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.