Switchfoot – Where I Belong

"Where I Belong" as written by and Michael Elizondo Jon Foreman....
Feeling like a refugee
Like you don't belong to me
The colors flash across the sky

This air feels strange to me
Feeling like a tragedy
I take a deep breath and close my eyes
One last time
One last time

Storms on the wasteland
Dark clouds on the plains again
We were born into the fight

But I'm not sentimental
This skin and bones is a rental
And no one makes it out alive

Until I die I'll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Feels like we're just waiting, waiting
While are hearts are just breaking, breaking
Feels like we've been fighting against the tide

I wanna see the earth start shaking
I wanna see a generation
Finally waking up inside

Until I die I'll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong
A world where I belong

This body's not my home
This world is not my own
But I still can hear the sound
Of my heart beating out
So let's go boys, play it loud

And on that final day I die
I want to hold my head up high
I want to tell you that I tried
To live it like a song

And when I reach the other side
I want to look you in the eye
And know that I've arrived
In a world where I belong
In a world where I belong
In a world where I belong
Where I belong
Where I belong
Where I belong

Where I belong

I still believe we can live forever
You and I we begin forever now
Forever now
Forever
I still believe in us together
You and I we're here together now
Together now
Forever now
Forever now
Forever now
Forever
Forever


Lyrics submitted by raelynch

"Where I Belong" as written by Michael Elizondo Jon Foreman

Lyrics © THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Where I Belong song meanings
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12 Comments

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  • +6
    General CommentEasily one of the best songs Jon has ever written. Jon's finally returning to the simpler, yet so powerful, lyrics like the stuff on The Beautiful Letdown. Sort of a continuation of This Is Home, but in a deeper way. The song is maybe Jon's best attempt at tackling the issue every person deals with - feeling like they don't belong. The realization he presents though, is that we don't belong here on Earth, but with God. This song is longing for Heaven, but at the same time knowing Go has a purpose for us here.
    swft24on October 04, 2011   Link
  • +2
    Song Meaningawesome song :) just in case anyone's wondering, the reference to 'Babylon' is comparing our lives on earth to the Israelites' exile in Babylon - one day we'll go home, but until then we'll sing from Babylon.
    raelynchon October 03, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General CommentFirst of all, this is the best song Jon has written. Have been waiting for his songwriting to really come back around since The Beautiful Letdown. Since eighth grade, Twenty Four has been my favorite song of all time. Now, as a senior in college, Where I Belong has taken over. It's just tremendously beautiful. I also love how this is, by far, their longest song. They just jam out. I wish it would never end.

    The song is about someone who is close to death. He is questioning his purpose in life, or if he even had one.

    When he says, "Feeling like a tragedy," he is implying he doesn't think his life went the way it was supposed to. An unhappy ending. I imagine a lot of people lie on their deathbeds and think back on their lives with regret, even if they led good lives.

    Of course, he might not even be dying at all, because later he talks about how "we're just waiting" and other things in the present tense. He wants to "feel the earth start shaking" (Maybe Jesus' second coming?).

    Another interesting line is "On that final day I die..." Reminds me of 1 Corinthians 15:31 about Paul dying daily to renew himself in Jesus. So the final day he dies is him actually dying.

    The shores of Babylon thing is also cool. The shore has always been a place of peace and hope in literature. I'm reading Lord of the Rings right now, and they go to the Gray Havens (the Elves, at least) and are able to sail to Valinor, their heaven on earth, of sorts.
    swft24on November 30, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General CommentFor what it's worth, Jon said live that this is the song that he would like Switchfoot to end with. "This would be the song we'd wanna go out with to end it all."
    danmtzon February 23, 2012   Link
  • +2
    My InterpretationJon Foreman is talking about the Christian life in a secular world. The Bible says in Romans 12:2 "Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

    I love the wording that Foreman uses. For example, "Storms on the wasteland, Dark clouds on the plains again, We were born into the fight." Here, the song is talking about how every person on earth is born into a continual fight between good and evil (God and Satan who is trying to bring as many people with him to destruction).

    In the following lines, "This skin and bones is a rental, And no one makes it out alive" Foreman refers to how the bodies that we are living in aren't ours. They were given to us by God to glorify him. But when humanity fell into sin, death became a part of life and so now all people only live for a short period of time on earth before spending eternity in heaven or hell.

    "And when I reach the other side, I want to look you in the eye, And know that I've arrived, In a world where I belong" talks about how Foreman wants finish race of the Christian life strong, to be told "Well Done my good and faithful servant" by the Father and spend eternity in heaven in "the world where I belong."

    People were made to have fellowship with God and when we fell into sin, that relationship was broken. Ever since, humanity has tried to fill the void in our hearts with things of this world, but nothing will since they are only "things of this world."

    Foreman ends the song with saying how he wants to be "together" with God "forever" in heaven.
    santafeon October 08, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General CommentThis song, along with most of Switchfoot's songs have two meanings... one that speaks to the general public and one that speaks to Christians.
    santafeon October 08, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment(Correction to previous comment) This song, like most of Switchfoot's songs, has two meanings... one that speaks to the general public and one that speaks to Christians.
    santafeon October 08, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General CommentLet sing this song together and hold our heads up high to the place where we belong... A place where the weak are finally strong and the righteous right the wrongs...
    boeyon October 03, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI still believe we can live forever
    You and I, we begin forever now
    Forever now
    Forever
    I still believe in us together
    You and I, we're here together now
    Together now
    Together now
    Forever now
    Forever now.... Lyrics taken from the afterlife, it's so clever of Jon.
    This song in my opinion is one of the best off the new cd. It's so beautiful
    and different, this is what I was looking forward to hearing. This song can
    is on repeat all the time for me. Does anyone else think the beginning sounds like
    Wake Up from The Arcade Fire???? I think so.
    I believe this song like said, is about not belonging.
    Everyone feels that way sometimes. We are all just searching for that place
    We belong.
    takenfromcontexton October 08, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General CommentMy to favorite parts are:
    "We were born into the fight
    But I'm not sentimental
    This skin and bones is a rental
    And no one makes it out alive"

    Then:
    "I wanna see the earth start shaking
    I wanna see a generation
    Finally waking up inside"
    This is what I want. I want a stirring of my generation.
    us.littlefairyon October 23, 2011   Link

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