Rock Steady Lyrics
I said to my baby this sounds like the ticket for you and I
It said volunteers wanted for a very special trip
To commune with Mother Nature on a big wooden ship
We took a taxi to the river in case any places were free
There was an old guy with a beard
And every kind of creature as far as the eye could see
"I won't tell you no lie
But there's more to this journey than is apparent to the eye"
He said he'd heard God's message on the radio
It was going to rain forever and he'd told him to go
"I'll protect you all don't worry I'll be father to you all
I'll save two of every animal, no matter how small
But I'll need some assistants to look after the zoo
I can't see nobody better so you'll just have to do"
I said, "Just tell me something before it's too late and we're gone
I mean just how safe is this boat we'll be on?"
Rock steady
Rock steady
Rock steady
Rock steady
Rock steady
Rock steady
Rock steady"
I'd never seen rain like it and it looked like our old friend
Was being proved right
We had no time to worry though there was just too much to do
Between the signified monkey and the kangaroo
We had to wash all the animals we had to feed them too
We were merely human slaves in a big floating zoo
She said, "Hey baby I don't mean to be flip
But it seems this old man is on some power trip"
I said, "No, no sugar you must be wrong
I mean look at the size of this boat we're on.
We're as safe as houses, as safe as mother's milk
He's as cool as November and as smooth as China silk
He's God's best friend, he's got a seat on the board
And life may be tough but we're sailing with the lord."
Rock steady
Like a room in my house had just been rearranged
She said, "It's stopped raining and
I know the guy's kind
But if we stay here much longer
I'm gonna lose my mind."
So we said we had a mission for his favorite dove
To see if there was any mercy from this great God above
So to find dry land, away the white bird flew
We didn't need no country just a rock would do
When the dove came back to us he threw down a twig
It was manna from heaven and meant we could blow this gig
"But the rock's too small," he said, "can't you see?"
I said, "It's just perfect for her, it's perfect for me."
Rock steady
SPIN: In Rock Steady you use the Noah myth to lampoon modern TV evangelists. Watching Jerry Falwell last week on TV really ticked you off, and you asked out loud, "Why do I hate and fear these people so much?"
STING: They are very clever manipulators of the media. They're really exploiting people's fears and abusing their best intentions for money and power and I think it's very dangerous. Part of their unspoken belief is that the world will end in a violent conflagration and that Russia will be destroyed by nuclear attack and somehow the righteous will survive through the power of God. If there is a nuclear war, you will die, you will die in the first ten minutes or a year later of disease and radiation. God cannot save the human race if we start firing these things. So I think it's horribly dangerous if people think this way. I have to say, if Noah was building the ark this weekend I'd be one of the people laughing at him. It's ultimately dishonest, the only sane response to these people is laughter.
SPIN: It's an abuse of the sacred, which is linked with the archetypal feminine.
STING: That's it. Really the God of the TV evangelists is very much the Old Testament God, who is this angry, very male, very vengeful figure. The whole thing about Christ was that he got rid of that. The New Testament God is much more receptive, more feminine, if you will. So they've reintroduced this old God, which I'd have to call pagan. They've elicited the help of this entity which is not the God we need. In fact I think it's the opposite. It is Satan. And they're linked to the politics of this country through. Reagan, through people like Oliver North. I was watching Peter Gabriel the other night. Here's this repository of sane thought, this English pop star at an arena in New Jersey trying to explain torture and the dangers of nationalism to the audience. He introduced 'Games Without Frontiers', which is all about the dangers of nationalism. His preamble was that he was worried watching Ollie on TV. And as soon as he mentioned Ollie there was a cheer... and it wasn't an ironic cheer. It was a cheer that the American people as a whole are raising about this inept Boy Scout who made a total fool of America in the eyes of the world. America is f***ed up on the idea of freedom fighters. America describes contras as "forces of democratic freedom," when really what they mean is gun-toting, drug-dealing gangsters.
Well this is a given it is a a modern day noah's arch. The old story with a new twist.
Rock Steady was published as an illustrated book for children with illustrations by Hugh Whyte.
I think this song can be about organized religion generally not just about infamous TV evangelists like Swaggert or Baker. The pastor at my in-laws church fits the bill for the "Noah" character in the song.