Everyone Here Smells Like a Rat

It really wouldn't surprise me if this were another song based on Christ. Except, sometimes, like in the second verse: "My precious boy I know how hard this really must get/Just come down, just get off", I think it might be Aaron writing from Christ's perspective. Which is why it's modernized with the bit about the car right after that. Think about when/if you go to church: "Everyone here knows how important this is/Your faces make them look so serious/It will make them strong enough". Jesus' face makes them look so serious, because it's a serious endeavor to them. But the next line: "You’ll never be strong enough"- that's all the doubt that comes along with religion. Notice how it's in the beginning of the song, but not the end. That line is left out, like he's finding himself through the song. "I lived in grace, we’ll make you leave the ground."- Part of loving/worshiping Christ is lifting His name on high- hence making Him leave the ground. And you do that how? By living in grace. Yay! Doubt returns though: "All of us here hate what we feel from you/We’re not signified but we know what’s true." Aaron could be talking about Jesus, or about the non-believers, depending on how you look at it. But he comes back with "You have to be strong enough/Everyone here." Yep, everyone.

Wow... thats a lot of analysis... sorry, guys.

these lyrics don't make sense?

It really wouldn't surprise me if this were another song based on Christ. Except, sometimes, like in the second verse: "My precious boy I know how hard this really must get/Just come down, just get off", I think it might be Aaron writing from Christ's perspective. Which is why it's modernized with the bit about the car right after that. Think about when/if you go to church: "Everyone here knows how important this is/Your faces make them look so serious/It will make them strong enough". Jesus' face makes them look so serious, because it's a serious endeavor to them. But the next line: "You’ll never be strong enough"- that's all the doubt that comes along with religion. Notice how it's in the beginning of the song, but not the end. That line is left out, like he's finding himself through the song. "I lived in grace, we’ll make you leave the ground."- Part of loving/worshiping Christ is lifting His name on high- hence making Him leave the ground. And you do that how? By living in grace. Yay! Doubt returns though: "All of us here hate what we feel from you/We’re not signified but we know what’s true." Aaron could be talking about Jesus, or about the non-believers, depending on how you look at it. But he comes back with "You have to be strong enough/Everyone here." Yep, everyone.

Wow... thats a lot of analysis... sorry, guys.

wow, i really didn't understand this song when reading over the lyrics. then 'one day will' made me realize that that seems about right. id ont know much about religion but by just going what you're saying seems to have made me understand the meaning behind the words a bit more. =]

It's about finding yourself, and letting you know that Jesus will be there to guide you.

" I lived in grace, we’ll make you leave the ground There’s something more, well have to stop you now I lived in grace, we’ll make you leave the ground "

That's saying how life has its moments, but be prepared for the hard times.

"My precious boy I know how hard this really must get Just come down, just get off" ^ It makes me think of someone who's about to commit suicide and someone (perhaps their father) is trying to talk them out of it

"I’ll give you half a minute get in the car lets go somewhere else" ^ It sounds like the same person who talked him out of suicide isn't taking him seriously. He's instead patronizing him

I am confident in what this song is talking about. If you are a christian teenager, then you know what it is like at christian youth conferences, church retreats, or revivals. This song is all about those kind of christian revival scenes, the kind where people are crying and shouting out to God, crying their faces out, and jumping up and down while praising God.

This song is told from the perspective of a cynical, skeptical person who does not believe in the sincerity of those types of events. We have all thought or felt it before... "everyone here is just acting..."

Here is my thorough explanation:

1st verse: "Irresponsible child, get a hold of yourself. You look so different when you lay your everything where peopel can see it."

This is the skeptic seeing everyone around him crying their faces out to God, and he is judging them. He calls these people irresponsible children, just babies acting stupid. To the skeptic, these people look nothing like how he remembers them, as fun friends, and normal people, now they are acting all dramatic and emotional.

Chorus: "everyone here knows how important this is. their faces make them look so serious."

This is talking about how everyone at the retreat/revival/conference knows how precious the oppurtunity is to meet God, and nobody wants to miss out on a chance to truly feel the holy spirit moving. And the 2nd line is a very cynical comment about how when people are praying and praising, they usually close their eyes and change their facial expression into some sort of super-dramatic, emotional look.

2nd verse: "my precious boy, i know how hard this must get. ill give you half a minute, get int the car... scream yell shout etc"

This is the response of God talkign to the skeptic. He is saying 'Iknow how hard your life must get." God understands the skeptic regardless of how many defense mechanisms he constructs to resist the power of the holy spirit. God says to the skeptic "if you dont like this stereotypical scene of people crying and praying, then just leave! get in your car and go somewhere where you can be alone andj ust pray to me sincerely without worrying about all these other people. he says scream! yell! shout! do whatever you need to spill your guts out to me and just please tell me what you are truly feeling!

Bridge: (Those lyrics are wrong) "something more will have to stop you now, unending grace will make you leave the ground."

This is the climax, the breaking through of the holy spirit to the cynical skeptic. As he skeptic begins to pray, he begins to lose his defensive walls and something more is going to have to stop him from becoming emotional as well. the grace of god is going to make him leave hte ground, which is just a clever way of saying he is going to join in with everyone else and start jumping while singing praise songs with everyone else.

Maybe you have been this skeptic before. Maybe you are new to a church group, and as a sort of act of revenge to the church youth group for not completely accepting you, you have decided to think they are all fakes and phonies who act out their spiritual experiences.

You swear that you will not cry, you vow to never start acting like everyone around you at the retreat. But this song is all about how the grace of God miraculously still reaches out and touches people who try to resist it.

Maybe you have been this skeptic before. Maybe you are new to a church group, and as a sort of act of revenge to the church youth group for not completely accepting you, you have decided to think they are all fakes and phonies who act out their spiritual experiences.

You swear that you will not cry, you vow to never start acting like everyone around you at the retreat. But this song is all about how the grace of God miraculously still reaches out and touches people who try to resist it.

I really hate how everyone writing The Almost lyrics screws them up.