Kristina Razoumova- Hymn 101 Lyrics

Hymn 101 Lyrics
My Choice

Written on 10/22/15

                  Last class we were asked to listen to the Hymn 101 song by Joe Pug without watching the video and write down some ideas on what came to mind.

“Yeah I've come to know the wishlist of my father.

I've come to know the shipwrecks where he wished.

I've come to wish aloud among the overdressed crowd.

Come to witness now the sinking of the ship.

Throwing pennies from the seatop next to it.”

I believe this verse is about Joe reflecting upon what his father wanted to achieve and how at times these goals presented hardships and how now he is on a similar path.

           

“And I've come to roam the forest past the village

With a dozen lazy horses in my cart.

I've come here to get eyed

To do more than just get by

I've come to test the timber of my heart.

Oh I've come to test the timber of my heart.”

This verse seems to be talking about a man who is trying to get back to nature and get closer to the spiritual and away from the practical ways of the society around him. He has come to get judged and evaluate life.

“And I've come to be untroubled in my seeking.

And I've come to see that nothing is for naught.

I've come to reach out blind

To reach forward and behind

For the more I seek the more I'm sought

Yeah, the more I seek the more I'm sought.”

In his attempt to find spiritualty he has come to peace and stopped worrying about the everyday things that society worries about. He found a sense of peace within himself and a care free lifestyle.

“And I've come to meet the sheriff and his posse,

To offer him the broad side of my jaw.

I've come here to get broke,

Then maybe bum a smoke.

We'll go drinking two towns over after all.

Well, we'll go drinking two towns over after all.”

Going off of the care free lifestyle, he seems to not be accepted by the legal society but he doesn’t seem to care because he is searching for something the society lacks.

“And I've come to meet the legendary takers.

I've only come to ask them for a lot.

Oh they say I come with less than I should rightfully possess.

I say the more I buy the more I'm bought.

And the more I'm bought the less I cost.”

He is talking about getting rid of material positions because the more someone focuses on the material, the practical, things the further they get to the spiritual.

“And I've come to take their servants and their surplus.

And I've come to take their raincoats and their speed.

I've come to get my fill

To ransack and spill.

I've come to take the harvest for the seed.

I've come to take the harvest for the seed.”

The harvest and seed lyric reminds me of the discussion we had in class about how is rituals the the focus is on the desire to live and that is what I feel he means by this statement. He is going back to the primitive ways and his music expresses his desire to live and to connect to the beauty. 

“And I've come to know the manger that you sleep in.

I've come to be the stranger that you keep.

I've come from down the road,

And my footsteps never slowed.

Before we met I knew we'd meet.

Before we met I knew we'd meet.”

The before we met I knew we’d meet lyric reminds me of the idea of death. He knows one days he will die (meet god).

And I've come here to ignore your cries and heartaches.

I've come to closely listen to you sing.

I've come here to insist

That I leave here with a kiss.

I've come to say exactly what I mean.

And I mean so many things.

The part about ignoring your cries and heartaches is his way of escaping society and all the bad that is going on that is going against “the Good” (god).

“I’ve come so close to listen to you sing” reminds me of the idea of experiencing beauty but ultimately realizing you have been a mere spectator and cannot be part of the perfection.

“That I leave here with a kiss” makes me think of the kiss of death, he may want to make thing right in his life before leaving the physical world.

The say what I mean and I mean so many things part may relate to the meaning of life.

And you've come to know me stubborn as a butcher.

And you've come to know me thankless as a guest.

But will you recognize my face

When God's awful grace

Strips me of my jacket and my vest,

And reveals all the treasure in my chest?

This verse is him recalling on his life and he admits in his younger days he way seeing “the Good” but was not allowing himself to accept it. But in the end the was good in him and he knows he tried to make things right but accepting “the Good”.

The “And reveals all the treasure in my chest” part makes me think of the freeing of the soul.