thank you greg graffin (from bad religion).
tj introduced me to this song. (and yes, i know, chris already put it on his blog, i don't care). it's been simmering in my brain the last two days. i love how it sounds. i love the acoustic guitar (when you can actually hear the words, underlined with excellent guitar). i love the message. i love hearing tj singing along. it's spurred alot of thinking tangents in my brain.
i love that we've been listening to it so much that hannah sang along with me this morning in the car on the way to school. i love that caleb was all fussy on my lap, until this song came on.
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Father, can you hear me?
How have I let you down?
I curse the day that I was born,
And all the sorrow in the world...
Let me take you to the herding ground,
Where all good men are trampled down,
Just to settle a bet that could not be won,
Between a prideful father and his son.
Well you guard me now for I can't see,
A reason for this suffering and this long misery.
What if every living soul could be upright and strong?
Well, then I do imagine there will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
When all soldiers lay their weapons down,
Or when all kings and all queens relinquish their crown,
Or when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves...
Its easy to imagine there will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
There will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
reading these lyrics reveals a little about who they are...
or at least who he is: a man who truly wants peace in the world - and realizes that the reason for so much misery are the choices of men and the affect the quest for power has on so many others. who does not believe in organized religion, but seems to believe in an atoning Savior. the need for all to be "upright and strong"...the strength that will disallow them to be used and to use others. also, this song reveals hope. singing about the current sorrow shrouding the world - but, also, about a possible future where there will no longer be.
and you know what gives me hope for the future: i have a man who already is upright and strong.
I had to finally find what the heck a band that has pronounced themselves as atheist and religion hating really meant with this song Sorrow.
I will say before I put the actual meaning of it up, music is interpretive and can mean different things based on who is listening to it. No matter what Brett says, it is how you hear it that matters most. I just thought it would be interesting to put the actual interview here though.
Here is an interview with the creator of the Sorrow lyrics Brett Gurewitz. The host's question is in bold.
First, because it is one of my favourite songs, I wanted to ask you about “Sorrow.” It confused me to no end because of all the religious imagery.
Well, it’s the story of Job from the Old Testament. Job was the most righteous man in the world. The devil said to God “these people are basically bad” and god said “Well no.”
The devil said “Give me one example” and god said “Look at Job, he’s a righteous man.”
The devil said that he could corrupt him like any man, and they made a wager. And that was god’s way of rewarding the one righteous man on the planet. That was god turning his back on the one man who was good and righteous. That’s not god, that’s religion.
That’s an example of how detestable religion is. What is the lesson there?
No matter how good you are, god will turn his back on you? This is the basis for Judaeo-Christian religion? Is it any surprise the world is so screwed up.
They say that the story of the Job is the saddest story ever told, so it seemed like the best archetypal story to start a song called “Sorrow”
Link to reference:
http://www.punknews.org/article/9447
I forgot to include the second question.
It seems telling that it picked up a lot of meaning after September 11th.
It took on meaning, but that’s the beauty of using archetypes in writing. It makes your song somewhat universal. I try to do that as much as possible. It gives the song more power; it imbues it with more potential.
Most of my themes were political on the new record, but the song “Beyond Electric Dreams” isn’t about religion, but about spirituality. It’s about finding hope and a basis for a moral code in nature; not needing to seek that through some kind of transcendental channel.
yeah well...what do you expect from a mad-mind?
i still prefer my own interpretation...i don't like the song as much his way - my way seems much better...so there! ha!
"It’s about finding hope and a basis for a moral code in nature; not needing to seek that through some kind of transcendental channel."
finding a moral code in nature? doesn't that imply that someone put the moral code there? without god, without a transcendant spiritual law - there is no need for a moral code. if we didn't believe that there IS a law, there would be no need to obey it.
the danger of this is: then, tj would abandon me for a harem of nymphomaniac mermaids, and subsist on wine. i don't like or fit into that scenario at all.
There are plenty of Atheist that would disagree with your comment on needing a God to have moral law and code.
I have one particular Atheist friend who is more moral (by Christian standards) than most Mormons I know. He would also say that the fact that you need a reason like God to be moral is very telling about the individual saying making that claim.
Here is an interesting you tube video debunking Atheist are immoral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94f2h-5TvbM
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