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Twenty-Four Lyrics
Twenty four oceans
Twenty four skies
Twenty four failures
Twenty four tries
Twenty four finds me
In twenty-fourth place
Twenty four drop outs
At the end of the day
Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty four hours ago
Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And I'm not who I thought I was twenty four hours ago
Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
Twenty four reasons to admit that I'm wrong
With all my excuses still twenty four strong
See I'm not copping out not copping out not copping out
When You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man
Oh, oh I am the second man now
Oh, oh I am the second man now
And You're raising these twenty four voices
With twenty four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty four parts
But I want to be one today
Centered and true
I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man
Oh, oh I am the second man now
Oh, oh I am the second man now
And You're raising the dead in me
I want to see miracles, see the world change
Wrestled the angel, for more than a name
For more than a feeling
For more than a cause
I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And You're raising the dead in me
Twenty four voices
With twenty four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty four parts.
I'm not copping out. Not copping out. Not copping out.
Twenty four skies
Twenty four failures
Twenty four tries
Twenty four finds me
In twenty-fourth place
Twenty four drop outs
At the end of the day
Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty four hours ago
And I'm not who I thought I was twenty four hours ago
Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
With all my excuses still twenty four strong
When You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man
Oh, oh I am the second man now
Oh, oh I am the second man now
With twenty four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty four parts
But I want to be one today
Centered and true
You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man
Oh, oh I am the second man now
Oh, oh I am the second man now
And You're raising the dead in me
Wrestled the angel, for more than a name
For more than a feeling
For more than a cause
I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And You're raising the dead in me
Twenty four voices
With twenty four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty four parts.
I'm not copping out. Not copping out. Not copping out.
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"I wrote this song near the end of my 24th year on this planet. Wherever we run, wherever the sun finds us when he rises, we remain stuck with ourselves. That can be overwhelming. Sometimes I feel like my soul is polluted with politicians, each with a different point of view. With all 24 of them in disagreement, each voice is yelling to be heard. And so I am divided against myself. I feel that I am a hypocrite until I am one, when all of the yelling inside of me dies down. I've heard that the truth will set you free. That's what I'm living for: freedom of spirit. I find unity and peace in none of the diversions that this world offers. But I've seen glimpses of truth and that's where I want to run" - Jon Foreman
Very deep and powerful song. It is about all of the things one struggles with and how many times you fall down.. since he was 24 when he wrote this, he talks about how he's fallen down every year of his life... full of screw ups. But this song is about surrendering to God.. "Raising the dead in me" is about God reviving the his spirit... you know, being "spiritually dead" and the "I am the second man now" is him putting his own wants aside and bending to God's will... Jesus is the first man in his life now instead of himself.
"Wrestled the angel, for more than a name"
Refers to Jacob in the Bible, and how he wrestled the Angel for his Faith... The angel wounded him in the wrestling match, but even with his heart crying out in fear and his hip screaming out in pain Jacob wouldn't let go of the angel until he had the blessing of seeing God's face and receiving his new name from God. This also explains the I am a second man... After Jacob got his new name he lived for God. It's a beautiful song... I love Switchfoot... I'm just upset that they aren't as Christian Rock as they used to be.
When I saw Switchfoot play in Columbus the lead singer said that he wrote this song on his 24th birthday, and that it's all about taking time out of your life to look back at your past and recognize the things you need to change to be a better person. It's a great song and it was absoutly amazing live... it was the highlight of the show for me.
I think that the lyric:
"I want to see miracles, see the world change Wrestled the angel, for more than a name For more than a feeling For more than a cause"
is talking about the idea that we do things with good intentions and we figure we don't need god for some of the smaller things, but in the end it's more then that. I'm still trying to figure out what this song means to me. But I do agree with clairpatra. that's probably the meaning behind it.
It's about a guy looking back on his life and realizing he hasn't been the person he wants to be. The Spirit is God. God is taking all of the "dead" or bad stuff out of him and he's becoming the second, or new man now. It's a beautiful song.
Jon writes this reminiscing of 24 years of his time past the good ('24 oceans,24 skies'), the bad(24 failures,24 tries), and the ugly('24th place,24 dropouts').He finds himself in the revelation that 'life is not what' he 'though it was' in the beginning now he wants to be new-born in spirit as a 'second man'.He also says that that they are so many 'voices' (like several different people each a part of him) he hears divided in himself but he ignores it all to be 'centered and true' for the purpose of being focussed on second goal- 'raising the dead' desires - which are to 'see the world change'. Unlike before he is a 'second man' a dormant person within him has been raised from the dead in the spirits arms, instead of being set on petty 'feelings' or 'causes' he set to see 'the world change'
i like this song.
this song has such a deep meaning to me and it just happened recently. me and this girl ive been best friends with for almost 4 years were sitting on her couch and were cuddling close and this song came on and it just fit the moment perfectly. it was like a movie...i wish the song had never ended
I’m singing Spirit take me up in arms with You You’re raising the dead in me
Shivers run down my back when I hear those words. I love it. I feel as if the dead in me is God. Maybe that's to easy of an idea but it makes sense to me. I love it though. It's like God is in all of us and slowly, He makes his appearance.