What If No One's Watching?

god=he what is this refering to?

This song is about life in general...and Ani's been brave enough to be cynical about God and religion in general. The song says, what if no one's watching? Implying what is there is no God? As an athiest, i found myself agreeing with what Ani was saying. People have to face the truth about life whether they want to or not sometimes. I'm not sure what the first verse is on about or how it fits but the last verse is my favourite. Ani really is a talented lyricist and i like her a lot. This is a great song and very cleverly written.

To me this song is about not being afraid to question things-- even if in the end you decide that someone is "watching", the fact that you put thought into it and questioned it makes your belief alot more powerful, rather than "just an idea someone put in your head" .

i agree. we shouldn't be naive ... it should be okay to be cynical. there's still a lot of beauty in life..

Lici, I think the first verse and the stuff about movies fits with the idea that "no one's watching." Movies are meant to be watched, and if life was a movie, God would be the watcher. However, life sometimes lacks the meaning and glory of the movies. Instead of the "sunset" and the camera panning away, the sky is as grey as the buildings below it.

To me, this song is about the absurdity of living your life as if you're constantly being watched by some viewer critiquing your every move. Life shouldn't consist of pre-written dialogue - what you should say and what you should do. It's ridiculous to live your life like you're some character in a movie.

In the third stanza, it's like the singer is being ridiculed for not playing her part in life right. She's not sticking to the dialogue, not saying or doing the right things. But she doesn't care because she's living her life for herself, not for some invisible viewer.

I don't consider this an anti-God song. It's just about the desire to live your life the same way whether or not God exists.

Saying this is an anti-god song is oversimplifying it. While that is [debatably] arguable, I think it's more about "being cool." We're always worried about how we're perceived. Not just God-wise: we tend to live as if someone is constantly judging us, looking at us. We design our lives as if we're the main characters in some trippy serio-comic indie film. We design ourselves so that the audience loves us...we worry about if we're on the "right" side.

It's a waste of time. We're so worried about being right that it doesn't matter. Living your life as if someone's watching is okay ("I'd play the good guy in every scene") but it's ridiculous. Because in the end, we have a obligation to try to make the world better...and it doesn't matter if years from now, we'll be remembered and adored, forgotten, or hated. This song is about being clear and honest and living for yourself...because living like someone's watching is a waste of time.

I find this song existentialist and uplifting.

I'm not claiming to be an existentialist myself; I'm certainly not decisive enough for that.

Anyhow, I feel that Ani's simply suggesting that all the time we may have to enjoy this crazy cosmos is what we've got in this unpredictable lifetime. And, if that's so... we had best make the most of it because, ultimately, life is a beautiful thing and it is far too short.

I almost giggle to hear it. It seems odd, what depresses many to even consider - the fact that there may be no God or Afterlife - I find a thrilling and liberating suggestion in the way Ani approaches it in these lyrics.

What if no one is watching? Well we can go enjoy ourselves without worrying about a metaphysical spanking (to paraphrase the movie, Dogma) after we die if we've been slightly naughty. And, if people learned to be kind just because they wanted to make this life better for everyone and therefore were SINCERE in their kindness, as opposed to trying to earn karma or brownie points or whatever you wish to call it, than we would all likely have a much better time.

I was a kid lying in my bed one night (before this song was released, I'm sure), and had just finished praying. I was a practicing Christian throughout my childhood, but this particular night was different.

I thought hard about what I had just done (knelt and talked to myself), and got a little freaked out. I thought, as Difranco put it, "What if God is just an idea someone put in your head?" After moving through the initial shock of it, I felt like someone had just unlocked the door to a cage I'd built around myself... it was the most freeing thing I've ever felt, and she captures it in this song.