Babel

This song is a beautiful examination of the bourgeois mindset. They comment on the pelagian nature of society, they are building their own 'tower of babel' because they see the society collapsing behind their progressive thought, "I write home laughing, 'look at me now,' / the walls of my home come crumbling down." He simply "goes along" with this mindset; all his life his "greed and pride" has been nursed by society and he accepts this mentality for its face value. He is promised success, that they will "slip into the cloud." His conscious, however, seems to contradict this notion of being able to reach the heavens without grace from the beginning "I believe in grace and choice." But he has seen the depths of human falleness, "So come down from your mountain and stand where we've been / You know our breath is weak and our body is dead." What he wishes is to be "born without a mask" to be born into truth, which wears no mask and is what is. He examines this mentality (as it is attractive, who wouldn't want to get to the heavens on their own--it is an accomplishment of all time!).

He finds his answer, however, as he begins his attempt: "Press my nose up to the glass around your heart / I should have known I was weaker from the start" Here he gets as far as he can, but cannot reach the heart of the divine without help, his nose hits the glass, and he cannot go any farther without grace. He therefore says he will do everything he can to bring this bourgeois mindset to an end: "You built your wall so now we'll play in my bloody part to tear, to tear it down / Well I'm gonna tear, tear them down"

This song is somewhat based on story of the Tower of Babel from the Bible. The story delivers a simplistic moral: don’t overstep your bounds, don’t try to get too close to the divine. It’s a story of confusion, and how the inability to communicate a direct message can impair any endeavor. Whether or not this song is trying to say this I don't know.

I think it's a commentary on false fronts in relationships. You can meet someone and pretty quickly understand how to modify your behavior to meet their expectations. Your "Tower of Babel" consists of the false tongues you speak to convince them that you are everything they ever wanted.

However, if you are true to yourself, if you know your weakness and know your voice and allow your walls to come crumbling down, you may appear weak and thin but you can go forward without a mask, with grace and choice. The trick will be to tear down other people's walls as you run into them -- to get inside to the real them.

"I've never lived a year better spent in love", meaning though he hasn't found his true love, he would rather live without a mask and keep searching for a real love than simply fall in love for the sake of the thing, one worthless Tower of Babel to another. Towers of Babel never last.

Correction:

Press my nose up to the glass around your heart I should have known I was weaker from the start You’ll build your walls and I will play my bloody part To tear, tear them down Well I'm gonna tear, tear them down

I see it as someone who's gained great insight into what they've tried har not to be, but realising that by doing so they've put themselves above the people they care about and are skirting the edge of being worse becaue of that.

I agree with Blackburn. It's somewhat referencing the tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues.

"know my weakness know my voice And I'll believe in grace and choice"

summary of the song

The lyrics goes ... And I'll believe in grace and choice And I know perhaps my heart is "farce" (not fast) ...

They left out the whoooo thats one of favorite parts sad face panda

This is from a religious viewpoint

I know the time has numbered my days,

(sin was brought into the world by man, which caused death and decay)

And I'll go along with everything you say But I'll ride home laughing, look at me now, For the walls of my tower they come crumbling down And my ears hear the call of my unborn sons, And I know the choices color all I've done But I'll explain it all to the watchman's son, I ain't ever lived a year better spent in love

(He will follow God's rules, cause he knows the reward is great. he knows his choices has consequences and he will have to be judged one day. But he's never been as happy as he is now that he is saved.)

'Cause I know my weakness, know my voice And I'll believe in grace and choice And I know perhaps my heart is farce But I'll be born without a mask

(He repents his sins and knows he will be born again in truth)

Like the city that nurtured my greed and my pride, I stretched my arms into the sky

(Like the sinful Babel wanted to stretch up to heaven-to reach it without God, he now stretches his arms up to God in worship)

I cry Babel, Babel, look at me now For the walls of my tower they come crumbling down

(God has forgiven his sin)

You ask where will we stand in the winds that will howl as we see all slipping through the cloud?

(But Babel(the unrepentant people) are still lost without God's protection)

So come down from your mountain and stand where we've been You know our breath is weak and our body thin

(He ask God to intervene in helping people understand His power)

Press my nose up to the glass around your heart I should've known I was weaker from the start

(He knows you can only get to Heaven through your faith in Jesus Christ)

You'll build your walls, and I will play my bloody part

(We build our towers of Babel, trying to get there ourselves, while Jesus had to play his 'bloody' part, and was crucified for our sins)

To tear, tear them down Well I'm gonna tear, tear them down

(God will tear down our efforts when we cling to our will instead of His.)

'Cause I know my weakness, know my voice And I'll believe in grace and choice And I know perhaps my heart is farce But I'll be born without a mask