The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Tear it from its cross,
Shake it to pieces,
Scream demon wind into its ears.
I'm not getting an answer.
How can you be so fucking real?
Now I turn my back upon this
Crossbearer, the lesser me of a figment.
Never am I guided by its wisdom,
Gentleness or kindness.
Crossbearer, Crossbearer
Holy wars, killing in the name of God,
The right to be minimalized
Under the rule of the unseen greatness.
I cannot bow my head or kneel
My figure to a fake symbol.
And yet I dream and walk this earth
In free thought for myself,
Proving my existence without this form of worship.
So now let me spit upon the cross of your worship,
Or kill me in the name of God.
I only understand its hate,
The skin beneath a mask of shallow actions
With a book of superstitions to live by,
All living blind.
Shake it to pieces,
Scream demon wind into its ears.
I'm not getting an answer.
How can you be so fucking real?
Now I turn my back upon this
Crossbearer, the lesser me of a figment.
Never am I guided by its wisdom,
Gentleness or kindness.
Crossbearer, Crossbearer
Holy wars, killing in the name of God,
The right to be minimalized
Under the rule of the unseen greatness.
I cannot bow my head or kneel
My figure to a fake symbol.
And yet I dream and walk this earth
In free thought for myself,
Proving my existence without this form of worship.
So now let me spit upon the cross of your worship,
Or kill me in the name of God.
I only understand its hate,
The skin beneath a mask of shallow actions
With a book of superstitions to live by,
All living blind.
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Blue
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Sounds like the usual anti-religious BS, but there seems to a recurring implied "but" that suggests there might be something more to it than that. It's in the "and yet", and the "or"s, which suggests contrasting ideas even though on the surface he appears to be consistent. Maybe saying "or kill me in the name of God" implies that he deserves to die if he is wrong in mocking the cross? Another interesting theme is connecting "Never am I guided by its wisdom, Gentleness or kindness" with "I only understand its hate" - by itself the first verse just seems sarcastic while the second one is just together, but when taken together he's implying there is in fact a compassionate side to Christianity, he's just never felt it. The use of "crossbearer" as the target of derision is interesting. It could just be an ignorant kid talking who doesn't understand what "crossbearer" implies, confusing it with someone wearing the cross as an icon, but if used correctly it's referring to someone inflicting suffering on themselves, not others. This makes sense if we consider that the line "Crossbearer, the lesser me of a figment" implies that the narrator IS the crossbearer who they deride - or at least, a version of them is the crossbearer. If so, it suggests the song is actually an internal conflict between the current form of the narrator who no longer beliefs and his old self who once did, viewing his old self as causing him to suffer for no reason. Alternatively, the narrator could just be saying they are superior to the crossbearer, in which case they can be dismissed as an arrogant twit.
@Ganondox Forget to add this " viewing his old self as causing him to suffer for no reason, but he still retains some humility in case his old self my be correct."