Meaning of "Lightning Crashes" by Live
Blog author: Shane Lambert
This isn't a difficult song, especially if you watch the music video. The setting is clearly a hospital and the circle of life is described. However, I'm going to argue that the song is deep in theism and religion with references to reincarnation.
Taking a look at the first stanza:
In this stanza, childbirth and its pains are described. Metaphors used in the stanza include "angel" for the newborn child and a feeling of "confusion" as life itself.
The paralleling lyrics between the first stanza and the second one are clear enough, but they describe contrasting situations. In the first stanza, the child (ie. could be viewed as "The angel) enters the world while in the second stanza "The angel" is a dying woman. Conversely, "the angel" could be a literal one that actively opens and closes the eyes of the child and woman respectively. The two events are not presented as independent events: there is a reference to "confusion," or life, changing ownership in lines four and five of the second stanza. This is the first hint that reincarnation is being described in the song. In my view, that description continues in the chorus with the usage of just one word, an idea I'll return to shortly.
The description of lightning in the first two stanzas and throughout the song's lyrics could be taken as a reference to god. Certainly, Thor is one god that is depicting as having control over the thunderbolts. However, more broadly lighting is just a symbol of power: the message seems to be that the power over life and death comes from the heavens above. When "Lightning crashes" (ie. god is exercising his power) a child is born and a woman dies.
Let's examine the chorus:
The use of the word "again" as it appears twice in the chorus shouldn't be ignored. If you are feeling something "again" it means that you have felt it at least once before, the feeling then disappeared, and you are feeling it for at least a second time.
The child that is born isn't feeling the forces of nature, gravity, and atmosphere, for the first time: rather the child is feeling them once "again." Given the youth and therefore inexperience of the child, that seems to be strange. One interpretation is that the stanza above is from the point of view of the child's soul or spirit, one that has been reincarnated. The woman felt those forces, but after she died that feeling went into limbo; however, when the spirit embodied the child the forces were felt "again."
I'm not sure what "the circle" refers to. Hopefully, it doesn't mean the Earth as that's more like a sphere. Maybe it refers to the trajectory that Earth takes around the sun.
But the "circle" might also mean the sun itself, which is also a sphere but looks like a circle from us down on Earth. The eyes are a focus point of this stanza and the sun does provide the light that feeds information through the iris so, perhaps, the presenting of "the circle" is best understood as the presenting of the sun. Basically, with Line 5, the child is starting to confront her environment.
Line 6, I can only interpret as a reference to the spirit leaving the company of those in the afterlife. When this spirit starting feeling the forces of the world again, she left the presence of "the glory" (ie. god and angels?), who are now outside of the spirit's consciousness. I do find the last stanza a bit enigmatic, but I'm pretty confident that this song describes the artist's understanding of reincarnation.
-----------------
"Lightning Crashes" as written by Edward Joel Kowalczyk, Chad David Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Alan Gracey
This isn't a difficult song, especially if you watch the music video. The setting is clearly a hospital and the circle of life is described. However, I'm going to argue that the song is deep in theism and religion with references to reincarnation.
Taking a look at the first stanza:
- Lightning crashes and a new mother cries
- Her placenta falls to the floor
- The angel opens her eyes
- The confusion sets in
- Before the doctor can even close the door
In this stanza, childbirth and its pains are described. Metaphors used in the stanza include "angel" for the newborn child and a feeling of "confusion" as life itself.
- Lightning crashes and an old mother dies
- Her intentions fall to the floor
- The angel closes her eyes
- The confusion that was hers
- Belongs now to the baby down the hall
The paralleling lyrics between the first stanza and the second one are clear enough, but they describe contrasting situations. In the first stanza, the child (ie. could be viewed as "The angel) enters the world while in the second stanza "The angel" is a dying woman. Conversely, "the angel" could be a literal one that actively opens and closes the eyes of the child and woman respectively. The two events are not presented as independent events: there is a reference to "confusion," or life, changing ownership in lines four and five of the second stanza. This is the first hint that reincarnation is being described in the song. In my view, that description continues in the chorus with the usage of just one word, an idea I'll return to shortly.
The description of lightning in the first two stanzas and throughout the song's lyrics could be taken as a reference to god. Certainly, Thor is one god that is depicting as having control over the thunderbolts. However, more broadly lighting is just a symbol of power: the message seems to be that the power over life and death comes from the heavens above. When "Lightning crashes" (ie. god is exercising his power) a child is born and a woman dies.
Let's examine the chorus:
- Oh now feel it, comin' back again
- Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
- Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
- I can feel it.
One thing I note, when I listen to this song I hear "Oh now I feel it comin' back again" for Line 1 of the chorus. Most sources leave out the word "I" in that line; however, anyone with the old CD cover could have a look and post what it says in the comments as that's the closest thing to the official version in my view.
The child that is born isn't feeling the forces of nature, gravity, and atmosphere, for the first time: rather the child is feeling them once "again." Given the youth and therefore inexperience of the child, that seems to be strange. One interpretation is that the stanza above is from the point of view of the child's soul or spirit, one that has been reincarnated. The woman felt those forces, but after she died that feeling went into limbo; however, when the spirit embodied the child the forces were felt "again."
- Lightning crashes, a new mother cries
- This moment she's been waiting for
- The angel opens her eyes
- Pale-blue-colored iris
- Presents the circle
- And puts the glory out to hide, hide
I'm not sure what "the circle" refers to. Hopefully, it doesn't mean the Earth as that's more like a sphere. Maybe it refers to the trajectory that Earth takes around the sun.
But the "circle" might also mean the sun itself, which is also a sphere but looks like a circle from us down on Earth. The eyes are a focus point of this stanza and the sun does provide the light that feeds information through the iris so, perhaps, the presenting of "the circle" is best understood as the presenting of the sun. Basically, with Line 5, the child is starting to confront her environment.
Line 6, I can only interpret as a reference to the spirit leaving the company of those in the afterlife. When this spirit starting feeling the forces of the world again, she left the presence of "the glory" (ie. god and angels?), who are now outside of the spirit's consciousness. I do find the last stanza a bit enigmatic, but I'm pretty confident that this song describes the artist's understanding of reincarnation.
-----------------
"Lightning Crashes" as written by Edward Joel Kowalczyk, Chad David Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Alan Gracey
Comments
Post a Comment