Lyric Breakdown: DeVotchka

Yesterday while reading some local blogs I stumbled upon one of my all time favorite songs and for a second had trouble remembering the last time I heard it. That troubled me. How can favorite songs like this fall off your radar for such a long period of time?

The first time I heard this song, I sat still. I thought about all of the hauntingly beautiful lyrics of this song and the story that they were trying to tell. After countless listening I had come to my decision on what it was all about. And that day, this song changed forever. You see you can listen to one song over and over and over again and it not mean a thing to you, yet once you assign a specific meaning to it the song is never the same.

Take the lyrics to the song "How it Ends" by DeVotchka

"Hold your grandmother's bible to your breast

Gonna put it to the test

You wanted to be blessed

And in your heart you know it to be true

You know what you gotta do

They all depend on you

And you already know

Yeah, you already know how this will end

There is no escape from the slave catcher's songs

For all the loved ones gone

Forever's not so long

And in your soul they poked a million holes

But you never let em show

Come on, its time to go

And you already know

Yeah, you already know how this will end

Now you've seen his face

And you know that there's a place in the sun

For all that you've done

For you and your children

No longer shall you need

You always wanted to believe

Just ask and you'll receive

Beyond your wildest dreams

And you already know

Yeah, you already know how this will end"

For some this song can easily be summed up by saying its describing everything about life. All situations have their inevitable ending, all things stop whether its a relationship or a certain situation, and while we go through the motions we "all know this will end".

Thats the easy way of thinking, for those like me who find great fun in pulling song lyrics apart there is a whole lot more to this song below the surface.

So thats where I went, and what I found has made this song change my life forever.

Now I am not the most religious person. I am spiritual. I believe in God. I go to church...sometimes. All and all I like to think that I am a good person and at the end of the day I think I have done enough good to one day grant me entrance into those gates of Heaven. Cause well, that I do believe in. I think. I have to right? This can't just be it. This brief time on earth, just simply is not the end. Its this way of thinking that made me believe that this song is all about the experience of dying and finally realizing the truth about what is now in front of you...heaven.

And again to each their own but here is my interpretation:

This song to me is about a man who I think has just died, but now he knows where he is headed. The lyrics "now you've seen his face" (God), and "you know there's a place in the sun for all you have done... for you and your children" (Heaven) The bible says that we will be judged for all we have done here on earth. I think this song is about those first few moments in heaven. The time when you realize that this place you had been wondering about your entire life on earth, does in fact really exist. And really "no longer shall he need" (because you already believed) and finally all you need to do to fulfill the rest of your journey is just "ask and you will receive, beyond your wildest dreams"...

Because really you already knew how this would all end. You are at peace.

Editors Note: Sorry for going off on this for a second. Its just a song that really means a lot to me and well its almost haunting for me to listen to. But it continues for YEARS to be one of my most favorite songs ever.

**The moral of this story.... I love and read into music entirely too much**