| Pedro the Lion – Rejoice Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
This song reminds me of the words of Ecclesiastes. “There is nothing new under the sun” and “life is meaningless” are two of the most commonly used phrases in the book, yet is ends like this song. Life does have meaning and it is found in God and keeping his commandments. Bazan is right; it would be wonderful if life were meaningless. We could all just eat, drink, and be merry (although there is nothing wrong with doing that). If all we have going for us is in this life was chasing after sex (Rapture, Second Best), material possessions (Indian Summer, Progress), professional success, (Penetration) and comfort (Options, Progress), life isn't worth living. If life were meaningless then we would not have to worry about this story and death. We could forget it and know that life just sucks. “But everything is so meaningful, and most everything turns to shit.” I could have never said that better. Things turn to shit. Yet, life is meaningful, so like the writer of Ecclesiastes, Bazan is right “Rejoice”. |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Priests and Paramedics Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
The tension builds and the rehearsal becomes played out. The wife does kill her husband. This song is not about the husband or the wife, but new characters are introduced. As the title points out, it is about paramedics and a priest. These characters have much in common. They have both become apathetic to their jobs. The paramedics have to put their “poker faces on” to get up in the morning. As they tell the husband he is going to be all right, they do so apathetically. They are so numb to death and dying. In the same sense, the priest is also aphetic. He has given up all hope. The friends of the husband are craving relief. However, the priest is tired and tragically has put on his poker face. “You’re gonna die, we’re all gonna die” he says. He has lost the faith. He wonders why we “postpone the unavoidable”. Bazan has never been dishonest about people of faith. They are also prone to lose hope. This priest who could have been the shining character in the story is tragically not. Society has also lost hope. Bazan is not done, though… |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Second Best Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
The husband is again cheating on his wife. He has settled for “second best”. What an interesting way to picture adultery, as second best. The mood of this song seems to indicate that the husband is falling further down that slippery slope. He is beginning to learn to live with second best. After all, he needs a rest. The depravity of our human condition oozes out of this song. People have settle for second best. They ignore God and His plan and just settle. Even the thing that Bazan compared to the Rapture earlier on this cd is now just second best. The husband has lost his enthusiasm for even sex. It is now just “empty movements that were once so inspired”. People have the capability of turning the God-given gift of sex into just any other thing. Settling for second best is nothing that anyone should ever do. Especially in areas such as sex. A passionate expression of love that is comparable in human understanding to the rapture is now just “empty movements”. Bazan is setting up the listener for the downfall of this man. |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Rehearsal Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
As the title of this song implies, it is a rehearsal. The wife is rehearsing the lines that she wants to say to her husband. She has known for a long time that he has been cheating on her. The next line is even more depressing. She calls her husband “so unoriginal, each move, more obvious than the one before it”. Her problem is not so much that her husband is cheating on her as the fact that he is just so boring. His unoriginality has led to her life of boredom, emptiness, and unfullfillment. This wife knows that she should be really upset with his stepping out. She always said she would kill him if he ever cheated on him. When she said that she would kill him, she had no idea what “hatred and regret were all about”. She truly hates him now. But again, not in the same way she thought she would. His unoriginality and apathy just simply bore her. She knows she could be bigger (and forgive his cheating), but wants to make him pay (because she has long since loved him and now downright loathes him). This song says a whole lot about our society. Adultery and cheating are not as painful as being boring. We live in a society that values entertainment and excitement. If you can not provide these things, you are not worth having around. Intellect has lost out to entertainment. A boring husband is worse than an exciting cheating husband. Our world needs God. |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Magazine Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
This song seems to be a paranthesis in the story. It is a reflection of why things have gone wrong, not only with this couple but more with society as a whole. According to the theology of David Bazan, half the world lives in wickedness and the other half in arrogance. He could not be more true in defining the way the two halves view each other. And of course the truth is not hidden in this line, “there is a steady flow moving to and fro”. The half that live in wickedness seem to be the ones saying this line to the other half, “Are you’re an angel now, or a vulture Constantly hovering over waiting for a big mistake.” The arrogant (who think they are righteous) are just waiting for the wicked to make a mistake so that they can call them on it. I think this is why Bazan paused from the story. He wants to make sure that all the good listeners (the arrogant) are not just judging the wicked, because if they are they are closer to vultures than angels. Bazan also delineates the righteous as being on a “holy quest to be above reproach”. But in reality they are more closer to wanting to be on the cover of a magazine. With this song, Bazan draws in the half of the audience that think they do not relate to the wicked and show them they are also wicked. They are striving for “healthy skin” and “perfect teeth”, not “being above reproach”. Now everyone should be ready for the second half of the story and able to sympathize (or actually empathize) with the characters. |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Indian Summer Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
The story shifts to the wife and her kids. They are laying out by the pool with all of the other moms and kids. As their dad arrives home he hugs his kids. Bazan uses his nail-biting cynicism to say what is really going on in the picture of the mom and dad and their kids. These kids are unaware of the inhertance they are receiving. This line could be taken many ways. It could mean the unversal theme of these kids inheritaning moral depravity or a more localized theme of the kids being taught to love the taste of “corporate cum”. This harsh line could come at no better of a time. Bazan is saying that we are raising our kids in a society that teaches them that consumerism and climbing the corporate ladder is what our society deems as success. David Bazan knows that there is more to life than the GNP and a brand new car. God gives meaning to life. This theme is much more evident in his earlier cds, but it is obvious that he is explaing why things are wrong. Dads are having affairs, moms are concerned about their tans, and the kids are being taught to love things. I have never heard a song that portrays the human condition better than this one. |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Progress Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
I think I jumped the gun a little too early on saying that last song was the best example of the human condtion. Here Bazan shows us more of this sad dysfunctional family. This family has all of the great inventions of modern technology from “dust-free dining sets” to “self-making” beds. You know what the great thing about modern technology is? It gives us more time to have our kids follow in our molding. The picture of this family is not the molding that we are Christians want to live, but sadly it is closer to how we act as well are the rest of society. The sins of the grandfather have carried down to the father (who is “on liver number two”) and God knows it will be passed on to the kids. Depravity should only make us get on our knees and turn to God. It is obvious in this song that the kids have followed in their parents ways. The parents fear punishing them because they are only going to be ignored. Which is exactly what they are doing to each other. The husband is cheating, the kids bragging, and the wife is nagging, and it is all thanks to the progress of “convient new inventions”. Writing that line reminds me of Fight Club and their struggle to fight against so-called progress. If only our fight was for morality, it seems like people would turn to God and not “liver number two”. |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Penetration Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
I thought comparing the rapture to sex was an incredible analogy, but corporate American to penetration, how great is that? The husband in the last two songs is now at work. He is getting fired because he “isn’t moving units”. That right there is corporate America. If you are not “making dollars then it isn’t making sense”. The last line of the chorus not only depicts the problem with the business world, but also the attitude of this man. “If it isn't penetration, then it isn't worth a kiss”. The small things in life no matter, count. What is the point of kissing if it doesn’t lead anywhere? Man, our world has so many problems. This song reminds me of the seen in American Beauty where Kevin Spacey gets fired. Accept this guy is going for penetration. He wants it all. The first two lines of this song also hit on a similar theme. The gray-haired idealist and the successful man not walking all over people below him our pictures of people who have a hope in the future. They are what Christians should be. We should still dream when we are old and still take care of the poor when we are not. But as David Bazan points out about society, no one has these standards they are only found in advertisement. |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Rapture Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
This song is obviously about a cheating husband. “Pity that its not my wife”. How sad is that line? Bazan’s use of tounge-and-cheek language is great. This song seems to parallel the passion of sex with that of the rapture. The use of Biblical imagery is only rivaled by the depiction of sex. The passion that is in the sexual episode is only hightened by the music. “The tension building… our bodies working… to reach their goal…” From the “fallen sheets” to the “sweat” to the “seed and the spill” the imagery is so intense. I am sure there are plenty of Christians out there that would crap in their pants at this imagery, especially with the comparison to the rapture. The climax of sex and the rapture seem like such a fitting comparison for the husband who is cheating on his wife with Gideon’s Bible in the draw next to the bed. Bazan is obviously saying that there is something wrong with this picture. But this is the society we live in. People look forward to spilling their seed and “one more kiss” than they do to the rapture. Bazan is not implying that anything is wrong with sex, but “pity that it is not my wife”. |
|
| Pedro the Lion – Options Lyrics | 23 years ago |
|
The story begins here with a husband and wife. As they walk hand and hand on the beach, it seems natural that this would be a romantic moment. But as the husband reflects on their marriage, he is reassured that if he ever needs to get a divorce, its good to know the option is there. This seems so true of society today. No one views marriage as a sacred union. I have a friend from high school who is probably about ready to be engaged and she told me that this will be a good first marriage. What kind of talk is that? But as David Bazan implies about our society, “it’s good to have options”. Luckily, the song ends with the husband realizing that he does need his wife. It was only in his head. But society has implanted in his brain that the divorce option is always there. There is obvious foreshadowing here. He tells her that he loves her, and he “mostly believed her and she mostly believe me”. The story aside, Bazan slaps the listener in the face to wake up. Society is dead wrong. As Christians, or anyone of moral esteem, divorce is not an option. Society tells us it is and that alone increases the divorce rate. Bazan also implies a much deeper theme. The view of love. Love is not a fleeting emotion, or trying to half-heartedly convince the other person of your love, but more than that. Love is commitment. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.