Bite-Sized NewsBoys #22
Song: Beautiful Sound
Album: Love Liberty Disco


Understand, of course, that what I am writing is not completely my ideas of the song or the ‘boyz idea of the meanings of them. A little of both. Just a reminder to keep that in mind at all times.

When I hear Beautiful Sound I go "Ahh! Love this song!" along with several other actions, like my mind brings up a picture of a eighteen year old (who is probably the young version of Peter Furler) who has grown up around Christians and been to church and he’s heard the Bible’s stories a hundred times and yet he doesn’t really know much of anything and doesn’t really care. So, for him, God isn’t exactly a Savior or his God but more like a giant person who floats around in the clouds atop churches and only comes out on Sundays. Except when this kid feels guilty about something and then God steps out of the clouds and pounces on him and is like a scolding schoolteacher with a ruler. He knows about God and kind of believes He’s real but things don’t go beyond that.
But in this first verse of a song he is at eighteen years of age (which is interesting ’cause I thought Peter went through this when he was seventeen, but whatever) and he’s sitting in his room (which, according to my imagination, is dark and has a bed, a desk, and a old-fashion lamp and flashes and is hazy like a old movie) reading his Bible late at night. He turns the page, can’t turn the lights out yet, still wants to read. Every word and every line carries to his soul, the dark letters on the page sing so loud, where did he go wrong not to hear God’s song?

The second half, sadly, doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me. I’ll try breaking it down. That usually makes things earlier.
"Eighteen years/I guess it was alright" must be… "I suppose it wasn’t so bad, some people don’t get to You before they’re sixty."
"I let you do the thinking/I’d just bide my time" must be… "But even if it did take eighteen years You were in control those eighteen years. Watching me. You do the thinking and You be the God, I’ll just stand here and be Your servant."
Love how songwriters pack a ton into a single line or two.
"Father to son/Sunday hand me down"… This is where I get lost. Sunday hand me down?! Was he part of charity? But I’m going to assume it is something like… "Father, thank you for that. Being there for those eighteen years where I didn’t care, and working on me all those Sundays that I’d sat in church counting the people and the pews and considering my own fingernails, handing down wisdom and grace and working on my heart."
Or something like that.
And then the last line would be to the effect of "But how could I be so stupid?! You were there and I wasn’t hearing a thing. Where did I go wrong not to hear your sound?!"
Yep, it’s rather like a prayer.

And then the second verse which goes a few years (or a great many years) later. This kid isn’t a kid any more. He’s older and he reads his Bible every day and is a active Christian. As he reads his Bible he realizes that the more he knows about God the more he knows that there is a whole lot more to know and he’ll be chasing God, just like God chased him.
God filled his cup and the man lifts it up for more.

Bite-Sized NewsBoys #23
Song: Love Liberty Disco
Album: Love Liberty Disco


Bring in the disco balls! The party’s starting. I always thought this song was pretty obvious but since the people on YouTube can’t seem to get it I’d better explain.

"All our fears are turning ’round
Fall down and meet your maker
Where our true selves will be found
Calling out to every lonely soul."

It’s a song about "Happy People" and a "Family that moves as one" which is quintessentially the Body of Christ and the Church. That’s basically it. We’re a whole bunch of Happy People and it’s one big party. (Reminds me of a certain commercial they play(ed) on the radio.)

Alot of people hear this song and seem to be of the opinion that "OMG!! This song is so evil!! Disco!! *gaspfaintdie*" Because there was alot of bad, evil, and unpleasant things going on in the sixties and around the disco music era and industry. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
That’s just nuts, okay? Music should not be judged by its genre. There is something bad in every genre. That’s like saying, "I’m not going to wear clothes or eat anymore because non-Christian’s and sinner’s eat and wear clothes too. Criminals and other evil people wear clothes and eat food and that just makes eating and wearing clothes evil!! We’re supposed to be in the world but not of it! *shockshockshock*"
It just seems slightly stupid to me. If you don’t like disco and prefer pop. That’s cool. If you don’t like metal and prefer techno. That’s cool. If you prefer Bach over Mozart. That’s cool too.
I have a really hard time believing a certain genre is evil but this has nothing to do with the song so I’d better shut up.

Bite-Sized NewsBoys #24
Song: Forever Man
Album: Love Liberty Disco


Some of my favorite Newsboys lyrics are in this song.

"And the longer I live,
The stronger I feel
A creator put us here.
And the day will come
Gravity will run
And we’ll meet you in the air.
Where face-to-face we will wonder
As the mysteries come undone.
And at the end of all our travels
We find our journey’s just begun."

Very poetic. Very poetic. Love it. The song is pretty simple. So the first verse is a man saying is there a reason for all this and why I’m here.
The chorus says, yes, there is!
The second verse says, when life’s brevity (shortness of duration) ends, with the love of mercy carry me to You.
The chorus again, a repeat. Good news for the modern man: this isn’t the whole of it.
Pre-bridge/Second Chorus/somethingelse is asking, let us not forget we are in the last days and that Heaven is near.
And, lastly, the bridge (my favorite part!) says, "That day’s coming and when it comes gravity will run and we’ll meet You in the air where face to face we will wonder as the mysteries come undone ’cause here I stand, it’s who I am, her I stand: a forever man."
A man who is going to Heaven is a "Forever Man" incase you didn’t catch it.

(Imported from HomeschoolBlogger.)