I've said before, music is a very spiritual thing to me. The following piece surprises even me, but every time I think about the song Scum of the Earth by Rob Zombie, I think of Jesus. When I hear this, I see him up there, straining against the nails to beckon us forward, gritting his teeth against the pain, screaming to those of us that count ourselves among the scum of the earth. In his pain, he's calling to us to come to him.
If you've never heard it, this song is a heavy metal anthem. It's got a fast, heavy drum track with electro synth beats added in. It's thrashy. Rob Zombie growls and shouts. What Jesus did with his life, whether you believe he was divine or not, was not often clean, easy, or dull. His message was radical enough to get him killed. I think that deserves a heavy metal anthem.
Scum of the earth
Come on
Yeah
Run and kill
Destroy the will
A hero that doesn't exist
Yeah
Smoking gun
Well I am the one
A bullet hole
In your fist
Yeah
Hey, I'm breathing
Hey, I'm bleeding
Hey, I'm screaming
Scum of the earth
Come on
Yeah
Wake up dead
Bleeding red
A world that doesn't exist
Yeah
Heaven waits
With the gates
Rusting in the mist
Yeah
Yeah
Hey, I'm breathing
Hey, I'm bleeding
Hey, I'm screaming
Scum of the earth
Come on
Do all the lyrics fit? Does it ever matter? Each poem or song can mean something completely different to any given reader. It doesn't even matter what the writer's original intentions were. At least, that's my opinion of music and poetry.
Let's break it down a bit (no pun intended).
The song repeats "A hero that doesn't exit," and I think of what the Prophet Isaiah said about Jesus' own people denying him, harming him. Jesus wasn't often treated as a hero while he was alive. Heroes don't end up on crosses.
"Smoking gun, well I am the one, a bullet hole in your fist." Jesus on the cross wanted to be nothing but guilty. That's what the cross was about, Jesus paying the price for everyone else's wrong doing. To me, a fist is the universal symbol of violence, and Jesus, time and again, symbolized and spoke out about non-violence being the best way to do anything. Holes in fists also remind me of the holes left from being crucified.
The parts about "a world that doesn't exist" and "Heaven's gates" remind me of the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus said was closer than we thought, it was upon us, and it was also coming. All mysterious statements about a world that doesn't quite exist yet, but then again, every time we try to make the world a better place, Heaven appears.
All this might seem like a stretch to you, gentle reader, but I have a very active imagination. This is what goes through my mind, this is what I feel when I hear this song.
nice analysis
ReplyDelete