Journeyman7, you said all that, but ended up explaining the simplest part of the song and ignoring the far more difficult parts..
I think Olla666 is absolutely right. The first verse establishes that he, the hypothetical, anonymous "he" in the song, believes in God, he relies on God and he doesn't believe in suicide- but this life has not brought him happiness, in fact he's incredibly depressed.
The next verse (You're searching in the dark...) explains that religion has not brought him any certainty, that he is still clutching at straws. The last line of that verse is really important because it explains the entire song, if you miss what it meant you won't understand the song at all- "You take the Tarot cards and throw them to the wind". It's a metaphor, as tarot cards are a superspicious, old fake-spiritual trick to pretend to predict the future- Tarot cards are religion, such as Islam or Christianity, and he is throwing them to the wind- this is the only line that explains he has given up on Religion. It doesn't say he's an Athiest however- he may be altruistic. This becomes evident later on as he questions whether God exists or not, rather than so far he has been questioning whether his religion is right or not.
The next verse (You question your beliefs...) is always said to say "Your questions your beliefs", but I'm 100% certain it's a typo or mistake that appeared somewhere and became popular with lyric sites, the line is "You question your beliefs". Listen to it, there's no plural in "Question", there's no way it's "Your questions".
Also, if it isn't "You question", the entire verse makes no sense. The proper way though, it means that he is, after throwing away his religion, beginning to question all the assumptions and beliefs that his religious values up until now have taught him. The part talking to God is about how throwing away religion doesn't necessarily mean abandoning the idea of God.
The structure of this song is really weird and I'm not even sure you can say it has a chorus but, the next verse (If you could live your life again..) is about him reflecting on how he has lived his life religiously, presumably from religious upbringing, and wondering whether he could have been a better person without it. This becomes really obvious with the last line "Are there times when you believe that the right you thought was wrong?", in other words, "Do you sometimes feel your old values are wrong?". Someone abandoning Islam might come to realise that their previous value of hatred against all homosexuals was wrong, or Buddhists may come to realise they were wasting their time with vegetarianism.
From there on is the sort-of chorus, All of my life I have believed, Judgement of Heaven is waiting for me.
ichigo900 is dot on with his comment, it is sort of a pun- It means two things. He was expecting to go to Heaven, but also that he was waiting to see what Heaven really was, to judge whether his religion was right and whether or not he had wasted his life.
Journeyman7, you said all that, but ended up explaining the simplest part of the song and ignoring the far more difficult parts..
I think Olla666 is absolutely right. The first verse establishes that he, the hypothetical, anonymous "he" in the song, believes in God, he relies on God and he doesn't believe in suicide- but this life has not brought him happiness, in fact he's incredibly depressed.
The next verse (You're searching in the dark...) explains that religion has not brought him any certainty, that he is still clutching at straws. The last line of that verse is really important because it explains the entire song, if you miss what it meant you won't understand the song at all- "You take the Tarot cards and throw them to the wind". It's a metaphor, as tarot cards are a superspicious, old fake-spiritual trick to pretend to predict the future- Tarot cards are religion, such as Islam or Christianity, and he is throwing them to the wind- this is the only line that explains he has given up on Religion. It doesn't say he's an Athiest however- he may be altruistic. This becomes evident later on as he questions whether God exists or not, rather than so far he has been questioning whether his religion is right or not.
The next verse (You question your beliefs...) is always said to say "Your questions your beliefs", but I'm 100% certain it's a typo or mistake that appeared somewhere and became popular with lyric sites, the line is "You question your beliefs". Listen to it, there's no plural in "Question", there's no way it's "Your questions". Also, if it isn't "You question", the entire verse makes no sense. The proper way though, it means that he is, after throwing away his religion, beginning to question all the assumptions and beliefs that his religious values up until now have taught him. The part talking to God is about how throwing away religion doesn't necessarily mean abandoning the idea of God.
The structure of this song is really weird and I'm not even sure you can say it has a chorus but, the next verse (If you could live your life again..) is about him reflecting on how he has lived his life religiously, presumably from religious upbringing, and wondering whether he could have been a better person without it. This becomes really obvious with the last line "Are there times when you believe that the right you thought was wrong?", in other words, "Do you sometimes feel your old values are wrong?". Someone abandoning Islam might come to realise that their previous value of hatred against all homosexuals was wrong, or Buddhists may come to realise they were wasting their time with vegetarianism.
From there on is the sort-of chorus, All of my life I have believed, Judgement of Heaven is waiting for me. ichigo900 is dot on with his comment, it is sort of a pun- It means two things. He was expecting to go to Heaven, but also that he was waiting to see what Heaven really was, to judge whether his religion was right and whether or not he had wasted his life.
wow, are you Steve Harris or something? That's probably the best song interpretation I've ever heard on this site
wow, are you Steve Harris or something? That's probably the best song interpretation I've ever heard on this site