Throw Your Hatred Down Lyrics
We place our theories down
Why man must bring us
to our knees
Before he sees the weakness
of his sinful plan
The power in his hand
Will never touch a friend
Throw your hatred down
The weaknesses are seen
By peasants and presidents
Who plan the counter-scheme
Children in the schoolyard
Finish choosing teams
Divided by their dreams
While a TV screams
Throw your weapons down
Keeps on rollin' down
The street that's paved
with sinful plans
There but for circumstance
May go you or I
Dressed in gold lame
Find a place to stay
Throw your hatred down
Throw your hatred down
Throw your weapons down
This is a remarkable song. I think it has to do with theology and cold, distanced philosophy ("here in the conscious world, we place our theories down") taking away somewhat from the actual living of life How politics, greed, religion, philosophy, even minor theological disagreements start wars and no matter how great your god is "the power in his hand" he is still cold and distant and unforgiving "can never touch a friend" The whole thing is like this--plotting and planning and philosophizing taking away all the humanity from life itself. Very insightful.
The lines, "There but for circumstance May go you or I Dressed in gold lame Find a place to stay" seem to be referring to Phil Ochs, who wrote the folk-rock song "There But for Fortune". He felt that the liberal causes he espoused needed a popular champion in the mould of Elvis Presley, and took to performing rock n roll in a gold lamé suit. The attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, as his music failed to make an impression on the regular small-town folk to whom he was trying to expose his radical views.
I don't know what meaning the reference has in this song.
listening to this incredible song right now for the very first time; always great to discover new music by one of my all time favourite musicians.
In my view this song is about how people don't realize they have created problems until there are obvious symptoms of trouble. Neil illustrates this through the line "why must man bring us to our knees before he seems the weakness of his sinful plan." The songs suggests that these problems occur within schoolyard, politics, religion and mass media.