bible verse

079. 1 John 4:16

Alex Russell The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ws6r6VqRV4

The Bible verse and the Mountain Goats song “1 John 4:16” talk about sources of love, but with very different results.

Track: “1 John 4:16”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009)

The Life of the World to Come is certainly well-loved now, but it’s impossible to forget how out of left field it felt when it came out. In most of the interviews that led up to the release John Darnielle defended his choice to write an entire album based on verses from the Bible and tried to explain what it meant to him. It’s hard to describe succinctly, but Darnielle’s description of it being more about “hard lessons” from the Bible and less about actual Christianity is a good place to start.

While the Mountain Goats had plenty of biblical history before The Life of the World to Come (as has been written about at length in this amazing article), the album at first appears to be a whole new level of dedication. It only seems that way from the track list. Aside from the title, there isn’t anything directly biblical about “1 John 4:16.” The verse is about how love comes from God and how faith and love cannot be experienced separately. The song is much darker, though it also deals with love. The narrator is trapped, first in a “holding tank” (though they do say they built it themselves) and then in just a “cell” (though they are led out of it).

The tone here, like the message on much of The Life of the World to Come, is pensive. The narrator is trapped and afraid, but is comforted somewhat by rain-inspired thoughts of a loved one. The delivery of “I know you’re thinking of me // because it’s just about to rain” is wonderfully delicate, but it’s the piano that makes the song work. Live performances have become more and more about the piano portion, and songs like “1 John 4:16” are exactly why.

075. Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace

Alex Russell The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , ,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWMaarpJbig

In “Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace,” two people drive through the desert in their final real moments.

Track: “Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009)

Sometimes you have to listen to dozens of live performances of a song to find out how John Darnielle views it, but sometimes you just have to look at his Tumblr. He’s been very forthcoming with his reasoning for why he won’t play “Going to Georgia” anymore: it’s a song that romanticizes stalking and emotional violence towards someone you love. Recently a fan asked him why he wouldn’t play that song but would play “Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace,” a song about a man kidnapping and torturing another man. Darnielle says he doesn’t see the connection and that the point of “Ezekiel 7” is that it’s nakedly about a bad event. “Going to Georgia” can be interpreted as “sweet” if you have a black enough heart, and he doesn’t want anyone to get that out of it.

“Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace” closes out The Life of the World to Come on a really dark moment. The events in the song are straightforward and it ends with an eerie heartbeat, suggesting that the victim is still alive for now but won’t be for long. The background effects on the album really amplify the terrifying scene, but Darnielle’s live piano version has just as much pain. It’s not a traditional Goats song, but the message is one they preach a lot: dark behavior meets with dark ends.

The source material of Ezekiel 7 is the story of the end of the world through God’s wrath. The song is the literal end of one person, but also the figurative end of the other as they die to themselves through their choices. Like “Going to Georgia,” the main character is the one doing literal damage, but the worst violence that happens is internal.

053. Hebrews 11:40

Alex Russell The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The song “Hebrews 11:40” contrasts with the source of its title by arguing for a more immediate reward after suffering.

Track: “Hebrews 11:40”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009)

You have to read all of Hebrews 11 to figure out what’s going on in the final verse. I’m certainly no Biblical scholar, but some of it is very straightforward. It opens with “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” and closes with 11:40. We’re talking about faith as a shield, but a shield for a life that’s coming after this one. The faithful will eventually be rewarded, the chapter says, but they will suffer in this life.

“I’m gonna get my perfect body back someday,” John Darnielle promises in “Hebrews 11:40.” The song really challenges the whole message of The Life of the World to Come fairly directly. The chapter Hebrews 11 is obviously designed to bolster the faithful with assurances that their suffering will not go unnoticed, and it serves to strengthen people who may be experiencing weakness. The song “Hebrews 11:40,” like the rest of the album, is interested in the idea, but not so much the intention of the chapter or the verse. In the Bible, the dead faithful must wait for the rest of the faithful. In the world of the Mountain Goats, sometimes you have to take things into your own hands.

The righteous dead are told to wait for their reward, but John Darnielle says that you should “make your own friends when the world’s gone cold.” The difference is that the chapter tells people that their suffering is sign of better things to come, but the song argues a more active approach. “I feel certain I am going to rise again” is a message they both share, but “Don’t wanna hurt anyone // probably gonna have to, before it’s all done” is Darnielle’s alone.

023. Philippians 3:20-21

Alex Russell The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Philippians 3:20-21” deals with the theological question of how a just God could allow a person to be suicidal.

Track: “Philippians 3:20-21”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009)

Philippians 3:20-21 talks of Jesus making the bodies of humans like his own after their death. It’s open to interpretation beyond that, but it generally means that you’ll join Jesus and be redeemed (physically and otherwise) with him once you die. The song “Philippians 3:20-21” is about how anything that requires you to die to feel better is a really tough sell.

John Darnielle wrote the song about David Foster Wallace, who hung himself because he couldn’t stand to be alive. The chemicals in his brain conspired against him, as they do in everyone with some kind of mental illness. John worked professionally with the mentally ill as a younger man and it’s a cause that is close to his heart. For Wallace specifically, he has said that he thinks one of the most difficult messages of Christianity is that it only deals with redemption and solutions post-mortem. In the song, “nice people said he was with God now,” which is a polite way to speak of the dead, but it didn’t do anything for him while he was alive.

For a person whose life is plagued by thoughts of suicide and self-harm, the idea that death will provide a spiritual respite is cold comfort. The rest of the chorus talks of the voices of angels being “smoke alarms,” since they signal the fire of his death but don’t do anything to stop the flames from coming. John has said that he thinks it’s difficult to understand how a kind and loving God could not give a person the chemistry needed to fend off dark thoughts and survive, and the “neuroleptics and electric shock” of “Philippians 3:20-21” are his way of saying it would be easier to believe if the salvation worked a little bit earlier.

005. 1 Samuel 15:23

Alex Russell The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5kY-h-Eqt8

In “1 Samuel 15:23,” a supposed crystal healer speaks of their life and the choices they’ve made.

Track: “1 Samuel 15:23”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009)

Every song on The Life of the World to Come is titled after a biblical verse, but the album is not about Christianity. John Darnielle has said that he likes the literature of the religious text, and the source material of 1 Samuel 15:23, the first track on the album, is exceptionally compelling. In the preceding verse, the prophet Samuel chastises King Saul. He tells him that obedience to the Lord is more powerful and more important than complicated religious sacrifices and burnt offerings: “To heed is better than the fat of rams.” In our title track here, he continues the condemnation and likens rebellion (to the Lord) as “like the sin of divination” and compares insubordination to idolatry.

Greater people have broken down what those two verses mean, but in the world of The Life of the World to Come, they seem to describe our narrator’s ability to heal but not to save themselves. They can heal you with crystals and they can protect you when you lack protection, but they seem unfulfilled by it. Samuel warns the king to avoid things like crystal magic, but our speaker here says it works for them. One thing to be clear about: they says it works for them. Maybe you get healed and maybe you don’t, they aren’t really clear on that. All they’re saying is that their career as a healer who is spoken of as powerful is working. There’s no commentary on if rejecting dark magic or embracing the light of the Lord is the purer (or more successful) path.

The album has lots to say about the emotions tied up in biblical language, but “1 Samuel 15:23” is about making your way through life as best you can. If all else fails, plant grapes.