Don't Be There

yeah - switchfoot is my favorite band ever too. They're unbeatable...their lyrics, their music, their passion.

uh...here's what I read that Jon (songwriter) wrote about it:

"'Don't be There' was inspired by a bittersweet period in my life when I was growing further apart from a dear friend of mine. I will always teasure our friendship; I will never forget the beautiful memories. Yet, youth can be synonymous with change as we begin to learn and discover and experience life more and more. My friend and I had changed since we met, and our distance hurt both of us. The song is built around the conflicting desires that I had concerning this friendship."

you know the saying "be there or be square"? To me it means that that person will be around, but the person singing the song refuse to be near the other, so he is square because HE won't be there if the other person is. That is just what is means to me though, but most importantly this is a great song, and everyone should listen to it.

"I find that poetry and music are especially effective mediums in which to convey my feelings. Poetic devices can give us the eyes and heart of another, submerging us in the ocean of a foreign experience. In a song we can travel to far-away lands, catch our breath on the highest peak and feel our way across the forest floor. Music and poetry can act as jet engines for our emotions; I love these arts for the journey on which they take us. 'Don't Be There' is a song which began with an emotion and an acoustic guitar. I think that these two elements remained intact in this song. Obviously, the acoustic guitar is a prominent feature, but the melancholy mood that I was in when I picked up the guitar that day is evident was well. 'Don't Be There' was inspired by a bittersweet period in my life when I was growing further apart from a dear friend of mine. I will always treasure our friendship; I will never forget the beautiful memories. Yet, youth can be synonymous with change as we begin to learn and discover and experience life more and more. My friend and I had changed since we met, and our distance hurt both of us. 'Don't Be There' is built around the conflicting desires that I had concerning this friendship?" -Jon Foreman

you know the saying "be there or be square"? To me it means that that person will be around, but the person singing the song refuse to be near the other, so he is square because HE won't be there if the other person is. That is just what is means to me though, but most importantly this is a great song, and everyone should listen to it.

switchfoot is THE best christian band, hands down. their lyrics rock... "If you're a rose then I'm the thorn that's in your side" beautiful.

Well, if not the best, they're up there @ the top. :) I love switchfoot. "Learning to Breathe" is such a good album.

• Jarsonic

To me, "And I can't recall myself how I went down, Did I get shot or shoot myself?", this referrs to our falling away from God. It can happen so quickly and easily, that we may not even realize how we were pulled away.

I read somewhere that this song was about losing a close friend, and i think it said that the friend was one that had turned away from God. I love switchfoot so much..they are my favorite band ever...

Once I fell asleep while listening to my Switchfoot CD, a composite of all four albums, and when I woke up near midnight, I was still half asleep, and it was playing this song. I'm not sure if that played a role in it, but I've loved this song ever since.

As a completely different, yet interesting story, I just took the battery out of my laptop and it's still working.

"If you're a rose then I'm the thorn that's in your side, And does it hurt badly? 'Cause it burns right here."

When I listened to this song I thought about my relationship with God as was noted earlier, and this line hit me. We are all the body of Christ (Rom. 12.4-6) , and we all have our different roles. Personally I feel like my role changes all the time, and sometimes I feel like the thorn in this--that as a Christian I am an ambassador (II Cor. 5.20) of Christ...with every single word or deed. So when I don't act as Christ would have me, and nonbelieves see me doing so, I am a bad representative of Christ and all He stands for...the thorn on the side of a rose. At that point am I not the one thing keeping a person from experiencing the true nature of a rose (beauty)? It's a remorseful realization (for me) that instead of bringing people to true Beauty (Christ)...once again I've driven them away. Instead of sharing the One thing that means the most too me I hid if from them because they offended me somehow, or hid it from them simply becasue I don't watch everything I do. Maybe it's a shot in the dark, but it certainly helps me keep my head about me at times.