Saving Me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPc-o-4Nsbk


"Savin' Me"

Prison gates won't open up for me
On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'
Oh, I reach for you
Well I'm terrified of these four walls
These iron bars can't hold my soul in
All I need is you
Come please I'm callin'
And oh I scream for you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'

[Chorus:]
Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be
Say it for me
Say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me

Heaven's gates won't open up for me
With these broken wings I'm fallin'
And all I see is you
These city walls ain't got no love for me
I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story
And oh I scream for you
Come please I'm callin'
And all I need from you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'

[Chorus]

Hurry I'm fallin'

All I need is you
Come please I'm callin'
And oh, I scream for you
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin', I'm fallin'

Well the first thing I can say about this video is that it’s fairly old. It was released on Nickelback’s third album in 2005, and re-released with this video as a single in 2007. And while I don’t particularly care for Nickelback’s music, I don’t think any of us can deny that their music was the one consistency throughout Junior High. So despite Chad’s reputation for cliché lyrics and seemingly repetitive sounding songs, this video does have powerful meaning to me. You wouldn’t believe that I first saw this video at a church-sponsored leadership conference a few years back, but I did. I want to put less emphasis on the lyrics, and more on the actual video.

                It’s pretty easy to figure out what is going on in the video: if you save someone’s life, they are given the same responsibility. Wouldn’t it be nice if that was how the real world worked? It’s an interesting contrast though, because in reality if someone were to save you from a falling piano, you too would probably be more aware of the fragility of life that is all around us, and more likely to do something about it if you could. But in this video, there is an involuntary appointment to this “guardian angel” status, which I think helps serve as a metaphorical kick-in-the-pants for people who are too self-consumed or ignorant to understand how ever-present this fragility is. If you read the lyrics, it’s pretty obvious that the verses are the voices of the people in need of saving and the choruses are the voice of the individual who must save them. Every second of the day we are at war with the elements, and our lives are always on the line. So do we live life differently knowing this? I think that’s a no-brainer “Yes”. But I think the real question is do we really know this truth as well as we think we do?

Paperthin Hymn

Music Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hl_NBTMELo

When your only friends are hotel rooms
Hands are distant lullabies
If I could turn around I would tonight

These roads never seemed so long
Since your paper heart stopped beating leaving me suddenly alone
Will daybreak ever come?

Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?
Who's gonna drive you home?
I just want one more chance
To put my arms in fragile hands

I thought you said forever
Over and over
A sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion

These thoughts run through my head
Over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends

August evenings
Bring solemn warnings
To remember to kiss the ones you love goodnight

You never know what temporal days may bring
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/a/anberlin-lyrics/paperthin-hymn-lyrics.html ]
Laugh, love, live free and sing
When life is in discord
Praise ye the lord

Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?
Who's gonna drive you home?
I just want one more chance
To put my arms in fragile hands

I thought you said forever
Over and over
The sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion

These thoughts run through my head
Over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends

I thought you said forever
over and over
The sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion

These thoughts run through my head
over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends

I thought you said forever
over and over
These thoughts run through my head

Many times when you listen to a song before you see its music video you sort-of create a music video in your head from what you personally derived from the lyrics. When I listened to this song for the first time, the image I saw in my head was extremely similar to this video, which really surprised me. The girl in this video has some type of terminal illness, and she clearly means the world to this guy. He loves her to the point of acting irrationally, as love can often make us do. I believe the verses of the song are the girl speaking, which is evident from the line “since your paper heart stopped beating leaving me suddenly alone” because at the end of the video we actually see they guy’s heart is the one that stops beating; this made me automatically think of “Romeo and Juliet” as far as killing yourself because you can’t handle the loss of the one you love goes. She seems to be at peace with at the idea of dying, or at least more-so than the guy, which you can tell from her saying “remember to kiss the ones you love goodbye” and “when life is in discord praise ye the Lord”. She clearly has a grasp on her purpose in life, but her boyfriend is not ready to let her go. I also believe the choruses are the guy speaking in desperation  where he says “I thought you said forever over and over” referring to his anguish at finding out that he has so little time with her left. There is more going on here than I have room to explain, but I really love this song for so many reasons: the message, the rifts, the vocals, the band’s unique style; to me, this song is more of a poem put to words than anything I’ve heard before.