For once in my life I seePure love staring right backRight back at meAt meI played you a sweet song and you sang,You sang along.In your heart, your eyes and soul,Soul.You are my angel.You are my diamond.You are my guiding light,Yeah.I've seen the future.I've been to the bottom,But you keep my head above,Above.You are my Jesus,You are my savior,You are all that is love,Yeah.You're all that is loveYou're all that is loveYou're all that is loveYou are my diamond.You are my angel.You are my guiding light,Yeah.You're my guiding lightOne of my favorite things about music is that every once in a while you stumble across a really amazing song that speaks to you on so many levels. “The Guide” by the Australian band, Borne, became one of those songs for me. This song became part of my music selection completely by coincidence. About two years ago I was on a trip with my youth group and my friend played this song for the whole car. I was immediately struck by the beautiful opening of the song and the unique voice of the lead singer. I didn’t really analyze the lyrics until about a week later when iTunes was offering it as a free download. The lyrics spoke to me even more than the music itself had and it has been a favorite of mine ever since.
Borne is an Australian band. The lead singer, Cam, writes all of the lyrics. “The Guide” is from an album entitled Loss of Signal. Cam explains that many of the songs were written “after a breakdown of a close relationship, the intense feelings of loss were a microcosm of the state of the world he found himself in, both personally but also on a global, environmental and socio-economic scale”. The song “The Guide” mentions a “pure love” the artist has who is his “diamond … guiding light …savior”. From what I can gather, they are not a Christian band. Given what the previous quote from the artist I think it is fair to infer that the artist is voicing his feelings for a specific person on this earth.
Though I can find the beauty in the fact that the song is about another person, the song speaks to me, personally, on a more spiritual level. I might even describe it as a song of worship for me. The artist finds his “guiding light” in this certain person. I find my “guiding light” to be Jesus himself. For me, Jesus is “my angel … my diamond … my savior”. For me, Jesus is “all that is love”. It creates a longing in me to know more about Jesus and experience his pure love. I think this song exquisitely illustrates the fact that even those who don’t know Jesus on a personal level, like the artist, have a desire, a longing, for a savior. It is just a shame that sometimes people look for a savior in other people rather than the one, true savior.
Interesting song, Emma! It's intriguing to hear a song that could so easily be interpreted in such radically different ways. Quite frankly, though, it's a bit jarring to hear someone say, "You are my Jesus" when talking about a lover. I like your interpretation better ...
ReplyDeleteActually its one of those spontaneous things. A reaction. A response or an answer to a super-emotional dilemma. Not knowing where to turn. Being adult enough to hurt like and adult, but not share the hurt with close friends or even family. Handling tough stuff like an adult. So what do you do. If you're a singer, a poet , song-writer, and your guitar is never out of reach. You're on the couch alone with your suddenly-best-friend...yep, your pooch. He's staring into your soul and says...'yeah, what about me? She left me too y'know..." and the guitar plays and the voice sings and the healing process has begun. The Guide is written and played to Cam's dog. You don't sit down and write stuff sometimes. Sometimes it writes itself. And then you don't change it. Jesus and dogs have lots in common...pure love. I've followed this song's movement since well before it was launched as a freebie on iTunes. It was downloaded about 1.5 million times. It's now being used on US networks, last was The Philanthropist. One UK critic described it as 'the best love song ever written'. Why? Because its about love. Jesus gets a mention because thats what he is. Cam lives in a Christian society and has deep beliefs in the Christian message of love and has been embedded in love the day he was born. He exudes it, lives it, sings it. Religion does not have to come into Christianity. Cam is a poet with a Poe quality. He captures the human emotion of the moment. He got hurt and shared his hurt, with people like Emily. Well observed emily, and thanks for writing so beautifully about my son. Paul.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know where I can get an editable version of this song. It is the most beautiful song I have ever heard and I really want to play it as I walk down the aisle in 3 weeks time! However I am getting married in a registry office and they will not allow anything with any religious reference in the ceremony. Therefore we have to take out the verse that menions Jesus in order to be able to play it.
ReplyDeleteIt would break my heart if we can't play it, this song means so much to my future husband and myself. So any advise would be much appreciated.
Sandra