#under the weight of belief you shiver and shake like a leaf

[handweavers]

so many times i want to post lyrics but the lyrics themselves don't fully hit if you aren't hearing exactly how they're being sung like lets just sit together in a quiet room and listen to the whole song with az lyrics open

[bringmoreknives]

I DIDN'T CONSIDER THAT MAYBE I WAS SUPPOSED TO MEET YOU... JUST BECAUSE I WAS SUPPOSED TO MEET YOU. thank you to @lolalovesu, @violentposed, @rotwitches, @dangersday, and @war-wornlipstick for the recommendations and letting me cannibalize your playlists <3333

i. lion’s den / dry the river; “i, the lonely tax collector, never had / such a feeling before you came.” + ii. too much / magic man; “take my burning heart / just stay the night, and i’ll keep my promise.” + iii. heavyweight champion of the year / nilüfer yanya; “so you’re a liar, a liar, girl / you know your limit.” + iv. undisclosed desires / muse; “you may be a sinner / but your innocence is mine.” + v. disorder / joy division; “it’s getting faster, moving faster, now, it’s getting out of hand.” + vi. devoted to you / spiritual front; “that’s the helpless confession that / love is not enough.” + vii. running up that hill (a deal with god) / kate bush; “if i only could, i’d make a deal with god / and get him to swap our places.” + viii. fold your hands child / cobra starship; “i know the fear is paralyzing / when nothing matters at all.” + ix. sleeping with ghosts / placebo; “soulmates never die.” + x. little pistol / mother mother; “i, well i want what’s best for me.” + xi. i caught fire / the used; “so kiss me like you did / my heart stopped beating / such a softer sin.” + xii. heaven help us / my chemical romance; “i’ll give you all the nails you need / cover me in gasoline / wipe away those tears of blood again.” + xiii. dirty cigarettes / beach slang; “tell me i’m enough, i am dying to know what it’s like.” + xiv. bite the hand / boygenius; “here’s the best part distilled for you / but you want what i can’t give to you.” + xv. love love love / of monsters and men; “you love, love, love / when you know i can’t love you.” + xvi. weights & measures / dry the river; “it’s a question of needs and not rosary beads in the end.” + xvii. nobody’s fool / shakey graves; “whether you like it or not, you’ve been chosen by god.” + xviii. my heart is the worst kind of weapon / fall out boy; “peel back your skin / and try to forget how it feels inside.” + ixx. losing my religion / frank iero and the patience; “consider this the hint of the century / consider this the slip that brought me to my knees.” + xx. jesus christ / brand new; “well, jesus christ, i’m not scared to die / i’m a little bit scared of what comes after.” + xxi. samson / regina spektor; “you are my sweetest downfall.” + xxii. no shade in the shadow of the cross / sufjan stevens; “there’s no shade in the shadow of the cross.” + xxiii. demons / dry the river; “under the weight of belief / you shiver and shake like a leaf.” + xxiv. master of art / laura stevenson; “all i could pray for is that you’d please wait for / me until i am a master of art.” + xxv. slow show / the national; “you know i dreamed about you / for 29 years before i saw you.” + xxvi. smother me / the used; “i found my place in the world.” + xxvii. love love love / the mountain goats; “now we see things as in a mirror, dimly / then we shall see each other face to face.” xviii. shrike / hozier; “i was transformed / by your grounded and giving and darkening scorn.”

+ LISTEN ON SPOTIFY OR 8TRACKS +

[cithaerons]

under the weight of belief / you shiver and shake like a leaf.

[handweavers]

wrt the albums that feel “yours” i listened to shallow bed because you posted about it and i had a mixed but very strong reaction to it; new ceremony was like my #2 or #3 song for december. im curious what your relationship to that album is in more detail, and if there are particular songs you favor?

i have gone through periods where i have listened to nothing but a single song on that album for days at a time. over and over until i feel like every lyric and sound is so wholly a part of me, and the words and the way they are sung and the music that joins them seems to represent a dozen deeply personal things to me. it's hard to explain but they sound the way i feel, they capture something fundamental inside of me at my very centre and make it audible.

there is an interesting dual nature to the lyrics because they are both rooted in our present reality as well as mythologies and histories; the same song will reference something mundane like listening to the shipping forecast and sitting in your father's car and then conjure imagery of a biblical flood, crowns and kings, collapsing empires and the four horsemen. laying down of crosses and swords in lakes in the same breath as turning a car around and putting a record on and laying in a bed with your lover. the imagery is all over the place, medieval and ancient and modern, so that time feels nonlinear. in this world, falling in love is compared to being a lonely ancient king who is introduced to mathematics and biology and astronomy; fear and anguish of melting ice caps and biblical floods and lonely childhoods can be remedied by the presence of a loved one; death itself can be defied through true love and companionship. the songs could apply to a high fantasy novel or ancient myth just as well as they can apply to my own life, there is a timelessness to them that speaks to me strongly

i genuinely have no idea how many times i have listened to 'bible belt' nor how many times it has made me cry. if you listen to them in order the guitar at the end of 'demons' blends seamlessly into 'bible belt' as though they are one song, and those are the two songs that feel so profoundly 'mine' that i almost can't separate them from each other. in my sorrows and grief they bring me comfort; there is something so clear and true to them.

the lyrics alone aren't enough to express the depth of feeling, and when they are sung they sound how my grief feels. something about the way 'under the weight of belief you shiver and shake like a leaf; but death is a force not a man on a horse; i'll keep you safe while you sleep' and 'cause we've been through worse than this before we could talk; but the trick of it is don't be afraid anymore' and 'cause there's no guiding light arcing a line to bethlehem: if it's dark outside you light the fire yourself' are sung, among many other lyrics, cuts me to the bone. i feel such a swell of emotion it's difficult to bear