"Straight To You"
All the towers of ivory are crumbling
And the swallows sharpen their beaks
This is the time of our great undoing
This is the time that I'll come running
Straight to you, for I am captured
Straight to you for I am captured one more time
The light in our window is fading
The candle gutters on the ledge
Well now sorrow it comes a stealing
And I'll cry girl but I'll come running
Straight to you for I am captured
Straight to you for I am captured once again
And gone are the days of rainbows
And gone are the nights of swinging from the stars
For the sea will swallow up the mountain
And the sky will throw thunderbolts and sparks
Straight at you, but I'll come running
Straight to you, but I'll come running one more time
Heaven has denied us its kingdom
The saints are drunk and howling at the moon
And the chariots of angels are colliding
Well I'll run babe, I'll come running
Straight to you for I am captured
Straight to you for I am captured one more time
On my way to and from work this week, I have had my iPod turned to Josh Groban’s album Illuminations. Any who know me well know I love Josh Groban songs. There is something so deep about these songs, almost sad, and I just love it… Yes, I know it does not make any sense, but I do just find that they resonate in my soul, not to mention it is Josh Groban with his incredible classically trained voice. I have been listening to his music for over a decade now, and still find some of the songs overwhelming in their artistic and romantic reach.
One song that I can listen to over and over again is ”Straight to You’’. It is the typical passionate love song, with a sad aura about it, that slowly builds and becomes ever more intense. I have read some people’s opinions on what they think the author, Nick Cave, meant when writing this, and the opinions vary, so probably no one knows exactly. I, therefore, feel the freedom to assign whatever meaning to it I like, which I often do with songs. It appears that the singer and perhaps his lover have fallen upon hard times, difficult times. The mention of white towers crumbling portrays the idea that they are no longer isolated from whatever harm or hurt the world has to offer. The line of swallows sharpening their beaks is slightly puzzling, but apparently some birds, when they are stressed and they feel unable to respond to the stressor in any definitive way, will perform a filler action such as rubbing or “sharpening’’ their beak. The scene continues to spiral downward in despair as it seems everything is against this couple. It is unclear if the trouble is assaulting from outside or if it is decaying from within. Yet, at the end of each stanza, the singer states that no matter what is assailing him or his lover, he will run straight to her and rescue her, why? Because he is captured, again and again. What is he captured by? One can only surmise that it is her and his love for her.
This is not a novel idea. Hollywood has made so many movies that present this kind of storyline where there is a special love that is threatened, and it is up to one of the lovers [usually the guy] to rescue the damsel in distress. He will go through whatever trials, journeys, and give up whatever he must in order to achieve his love. This theme can go even deeper in some stories where, when met with intense resistance, nothing, not even death itself, can prevent true love from winning the day. Romantic love has had its heyday over the past century. It has been taught from books and movies alike that there is no more powerful force in the world than true love. Nothing can stop true love. It is the strength by which anyone can accomplish anything for their beloved. It seems that this song may be in the same vein of thought. No matter what devastating circumstances they find themselves in, he will run straight to her and save her because he is captured by his love for her.
Personally, I can relate to this idea. I grew up in this romanticized century and always believed that I would find my true love one day and that no matter what happened outside in the world, my love would be the strength by which I would overcome and save my beloved. Ironically, this world overall is rather safe. There are no dragons to kill or dangerous journeys to undertake. Yet, even in this safe world, love can be threatened. But instead of outside the relationship, oftentimes our love is in danger from within, from our own sinful hearts. I do not know how many marriages are suffering right now and are in trouble, but when I hear statements about how the Christian divorce rate is no different from the world’s and then see with my own eyes the ways some husbands and wives treat each other, I see that while we do not live in romantic movies or books, there are real dangers to love all around us, and they usually have their source in unresolved and unrepented sin in our hearts.
My prayer for myself and for this generation of men is to look deep into our own hearts and take hold of the dragons of sin we find there. I do not think we see how our selfish, cowardly, insensitive, and lazy attitudes hurt our wives and push them away from us. We want to believe that if our wives and families were ever threatened by evil men, that we would have the courage to stand and fight for our families, but when it comes down to it, the things that truly hurt and damage them are issues we are not interested in bothering with, namely our own sin. We are content to just go with the flow, never wanting too much expected out of us. We need to stop and truly question our courage. We need to look at our wives like we did when we first met and be captured again. We do need to be motivated by love to face our own sin and thereby love our wives. Yet, even our own love for them is sometimes not enough. Sometimes the devil may have us fooled such that we think our wives to be the dragons! This is when the reality of our own sinfulness and the Lord Jesus Christ’s great Love for us must overwhelm our hearts and our thinking. The Word tells us to love our wives, even as Christ loves the Church, and laid down His life for her. Men, there is nothing more romantic than loving your wives even when they are not perfect and even when it hurts. That takes courage, commitment, and love… the kind only Christ can give.
I do not care for the final stanza of the song because it comes across as a bit sacrilegious. I, again, do not know the author’s heart in this, but I do not think he was necessarily trying to be disrespectful, but to seemingly bring the chaos to even a higher level, expressing that even though chariots of angels are colliding I will come straight to you. Feeling the line still inappropriate, I have offered a replacement suggestion. I would not call myself a poet or songwriter, but I feel this replacement line does the heart of what I am trying to say justice. He does offer us His kingdom in our hearts. He can cleanse us from every sin that we fail in. His Love will empower us to strive to love our wives, even when it gets hard. So, come then, men. Let us be captured by our lovers once again and run straight to them, empowered by His cleansing Love.
"Straight To You"
All the towers of ivory are crumbling
And the swallows sharpen their beaks
This is the time of our great undoing
This is the time that I'll come running
Straight to you, for I am captured
Straight to you for I am captured one more time
The light in our window is fading
The candle gutters on the ledge
Well now sorrow it comes a stealing
And I'll cry girl but I'll come running
Straight to you for I am captured
Straight to you for I am captured once again
And gone are the days of rainbows
And gone are the nights of swinging from the stars
For the sea will swallow up the mountain
And the sky will throw thunderbolts and sparks
Straight at you, but I'll come running
Straight to you, but I'll come running one more time
Heaven has offered us its kingdom
His Blood can cleanse us from any sin
And His Love empowers my striving
Well I'll run babe, I'll come running
Straight to you for I am captured
Straight to you for I am captured one more time
