Listen Through Me

This song seems to be about Jesus himself and how a lot of people shrugged him off and disregarded his message. Yet he came, spread it, and then left us with his imprint of what was potential for humanity.

He laid aside his crown All our crimes he carried Was lifted from the ground With our burdens buried The shadows all had flown In the light diminished He emptied out his lungs Crying it is finished

Wow that is just BRILLIANT poetry. He LAID aside his crown.. CARRIED our crimes.. LIFTED from the ground.. BURIED with our burdens.. SHADOWS all had flown... diminished in the LIGHT

the use of opposites. not necessarily oxymorons, right?

This album, I literally LOVE every song and the lyrics. Never had that happen to me before

He laid aside his crown All our crimes he carried Was lifted from the ground With our burdens buried The shadows all had flown In the light diminished He emptied out his lungs Crying it is finished

Wow that is just BRILLIANT poetry. He LAID aside his crown.. CARRIED our crimes.. LIFTED from the ground.. BURIED with our burdens.. SHADOWS all had flown... diminished in the LIGHT

the use of opposites. not necessarily oxymorons, right?

This album, I literally LOVE every song and the lyrics. Never had that happen to me before

Everything hangs on a word. It is FINISHED!

Either it's finished or it's not. Well, is it finished?

It's finished my friends!

This is such an amazing song, clearly about Jesus. I think it should be written like this

He emptied out his lungs Crying "It is finished"

Since it's talking about John 19:30. Jesus's last words as he died (or emptied his lungs) were "It is finished."

Absolutely beautiful song that, to me, is really a cry from Dustin to listen to what the band has been saying for years.

The verses bounce between commenting on who Jesus is (what He did for humanity in His life, death, and resurrection) and a cry to listen to what is being sung about.

Interesting enough, I believe the line, "Everything hangs on a word" is a direct reference to Christ being called the Word in John 1. In this case EVERYTHING hangs on Him.

I think this song is about Dustin and how his Christian message keeps being denied by 'fans' who would like to think of this music they like as purely secular (i guess because it's not cool to be Christian)

I know I would get tired of people continually refusing to acknowledge the Christian message of my music (you see a LOT of this, even on this site right here, even for songs that are unambiguously Christian) and engaging in mental backflips to find interpretations that point to something other than Christ (lookin' at you, wowzers99 on the internet!). It's true that Thrice are an amazing band with a vast repertoire of incredible music, only some of which is overtly Christian, and most of it can be meaningfully interpreted in other ways. But i often read comments on some songs and have to struggle to keep my eyes from rolling back into my head at some of the willful misinterpretation of what is clearly and plainly Christian messaging, much of which comes from a place of disdain for that message. so when Dustin sings: "LISTEN to me! I speak truly!" I'm hearing him urge us to accept that he his who he is and he is conveying a Christian message. Major/Minor is an album that is straight up Christian almost to a song. it's wall to wall bible references and Jesus metaphors, people! it's the most blatant album yet for this stuff! "though i speak of sober things" he knows you want all the songs to be about breakups (i'm guessing most of you people are teenagers, because everybody wants every song to be about a breakup apparently) but he's straight up telling you in this song, "yeah, i write songs about Jesus. I want you to accept that and accept Him."

For whatever reason, some people can't enjoy music that is Christian. in the PC world christianity is offensive. so those people will do all kinds of mental gymnastics to pretend that this music they like, because it's Thrice and it's awesome, isn't Christian so they can keep enjoying it. to you, Dustin says"

"This story's an offense So get down from that fence And bless or curse"

in other words, yes, my music IS an offense (it's Christian) so quit pretending it's this or that, preserving the 'ambiguity' which justifies your appreciation if you won't let yourself appreciate that message... admit it is what it is and either embrace it or don't.

and this section: "see these ragged shoes the soles are worn straight through while i proclaimed" tells you that his music has been coming from this place THE WHOLE TIME. just in case there are those people out there like, 'meh i liked thrice in the early days before it got all Christian'.

of course i think most people i'm ranting against won't get the message anyway, but there's my take on it.

The song can be interpreted in many ways. One of the ways I interpreted the lyrics was from the perspective of a psychotherapist trying to help his client through trauma or other various issues. The therapist speaks in sobering words which is something the individual does not want to hear. The therapist is a "man of lips unclean" b/c of his/her counter-transference and unresolved issues tend to effect the client in negative ways. The therapist carries hundreds of peoples sins, indiscretions, and burdens and takes them upon his/her self in an effort to listen and find the best way to bring insight and perspective into the clients' life. Helping clients "get off the fence" so to speak and finally make a decision which the consequences will either be positive or negative but at least the decision will be theirs. Just my outlook. There are so many ways to interpret these lyrics and it was nice that Dustin and company left it open that way.