Let That Be Enough

This time I’m gunna do an oldie. Let That Be Enough is from their second album, New Way to Be Human, back when they were less rock-y and more inspirational. This song works through a thought that many people have probably had before. Feeling alone and defeated, unsure of the direction of your life. The soothing feel of the guitar combined with the last line of the first verse (“I’m a plane in the sunset, with nowhere to land”) provide the imagery that sticks with me throughout the song. It’s a sad, beautiful view of the plane in the sunset, unsure of what to do or where to go.

“And all I see, it could never make me happy, and all my sandcastles spend their time collapsing.” This pre-chorus sets up the perfect transition into the chorus. It poses the problem that a lot of people face. To quote C. S. Lewis, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Everything in this world is temporary. The best things we can ever make last for a super long time, but they still die/fade/rust/break. After all we as a race have been through, we still make things that slowly come to ruin, like entropy. Notice how life recycles.  Things die, but then get eaten by other things, or simply decompose. Plants and trees take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, while we do the opposite. Even poop makes fertilizer. The things we make, however, enjoy finding their way to a big pile with lots of other overused/unwanted things. Life doesn’t perfectly recycle, as entropy tells us, but I believe that’s our fault. Just as we struggle making things that last forever, we struggle finding true happiness in the things of this world. Where do we turn?

I think the answer to that question should be pretty clear, which is where the chorus takes us. Jon seems to be asking to feel the presence of God. More than that though, he says “let that be enough.” Many of us have wished God to speak to us at our command, which seems foolish when you step back and think about it. But God gives us what we need, “our God is a God who provides.” No matter how much God does for me, I often find myself wanting more. It manifests itself in a thought like, “it’s great that you did this for me, but how about that over there as well?” After all that’s been done for us, shouldn’t that be enough? Considering Jesus and all he did, shouldn’t it be more than enough?

The second verse drives home the loneliness theme that was sort of danced around in the first verse. The second pre-chorus is pretty sweet, “I feel stuck watching history repeating. Who am I? Just a kid who knows he’s needy.” Here’s a feeling of uselessness. This isn’t a wonderful thing, but for starters it’s relatable, and honest. Maybe this is the opposite extreme and not the right way of looking at it, but I feel this is a little more realistic than feeling like you can take on the world. Bear with me. Judging by the verse themes and contrasting with the longing for rightness with God in the chorus, I believe this second pre-chorus is pointing out that without God, what can we do? The occasional person can do huge things (Bill Gates), but if we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us… can you even imagine? Without God, we’re likely to sit back and watch this world all the worst of history.

This song may not have the edgy, rock feel of their newer songs, but it’s all still here. The passion, the feeling, the honesty, and everything else I love these guys for, all here. Even towards the beginning of their musical career, they could still deliver.

24

            The song 24 is a moving, reflective song that was written when Jon Foreman turned 24. Now that I’m no longer a teenager as of today, it seemed fitting.  The song is about reflecting on life, all that’s been done, and left undone. In this look into the previous 24 years of his life, Jon sees that his life isn’t full of teddy bears and rainbows. He acknowledges that he isn’t where he wishes to be, and that he needs God to make him better.

            I feel like we’ve all had these moments, moments when you step back and look at your life, and realize that things didn’t turn out as you’d hoped. It’s an awakening that is good for getting us back on track, and bad for our ego. As hard as it may be to evaluate where we are (especially if we don’t like that place), if we don’t do it every so often, we will lose ourselves and never know it. Getting back on track can be harder than admitting we’re lost. And without the Spirit’s guidance, getting back on track is no walk in the park. It’s like driving; if you don’t know where you are, you can try all you want to get back on track, and you might succeed, but it will take trial and error. If you’re driving with a passenger who knows every road and where they all go, then you won’t have any problems finding where to go, assuming you are willing to listen to the passenger. I’m always impressed with the heart behind Switchfoot songs. Think about being Switchfoot, they’re huge rock stars with loads of money. They have their own label because they could build a recording studio in their hometown. They have got it made. Yet he still feels like he isn’t perfect, or even close. So many people who he’s never met love him, and he still acknowledges that he needs something more and without it he’s lost. It’s great that he isn’t just settling in to the rich life and still trying to draw closer to the true source of purity and goodness.

            I was indifferent about this song for the longest time. Sure the music gave a moving, introspective vibe, but it seemed like nothing more that someone writing about the fact that he’s 24 and whatever. It’s amazing how songs that you’ve known forever can suddenly surprise you (especially Switchfoot, in my experience). As the song unfolds, the lyrics progress through what is probably the writers train of thought. It goes from looking around, to looking back, to the awakening, to asking for redemption, to wanting to see more in life. The song choruses through a few of these themes multiple times but that’s the basic pattern of the song as I see it. I think the last part, wanting to see more in life, might be the most important part. Anyone can look at themselves and not like everything they see (in fact something’s wrong if you do like everything you see), but it takes courage and ambition to not just want fix yourself but to become so much more. Where would we be without people who stepped up and decided that they weren’t going to just be satisfied with their lives but that they were going to be someone? One person can change the world. You just have to be fully committed to your mission/purpose. I think Switchfoot is a good example of this. They were just a couple of kids from San Diego who liked surfing and music. They weren’t (and still aren’t) the best guitarists since Hendrix, but they knew who they were and what they believed. I believe their passion is why they have come as far as they have. The passion they have is something that comes from taking a look at yourself and figuring out how to become a better person. We could all use some more of these awakening moments, why not start today?

            By the way, if you’re reading this or any other song and haven’t heard the song before, listen to it. And don’t just listen to it but LISTEN to it. You’re reading a blog so you obviously have a couple minutes to spare.

American Dream

            Chasing the American dream used to be a shared ideal among most Americans (whether fresh off the boat or 10^th generation). I imagine it looked a little different for everybody, but typically it was seeking to make a life for yourself through the job opportunities America had to offer. Plenty of people made good lives for themselves and their families this way. Today, the American dream looks a bit different. For people immigrating overseas it might be the same old dream, depending on where they’re coming from. For those who have been in America for a while, the American dream seems to be less of making a sustainable life for your family and more of climbing the corporate ladder. Climbing the corporate ladder may get your family a better life, but it seems to be the method that people focus on rather than the goal of a good life. Nowadays, the American dream is probably a lot more diverse in people’s minds than what it used to be, but this is the societal vibe I’m getting on what we are “supposed” to be aspiring towards.

            In the song American Dream, Jon illustrates the corporate life as and image of greed and monotony. He describes it as something that can consume your life and become what you live and breathe. I don’t think the message he’s trying to send is that we shouldn’t work for big companies ever because they’re all evil. I think the point is that there’s more to life than living for the “company goal”. Your job is your job, not your life. Ecclesiastes says we should love what we do, which is great, but it doesn’t say anything about living what we do. “Is it true would you do what I want you to, if I show up with the right amount of bling? Like a puppet on a monetary string. Maybe we’ve been caught singing red, white, blue, and green, but that ain’t my American dream.” I feel the bridge here sums up well his views on the state of those who live for their vocation. Setting up a great life for your family is a wonderful, ambitious, and respectable thing to do. However, I would argue that if you’re living your life for the company and letting that steal your time from your family, and even yourself, you’re probably pulling your family apart.

            The song starts with a pretty neat intro that sets the hectic pace of the song. I think this is supposed to reflect the hectic nature of getting too caught up in your business life. Then as the first verse comes in, with the themes mentioned previously (greed and living for the company), the fast paced feel to the music continues, but sets into a simple and monotonous rhythm. The pre-chorus kicks in by mixing up the instrumental part a bit and getting towards his thoughts of this new-age American dream. “I want out of this machine, it doesn’t feel like freedom.” I love the reference of the corporate world as a machine, and I think the repetitive guitar part in the verse is supposed to reflect the machine part of the corporate life. The corporate life isn’t for everyone, and I think the idea of it drove Jon mad. I think he’s a very free and expressive person, who lives to spread love, song, and God’s awe-some nature.

            In the chorus he says, “I’m tired of fighting for just me.” I think this could refer to people getting so lost in their own “American dream” that they stop living for the original goal of a good life for the family and start living for themselves and their standing in their business life. This could easily be taken as him not wanting to devote so much time to bettering his life as opposed to the lives of others. If that’s the line’s intent, I’m fine with it. I think there may be a little more here though. I think he feels as though the corporate race took his focus off of God and placed it on worldly aspirations. He, like many others, and myself, wish to devote all sorts of energy to God and to doing his work. We also get frustrated when such less important things manage to steal our focus from the main purpose of our existence. The corporate life isn’t for everyone, and it isn’t inherently a bad thing. I think it’s just another reason that we as fallible humans need the lesson of keeping focus on the main thing, and another reason why this song is so relatable.

Needle and Haystack Life

The phrase “needle in a haystack” that this song title was taken from makes it seem like the song may be quite simple. It has a cool, surface meaning for sure, but I think it operates on more that just that one level. The opening riff sets a really cool feel to the song right off the bat with its awesome reverb-y sound. Switchfoot is great at playing music that fits the lyrics and intentions of the song. This opening sends my thoughts out of myself and loosens the bonds that restricts my mind to thinking in terms of the physical world we occupy. The setting of the song as I see it is a man thinking about his life from a God’s-eye-view. Let’s unravel that a bit.

They open the song the way a couple of their songs open. “Hello, good morning, how ya do?”, “Welcome to the planet”, and in this song, “The world begins”. I actually understood this song better after coming across a version of this song that was old and not released (on the album). That version began with something like “Out of infinite time, out of infinite space, we are right now.” Combine this with the awesome, ambient style sounds rockin in the background and you get this immense view of all time and space. In this breathtaking view, a small speck is where “we are”. This verse alone makes me think about as much as most other songs.

            There are two main messages that this song manages to get through my occasionally thick skull. The first is that we really are insignificant dust particles with respect to all of space/time. While impossible for out dust particle minds to fully comprehend, I think it’s important to keep this in mind from time to time. It can be easy to get an inflated ego. So if you think about yourself as a needle in this haystack universe, pop goes the ego. The second message I get comes from the lines like “it’s no accident we’re here tonight, we are once in a lifetime”, and “become who you are, it happens once in a lifetime”. These lines scream to my ears (and hopefully yours) the idea that time is precious and we should spend it quite wisely. As a good friend of mine less eloquently put it, “LIKE HELLO, THOSE MOMENTS ARE GONE FOREVER, WE COULD HAVE USED THEM BETTER.” Time is mind boggling sometimes, especially when you consider the entire timeline of all existence, but the time we have shouldn’t be squandered.

            “Become who you are, it happens once in a lifetime”. Excellent line. This resonates with me because I try and focus on becoming who I am a lot. It may appear to be just a cool lyric that sounds all wisdom-y and whatever, but I believe I know what the writer means. The friend I quoted earlier is someone I met about a year ago. I have only known him for a year, and he has revealed to me a lot about myself just by him being himself. He really opened me up to what music is and what it could be. In all sorts of other ways I feel like he somehow inspired me to consider things about myself, and therefore learn about myself. This learning about yourself business doesn’t happen the same way every time, but it’s such a beautiful thing. I often wish I knew what my “purpose” was. I don’t believe God has a distinct mission for every single person, but I just want to know that I’m using my abilities for God in the best way that I can. I haven’t achieved this yet. I think we should all spare some energy to bettering ourselves by just being/becoming ourselves (our true selves). This has strayed a bit from what Jon may or may not have been thinking about while writing this, but this is still a blog.

            The overall them of this song (besides awesomeness) is that even when our time on earth is so insignificant, it really is significant. We could do so much with out time, or we could play video games 8 hours a day and pig out the other 2 hrs we spend awake. I really hope this song inspires all who hear it to take life seriously and to get up and flippin do something. This is a great song, and a great way to start off possibly their best album.

The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

This song has a somber yet powerful feel to it. It begins with what sounds to me like a soft crashing of waves, a fitting opening for a bunch of surfers. The first verse sends a message of feeling cold, and lonely, and asking sunshine to come and help out with the struggles the writer is going through. This verse paints a picture of a guy looking out at the ocean in the night, thinking of the darkness and the struggles of having a cold heart, and hoping for the light to come.

As the chorus comes in with a simple and powerful drum beat, the writer uses two metaphors to describe people as not where we maybe should be. “Dry eyes in the pouring rain” to me implies that we are broken even though we don’t have to be. Because of Jon’s faith background, I believe that this line is about God’s grace and mercy being all around us and, in our stubbornness, we still are not perfect or even close. Then the beautiful title, the shadow proves the sunshine. This really brings together the concept this song seems to portray; in the midst of all the chaos of this world, all our brokenness, all the dark times, there is still goodness. The light is goodness, or God (however you’d like to look at it) and the dark is the troubles of this world/life. The writer furthers this analogy by saying that because there is a shadow, there has to be light somewhere otherwise we wouldn’t be seeing this shadow. The rest of the chorus basically repeats this idea in different words, as well as offering words of hope “hold fast to the break of daylight”. So Beautiful.

The second verse quickly follows the chorus, and is one of the few collections of Jon’s lyrics that make it impossible to ignore his faith as a Christian. He quotes those mysterious, confusing, and relatable words that Jesus cried out as he was dying on the cross. This verse continues the train of though I believe the writer was aboard as he wrote this. It starts with an “I’m messed up” sort of theme and now gives a “things look bad, don’t turn away from me Lord” message.

            After another chorus, the song progresses to what I like to think is the final stop on this train (of thought) ride. The bridge describes revelation, breakthrough. When I really listen to this song, most of the song paints a dull, elaborate color scheme. When the bridge makes its appearance, the writer’s color palette suddenly changes to a simple, elegant, sunlight/sunrise feel, much like the colors on the Nothing is Sound album artwork. This, and the final chorus, wraps up the song quite well.

            I believe this song came from a prayer. I think he was sitting near the ocean one early morning thinking about life, suffering, and brokenness. Then when the sun rose, the bridge was inspired. The whole feel of the music is a major part of how this picture was painted in my mind through the song. The music in the verses and chorus sounds soft and pensive, as if nothing is concrete, like it’s more of a feeling. Switchfoot is popular for songs like Dare you to Move, Meant to Live, Mess of Me, Stars, and other rockin’ and catchy songs. But it’s songs like The Shadow Proves the Sunshine that make them so much deeper than just a band with a catchy sound.