"High as a wave" makes no sense in the context of the rest of the song.

This song is full of religious imagery. For instance, "This little light of mine, the gift you passed on to me, I'm gonna let it shine..." "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine" is from a hymn/song commonly sung in many christian churches.

I'm hearing "High is the way, but our eyes are all upon the ground. You were the light and the way, they only read about." The way of holiness, righteousness, etc etc. His mother lived it, while everyone else just read about it. She was always looking to heaven, looking to something better than her current condition, while the hypocritical congregation is so absorbed with the here and now. IMO, this fits a lot better considering the rest of the religious imagery in the song.

Besides, a wave? I'll rise on up off the ground? WTF? How does this make sense at all?

Makes Alot of sense

Listen to the tales and romanticize,
How we follow the path of the hero.
Boast about the day when the rivers overrun.
How we rise to the height of our halo.

Listen to the tales as we all rationalize
Our way into the arms of the savior,
Feigning all the trials and the tribulations;
None of us have actually been there.
Not like you.

Ignorant fibbers in the congregation
Gather around spewing sympathy,
Spare me.
None of them can even hold a candle up to you.
Blinded by choices, hypocrites won't see.

But enough about the collective Judas.
Who could deny
You were the one who illuminated
My little piece of the divine.


And this little light of mine, the gift you passed on to me;
I'm gonna let it shine to guide you safely on your way,
Your way home ...

Oh, what are they going to do when the lights go down
Without you to guide them all to Zion?
What are they going to do when the rivers overrun
Other than tremble incessantly?

High is the Way, but our lives are up on the ground. *
You are the light and the way, they'll only read about.
I only pray, Heaven knows when to lift you out.
Ten thousand days in the fire is long enough, you're going home.

You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
Shake your fists at the gates saying:
"I have come home now!
Fetch me the spirit, the son, and the father.
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.
It's time now!
My time now!
Give me my, give me my wings!"

Give me my wings!

You are the light, a way, that they will only read about.

Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance,
Burden of proof tossed upon the believers.
You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence,
Judith Marie, unconditional one.

Daylight dims leaving cold fluorescence.
Difficult to see you in this light.
Please forgive this bold suggestion:
Should you see your Maker's face tonight,
Look Him in the eye, look Him in the eye, and tell Him:
"I never lived a lie, never took a life, but surely saved one.
Hallelujah, it's time for you to bring me home."

* by up he means over. like time is up.

I may be wavering on "our lives are up on the ground". " our eyes upon the ground" sounds pretty plausiblr. but I just keep hearing lives. probably because it's stuck in my head.

100% nailed it

I just thought, this may have been said before, but maybe (just maybe) it's "all eyes are up on the ground"?

That would explain why you hear "lives".

And I just listened again, and perhaps it's "High is the way, But all eyes are upon the ground"

I'm sorry if I'm just repeating someone else. But what do you think:

"High is the way, But all eyes are upon the ground"



<edit> I went back to check, turns out other people thought the exact way, too.

Maybe it is:

"high is the way, but our eyes are upon the ground"

I'd vote for: High as a wave, but our eyes are upon the ground. Weelchair, maybe?

I'd think so too, but there's an "L" sound before "eyes". And if you listen ever more carefully, you'll hear a word pronounced like "awl" which is equal to "all". There's no "ow" sound.
It helps if you slow it down a bit via Windows Media Player.

And to Terry21: lol to Wheelchair. That was great.

Contrary to the lyrics posted, I hear:

Who could deny you were the one who illuminated
your little piece of the divine.

P

I still hear:

Who could deny you were the one who illuminated
The idle piece of the divine

I definitely hear "idle" or something that sounds like it

hi,
good work so far!!!

me too !

Figured I would post what I believe the lyrics to be.

--------------------------------------------

Listen to the tales and romanticize
how we follow the path of the hero
boast about the day when the rivers overrun
how we rise to the height of our halo

listen to the tales as we all rationalize
Our way into the arms of the savior
feigning all the trials and the tribulations
none of us have actually been there
not like you

ignorant fibbers in the congregation,
gather around spewing sympathy,
spare me,
none of them can even hold a candle up to you
blinded by choices hypocrites wont seek,

but enough about the collective judas',
who could deny you were the one who illuminated,
your little piece of the divine,

this little light of mine
a gift you past on to me
i'm going to let it shine
to guide you safely on your way
your way home...

what are they going to do when the lights go down
without you to guide them home to zion?
what are they gonna do when the rivers overrun
other than tremble incessantly ?

high is our way but our eyes are upon the ground
you were the light and the way
they'll only read about
I only pray heaven knows
when to lift you out
10000 days in the fire is long enough
you're going home

you're the only one who can hold your head up high
shake your fist at the gates sayin'
"i have come home now. fetch me the spirit, the son and the father,
tell them their pillar of faith has ascended"
"its time now, my time now, give me my, give me my wings"

"give me my, give me my, give me my, give me my, give me my, give me my wings...."

you are the light, a way that they will only read about

set as i am in my ways and my arrogance
burden of truth tossed upon non-believers
you were my witness, my eyes, my evidence
Judith Marie, unconditional one

daylight dims, leaving cold flouresence
difficult to see you in this light
please forgive this, bold suggestion
should you see your maker's face tonight
look him in the eye, look him in the eye, and tell him
i never lived a lie, never took a life, but surely saved one
hallelujah, its time for you to bring me home...

i was gonna post my own, but i agree with Rinia's post. nice job

"FADING all the trials and the tribulations..."

I hear fading, not feigning.

i also hear faDing i hear a D sound.

ditto. i think rinia has it spot fucking on. the only things i possibly hear different is "head on high" instead of "up" and i think it's "....hypocrites won't see" as well

*slaps self for being a nitpicky fucker*

other than that i think every word is perfect. thanks guys and girls.

Feigning all the trials and tribulations/none of us have actually been there/not like you.
Fading doens't make much sense....Expecially put in the context of the line before . It sounds like he is talking about his expiernce listening to people telling their lifes story and rationalizing why they shoudl be welcomed in teh arms of their savior, Feinging [faking]all the trials and tribulations/ none of us haev actually been there/ not like you[have] makes sense

Feigning makes sense. Acting like you've endured so many hard times so you can rationalize being accepted into heaven.

FEIGNING all the trials and the tribulations...

that it what it sounds like to me, and makes more sense in the context of this verse especially.

Yeah and both people over you said the same thing. Pff.

“set as i am and in my ways and in my arrogance
burden of truth tossed upon non-believers
you were my witness, my eyes, my evidence
Judith Marie, unconditional WHYYYYYYYY....................?”

It's possible no?

I can't imagine Maynard's bought Christian dogma all of a sudden.

Look at all the fools around her is kind of what he's been saying in this song right?

It seems like he's still railing against organized religion; while his mom was an amazing example of the power of spirituality, was she right?

“difficult to see you in this light”

"Ignorant flippers"

"Blinded by choiceless hypocrites wont see"

"you were the one illuminated, light and peace of the devine"

"this little light of mine the gift you passed onto me, Im gonna let it shine to guide you safely on your way....your way home."

"without you to lead them on to zion"

"High is the way, but our lives are upon the ground" * I FEEL VERY STRONGLY ABOUT THIS ONE!*

"set as I am in my ways and my arrogance
burden of proof tossed upon the believers
you were my witness, my eyes, my evidence
Judith Marie....unconditional one."

"its time for you to bring me home"


------------

P.S. "High is the way, but our lives are upon the ground" makes alot of sense for anyone who has ever been involved with an organized relegion or someone who is dedicated to one. You are held to live this very holy life and walk a narrow road along the path that is far higher than what we as humans are capable of, and taught to view the lives that most of lead as low and far from the path. So that makes alot of sense to me. I understadn that "wave" works in with the rivers being over run, but i honestly hear "high is the way"....let me know whacha think
Peace
Q

What is that meant to mean? It's "fibbers", as in "liars".
Again, what is that meant to mean? It's obviously "choices".
No, although this does make sense (if you ignore the bad spelling), it's clumsy, what he says is:"You were the one who illuminated a little piece of the divine".
This could work.
I hear 'all', but it could be this.
Yeah, I think I agree with you.
Agreed.
Yeah, although it's "it's" :D

This last line is still Judith speaking methinks, from the "I've come home now" bit to the last line is her.

I've been a bit unsure about this. For a long time, I thought that the line

"High as a wave, but I'll rise on up off the ground."

was actually

"High is the wave, but our eyes are up on the ground."

Which I felt could work... showing how most of humanity knows that we should look to heaven, but simply don't.

Kindof like in Right in Two.

lyrics stuff goes in the lyrics forum

"Without you to guide them all to Zion"
I hear guide. Maybe it's just me.


"High is the way, but our eyes are upon the ground."
As in, we know there is a God, but we don't bother to look to him. In fact, we think we're looking up, but still only on material posessions.

I hear "as we all rapture our lives, away into the the arms"

Anyone else?

High as a wave, but I'll rise on up off the ground.
You are the light and the way, they'll only read about.
I only pray, God knows when to lift you out.
Ten thousand days in the fire is long enough, you're going home.



the way these lyrics are sung. this verse. i can't even begin to describe to you the emotions that come up out of me. i can't even believe that someone could sing something so perfectly. like, it's not even the lyrics, but just the melody, the technique he uses, the emotion he puts into it, the feeling behind his voice.....


FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE.

Totally agree, though I think it's "our eyes are upon the ground".

"High is the WAY, but our eyes are upon the ground" I think

hah back to the feigning/fading issue...
i mean..seriously..i think this irrefutably "failing"
it's all about context...trials and tribulations are things one would pass or fail

I refute that.

Feigning means to fake something. That works in context just as well if not better than failing. In context he is talking of Christians who are trying to rationalize their way to the saviour, so they fake going through trials and tribulations to make themselves look more worthy. But none of them have actually been there...

hear the same but I'm not sure about the first part of teh sentence maybe it should be hight as a wave

"set as I am in my ways and my arrogance
burden of proof tossed upon the believers
you were my witness, my eyes, my evidence
Judith Marie....unconditional one."

i never heard that interpretation of this third line in my ears, but it seems to be undisputed on the boards, i think i'm the only one that hears this.

"You would not witness my eyes, my evidence"

In comparison it may seem to feel like a change in tone, but it's so much more real to me. the accepted interpretation is romanticizing. think about like Judith ya know? they didn't agree. and from what i understand/assume of maynards beliefs they are in juxtiposition with his mothers. hers are faith based ,his in evidence,
which gives this beautiful:

set as i am, and as important as i am to you, you'll never see what i know, it's an unconditional (one could percieve as rediculous notion) but it's as strong as what i know.. and makes the "one" fading off so intense. cuz in thinking through that phrase logically you're just fuckin like.. stunned at the similarities are and that's why that vox section is so short..
my interepretaion
one love,
timste.

I think I see where you're going with this, but the whole song loses its meaning and its ambiguity/struggle if the line were such because Maynard is then no longer wrestling with her faith and demanding that she receive her dues, he's slapping her in the face with a harsh "I-told-you-so, why-didn't-you-listen-to-me". It doesn't make sense that after this line he would go on to suggest she say "Hallelujah, it's time for you to bring me home" either because he just refuted her faith as meaningless because she refused to see HIS eyes and HIS evidence...

Also, from just a lyrical perspective, the lines read (and are understood) as such:

"set as I am in my ways and my arrogance
burden of proof tossed upon the believers
you were my witness, my eyes, my evidence
Judith Marie, unconditional one"

-----> as set as I am (in, admitted, arrogance) against all the "believers", demanding proof from them (this is what BURDEN OF PROOF means), YOU were the only one who could really be a witness to me because you were UNCONDITIONAL about how you lived your life...





hope this helps!

I agree with the rast of the lyrics, but I've always heard " Judith Marie, unconditional warmth." at this part.

I guess my hearing must be abnormal, because from the first listen (followed by multiple headphone listenings) I have always thought the lyrics were:

"High is the way, but all eyes are upon the ground."

I don't understand all the commotion surrounding this part, the whole 'wave' theory doesn't fit or make sense with any other lyrics in the song. I could be wrong, but this is what I've always heard. Fuckin incredible lyrics, btw.