I Will Be With You
There's this song that goes:
"From a distance, the earth looks blue and green and the snow-capped mountains white... From a distance, you look like my friend, even though we are at war... God is watching us, from a distance." (It's on the Erich Kunzel CD "Amen! A Gospel Celebration," part of which I would recommend and part of which I would not.)
It expresses some good points — the stuff "we" fight about is not important in the long run. Get out of your own little rut in life and take a look at the broader scheme, at that which really matters. The overall message of peace is good... and yet the song bothers me on a couple points. It could just be me, unable to read between the lines, unable to mesh with the thoughts of the songwriter... But it bothers me that she places God at a distance.
If I seemingly over-think the song, then it makes sense — maybe the writer was mixing two meanings of the phrase "from a distance." With reference to the snow-capped mountains, she is referring to physical distance. With reference to God watching us and to a time when all are friends, she is referring to chronological distance. I could buy that — it could refer to the new earth — but I doubt that's what was intended (please, correct me if I am off my rocker).
If that interpretation is not correct, then the song leaves me confused as to its meaning. It implies that God is watching us from a distance and therefore doesn't understand why we make such an upheaval of our lives. Therefore, maybe the songwriter thinks we should all just clean up our acts because what we do doesn't make sense to God...
But the reality is that God is not watching from a distance — He is here right now and he understands what's going on in the world. His view of war is different from carnal man's and it is not His ideal, but he also realizes why war is engaged in. He sees the root issues that can only be solved by His saving grace — and maybe that is the root of why the song bothers me. It speaks vaguely about strife not making sense, but it doesn't really point to a solution. Maybe I am supposed to infer from it a solution, but how does the song writer know my solution will really be what she was trying to imply?
I'd be interested to know the thoughts of those more informed about music interpretation.
"From a distance, the earth looks blue and green and the snow-capped mountains white... From a distance, you look like my friend, even though we are at war... God is watching us, from a distance." (It's on the Erich Kunzel CD "Amen! A Gospel Celebration," part of which I would recommend and part of which I would not.)
It expresses some good points — the stuff "we" fight about is not important in the long run. Get out of your own little rut in life and take a look at the broader scheme, at that which really matters. The overall message of peace is good... and yet the song bothers me on a couple points. It could just be me, unable to read between the lines, unable to mesh with the thoughts of the songwriter... But it bothers me that she places God at a distance.
If I seemingly over-think the song, then it makes sense — maybe the writer was mixing two meanings of the phrase "from a distance." With reference to the snow-capped mountains, she is referring to physical distance. With reference to God watching us and to a time when all are friends, she is referring to chronological distance. I could buy that — it could refer to the new earth — but I doubt that's what was intended (please, correct me if I am off my rocker).
If that interpretation is not correct, then the song leaves me confused as to its meaning. It implies that God is watching us from a distance and therefore doesn't understand why we make such an upheaval of our lives. Therefore, maybe the songwriter thinks we should all just clean up our acts because what we do doesn't make sense to God...
But the reality is that God is not watching from a distance — He is here right now and he understands what's going on in the world. His view of war is different from carnal man's and it is not His ideal, but he also realizes why war is engaged in. He sees the root issues that can only be solved by His saving grace — and maybe that is the root of why the song bothers me. It speaks vaguely about strife not making sense, but it doesn't really point to a solution. Maybe I am supposed to infer from it a solution, but how does the song writer know my solution will really be what she was trying to imply?
I'd be interested to know the thoughts of those more informed about music interpretation.
posted by Claire at 18:15
1 Comments:
Although I definitely can't claim to be more informed about music interpretation, I would fully agree with your thoughts on the matter. God can see into our innermost hearts, definitely very up close! I sort of doubt that she meant chronological distance, too. Even if she did, it wouldn't make sense (to me, anyway) to use the phraseology, simply because of the easy misinterpretation it would lead to.
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