In A Big Country

I just discovered this song the other day, and considering the age of the song and the popularity of the band, not many people will read this comment. And yet, I feel obliged to post a ridiculously overlong commentary...this song is just so addicting.

The first few lines, "Shout!" and "Come up screaming!" remind me of the inspiration for "Shout" by Tears for Fears. Apparently, there's a kind of therapy called Primal Therapy (more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primal_Therapy). Of course, only a small part of the song brings this to mind, but I feel it's worth a small mention...

As for the song as a whole, I see it as a testament to life. The first stanza mentions previous failures of the singer's friend after a more recent disaster ("Never seen you look like this without a reason"). The friend feels as though their life is just one mistake after another, as though it's passing him by (lines four and five). The singer sympathizes, but slightly reprimands the friend for being depressed and nihilistic. The singer uses himself as an example, and goes on to explain why one should be optimistic and joyful.

The chorus begins with a rather blatant title drop, which is most likely intended to highlight the line's importance. "In a big country" is, for me, a metaphor for life; whether your glass is half full or half empty, and even if it feels like it's darn near empty, you can never stop having dreams, hopes, and aspirations. I interpret the second line pretty literally; sometimes when you're feeling down, a single voice can be enough to turn your attitude around. Now that I think about it, it could be a personification of sunrise: the lover's voice is that beautiful red, yellow, and orange color of the morning sun, visually setting fire to nearby mountains. The third line is a frank, direct message to the singer's same friend, telling him that life is worth living.

The second stanza is really my favorite...the singer talks about how he once used to think the way most people do ("I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered..."), only to have all his hopes crushed by the things happening around him completely beyond his own control (line 2). He even says "...you can't stay here..." if your life truly isn't worth it. But then he stands up ("I'm not expecting to grow flowers in a desert,") and gives his reasons for living ("But I can live and breathe | and see the sun in winter time."). The singer already went through his depression, but discovered reasons for living all around himself. Now, he's trying to show all of this to his friend, simultaneously accepting that the friend may have lost all his hopes and feels like his life isn't worth it, while showing him reasons TO live. At the same time, the song sounds as though the singer is trying to convince the friend to not kill himself in the most blunt request, "Stay alive" repeated ad infinitum.

Generally, the rest of the song is made up of refrains, so I'll focus on the last "new" lines, lines one through four of the third stanza. The singer concludes his talk by telling the friend to stop being depressed, as it's out of place ("So take that look out of here, it doesn't fit you."). The second line basically says you can't keep dwelling on the past. The third and fourth lines once again remind me of primal therapy...if it's a little too weird for you (heck, it's weird to me) you can take them as a call to rise up against angst and be happy. If you'd rather make a different connection, "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas has a lot of similarity; both song and poem try to convince the audience that life is worth living through powerful lyrics and refrain.

Anyways, yeah.