'sign Of The Cross'
I just wanted to make a thread about Sign of the Cross, but you've made it...
I also don't think that it was inspired by Eco's book (I haven't read it, but I watched the movie, and it doesn1t have much to do with the song.) In one interview Blaze said that it has nothing to do with either the book or the movie. (I read it at
www.ram.org, but I cannot remember the full adress.) I think the song is about Harris' religious thoughts. I'll explain this later, cos I'll try to analyze the lyrics and the music at the same time, since the music and especially the instrumental part is a centerpiece of the song. The song is written in e-minor, wich happens often by Harris, but works here very well. So, here are my views:
Sign of the Cross begins with a mysterious Gregorian chant. This could been a proof for those who think it's about the book or the movie, but as I wrote I don't think that. IMO it was put into the song to make the intro more creepy, and it fits well with the religious topic of the song. After this "prelude", the song starts softly with a bass/clean guitar intro, wich is very sad in its mood. Blaze whispers the first lines:
"Eleven saintly shrouded men, silhouettes stand against the sky
One in front with a cross held high, come to wash my sins away"
What does this mean? I read here interesting opinions about the 11 men. "Le Hibou - The Owl" mentioned that they could be the 11 apostoles. I also thought more about that, and I found out that the "11 saintly shrouded men" are the apostoles, but not personally, rather as a symbol of the christian church. The one with the cross can be the the mundane leader of the church - maybe the pope or something like this. (I'm Calvinist, so I don't care much for the pope.) "Come to wash my sins away" - this means that the church's mission is to tell people about Jesus Christ, slavation, etc. This sets the main theme of the song: the church, the priests - the organized religion somes to you and say they have salvation. The question is: what are you gonna do?, but it remains open for a while.
The song continues with a very sad bass/keyboard melody, with military (?) drums and natural harmonics on guitar in the background. This melody is repeated three times - remember, 3 is some kinda holy number in many religions. Maybe only I think this is important, however this long repetition makes a perfect entrance to the verses - from slow, melodic and quiet, the song transformes into fast, powerful, and very heavy.
"Standing alone in the wind and rain,
Feeling the fear that is growing
Sensing the change in the tide again,
Brought by the storm that is brewing
Feel the anxiety hold off the fear,
Some of the doubt in the things you believe
Now that your faith will be put to the test,
Nothing to do but await what is coming"
These lines are clearly about the experience, when you feel that your faith is being tested.
"Why then is God still protecting me,
Even when I don't deserve it
Though I am blessed with an inner strength,
Some they would call it a penance"
I also think these lines speak for themselves: altough the writer feels that he has to solve this problem alone, he gets God help, even though he is a sinner and doesn't deserve anything. That's called holy mercy, isnt it?
"Why am I meant to face this alone,
Asking the question time and again
Praying to God won't keep me alive,
Inside my head feel the fear start to rise"
This represents once again the feelings about the "test".
"They'll be saying their prayers when the moment comes
There'll be penance to pay when it's judgment day
And the guilty'll bleed when that moment comes
They'll be coming to claim, take your soul away
They'll be coming to bring the eternal flame
They'll be bringing us all immortality
Holding communion so the world be blessed
My creator, my God lay my soul to rest "
These lines remind me some of the book of Revelations, about the very last times. Indeed, there will be penance on Judgement day, but the guilty will bleed and everyone will realise that nos it's too late change his views - time's up. The writer thinks that he won't be find guilty, he'll be part of the blessed world, and God will finally give peace to his soul.
The chorus is the strongest proof for those who think it's about the movie or the book; I think Steve heard these titles somewhere, and found them good to write in the song.
"The sign of the cross, the name of the rose
A fire in the sky, the sign of the cross"
Let's take a closer look at these lines, using the sign language! Wearing a cross means you beleive in Christ, so sign of the cross means something connected to Christ. The rose is a well-known symbol of love, and as a religius symbol, also repesents the holy, divine love of God. We can read many times in the Bible that God is love, so the name of the rose is God. I know these are a bit wild speculations, but they make sense. (Anyway, I'm sure Steve didn't wrote the chorus with with this stuff in mind.)
After the second chorus, a heavy interlude comes, wich is ideal for crowd partipication. Anyway, it works here as an interlude.
Then, the instrumental section of the song begins with a slow bass/clean guitar riff with chants in the background, reminescent of the very beginning of the song. This sounds very mystical and creepy for me! Than the song explodes once again, repeating this riff on full distorion and military drums. When I listen to this part, I always feel fear, sadness, and something closing me. This section goes for a while, then it becomes slower, with a lead fill that is full of pain. During this part you know something must happen now, and it does. After a small, fast interlude (ala the one in Hallowed Be Thy Name after the verses), a fast twin-lead comes, and creates a much lighter mood, and leads to the climatic guitar solo's, which are absolutely genious. After the solo's the twin lead is repeated once more, before the melody and the tempo changes to a gallopping, very happy sounding melody. This part (where the clean guitar-fills are played) is also great for crowd participation.
Then comes finally the last chorus, but the heavy riffing in the background turns into beautiful clean guitar chords. Then comes the outro of the song, wich is almost the same as the intro:
"Lost the love of heaven above, chose the lust of the earth below
Eleven saintly shrouded men, came to wash my sins away"
This is quite depressing, isn't it? To explain why does this fits here, I must tell you about the importance of the instrumental. the first part of the song with the lyrics set the situation (faith being tested), but the second part tells the answer to the questions. I know, it's incredible hard to write about this, but I'll try. The first part of the instrumental with the heavy painful riffs represent me the misery of being guilty, and the fast and melodic part works as you feel the divine mercy. I know this sounds lame, but I can't tell it better. If you feel this (I think this can't be understanded with only the mind), you know what I mean. Now, you may guess why the outro fits well here: altough you confessed your sins, passed the test, and was given mercy, you still know you're a sinner and you don't deserve it.
During the songs, many will find (I do) that they'll have a great dose of shivers on their back. That means for me that the song is geniuos and very chatartic. Hope you'll agree on this one, even if you think I've overcomplicated my interpretation with those religious parts.
This song is kinda journey into the soul and feelings of Steve's religious thoughts, I think. I feel the lyrics just so honest, introspective and powerful, that they must be about Steve's own feelings. Anyway, I don't mind if you disagree, since the lyrics are quite poetic enough to have personal interpretaions. Why do I think I'm sure? I felt a lot of times I that my faith was tested, and I was given mercy, and this feeling resonates so much with this song. Hard to explain, it's sure! Unfortunately I don't have any talent for writing poems or music, cos I think only that would translate my feelings exactly.
Once again, this is my interpretion of the song. I welcome any intelligent complaining! But please don't write if you're about just religion or Blaze bashing [!--emo&
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God bless ya and Up the Irons!
"Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son"
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--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--] ), Jesus has with him TWELVE apostles. So counting on my fingers, it makes eleven (all of them minus Judas) + Jesus = TWELVE. As you said they appear WITH Jesus to take the true believers to heaven... Twelve, twelve, twelve... So why eleven !
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