I truly am. I truly do have a chance. Tomorrow I’ll switch the beat. To avoid yesterday’s dance”. What we see in this verse is a complete attitude change that has happened through the power of Christ. Because only through power Christ, we are “not evil to the core”. Tyler realises that as sinful human beings, we are going to make mistakes but we still have to try and not make those mistakes. He says “What I shouldn’t do I will fight”. He is choosing to make a stand against the mistakes that he is inclined to make. He is choosing to “try” to save what he loves. He is going to “switch the beat” in order to “avoid yesterday's dance”. He says that he knows who he “truly” is. Someone who has been changed by Christ and because of his transformation through Christ he truly does have a chance. Tyler makes it known to the listeners in the chorus that they aren’t alone in their journey with making mistakes and the struggle to avoid making them. Though he is singing about his journey, he is encouraging the listeners by showing them that they aren’t alone. Even one of the world's most artists has gone and is going through these struggles. This is encouraging for me. He says that he has “seen the streets you’re walking down”. Through this he is saying to anyone listening that he can relate personally and that you aren’t alone. He says that “he has been around”. From this, I take this to mean that; if you have been through it, chances are I have too. He says through out the song and in this passage that he is fairly local to the streets that you’re walking down. So don’t feel alone, because you aren’t. That's what I feel he is saying. |
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