Let me preface this by saying that this isn't a big thing where I will just gush my love for Thrice, because I really haven't listened to them much (enough). That needs to change. If you are like me and haven't listened to them much, change that. The whole point of this post is to think about the lyrics from The Great Exchange. If you aren't really interested in Thrice (you should be) and are just interested in what I think, you can just scroll down to where the Youtube video is and read my thoughts below. Also, I encourage you to look up words you don't know (like cull[noun]), because they use words that are not frequently used in everyday speech.
Anyway, this post is brought about by the recent release of 3 new singles from Thrice's new album after their multi-year hiatus, which comes out tomorrow (May 27th, 2016). If you have been following me on Twitter, you have noticed I am on a Thrice kick:
I just want to live tweet @Thrice's discography as I listen to it today, but I am refraining.— Tyler Yoder (@tylerryoder) May 20, 2016
I was reminded of my Thrice listening experience when I saw the the video for Black Honey. I dove into the lyrics a bit, and I interpreted it as Black Honey meaning Oil. All these countries are going into the Middle East and trying to grab the black honey and can't understand why so many of the Middle Eastern countries and people are very upset at them. Based on the recent release of Death From Above and its obvious references to war, I am inclined to believe my interpretation. Based on the music and lyrics from these first three songs, I feel as though I will like this new album, which is titled To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere. If I were to interpret the title of this album (which I'm going to), I would take it one of two ways- 1) If we try to be everywhere then we cannot be present where we are. Thus, we are nowhere. 2) Since the songs released so far seem to have to do with foreign policy, we could take this as meaning that the US is trying to be everywhere around the world striving for what it views as peace and prosperity while the internal policies and politics are losing importance, relevance, and significance. Thus, the US is trying to be everywhere and is failing to be here, so they are nowhere. This will be much clearer after tomorrow when the album is actually released and we can listen to all the songs. All that to say, after listening to Black Honey, I remembered that diving into the lyrics is my favorite part of the Thrice listening experience, even though my experience is limited."Your eyes slit the throat of all I know about myself in this life. This silhouette lie." Piercing my soul, uncovering my insecurities.— Tyler Yoder (@tylerryoder) May 24, 2016
You've got heavy songs about marriage, like The Weight [Come what may, I won't abandon you or leave you behind, because love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment. Come what may, I will be standing right here by your side. I won't run away, though the storm's getting worse and there's no end in sight]. Rockin' jams making us ask heavy questions like Don't Tell And We Won't Ask [... And you're all alone with all the ghosts of lesser humans, whose lives you've spilt to suit your own... Don't we all know that life is sacred? Don't we all know that we bleed the same red blood?]. Sing-along anthems like Image Of The Invisible that cry out for justice [We're more than carbon and chemicals, free will is ours and we can't let go. We can't allow this quiet cull, so we sing out this canticle- we are the image of the invisible]. And songs like Come All You Weary, which is just pure [Come all you weary move through the earth. You've been spurned at fine restaurants and kicked out of church. Got a couple of loaves sit down at my feet, lend me your ears and we'll break bread and eat]. And the jam Deadbolt (I like this music video because it reminds me of everything I wanted out of music when I was in high school, haven't listened to the actual lyrics much).
I will be honest, my favorite album is The Artist in the Ambulance, even though many decry it as being "too mainstream." The jams wake me up, I pump my fist to the beat of my heart and bang my head to beat of the tunes. In other words, I like the album. I must be a Mainstream Kid [Brandi Carlile].
And after all that, you cannot forget In Exile, which reminds me of the hope we can have in God's Kingdom, which we talked about a lot in the Exiles sermon series at church a while ago. [My heart is filled with songs of forever, of a city that endures, where all is made new. I know I don't belong here; I'll never call this place my home, I'm just passing through].
However, the real song I want to think about in this post (now that I have spent words upon words upon words prefacing this) is The Great Exchange. I am embedding this one here, because this is the one I actually want you to listen to if you are going to read the rest of this post:
Akin to my post on Nine by La Dispute from many moons ago, I'm gonna look at the lyrics and write about what I think. I want to dig into the whole Beggars album in general, because it deserves a good once-over, but I haven't listened to it very much yet. So- lyrics to The Great Exchange are below with footnotes where I insert my thoughts. There aren't any crazy revelations I have, I just like the song and it gives me lots of thoughts.
The Great Exchangei
I crewed on a fair golden ship that
Went down at the dawn of the world.ii
We mutinied and sentenced our captain to die,iii
‘Fore our sails had barely unfurled.
We sank shortly after our riot;
Wanton flame and our powder kegs met.
While I swam for my life there came voices aloft
Joyful, unearthly, and dreadiv
Singing of a violent, tireless mystery:
That one would give his life to save his enemy.
Too bone-tired to keep my arms moving,
To swim or even grasp after straws.
The undertow drew me down into its cold
And infinite indigo jaws.v
I heard singing of a violent, tireless mystery:
That one would give his life to save his enemy.vi
I thought I must be dead or dreaming,
When my captain - still battered, betrayed
Pulled me up, laid me over the beam he’d clung to,
Breathed his last, and sank under the waves. vii
Your body is a bridge across an endless sea.
Your body is a bridge across an endless sea.viii
i 2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Martin Luther seems to have called this passage "The Great Exchange."
ii We went down at the dawn of the world. The modern calendar starts (sort of) with Jesus, so it is kind of the dawn of the world. We killed Jesus then, so that's why we went down (we=humanity). This line confused me for a while, anyway.
iii Thinking about the crucifixion as a mutiny makes me view it differently. I often see it more as the killing of an innocent, but mutiny is probably a better way to think about it, because "Jesus My Captain, my soul's trusted Lord." Jesus is our Captain, and so killing Him was mutiny. (In other news, not a fan of the cruise ships in that lyric video for Captain. They shoulda gone with freighters. Cruise ships give me a sense of entitlement, something set apart for a select few, not something that everyone has a part of. Everyone has a part of a freighter, the rich and the poor all benefit from the goods it carries. Same way with Christ. We all benefit from Him. Totally unrelated to the rest of this post entirely.)
iv This line gets me, and I don't know why. I'm not even sure what it means. When I think about the crucifixion, though, there were joyful voices. These voices were happy that Jesus was killed so that He could no longer disrupt the practices of the Pharisees and other higher-ups, and so that He couldn't usurp the Roman Empire (which I contest was never His desire in the first place. Sorry Judas, Our Brother [Being As An Ocean]). There were unearthly voices. The veil in the temple was torn, exposing the Holy of Holies, the presence of God coming out upon all the people. There were earthquakes, dead people came out of their tombs, etc. Lots of unearthly things. And there were definitely dreadful voices. The disciples were full of dread. Some of them went back to their homes, some went fishing, they locked themselves in rooms, etc. I don't know what they were dreading. Were they afraid Jesus would not rise again and they would be called fools? Were they afraid that Jesus would rise again and change everything about the world? I'm not sure, but I do know that their voices were full of dread.
v I just like this line. The infinite indigo jaws of the ocean. So deep (the ocean, that is). Our sin carries us down. Weighs us down. Destroys us. "For the wages of sin is death...[see vii]"
vi The mystery of Christ (Colossians 1) is ages old, but it is tireless. We can hear about it forever and still need to hear it more. And it is violent, because He was tortured and hung on a cross to bleed to death. He endured this to save His "enemy." I use quotations there, because only they thought He was their enemy. Which is something for us to think about. People thought that they were the enemy of Christ, but since Christ was saving them, they weren't really His enemy. If we, as Christians, wish to model our lives after Christ, how does this change our view of enemies in this world? How can somebody be my enemy if I am praying for their salvation? Things to think about.
vii "... but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Romans 6:23. This stanza contains so much of my hope in being a Christian. Sermons upon sermons can be written (and have been) about the hope that this stanza contains. Jesus, our captain, battered and betrayed from the mutiny, took our sin upon His shoulders, and took it with Him into death. The atoning sacrifice (the sacrifice that amends and restores our relationship with God). Such beauty, such grace, such hope for the future (see reference to the song In Exile above).
viii The chasm created between us and God by our sin has been bridged by Christ's sacrifice.
Went down at the dawn of the world.ii
We mutinied and sentenced our captain to die,iii
‘Fore our sails had barely unfurled.
We sank shortly after our riot;
Wanton flame and our powder kegs met.
While I swam for my life there came voices aloft
Joyful, unearthly, and dreadiv
Singing of a violent, tireless mystery:
That one would give his life to save his enemy.
Too bone-tired to keep my arms moving,
To swim or even grasp after straws.
The undertow drew me down into its cold
And infinite indigo jaws.v
I heard singing of a violent, tireless mystery:
That one would give his life to save his enemy.vi
I thought I must be dead or dreaming,
When my captain - still battered, betrayed
Pulled me up, laid me over the beam he’d clung to,
Breathed his last, and sank under the waves. vii
Your body is a bridge across an endless sea.
Your body is a bridge across an endless sea.viii
i 2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Martin Luther seems to have called this passage "The Great Exchange."
ii We went down at the dawn of the world. The modern calendar starts (sort of) with Jesus, so it is kind of the dawn of the world. We killed Jesus then, so that's why we went down (we=humanity). This line confused me for a while, anyway.
iii Thinking about the crucifixion as a mutiny makes me view it differently. I often see it more as the killing of an innocent, but mutiny is probably a better way to think about it, because "Jesus My Captain, my soul's trusted Lord." Jesus is our Captain, and so killing Him was mutiny. (In other news, not a fan of the cruise ships in that lyric video for Captain. They shoulda gone with freighters. Cruise ships give me a sense of entitlement, something set apart for a select few, not something that everyone has a part of. Everyone has a part of a freighter, the rich and the poor all benefit from the goods it carries. Same way with Christ. We all benefit from Him. Totally unrelated to the rest of this post entirely.)
iv This line gets me, and I don't know why. I'm not even sure what it means. When I think about the crucifixion, though, there were joyful voices. These voices were happy that Jesus was killed so that He could no longer disrupt the practices of the Pharisees and other higher-ups, and so that He couldn't usurp the Roman Empire (which I contest was never His desire in the first place. Sorry Judas, Our Brother [Being As An Ocean]). There were unearthly voices. The veil in the temple was torn, exposing the Holy of Holies, the presence of God coming out upon all the people. There were earthquakes, dead people came out of their tombs, etc. Lots of unearthly things. And there were definitely dreadful voices. The disciples were full of dread. Some of them went back to their homes, some went fishing, they locked themselves in rooms, etc. I don't know what they were dreading. Were they afraid Jesus would not rise again and they would be called fools? Were they afraid that Jesus would rise again and change everything about the world? I'm not sure, but I do know that their voices were full of dread.
v I just like this line. The infinite indigo jaws of the ocean. So deep (the ocean, that is). Our sin carries us down. Weighs us down. Destroys us. "For the wages of sin is death...[see vii]"
vi The mystery of Christ (Colossians 1) is ages old, but it is tireless. We can hear about it forever and still need to hear it more. And it is violent, because He was tortured and hung on a cross to bleed to death. He endured this to save His "enemy." I use quotations there, because only they thought He was their enemy. Which is something for us to think about. People thought that they were the enemy of Christ, but since Christ was saving them, they weren't really His enemy. If we, as Christians, wish to model our lives after Christ, how does this change our view of enemies in this world? How can somebody be my enemy if I am praying for their salvation? Things to think about.
vii "... but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Romans 6:23. This stanza contains so much of my hope in being a Christian. Sermons upon sermons can be written (and have been) about the hope that this stanza contains. Jesus, our captain, battered and betrayed from the mutiny, took our sin upon His shoulders, and took it with Him into death. The atoning sacrifice (the sacrifice that amends and restores our relationship with God). Such beauty, such grace, such hope for the future (see reference to the song In Exile above).
viii The chasm created between us and God by our sin has been bridged by Christ's sacrifice.
Yay nautical songs!
If there are other songs that you feel are essential to Thrice's discography, please let me know.
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