Im not very good at reading into literature/writing, but I know some of you are. Ive been listening to this crash test dummies song and thinking about what the song is trying to say. If theres any underlying meaning, which I'm sure there is. Ive posted this elsewhere and recieved a few responses and made a few comments myself, which i will post as well. Below is the song written out in paragraph form. Im interested in what you guys think it means, what you think the musician(s) are saying about God and religion, heaven, etc.

Quote :

"After seven days, he was quite tired, so God said, "Let there be a day just for picnics, with wine and bread." He gathered up some people he had made, created blankets and laid back in the shade. The people sipped their wine, and what with God there, they asked him questions like, "Do you have to eat or get your hair cut in heaven?" and "If your eye got poked out in this life, would it be waiting up in heaven with your wife?" God shuffled his feet and glanced around at them. The people cleared their throats and stared right back at him. So he said, "Once there was a boy who woke up with blue hair. To him it was a joy, until he ran out into the warm air. He thought of how his friends would come to see and would they laugh, or had he got some strange disease?" God shuffled his feet and glanced around at them. The people cleared their throats and stared right back at him. The people sat waiting out on their blankets in the garden, but God said nothing. So someone asked him, "Beg your pardon. I'm not quite clear about what you just spoke. What that a parable, or a very subtle joke?" God shuffled his feet and glanced around at them. The people cleared their throats and stared right back at him."

Here are some responses Ive received:

Quote :

"Okay, here is what I think of it. The people asking questions are obviously representative of humankind in general, asking all number of questions about the things that we don't know and never will. God does not wish to answer the questions they have because it ruin the fun and mystery of heaven, so he tried to divert their attention with this story that, in a roundabout way, actually answers their question. The boy is happy to have blue hair but so concerned about something trivial that he is afraid to go out. In much the same way, the people are concerned with trivial shit about heaven. But the point is, it doesn't matter. Because if you're happy with blue hair, no one else matters. If you're happy in heaven, it doesn't matter if you need a haircut or have one eye. People aren't concerned with that in heaven. That is, of course, only my opininon."

and

Quote :

"wow, that was one of my favorite songs years ago, now i have to download it (or get you to send it to me...) The thing that really always hit me about it was the title and the recurring line, "God shuffled his feet." To me, this repeated action, along with his "glancing around" at the people around them, seems to suggest that God is nervous or anxious about the questions he is being asked. The people clearing their throats and staring right back at him, to me, deepens the sense of an uncomfortable situation -- one of those things where you ask someone for advice or guidance, they give you an unsatisfactory answer, you know it's unsatisfactory, they know you know it's unsatisfactory, and everyone just stands there feeling awkward. The uncomfortable situation? People are asking him difficult questions about heaven that reflect on the unfair nature of life on earth. Do people have to eat in heaven? Because not everyone here is able to eat. I got my eye poked out in a freak accident and my wife died. Am I going to get them back somehow after crossing over to the great beyond? To me there seems to be a lot of doubt among these people about whether heaven even exists given the kind of shit people go through on earth. If God created an Earth, and God is perfect, why is life on Earth not perfect? If god failed to create a perfect Earth, did he succeed in creating a perfect heaven? These questions, to me, seem implied by the details of the actual questions asked by the people. God's answer, which is basically a complete non-sequitur, does nothing to allay people's doubts and fears. If anything it deepens the sense of unfairness and chaos that Earth seems to be plagued with. Freak events in genetics occur, people are born with strange defects. God seems to be saying that there is a beauty in this chaos and randomness because the boy loves his blue hair. Then he kind of fucks it up by pointing out that the rest of society will see him as a freak or as a leper or something. The people don't really know how to take this. They don't know if he's giving them a parable, a lesson, as stated above, that part of what makes life on Earth beautiful is chaos. That seems a possibility, but it also seems to them that he's subtly mocking their plight by pulling out this random blue-hair story in response to their deep existential/religious questions. That's just my way of reading/hearing it. It's a great song, props for posting this, i hope to see some more discussion of it."

I replied with a response to the second comment, saying basically that I saw how it could mean a few different things, but I sort of agreed with him as to which I actually think it is. I also went on to say that personal religious beliefs obviously affect how you may take the meaning. Heres part of my response as well:

Quote :

"A friend of mine told me once that when you go to Heaven, youre so overcome by the awe of the presence of God and being in his light, that the other stuff doesnt matter, as if seeing your loved ones, being healed after dying of sickness, seeing when you were blind, hearing when you were deaf, as if all of that wouldnt matter all of the sudden. That's something I cant imagine. I think of what it would be like to lose Amy, and cannot fathom all of the sudden not caring if I saw her because God's presence was so much more fulfilling. Im sorry, but I definitely cant see that, but that doesnt necessarily mean it wont be the case. And what if you lose a loved one early, and fall in love with another person? How would that work. It seems naive to think "Everything will be honky dory with no problems or complications", but then again isnt that the idea of Heaven we've been given, being freed from worry and dispair and all the downer stuff we have to feel here in life. But back to the uncomfortable situation. Maybe God couldnt tell them how great it was. Maybe there really was no way to put it into words, or maybe there some deeper reason we cant know what will become of us when we die. In a sense, maybe it parallels military secrets, information that is unsafe for common knowlege. Who knows, maybe the boy waking up with blue hair is a subtle way of telling the people that, instead of Heaven, people are simply born as something out. I doubt it, its a stretch, but I guess it's possible. I think theres so much to interpret, and we all examine it with a little bit of spin based on how we were brought up and our view on religion. An atheist or skeptic may say that God knows there is no Heaven, and wont tell the people. A devoted God-loving person may say that it's just something the people arent supposed to know. The person who told me that God's presence will be so awe-inspiring that nothing else will matter, well he may say that God wouldnt be able to explain to them that nothing would matter. I mean, after all, "Youre in my presence now, I know, but when you get to Heaven and you're in my presence again, it will be so awesome you wont care about anything else" sounds just a little cocky, wouldnt you say?"

That also made me start to wonder more about the idea of meeting loved ones you've lost in heaven, specifically lovers/husbands/wives. And how those relationships would carry on in Heaven. Whether intimacy would exist, or if it would be somethign simpler, absence of physicality. Would there be anything to distinguish between friendly love and love you had for a husband or wife, family. If not, wouldnt that make it less special. Would you even remember your life on earth? What if you had come to love two people?

I know many people dont believe in Heaven, and if this is true for you, I'd still be interested in what you think about the lyrics along the lines of a simple literary analysis. What you would interpret the author to be saying? Stuff normally doesnt make me think this deep, but this song for some reason made me very interested in how other people would interpret it.

3/14/2006 4:21:53 PM

words.

also,

I agree with the first set of comments.

3/14/2006 4:28:31 PM

dude that's a lot of words

I know this is the lounge, but damn

3/14/2006 6:11:29 PM

I know its a lot of words, but I figured at least some people on here are literate. I mean, if someone cares to read it, I guess they care to read it. Im not too concerned.

3/14/2006 6:17:05 PM

For any religion that’s long enough been unpracticed to be called a mythology you study the elements of the stories and elements of the society at the time and can practically always find out how and why such stories would have derived without actual need for divine stuff going on.

Maybe the song is also ultimately a reflection on current cultural concerns... like with the hierarchies of men, incompetent leadership, uncertain times etc.

I believe in the Elysian Fields, the good parts of the realm of Hades, during after life you always had a sense of happiness and that your loved ones would be back any minute now, even if they weren’t dead yet or were in other parts of the underworld… you were always able to remain content because you knew you would soon be with them, and that gave you the freedom to enjoy your current company and surroundings. I’m not sure if I’m remembering that correctly though. But this would handle the situation where one love of yours died young, so you met and fell in love with someone else... you wouldn't all 3 have to be in the same part with crazy 3 way anger, and instead could all be happy.

A few mortals were lucky enough to ascend onto Mt. Olympus (&/or into the sky/heaven), so they gained a kind of immortality and heaven that was perhaps a little better than the Elysian Fields. But Elysium was the best anyone could really look forward to.

As well as that handles the situation, it still might seem a little unsettling to think at some point that you could go forever without the love of your life and not enough know it. Another unsettling outlook seems to be the atheist who thinks “well no afterlife is okay, b/c I’ll never have to experience a world without myself as a part of it.” But Christianity’s answers are equally unsettling as you’ve pointed out.

Most medieval Christians I believe thought that your body would be raised and enter heaven rejoined with your spirit when judgment came, and that your body is a vital part of who you are. Your soul is your essence, but your body/brain is you individualness, which must together enter heaven. So yeah I think the answer would be you get your eye back, unless you are going on more modern new ideas on Christianity & heaven.

I like the ancient greek notions on afterlife though. Death isn't so divided from life, you can travel to the underworld and back, although you usually have to be a half god like hercules to do it. (or jesus to save the jews or virtuous ppl who lived before him or adam & eve... i can't really remember how the story went or who he saved during the time he was dead). The underworld is just under earth (Gaia)... a deep enough cave or a river that flows underground into the river styx can get you there. Heaven is also closer, I mean you can find Mt Olympus on a map. I think this connectedness would also suggest that you get bodies not just spirits when you are in the underworld for the ancient greeks, I mean how else would you escape and interact like a person with a body when you got out?

[Edited on March 14, 2006 at 7:11 PM. Reason : .]

3/14/2006 7:04:36 PM

Those are some interesting points I hadnt thought about, especially the other takes on afterlife. Im not well educated in the ways of Christianity other than the basics, much less other religions. I just know the stuff I retained from bible school and what I've read growing up. I think considering the other perspectives like you've done helps put a completely different spin on what it's trying to say.

On that note, I find it hard to discuss what I think the authors are trying to say without diving into personal theories on Heaven. It seems so tied together, while at the same time it feels like we should be able to talk about what the authors intent for the story is without diving into our personal beliefs.

Maybe it just makes a good transition point.

3/14/2006 9:15:40 PM