Friday, October 3, 2008

Black and Gold

The other night, my friend introduced me to a new song:



Apparently, this song is one of my friend's favorite songs of all time, and I gotta admit, I see where she's coming from. There's something about the song that makes it oh-so-delightful. It's got some sort of je ne sais quoi that seems to creep into your brain to caress the temporal lobes with is pulsating beat and delicious vamping. It is one of those songs that you can listen to sitting perfectly still, or reclined in a pleather sofa while party guests move in slow motion across an ultra-modern technologic penthouse. Heck, if you're up for it, you can even tear up the dance floor with this track and show the world what a good beat can do. In fact, my friend explained, that's exactly what happened when this song was played during one of the results shows of this season's Dancing With The Stars (September 30, 2008). However, this song is more than just a hot track. If you can get your ears past the techno beats and your legs past the urge to dance; if you can calm yourself and listen with all your heart to the lyrics, you might just find something very unexpected.

Need some help? Here are the lyrics:

If the fish swam
Out of the ocean
And grew legs
And they started walking
And the apes climbed down
From the trees
And grew tall
And they started talking

And the stars
Fell out of the sky
And my tears
Rolled into the ocean
Now I'm looking
For a reason why
You even set my world
Into motion

'cause if you're not
Really here
Then the stars
Don't even matter
Now I'm filled
To the top with fear
But it's all
Just a bunch of matter
'cause if you're not
Really here
Then I don't want
To be either
I wanna be next to you
Black and gold
Black and gold
Black and gold

I looked up
Into the night sky
And see a thousand eyes
Staring back
And all around
These golden beacons
I see nothing but black

I feel a way of something
Beyond them
I don't see
What I can feel
If vision
Is the only validation
Then most of my life
Isn't real

'cause if you're not
Really here
Then the stars
Don't even matter
Now I'm filled
To the top with fear
But it's all
Just a bunch of matter
'cause if you're not
Really here
Then i don't want
To be either
I wanna be next to you
Black and gold
Black and gold
Black and gold

{Sings quietly}
'cause if you're not
Really here
Then the stars
Don't even matter
Now I'm filled
To the top with fear
But it's all
Just a bunch of matter
'cause if you're not
Really here
Then i don't want
To be either
I wanna be next to you
Black and gold
Black and gold
Black and gold


See it yet?

According to some sources, this song was written during one the lowest points in Sam's musical career. His father was a minister as well as a recording artist himself, and for his son's training, brought him to a church to listen to the soulful music inside. Sam claims to believe in a higher power and considers himself to be a spiritual person who's not tied down to any one religion. Could this background be the influence that had led Sam to write a song about God? Could an openly gay man really be so spiritual that he would deny evolution, believe in the majesty of creation and seek a higher power that made it all? Could a dance beat really serve as a song of worship?

Honestly, I don't know.

These are just some questions that I left out to ponder over the weekend. Right now, I'm just enjoying this song and reveling in the fact that it contained such a heavy message... just hiding in plain sight.

Happy Sabbath, everyone!