| Regina Spektor – Hero Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Wow, lots of different opinions on this one- here's my take. [I have no reason to believe that it is Regina's intention, but it makes sense when I hear the words, so take it for what it's worth.]: I see this song is a critical statement about our Christian society. I think the first couple lines are spoken as if to a child "Open wide here comes original sin." The idea that we are born into sin is a Christian idea that one would expect Regina to object to (the idea that a baby could be guilty of sin, simply by being born). Her lyric makes it sound as if the baby is being spoon-fed this idea of original sin (the sounds she makes, to me, are like the airplane noises you might make when feeding a child from a spoon- 'open wide, here it comes- bbbbrrrrrrr'). The repeated line "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright" also sounds like someone comforting a child. "No one's got it all" means no one can claim to have all the answers or all the authority to pass judgment or offer salvation. From here she moves to a wider criticism of a society that espouses Christian values but has trouble living by them. "We don't want power, We want pleasure" (ie. we willfully trade away our autonomy and submit to authoritative institutions) "The TVs try to rape us and I guess that they succeed." (we are violated, spiritually, by the culture that surrounds us and, since we do little to prevent it, they succeed.) The line "we're going to these meetings but no one's doing any meeting" could be, in my mind, a reference to church services and the disconnection from meaning that many people experience, just going out of habit. "And we try to be faithful but we're cheating..." might not refer to faithfulness in a relationship, but rather to religious faith. And finally, the closing assertion that "I'm the hero of this story/ don't need to be saved" is a statement of empowerment that rejects the notion that we are born sinners and that we need to be "saved." It's her life, she is the hero of her story. I don't think that the song is necessarily anti-religion or anti-Christian, I just think that it is critical of one way religion can operate in society. It is a humanist critique of Christianity, and particularly the ideas of original sin and that submission is required before salvation can be granted. And it is likely all in my head, but I thought I'd share in case someone found it interesting. |
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