In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Oh, sweet thing
Zion doesn't love you
And Babylon don't love you
But you love everything
Oh, you saint
America don't love you
So I could never love you
In spite of everything
In the dark of this place
There's the glow of your face
There's the dust on the screen
Of this broken machine
And I can't help but feel
That I've made some mistake
But I let it go
Ya Hey
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am that I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Oh, the motherland don't love you
The fatherland don't love you
So why love anything?
Oh, good God
The faithless they don't love you
The zealous hearts don't love you
And that's not gonna change
All the cameras and files
All the paranoid styles
All the tension and fear
Of a secret career
And I can't help but think
That you've seen the mistake
But you let it go
Ya Hey
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
You say "I am what I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Outside the tents, on the festival grounds
As the air began to cool, and the sun went down
My soul swooned, as I faintly heard the sound
Of you spinning "Israelites"
Into "19th Nervous Breakdown"
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am what I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am that I am"
But who could ever live that way?
(Ya Hey)
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Zion doesn't love you
And Babylon don't love you
But you love everything
Oh, you saint
America don't love you
So I could never love you
In spite of everything
In the dark of this place
There's the glow of your face
There's the dust on the screen
Of this broken machine
And I can't help but feel
That I've made some mistake
But I let it go
Ya Hey
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am that I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Oh, the motherland don't love you
The fatherland don't love you
So why love anything?
Oh, good God
The faithless they don't love you
The zealous hearts don't love you
And that's not gonna change
All the cameras and files
All the paranoid styles
All the tension and fear
Of a secret career
And I can't help but think
That you've seen the mistake
But you let it go
Ya Hey
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
You say "I am what I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Outside the tents, on the festival grounds
As the air began to cool, and the sun went down
My soul swooned, as I faintly heard the sound
Of you spinning "Israelites"
Into "19th Nervous Breakdown"
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am what I am"
But who could ever live that way?
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Through the fire and through the flames
You won't even say your name
Only "I am that I am"
But who could ever live that way?
(Ya Hey)
Ut Deo, Ya Hey
Ut Deo, Deo
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by bobduck, sulra, Mellow_Harsher, Folaeli, DjDabs, akjsdbshbd, lindstyl
Ya Hey Lyrics as written by Ezra Koenig Rostam Batmanglij
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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A song about questioning God's existence and the hypocrisy of religious people.
"I can't help but feel that I made some mistake, but I let it go" means that everyone knows that deep down they are "sinners" but they don't really care. Religious people are only religious when it helps them.
"And I think in your heart that you see the mistakes, but you let it go" means that a supposed omnipotent God would be able to rid the world of injustice, but somehow God does not act. He won't even say his name.
If God exists and allows the world to be the way it is, then how could this God live with himself?
Who could ever live this way?
great questions. nice points.<br /> <br /> Btw, "I am that I am" is the correct translation, it is way God choses to reveal himself, i.e., as an eternal being without beginning, who's being depends on its own being. <br /> <br /> Everything "is what it is". Even a chocolate bar is what it is.<br /> <br /> Why has God not made himself obvious?<br /> <br /> Why has God not removed the evil choices of humans and catastrophic events of nature etc?
With all due respect, I don't think that this is what the artists had in mind. This is what I get from it.<br /> <br /> I'm unsure were you go the information from the first sentence. This song definitely seems to be about how no one really cares about God and that it seems ridiculous to the artists (VW) that God could love humanity (because humanity doesn't love God). <br /> <br /> I think you are right on the point about sinners not caring, though I fail to understand where the sentence "Religious people are only religious when it helps them." comes from. <br /> <br /> "And I can't help but think That you've seen the mistake" - meaning that God has seen the mistake he's made in creating humanity - "but you let it go" - but he decides not to do away with us.<br /> <br /> So, in other words, the song is talking about how the world couldn't care less about God, but that God continues loving the world - the author of the song doesn't understand why God would love us.