I have always been fascinated by the end-time believers. I envy their strong faith and certainty, as well as their flexibility when the believed date of doom passes without even a small locust infestation.
I wrote "The Rapture" after buying one of those Left Behind books at an airport bookstore -- I had to do my pre-Millenium Dispensationalist pop-lit research. I didn't finish reading it, as I already guessed the ending. Also, I'd had a couple of Internet conversations with an-ex-gay preacher. He liked me, but said that I was likely bound for hell no matter how nice I was. I gave the song a kind of 1960s happy "Up with People" horn arrangement -- seemed to fit.
THE RAPTURE
What if I am wrong and what if you're right?
What if there is an intelligent design?
When the day comes and judgment begins
Will I be left behind?
What if I'm right and you're not correct
And there's no hell fire when we are dead?
Regretting all the boys you could've kissed
All for nothing, it wasn't a sin
You were busy getting ready for the rapture
For the rapture, for the rapture
You were busy getting ready for the rapture, warning us all
What if I've been a really nice gal
followed the golden rule but now
because I don't believe in your best pal,
you say I'll burn forever?
But let's say he's real, but not like you sell
He's more like the nice hippie in Godspell
Well, I'd think that he was swell.
Would that bum you out?
You were busy getting ready for the rapture
For the rapture, for the rapture
You were busy getting ready for the rapture, warning us all
I'll give to you, there is a god
All powerful, he sees it all
But do you think that he's that small
To care about your candidate, your football team or who you mate?
No God is great
What if you're wrong, but then so am I
And what really happens when we die?
And what if L. Ron Hubbard he was right?
Well that would bum me out
You were busy getting ready for the rapture
For the rapture, for the rapture
You were busy getting ready for the rapture, warning us all
God is great!
So, let's say it's true; or say, a big, secular asteroid hits Earth, destroying it and all of my plans for my next record. What can we do? I wrote "Good Life" soon after moving to Los Angeles -- a town that does seem like a shake or two away from the apocalypse. That said, it's also a love song...
A GOOD LIFE
Tomorrow the ground may shake
Like they said it was bound to happen one day
And the Hollywood sign will fall
The final call
Well don't you fret and don't be blue
You had me and I had you
It was a good life
It was a good, good life
Tomorrow we could all be gone
When the Russian gangsters sell the bomb.
And the waves come roaring from the sea
A hundred foot swells over Venice Beach.
Don't be scared and take my hand
We'll swim into the Promised Land
It was a good life
It was a good, good life
Tomorrow a tiny cell might grow
In everyone and it's not the cold
Or the hole in the sky will open wide
The aliens land on the 105
If it comes to that, what can we do
You loved me and I loved you
It was a good life
It was a good, good life
I said boom boom, crash crash
Underneath the overpass
Burning buildings, flying glass
A good life
On the day the earth stood still
We won't have to pay our bills
As the mud slides down the hill
A good life
We won't have to make our beds
Break out the booze and like I said
Let's have a ball before we're dead
A good life
Let the pious rise above
And we'll go down in our sweet love
It was a good good life
(Sobule Eaton)
On another note, I have been touring with John Doe (of X fame). We might be in your city, so check jillsobule.com for info. And, can buy our semi-live, fan-funded record there too. But you might only have a few days left!
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Desiring the End of the World
Cathleen Falsani: How About an End to End-of-the-World Predictions?
Mark Morford: Hi! In Three Days You Will All Be Dead
You admire those qualities? They possess certainty without facts and you call it flexible? Would you admire those qualities of someone you were in a relationship with?
When I think of people of strong faith and certainty, I immediately picture the German army invading everywhere and exterminating minorities they believed inferior. They did this without facts, but with complete certainty.
I will never understand why mental health definitions are suspended once the subject turns to religion.
All the conservatives sitting safe and secure in their homes, telling everyone how moral they are, and how immoral all the poor people are... those are the ones Jesus warned about.
Are you serious???? *sign* I don't envy ANYTHING about a person who could believe so blindly.
New prediction dec. 12. 2012 at 4 pm. who knows.....
The attitude portrayed in "It Was a Good Life" is a great way to deal with the frequent rapture / end-of-the-world scenarios that roll around.
Thank you.
1.) These people are not praiseworthy. They turned their backs on logic - always a mistake.
2.) These people are not flexible. That would require responding to cues from their surroundings.
3.) Certainty isn't a virtue - especially when directed at untruths.
4.) Books like "Left Behind" are propaganda.
5.) There is no such thing as an ex-gay just like there is no such thing as an ex-straight.
I like your music though, and it cheered me up after reading your post.
I think there's no better way to respond to life than to write songs. A wise little girl once told me, "Music is medicine for you, Mommy."
I especially like "A Good Life." Great song. And when listening to "The Rapture" I couldn't help thinking I felt a twinge of familiarity in the melody and style, and then I realized something about it reminds me just a little of something from "Hedwig and The Angry Inch," my all-time favorite rock musical movie. (Haven't seen the stage production.)
Thanks again! If you can make a living by making music, you really are living a good life!