Written by: Josh Moore
Appears on: Back Home
Lyrics:
I was a pilgrim in early life
I traveled at night
Bound for Jordan just ten miles north
Of a civil war
Immersed in mercy in holy flood
That mingled with blood
My sextant headed for homebound lands
Through twilight sands
But I grew weary and too far-gone
To carry on
At first my home and my empire soon
Would there assume
I’m watching my kingdom tumbling down
You’re flooding my refuge underground
My kingdom for angels, mighty surround
To take me away from here
A sea of sand came through fire pass
A sea of glass
An ivory fortress and turret’s steel
Would swift reveal
The gods of beast and of sun and sky
With banners high
Were worshipped in their six temple’s fold
Of desert gold
In summer’s sting, as the sages say
The sand gave way
My empire capsized at vanity’s cost
And all were lost
I’m watching my kingdom crumble and fall
You’re building Your kingdom over all
I’m cursing my wisdom while the angels I call
To take me away, take me away from here
See also: MusicBrainz, iTunes.
rom the Author:
“When I was a child, my family traveled to Israel several times. This song is a very obscure metaphor about what took place after I came back. The kingdom is a picture of the abstract idol I built out of my morality and spirituality after my childhood conversion. Most of the details about the kingdom are literary references, and the chorus accounts for my realization that my city of self-righteousness had no real foundation.”
“(This song is) a middle eastern buffet of scales and modes. I wrote it thinking that the band would get a nice humorous kick out of it, but to my dismay, they liked it and recorded it first of all my tunes (for Back Home).”
That explanation helps, but what literary references?
I would love to hear Josh Moore talk about this song?