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24 Frames Lyrics

This is how you make yourself vanish into nothing
And this is how you make yourself worthy of the love that she
Gave to you back when you didn’t own a beautiful thing

This is how you make yourself call your mother
And this is how you make yourself closer to your brother
And remember him back when he was small enough to help you sing

You thought God was an architect, now you know
He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow
And everything you built that’s all for show goes up in flames
In 24 frames

This is how you see yourself floating on the ceiling
And this is how you help her when her heart stops beating
What happened to the part of you that noticed every changing wind

This is how you talk to her when no one else is listening
And this is how you help her when the muse goes missing
You vanish so she can go drowning in a dream again

You thought God was an architect, now you know
He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow
And everything you built that’s all for show goes up in flames
In 24 frames

You thought God was an architect, now you know
He’s sitting in a black car ready to go
You made some new friends after the show
But you’ll forget their names
In 24 frames
In 24 frames
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Cover art for 24 Frames lyrics by Jason Isbell

Standard frame rate in film is 24 frames/sec. I interpret it as being about how your life, and all your plans for it, can be ripped it from under you in an instant.

Cover art for 24 Frames lyrics by Jason Isbell

The discussion of God's role in the universe is most interesting to me. Most cultures and religions teach that God has some master plan for the way things turn out. Child dies at birth, teen killed in auto accident, a plane goes down - because "that's what God wanted." (As an aside right here, check our Roger Waters' video for a song called "What God Wants," and ask yourself, "Really?") Isabel is saying God, who may or may not have put everything into motion here, isn't the conductor of YOUR universe. He's the pipe bomb that explodes and leaves you to figure out how to do damage control. In fact, damage control is the human condition. And then Isbell challenges us to think of everything we've constructed, the houses, the cars, the fame and adulation (for some) and where would you be if that old pipe-bomber snatched it away in a second - those infant deaths, car wrecks and plane crashed we think he has some organized plan for. Musically simple, lyrically brilliant, Jason Isbell.

@1063266265 The "pipe bomb" that is God destroys "everything you built that's all for show," leaving you to deal with what's really important.

 
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