Re: Lying in the Hands of God...
Just some thoughts...
Baby I'll be your soldier
Gladly I'll do your bidding
For just a taste of what you're holding
For just a taste you could own me
The song starts out with the above lyrics. Despite the fact that Dave uses the word ‘baby’, I interpret this verse as directly addressing God with a plea…
‘I would believe in you, if you could somehow prove to me you exist. Show me just a taste of Heaven.’ I’d go as far as to say ‘what you’re holding’ may even refer directly to LeRoi, or someone he cares about, that has passed on. ‘If they’re with you, show me, and in turn, I will believe in you’. I will be yours, ‘you could own me’.
Save your sermons for someone that’s afraid to love
I'll be right here lying in the hands of God
I think it’s interesting that the above line excludes the part ‘if you know what I feel, then you couldn’t be so sure’. I think this in some ways reinforces the idea, particularly after the opening verse, that ‘seeing would truly be believing.’ ‘Save your sermons’ seems to be a pretty obvious reference to organized religion, and I feel that this lyric is saying, ‘your mortal words don’t prove to me that a God exists. The lyric ‘for someone that’s afraid to love’ referring to the fact that, he’s half way there, but, things…like the loss of someone he cares about perhaps, or the suffering and injustice the writer sees in the world around him, can’t allow him to believe based solely upon blind faith.
Here it comes dive right into me
Now the floor is the ceiling
If you never flew why would you?
Cut the wings off a butterfly
I feel the above symbolizes the feeling, or experience, of death; ‘here it comes dive into me’ being death coming upon him. ‘Now the floor is the ceiling’ is describing the soul or spirit ascending from the body. ‘If you never flew why would you/cut the wings off a butterfly’ could represent the feeling of not knowing what comes next. ‘If you’ve never experienced death before, then how can you know what comes next’. I also feel that ‘cutting the wings off a butterfly’ may be a reference to the anger and frustration of having someone taken from you too soon, or before what you believe is ‘before their time’.
Save your sermons for someone that’s afraid to love
If you knew what I feel then you couldn’t be so sure
I'll be right here lying in the hands of God
‘If you knew what I feel, then you couldn’t be so sure’ seems to be a direct reference to Dave’s struggle with his beliefs. ‘If you knew how I felt, about whether a God actually exists or doesn’t exist, you wouldn’t assume that I believe I’ll be with God when I die.’
If you feel angels in your head
Teardrops of joy run down your face
You will rise
This is an interesting lyric in that it seems describe the joy of having reached heaven. Note the use of the word ‘you’ in this verse. I think it’s extremely hopeful in that, although the writer isn’t sure whether he can allow him self to believe, for a moment, he embraces the thought of someone he cares about, reaching heaven, or the afterlife, and the overwhelming joy they would feel. ‘You will rise’ being a direct reference to rebirth in the afterlife.
Fill me up now drain me
Skin begins to grow back slowly
Faster until I'm choking
I really should call my mother
This verse goes on to describe rebirth; ‘fill me up/now drain me’ referring to having been filled with embalming fluid. ‘Skin begins to grow back slowly’, another reference to being reborn, and the mortal body being transformed to a celestial body. ‘Faster until I’m choking’ referring to life’s breath re-entering the body.
I feel the line, ‘I really should call my mother’, is so fitting; almost as though, after being reborn, the first thing the writer would think of would be to call his mother to let her know he’s o.k.
I am in love with nothing else
Teardrops of joy run off my face
I will rise for someone that's afraid to love
If you knew what I feel then you couldn’t be so sure
I'll be right here lying in the hands of God
Similar to the verse before it, but interesting that now it’s written in the first person. ‘I am in love with nothing else’ referring to the love of God, and ‘teardrops of joy run off my face’ referring to the joy the writer would feel undoubtedly feel having reached heaven. But, however hopeful the first few lines seem, the writer reinforces his struggle in believing by repeating the lines that refer back to his uncertainty.
Now the floor is the ceiling
If you never flew why would you
Again, the floor becoming the ceiling being a reference to the rise, or passing of the soul or spirit. ‘If you never flew why would you’ again referring to the question that ‘if you’ve never died, how can know that something beyond exists’?
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