Jesus Saves, I Spend

2009 interview with Flavorwire:<br /> <br /> "FP: You call yourself St. Vincent and toured with Sufjan. Sufjan’s known to include some religious subject matter in his work. Do you ever incorporate religion as a theme?<br /> <br /> AC: Hmmm. The name is actually a family name. It’s more honoring where you come from. I’m actually really interested in the human condition. I think in this culture, with the mythology we have to draw on, everybody knows their religious story. Whether they’re religious or not, they’re aware. So in terms of religious references, I tend to draw on religious mythology because it’s so ubiquitous. I’m definitely interested [in religion] in an intellectual sense.<br /> <br /> FP: Yeah. With your first record, there’s the reference to “Jesus saves, you spend,” etc.<br /> <br /> AC: Yeah, I just thought of that as silly wordplay. It’s a little bit of a light poking fun. I didn’t mean a whole lot more by it except for silly wordplay. But I don’t think that anyone misinterprets or really even interprets the way the artist intended for it to be. Which is wonderful, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.<br /> <br /> FP: That’s fair. How do you feel toward listeners who might end up misinterpreting what was meant to be religious? Sufjan is a great example.<br /> <br /> AC: Y’know, I don’t think there’s any big ideological conflict. You can enjoy things on a lot of levels If you are a person who is religious and want to imbue the music with that kind of lens, then you’ll filter it through that lens and have one kind of experience. If you’re not, and you think “oh! This is some really beautiful music, and I like it” then you’ll get that kind of experience. I don’t think anyone is in danger of any kind of ideological brain shift. I mean, with shows, with the Polyphonic Spree certainly brings up this religious imagery with the gospel robes, but people have been wearing costumes in rock n’ roll for a long time. [Laughs] It’s just performance art."

thelifejurassic said:<br /> 08-30-2007<br /> "to me, this song seems to be a criticism of sufjan stevens and his religious zealotry, and how awkward it feels to be a secular backup singer for an extremely pro-christ musician who's reached superstardom"<br /> <br /> I have to disagree with you, BUT i do understand where your coming from. If Sufjan Stevens and St. Vincent, were to create some sort of play or script with eachother in it. I could see Sufjan Stevens playing Jesus, and St. Vincent or (Annie Clark) playing Satan. Remeber its just for pretend, its a play. But Seeing the relation both have to god, this would be a very entertaining play to see. <br /> <br /> I made this assuption because of her many other songs, and myself being a fan of both her and sufjan's music. I also see Sufjan as using his real name or (True Self) in his band/music, and St Vincent uses her (False Self) a made up egotistical name.

Doesn't it seem a little unfair to base expertise in interpretation of art on knowledge of the life of the artist? It's not to say that personal experience doesn't factor into art or that it's not something that should be considered, but it's hardly the only thing.<br /> <br /> Anyways. The first thing I thought of when I considered "the other absentee" of Christmas was Satan, which... might be a little obvious, considering, you know, the title and all that jazz, but then she's also "scultpting saints" (which... how would people become saints without something to preach against or others to martyr them for it?).<br /> <br /> You could argue that the garden (with the gray pallor) is a reference to Adam and Eve's fallen paradise. And along the lines of color symbolism, the first stanza doesn't mention any (although everything's portrayed as divinely good rather than bad), the next mentions gray (purgatory? And she's "sitting and scultping"-- she's not as inactive as in the first stanza where it's a still life, but she's still definitely not doing much, which is within the concept of purgatory, yes?), and the final stanza has lots and lots of red (Hell, if I needed to tell you. She's finally both involved and active here, too).<br /> <br /> I can't say that I'm sure what I think this means, but... I grew up Catholic and have taken any number of lit courses; it's in my blood to point out religious references, alright? Haha. Anyways... it does seem to be tracing her from being in the background in something divine, to just being present in something neutral (I guess regular people could be said to create saints, too, with their wickenesses and potential to be saved and tendencies to persecution), to finally being front and center in something entirely removed from grace but adored (even though by now she's a bit disparaging of it-- it's not a grand finale but "a mess we've made"). Then they exit the stage. Which would be dying. All in a metaphor for life or showbiz, where as soon as you've "made it" you're disenchanted with the whole thing and just leave?<br /> <br /> I dunno. It seems too obvious... but I definitely don't see how the Sufjan connection is anything but an association-based leap.