David Bazan: "This used to be a song called, “the Stars”. It had a very similar chord-progression and melody. When it was “the Stars”, it was about a guy who had escaped the city for two or three days. He was out camping and drinking a lot of beer. At one point, he became very moved by the immense beauty of the stars. He had it in his mind that he wanted to be one with them somehow – as irrational a thought as it was. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I know he didn’t want to go back to the city. I liked it pretty well, but something about it just didn’t work, so I came up with “Rejoice”.
It’s a really simple lyric. The thing that is compelling to me is I never really decided if the chorus of, “Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!” is sarcastic and mocking the idea of rejoicing in the face of the statement made previous to it, or if it was sincere, making it a paradoxical statement or something.
People would ask, “Are you being serious at the end or are you being cynical?” And I honestly don’t know. It depends on how I’m feeling when I’m singing it. "
David Bazan: "This used to be a song called, “the Stars”. It had a very similar chord-progression and melody. When it was “the Stars”, it was about a guy who had escaped the city for two or three days. He was out camping and drinking a lot of beer. At one point, he became very moved by the immense beauty of the stars. He had it in his mind that he wanted to be one with them somehow – as irrational a thought as it was. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I know he didn’t want to go back to the city. I liked it pretty well, but something about it just didn’t work, so I came up with “Rejoice”. It’s a really simple lyric. The thing that is compelling to me is I never really decided if the chorus of, “Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!” is sarcastic and mocking the idea of rejoicing in the face of the statement made previous to it, or if it was sincere, making it a paradoxical statement or something. People would ask, “Are you being serious at the end or are you being cynical?” And I honestly don’t know. It depends on how I’m feeling when I’m singing it. "