Bitter Sweet Symphony

A favorite song of mine is "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve. The violin intro is iconic and carries the melody throughout.

But the lyrics also make the song renowned.

"Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life

Try to make ends meet

You're a slave to money then you die."

Those lyrics are not uplifting, but they reflect how some feel - we work all our lives to make money and die. Kind of melancholyish....but also a serendipity realism - it's sort of fate. Making money is necessary to survive, although we know money has "weedy roots". And, are we ever really "free' from money?

"I'm here in my mold - I am here in my mold

But I'm a million different people from one day to the next."

These lyrics portray the "rat race" some feel confined to in order to survive. Societal expectations "mold" who we think we should be, how we act and think, and we may feel as a number in a line of mimics. Inside our minds though, we are a million different people, with unique thoughts, dreams, opinions, faiths, and ideologies. Hooray - I'm different and that's me!

"Well, I never pray but tonight I'm on my knees

Yeah - I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me."

I think these lyrics signal that music can be a substitute for prayer. Maybe not always, but music is powerful, and if music can "empty the trash" in one's mind....then listen to the music!

"I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down

You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet."

This lyric is complicated and can be interpreted differently. I think it depicts all the veins in a person's body as life choices/paths, which mysteriously route us to our hearts. Ironically, the previous lyric is about the mind and this lyric is about the heart.

Maybe we should read more music lyrics in addition to or more so than the bible.....we need all the help.....