This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
If somebody up there likes me somebody up there cares
Deliver me from evil save me from these wicked snares
Not into temptation not to cliffs of fall
On to revelation and lesson for us all
She walked into the room on the arm of my best friend
I knew whatever happened our friendship would end
Chemical reaction desire at first sight
Mystical attraction turned out all my lights
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
I don't know if it's pain or pleasure that I seek
My flesh was all too willing, my spirit guide was weak
I was deadly certain his thoughts for me weren't kind
A switchblade in his pocket, murder on his mind
Blessed St. Theresa the whore of Babylon
Madonna and my mother all rolled into one
You've got to understand me, I'm not a piece of wood
Francis of Assisi could never be this good
The less I need the more I get
Make me chaste but not just yet
It's a promise or a lie I'll repent before I die
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
Relax, have a cigar, make yourself at home.
Hell is full of high court judges, failed saints.
We've got Cardinals, Archbishops, barristers, certified accountants, music critics,
They're all here.
You're not alone, you're never alone. Not here you're not.
Okay, break's over.
The less I need the more I get
Make me chaste but not just yet
It's a promise or a lie I'll repent before I die
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
Deliver me from evil save me from these wicked snares
Not into temptation not to cliffs of fall
On to revelation and lesson for us all
She walked into the room on the arm of my best friend
I knew whatever happened our friendship would end
Chemical reaction desire at first sight
Mystical attraction turned out all my lights
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
I don't know if it's pain or pleasure that I seek
My flesh was all too willing, my spirit guide was weak
I was deadly certain his thoughts for me weren't kind
A switchblade in his pocket, murder on his mind
Blessed St. Theresa the whore of Babylon
Madonna and my mother all rolled into one
You've got to understand me, I'm not a piece of wood
Francis of Assisi could never be this good
The less I need the more I get
Make me chaste but not just yet
It's a promise or a lie I'll repent before I die
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
Relax, have a cigar, make yourself at home.
Hell is full of high court judges, failed saints.
We've got Cardinals, Archbishops, barristers, certified accountants, music critics,
They're all here.
You're not alone, you're never alone. Not here you're not.
Okay, break's over.
The less I need the more I get
Make me chaste but not just yet
It's a promise or a lie I'll repent before I die
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
The minute I saw her face, the second I caught her eye
The minute I touched the flame I knew it would never die
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
This song is irreverent and makes me smile whenever I hear it.
The CD from which this song comes contains other songs in weird time signatures - 7/4 in particular. Have a listen to "Seven Days" or "Love is Stronger than Justice" - you'll hear what I mean.
Another funny song by the Stingster. I love how he describes hell:
"Relax, have a cigar, make yourself at home. Hell is full of high court judges, failed saints. We've got Cardinals, Archbishops, barristers, certified accountants, music critics, they're all here. You're not alone, you're never alone. Not here you're not. Okay, break's over!"
All in all a song of desire, and weekness in front of it. So what else in new?
[Question]: You draw on a lot of religious imagery for Saint Augustine in Hell.
[Sting]: I mean one of the benefits of a Roman Catholic education - there are a lot of downs to it - is, is a, um, is a rich reservoir of imagery and, um, symbolism. Y'know, something about guilt and hell, fire, and bright colors of blood and torture and all this. And saints and archetypal characters. So I, I don't regret it in that sense. I think its very good to be brought up a Catholic. Actually, it's very good to be brought up in, in any religion that's deeply steeped in history, you know? I think most religions are. So, I'd rather be brought up in a religious way, than not be brought up in a religious way. Um, so I'm, I'm grateful. It gives you something to kick against, or something to argue against, or whatever. But, you know, and the same's true of the Jewish faith and the Protestant faith. I'm not sure you should agree with everything they tell you. Saint Augustine, though, was an interesting character. He, uh, he's - my favorite comment of his was, "God made me pure, but not yet." And I think that's kind of the way I feel.
[Question]: Tell us about the character in Saint Augustine in Hell.
[Sting]: Well, he, you know the character in the song is sort of tempted by his best, best friend's girlfriend, who's something else. And, uh, he ends up in Hell somehow. His best friend kills him. That's it! His best friend kills him with a switchblade and he ends up in Hell. And, um, the Devil says to him, "Well, you're not alone. There all here. There's judges, there's, uh, lawyers, accountants, music critics." (laughs) Ah, there's a little bit of revenge there, y'know?
Excellent song, rich with metaphor and artistry. Sting melds culture, history, religion, and his wry wit in this song about forbidden love and personal weakness.
Totally awesome song, although i dont know much about St Augustine as i'd like to. You can so ralate to this song, Catchy as hell too. Makes me think of how i wanted to go out with my best friend's GF. I ended up doing so, the song made me feel better.
I’ll come up with the fanciful idea that this is a story about St. Augustine who meets two angels—his guardian angel and his angel’s guardian angel who arrive by surprise to shake Auggie’s world. Now her angel is the one with the switchblade and murder on his mind because he’s arrived with St. Theresa, the whore of Babylon, Madonna and A’s mother rolled into one, and best friends notwithstanding, angels don’t do this often and he’s enormously protective of her. And they stuck around to do a Not Ready For Prime Time Players’ version of Dickens “A Christmas Carol” letting Augustine play Scrooge while the two angels and their pals played all of the other parts at breakneck speed—okay, break’s over!—and then took off, like bats out of Hell. Fanciful yes, but I was reading between the lines and it came in quite clearly… lol
Nineteen ninety-three saw Ten Summoner’s Tales—a pun on Sting’s real surname, Sumner, and also a reference to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. That fifteenth-century tome includes stories told by, among other figures, a summoner, i.e., a court figure charged with calling others to appear before royalty or for some other important, formal function. The included musical tale “St. Augustine in Hell” found its protagonist caught in his own “eternal fire” of uncontrollable sexual attraction to a woman dating his best friend. In his pique, he proposes a corresponding rightfully earned torturous eternity for cardinals, archbishops, accountants who misuse the investment funds entrusted to them ... and music critics. Augustine’s own prayer to God in the face of temptation, as quoted in the song, was exactly “Lord, make me chaste, but not just yet.”
[From Rock & Holy Rollers: The Spiritual Beliefs of Chart-Topping Rock Stars in Their Lives and Lyrics by Geoffrey D. Falk.]
Until I checked this board, I never caught the line "Francis of Assisi could never be this good." It's very interesting to me since the recently elected pope of the Catholic Church took the name "Francis" in honor of Francis of Assisi.
A little trivia: The interlude at around 2:30 is actually taken from an earlier Sting song titled "I Miss You Kate". You should be able to find it on the CD single for All This Time.
The title caught my eye because St. Augustine was one of the founders of the Just War Theory, and thus IMO he belongs in hell. I guess it's not about that though.