"The Rapture" and "Good Life" -- Two Happy Songs About May 21

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!