Fluxblog
February 28th, 2002 7:49pm


I’ve been wondering if I am the only person who has been noticing the Christian lyrical themes in Clinic’s new record Walking With Thee. Now, nevermind that the title very obviously refers to God (or that the title track was originally titled “The Nuns”)… let’s just note some of the decipherable lyrics that pop up throughout the LP…

“bless them on their sins and all go home” – refrain from “Mr. Moonlight”

“snug as bugs inside your love, come into our room/ now oh now the winter glows/ it’s wonderful, no, it’s wonderful with you” – from “Come Into Our Room” – it’s very vague, but it seems like an invocation of the Holy Spirit or Jesus Christ…

“I believe in harmony/ I believe in Christmas eve/ free for all your happiness/ and no one’s living on their wits/ one so kind and one so wise/ one so kind throughout your life/ fill yourself with dreams/ come fill yourself with dreams”“Harmony”

“sunshine boy, the endless joy…/and Christ, our Christ/ all in their rows/ Christ, they’re in their rows/ come and watch and lap it up/ Christ, they’re in their rows/ inward and outward, come our love/ inward and outward, now it’s safe and warm/ and wonderful/ you’re all made up for the wars…/some don’t master, master come come again”“For The Wars”

That last one is so odd – for most of the time I knew this song, I thought of ‘you’re all made up for the wars’ to be referring to, well, make-up and nice clothing. But it seems to be saying that Jesus Christ and possibly by extension other religious figures to be ‘made up for the wars’, ie purely fictional excuses for violence. All of these lyrics, all of this music, this band in general – it’s all so vague and mysterious, and that’s part of why it’s so great. I don’t know quite what to make of the lyrics that can be understood on this record. It can sound and feel very spiritual and religious, but I can’t really draw any conclusions on how it relates to Christianity, though it’s clearly a big part of the album. I don’t know if I really want to know…

I’ll say this: if anyone, even Malkmus, puts out a record better than Walking With Thee this year, it will be quite an achievement.

Oh, and Jenny completely rocks.

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