Oh, sweet thing
Zion doesn't love you
And Babylon don't love you
But you love everything
Oh, you saint
America don't love you
So I could never love you
In spite of everything
In the dark of this place
There's the glow of your face
There's the dust on the screen
Of this broken machine
And I can't help but feel
That I've made some mistake
But I let it go
Ya Hey
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am that I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Oh, the motherland don't love you
The fatherland don't love you
So why love anything?
Oh, good God
The faithless they don't love you
The zealous hearts don't love you
And that's not gonna change
All the cameras and files
All the paranoid styles
All the tension and fear
Of a secret career
And I can't help but think
That you've seen the mistake
But you let it go
Ya Hey
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
You say "I am what I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Outside the tents, on the festival grounds
As the air began to cool, and the sun went down
My soul swooned, as I faintly heard the sound
Of you spinning "Israelites"
Into "19th Nervous Breakdown"
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am what I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am that I am"
But who could ever live that way?
(Ya Hey)
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Zion doesn't love you
And Babylon don't love you
But you love everything
Oh, you saint
America don't love you
So I could never love you
In spite of everything
In the dark of this place
There's the glow of your face
There's the dust on the screen
Of this broken machine
And I can't help but feel
That I've made some mistake
But I let it go
Ya Hey
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am that I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Oh, the motherland don't love you
The fatherland don't love you
So why love anything?
Oh, good God
The faithless they don't love you
The zealous hearts don't love you
And that's not gonna change
All the cameras and files
All the paranoid styles
All the tension and fear
Of a secret career
And I can't help but think
That you've seen the mistake
But you let it go
Ya Hey
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
You say "I am what I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Outside the tents, on the festival grounds
As the air began to cool, and the sun went down
My soul swooned, as I faintly heard the sound
Of you spinning "Israelites"
Into "19th Nervous Breakdown"
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am what I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am that I am"
But who could ever live that way?
(Ya Hey)
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by bobduck, sulra, Mellow_Harsher, Folaeli, DjDabs, akjsdbshbd, lindstyl
"Ya Hey" as written by Ezra Koenig Rostam Batmanglij
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Interesting flip to the script of the old question "If God really loves us, why do terrible things happen?" Ezra seems to be asking "How can God love such terrible things?"
^ I saw your comment on YouTube and I agreed with what you said.
Ive also thought in between the Ya heys that they are saying "What, Deo?
De-oh Oh "
as Deo is latin for God. Maybe not but it would at least fit with in the theme.
Ex3 :13Nevertheless, Moses said to the [true] God: “Suppose I am now come to the sons of Israel and I do say to them, ‘The God of ​YOUR​ forefathers has sent me to ​YOU,’ and they do say to me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?”14At this God said to Moses: “I ​SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT​ I ​SHALL PROVE TO BE.” And he added: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘I ​SHALL PROVE TO BE​ has sent me to ​YOU.’”15Then God said once more to Moses:
“This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘Jehovah the God of ​YOUR​ forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to ​YOU.’ This is my name to time indefinite, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation
So not only does it shows Gods name but also the meaning of his name. And why shouldn't we use his name? we use the devils name but not almighty Gods?
[Oh, sweet thing]: reference to George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’.
[Zion doesn't love you]: Zion: a place name used as a synonym for Jerusalem, refers to their unfaithfulness.
[Babylon don't love you]: if even God’s own people don’t love him, his enemies, represented by “Babylon,” definitely don’t.
[But you love everything]: talking about God's ability to love all people.
[America don't love you, So I could never love you, In spite of everything]: a callback to a similar line in “Unbelievers” ‘if I’m born again, I know that the world will disagree’. using America as an example as it is a heavily Christian nation.
[In the dark of this place, There's the glow of your face]: a reference that God offers comfort in hard times. As “dark” as things get, He offers light.
[There's the dust on the screen]: metaphor for the human body as a vessel that gathers dust and breaks.
[Of this broken machine]: reference to the biblical story of Isaiah, who when standing in the light of God and His angels realized just how unclean he was. He thought himself unworthy to be in God’s presence.
[And I can't help but feel, That I've made some mistake, But I let it go]: as everyone knows that deep down they are "sinners" but they don't really care.
[Ya hey]: reference to "Yahweh" (meaning God) but as the Lord's personal name can't be used in vain they decided not to say it all together, hence 'Ya hey'
((The 3rd section is a reference to Exodus 3. Where God has seen the suffering of his children in Egypt and has come to rescue them through sending Moses to bring them out of Egypt and into the promise land))
[Through the fire and through the flames]: reference to Exodus 3:2 where God calls to Moses from within a bush on fire.
[ut Deo]: meaning 'as God' in Latin
[You won't even say your name]: In Exodus 3:13,14 Moses said to God “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
[Only "I am that I am"]: God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you."
[But who could ever live that way?]: ‘as when non-believers were confronted with such global indifference and outright aggression, they would ask 'why you would not announce your existence with absolute certainty?'’ (Anyone who’s lost faith in religion will have posed this question )
[Oh, the motherland don't love you, The fatherland don't love you]: a reference to how Jerusalem, the birthplace of all 3 major world religions is an area of constant conflict even though it is the mother of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Therefore this violence would suggest that they don’t love God because of the constant conflict in the birthplace He created.
[The faithless they don't love you, The zealous hearts don't love you]: faithless (meaning atheists), zealous hearts (people having eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something "may be a reference to scientists").
[All the cameras and files]: a man of faith said hidden eyes could see what I was thinking'.
[All the paranoid styles]: Like The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Richard Hofstadter’s seminal work in historical theory from 1964.
[All the tension and fear, Of a secret career]: reference to Moses trying to get out of his God given vocation, or to G-d refusing to reveal himself as divine when He is present in the world.
[And I can't help but feel, That you see the mistakes, But you let it go]: as God knows all our sins but chose to forgive us despite all odds.
[Outside the tents]: it's meant to allude to the fact that Moses and his followers lived in tents.
[on the festival grounds]: the festival of Sukkot (read about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…) re-stages the event every year.
[spinning "Israelites"]: spinning (meaning a chain of mental associations (from the suffering of the oppressed to the suffering of the upper middle class). Israelites (meaning son of Israel)
[19th Nervous Breakdown]: reference to a Rolling Stones song of the same name, which is about male exasperation with unhappy, spoiled women.
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I felt like Da Vinci trying to decipher this song :), the Lyrics where written by a number of people including "Ezra Koenig" please rate & I hope this helps
youtube.com/…
The "through the fire and through the flames" portion is in reference to Exodus 3:2 where God calls to Moses from within a bush on fire. The main point of Exodus 3 is that God has seen the suffering of his children in Egypt and has come to rescue them; through sending Moses to bring them out of Egypt and into the promise land.
In Exodus 3:13,14 (NIV) Moses said to God “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.". Therefore I think that Ezra is saying to God, how can you love them (Israelites/Jerusalem/Zion) and rescue them when they do not love you Lord? He is showing sympathy for God by saying how can you love so much and not get any credit? This song is showing Ezra's adoration for God's unfailing and unconditional love for his children.
"But you love everything...
Oh, you saint"
"I can't help but feel that I made some mistake, but I let it go" means that everyone knows that deep down they are "sinners" but they don't really care. Religious people are only religious when it helps them.
"And I think in your heart that you see the mistakes, but you let it go" means that a supposed omnipotent God would be able to rid the world of injustice, but somehow God does not act. He won't even say his name.
If God exists and allows the world to be the way it is, then how could this God live with himself?
Who could ever live this way?
Btw, "I am that I am" is the correct translation, it is way God choses to reveal himself, i.e., as an eternal being without beginning, who's being depends on its own being.
Everything "is what it is". Even a chocolate bar is what it is.
Why has God not made himself obvious?
Why has God not removed the evil choices of humans and catastrophic events of nature etc?
I'm unsure were you go the information from the first sentence. This song definitely seems to be about how no one really cares about God and that it seems ridiculous to the artists (VW) that God could love humanity (because humanity doesn't love God).
I think you are right on the point about sinners not caring, though I fail to understand where the sentence "Religious people are only religious when it helps them." comes from.
"And I can't help but think That you've seen the mistake" - meaning that God has seen the mistake he's made in creating humanity - "but you let it go" - but he decides not to do away with us.
So, in other words, the song is talking about how the world couldn't care less about God, but that God continues loving the world - the author of the song doesn't understand why God would love us.
I don't think it's fully 'positive' towards God (but, hey, neither were the Psalms).
And I don't intepret "Who could ever live that way?" as a rhetorical question about people being religious, I interpret is as a question directed to God, asking her how she could live that way... what exactly Ezra means by that question to God is another question...
This describes it better than anyone on here, not to mention is a much better site.
rock.rapgenius.com/…
And somehow, I think that Ezra intended to show that even those who say they love God, they don't really love God, everyone wanted him, wanted all the miracles, but they don't really love him. It's a really REALLY deep song and as every great piece of art, it can be seen by several perspectives :)
"Through the fire and through the flames, you won't even say your name" is asking "if God exists, why won't he just show himself?". It does indeed refer to the Exodus story of "I am that I am". The "though the fire/flames" bit refers to suffering and evil, so the line says "in this evil world you won't even show yourself".
"Paranoid styles" refers more to the secret fear some (perhaps most) believers feel that God is always watching you, like a Big Brother kind of thing.
"The tension and fear of a secret career" is referring to a double-life some believers live, the life they don't live in Church or at home or wherever. They see it as a kind of act of hiding from God, a bit like the Jonah story.
"And I can't help but feel, That you see the mistakes, But you let it go" refers to the mistakes of this world, the war, pollution, corrupt governments etc. This line questions God's caring of the world, saying that he sees these horrible things but just lets them go. It is asking "if you exist, then how can there be evil and suffering?". This line is a bit like the "through the fire and through the flames" line.
I like the personal touch Ezra gives to this song, it seems almost like it could be song to a woman or lover, but it is sung to God. When he says "oh sweet thing" it really drives the personal connection that Ezra may have with a supreme being.
Then when he sings about Babylon, Zion, America, and others not loving God,he is IMO talking about how people don't really love God. I don't think it is necessarily referring specifically to unbelievers, because he later says "the faithless" which seprates them from the other groups. I think he is saying that: even places that proclaim to be in tribute to you(Zion, Babylon, America) don't really love you but rather they worship you to meet an end. I think part of the meaning of this song can be found on other tracks on this album.
Just one note though: Zion, Babylon and America shouldn't be put in the same category. In the Hebrew Bible, Zion and Babylon are opposites... Babylon is the oppressive, dominating empire that is against God (along with Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome etc). Zion is supposed to be an alternative nation/city living differently to the other nations - God set Israel free from slavery in Egypt and they're supposed to live different, to live God's way... But in practice of course, they usually fail... Zion isn't much better at loving God than Babylon is...
America on the other hand, well it's actually interesting how he then adds America and leaves it up to the listener to decide whether America is being juxtaposed to Babylon or Zion. Obviously the US is often claimed to be a "Christian nation" - so some would see it as Zion - supposedly serving God, but in practice failing to do so. But in terms of the US' position in the world, it's more the modern-day equivalent of Babylon.
Like I posted on a few others commenters, I think he is coming to grips with breaking from religion and doing so by mocking God.