i was about to post this, liz.. the first time I heard this song, the phrases about not beating people over the head with your religion stood out the most.. so at first blush I was thinking its about hypocritical Christians or Christians trying so hard to get their message across, that they sacrifice their cole Christian values in the process. But I am pretty sure it’s about the devil trying to convince him that he is a hypocrite using these worldly themes.
After reading through 6 pages of posts, I was suprised not to see anyone else with the devil angle, but on the last recent post by liz, I see it posted.
The title of the album also mentions the devil "raging inside". That is how I took this song after a few listens, and I came here to see if others agreed.
In the Bible several characters are tempted clearly and directly by the devil, while many other references are to the internal struggle for your soul against sin and the devil.
The devil of course used a lot of trickery to tempt Christ with. The devil will make you ashamed of the things you've done and make you question the good things you are trying to accomplish. The devil will tell you that you're no longer good enough to lead others, or maybe you are so talented that you are better than everyone and don’t need religion.
Who do you carry that torch for, my young man?
Do you believe in anything?
Or do you carry it around just to burn things down?
The opening refrain reads to me like the temptation of Christ; maybe the devil inside is asking him why is he is carrying the torch for Christianity. Maybe Christianity is destructive, maybe it caused Bush to attack Iraq to borrow that phrase from here. “My young man” kind of puts him in his place as someone that needs to learn from my wisdom, while at the same time is an enticing, friendly voice of reason.
Meet me tonight on the turnpike my darling,
where we believe in everything.
If we sweat all these debts then we're sure to drown,
so let's strap ourselves up to this engine now
with our God who we found laying under the back seat.
The first stanza is: join me; stop worrying; take the easy road (turnpike), not the difficult, narrow path of Christianity. The luring overtones of the devil (join me my darling). Quit fighting these sins (don’t sweat all the debts) you enjoy so much, just strap yourself to the engine (just enjoy life!). Here’s a new religion for ya (the god in the back seat is not necessarily even a religion, but maybe something like money that takes his existing religion away)! We don’t need to believe in Christianity, whatever we want (where we believe in everything), goes!
What did you learn tonight?
while shouting so loud, you barely joyous, broken thing.
You are a voice that never sings, is what i say.
You are freezing over hell
You are bringing on that end you do so well
and you can only blame yourself, is what is say.The second refrain is the devil rebuking him for being preachy about Christianity and making him question himself. Why not use your beautiful voice to trumpet these popular causes and have a lot more fun in the process? I (the devil) think you’re wasting your talent.
Oh, order your daughters to ignore me
think that will sort me?
and sweep me under the rug?
while you're beating with a book
everyone that book tells you to love.
The second stanza, even when I heard it even the first time, I thought it was the devil taunting him. It reminded me immediately of the Stones “Sympathy for the Devil”. You must be an idiot if you think telling your daughters to ignore the temptations of the devil can possibly hold me back.
The devil points out “well isn’t the Bible about love?” It’s the biggest argument used against Christianity today and he’s forced to wrestle with the question. The devil makes him question himself using the Bible as a weapon (“you think that can stop me? well how do you answer THIS”).. consistent with the temptation of Christ and using the Bible against Christ.
There is an ember in the heart of this kiln
and it's burning hot with love.
Burning out my center till there's nothing but dust
then rolling me with care into your cigarette
cause the God i believe in never worked on a campaign trail.
I have a hard time following the last stanza as others have. Maybe he’s found his own voice as a response, instead of the voice of his devil above. It could go either way I suppose.
If it’s the devil’s perspective, maybe the devil is saying that he is the one that loves, not God. The kiln could represent the embodiment of fire and still refer to the devil. Stop trying to grind me into dust, there is a speck of (worldly) love in here. You’re only going to ingest me once again (as a cigarette or other form of my vices), because you don’t need this kind of religion anyways.
If he’s found his own voice, maybe he’s describing recognition of the devil. There is a Christian love still left inside of me. Then he accuses the devil re-packaging that love and using it against him, soothingly and with care, because God wouldn’t be trying to convince him like this (like a salesman or politician does).
Finally, in the muted chorus, it has to be “fear of the silver tongue”. Silver sun doesn’t even make sense regardless. Again, Christian origins: “the tongue of the righteous is silver”. It’s often used in conjunction with the devil (silver tongued devil), and used to describe politicians and salespeople. These arguments, like the arguments of the devil himself in tempting Christ, have some Christian basis, but are used to undermine the truth.
i was about to post this, liz.. the first time I heard this song, the phrases about not beating people over the head with your religion stood out the most.. so at first blush I was thinking its about hypocritical Christians or Christians trying so hard to get their message across, that they sacrifice their cole Christian values in the process. But I am pretty sure it’s about the devil trying to convince him that he is a hypocrite using these worldly themes.
After reading through 6 pages of posts, I was suprised not to see anyone else with the devil angle, but on the last recent post by liz, I see it posted.
The title of the album also mentions the devil "raging inside". That is how I took this song after a few listens, and I came here to see if others agreed.
In the Bible several characters are tempted clearly and directly by the devil, while many other references are to the internal struggle for your soul against sin and the devil.
The devil of course used a lot of trickery to tempt Christ with. The devil will make you ashamed of the things you've done and make you question the good things you are trying to accomplish. The devil will tell you that you're no longer good enough to lead others, or maybe you are so talented that you are better than everyone and don’t need religion.
Who do you carry that torch for, my young man? Do you believe in anything? Or do you carry it around just to burn things down?
The opening refrain reads to me like the temptation of Christ; maybe the devil inside is asking him why is he is carrying the torch for Christianity. Maybe Christianity is destructive, maybe it caused Bush to attack Iraq to borrow that phrase from here. “My young man” kind of puts him in his place as someone that needs to learn from my wisdom, while at the same time is an enticing, friendly voice of reason.
Meet me tonight on the turnpike my darling, where we believe in everything. If we sweat all these debts then we're sure to drown, so let's strap ourselves up to this engine now with our God who we found laying under the back seat.
The first stanza is: join me; stop worrying; take the easy road (turnpike), not the difficult, narrow path of Christianity. The luring overtones of the devil (join me my darling). Quit fighting these sins (don’t sweat all the debts) you enjoy so much, just strap yourself to the engine (just enjoy life!). Here’s a new religion for ya (the god in the back seat is not necessarily even a religion, but maybe something like money that takes his existing religion away)! We don’t need to believe in Christianity, whatever we want (where we believe in everything), goes!
What did you learn tonight? while shouting so loud, you barely joyous, broken thing. You are a voice that never sings, is what i say. You are freezing over hell You are bringing on that end you do so well
and you can only blame yourself, is what is say.The second refrain is the devil rebuking him for being preachy about Christianity and making him question himself. Why not use your beautiful voice to trumpet these popular causes and have a lot more fun in the process? I (the devil) think you’re wasting your talent.
Oh, order your daughters to ignore me think that will sort me? and sweep me under the rug? while you're beating with a book everyone that book tells you to love.
The second stanza, even when I heard it even the first time, I thought it was the devil taunting him. It reminded me immediately of the Stones “Sympathy for the Devil”. You must be an idiot if you think telling your daughters to ignore the temptations of the devil can possibly hold me back.
The devil points out “well isn’t the Bible about love?” It’s the biggest argument used against Christianity today and he’s forced to wrestle with the question. The devil makes him question himself using the Bible as a weapon (“you think that can stop me? well how do you answer THIS”).. consistent with the temptation of Christ and using the Bible against Christ.
There is an ember in the heart of this kiln and it's burning hot with love. Burning out my center till there's nothing but dust then rolling me with care into your cigarette cause the God i believe in never worked on a campaign trail.
I have a hard time following the last stanza as others have. Maybe he’s found his own voice as a response, instead of the voice of his devil above. It could go either way I suppose.
If it’s the devil’s perspective, maybe the devil is saying that he is the one that loves, not God. The kiln could represent the embodiment of fire and still refer to the devil. Stop trying to grind me into dust, there is a speck of (worldly) love in here. You’re only going to ingest me once again (as a cigarette or other form of my vices), because you don’t need this kind of religion anyways.
If he’s found his own voice, maybe he’s describing recognition of the devil. There is a Christian love still left inside of me. Then he accuses the devil re-packaging that love and using it against him, soothingly and with care, because God wouldn’t be trying to convince him like this (like a salesman or politician does).
Finally, in the muted chorus, it has to be “fear of the silver tongue”. Silver sun doesn’t even make sense regardless. Again, Christian origins: “the tongue of the righteous is silver”. It’s often used in conjunction with the devil (silver tongued devil), and used to describe politicians and salespeople. These arguments, like the arguments of the devil himself in tempting Christ, have some Christian basis, but are used to undermine the truth.