I picked up The Fray's eponymous new album this past week, and I'm overjoyed to report that they've scored another bomb. It's been said a million times in a million ways, but it's very difficult, it seems, for a band to come out with a successful follow-up to a wildly popular, sensational album that defines them. I think they've done it, though, and I must say I'm impressed.There are several songs that score, but the one that's got me all wrapped up presently is "You Found Me", the third song on the disk. The sound is stellar, but it's the lyrics that have clutched my innermost self and wrenched strong emotions from me. Here's an overview:
"I found God, on the corner of 1st and Amistad, where the West was all but won. All alone...smoking his last cigarette. I said "Where've you been". He said, "Ask anything."
It's a haunting and arresting start to the song, for sure. I read some reviews somewhere, and one read that they were disappointed that God would be portrayed as smoking. At first, it took me back as well, but then I caught something. Perhaps it's just a clever way of saying that sometimes we find God in the most unlikely of places. Where we least expect to meet Him, sometimes He shows up and surprises us. And, of course, could the last 9 words of this verse be any more amazing. Man's angst meets God's affability. How many times have I angrily wondered where God could have been in my turmoil, only to find Him never getting defensive, and only welcoming.
"Where were you, when everything was falling apart. All my days, were spent by the telephone...that never rang. And all I needed was a call...that never came. To the corner of 1st and Amistad."
Have you done this? I know I have more times than I can recall. Asking God of His whereabouts has at times been a habit, and I've repeated it over and over and over. No message. No call. And seemingly, no interest in me. The silence of God is at times the most deafening event of all.
"Lost and insecure...you found me, you found me. Lying on the floor...surrounded, surrounded. Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you? Just a little late...You found me, you found me."
Down and out. Alone and quivering. All of life is not misery, but when miserable moments arrive, it seems there is and never will be anything more. Looking back, it's great to see myself being found, even when I'd thought there was no hope, and no chance for recovery. This is hope for the otherwise hopeless...being found by God.
"But in the end, everyone ends up alone. Losing her, the only one who's ever known: who I am, who I'm not, and who I wanna be. No way to know, how long she will be next to me."
And then a little more of the crises is known, and it appears that to the writer it's a future distress that has him troubled. Someone is going to end up alone. Our love will either die before us, or else we'll go before them. Or perhaps, someone will leave and never come back. Either way, someone winds up alone. And not just any someone, it's she who knows everything. I'll avoid revealing too much, but I feel strongly about AJ in this triplet, as she IS the "only one" who really knows me, who I am, am not, and want to be. It's sad sometimes to think of her one day not being by my side.
"The early morning, the city breaks. And I've been calling...for years and years and years and years. And you never left me no messages. You never sent me no letters. You've got some kind of nerve, taking all I want."
How many times have we wanted to express such passionate frustration at God? How many times have I hurled insult and heated anger at Him for "taking all I want". In all honesty, I've done so many times. And it amazes me that when I feel like I've been "calling...for years and years...", at the end of the solitude I'm found with the One who remains in spite of the loss of everything else. Even in the loss of that which is most precious, God yet remains.
This is a powerful song, and I'm sure there are as many interpretations of it's meaning as there are listeners. This post is simply a glimpse into the meaning it has for me. And here is another musical post driven deep into me, proving once again why music is the language of the soul...
PS-Watch a clip with the lyrics and the song here.
