Song of the Day: 3-16-2024
Vampire Weekend: "Everlasting Arms"
Vampire Weekend’s “Everlasting Arms” was inspired by lead singer and songwriter Ezra Koenig’s obsession with “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” As Koenig shared with NME,
I'd been obsessed with this 19th century American hymn “Leaning on The Everlasting Arms,” where they talk about how the stability the singer gets from their faith, but with our song there's a darker riff on the same idea - someone who's maybe in a bad place and yearning for that.
Koenig, who was raised Jewish, found the themes of faith and community in the song compelling, which he expounded upon in an interview with SPIN magazine, There have been times I felt marginalized, being one of the only Jewish kids where I grew up . . . and there've been times when I felt like part of something bigger, when I meet other Jewish people. There are times when I feel alone in a crowd. Those are struggles that I think everybody has. It's a beautiful idea, being part of a community. But you lose some sense of your own ability to reason and your own individuality when you become part of a group. Religion is a great jumping-off point for thinking about how to live, period.
“Everlasting Arms” comes off of Vampire Weekend’s masterpiece, Modern Vampires of the City. I wrote about their song “Ya Hey” in SOTD 7-19-2023. Koenig wrestles with themes of faith and doubt throughout the album. In “Everlasting Arms” he makes an allusion to the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath)
I hummed the Dies Irae, you played the Hallelujah
Leave me to my cell, don't leave me in my cell
The Hallelujah, from Handel’s Messiah, seems to reflect Koenig’s spiritual reflections echoed in Handel’s Messiah and the fact that both songwriters are atheists. Note the conflict of Koenig’s plea to leave him to his cell and not to leave him to his cell.
There is something confessional, honest, and raw about the way that Koenig wrestles with belief and doubt throughout Modern Vampires of the City. He faces his fears of God, and though those fears are reconciled there is something beautiful about the way he leans into them. I have the feeling that if he leans in a little closer he will discover that he loves the God he fears.
“Everlasting Arms”
I took your counsel and came to ruin
Leave me to myself, leave me to myself
I took your counsel and came to ruin
Leave me to myself, leave me to myself
Oh I was made to live without you
But I'm never going to understand, never understand
Oh I was born to live without you
But I'm never going to understand, never understand
Hold me in your everlasting arms
Looked up full of fear
Trapped beneath a chandelier that's going down
I thought it over and drew the curtain
Leave me to my cell, leave me to my cell
I hummed the Dies Irae, you played the Hallelujah
Leave me to my cell, don't leave me in my cell
If you'd been made to serve a master,
You'd be frightened by the open hand,
Frightened by the hand
Could I've been made to serve a master?
Well I'm never going to understand, never understand
Hold me in your everlasting arms
Looked up full of fears
Trapped beneath a chandelier that's going down
About the Song of the Day:
Another form of my favorite form of cycles are song-cycles—song-cycles of great albums, and of course song-cycles of mixes. I have made cycles of mixes for friends for years—Mix-tapes in high-school and college—Mix-cds in grad-school and beyond. Now that cds have lost a bit of their shine in the wake of streaming services, I’ve struggled to find my footing with sharing mixes with friends. My goal here is to share songs that culminate in mixes—one song a day until a mix is completed. I will then post the complete mix and then begin a new cycle.