Lyrics for Gideon as interpreted by TheBM

Gideon Lyrics
Gideon, what have you told us at all?
Make a sound, come down off the wall.
Religion- should appeal to the hearts of the young
Who are you? What have you become?

You animal. Come on
What does this remind you of?

Truly, truly we have become
Hated and feared for something that we don't want
Listen, listen. Most of us believe that this is wrong

You animal. Come on
What does this remind you of?
What does this remind you of?
Animal. Come on.
What does this remind you of?
Animal. Come on.

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tommyg
12-26-2005

Rated 0 
I'm not completely clear what the Gideon reference is about, but I do think this is partly about the Iraq War and the Christian Right in America.

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lld3
01-01-2006

Rated 0 
Gideon (?????????, Standard Hebrew Gid?on, Tiberian Hebrew Gi??ôn) is a character who appears in the Bible's Book of Judges. His story is treated in the chapters 6-8. He is named in the Epistle to the Hebrews as an example of a man of faith.

GIDEON Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon

what do I think it all means... I think it's a stab at the churchthat religion dosen't appeal to people anymore that it becomes somthing you have to do instead of somthing you want to do. that sin is so blatent in society "what have you become?"
the refrain confuses me "you animal come on what dose this remind you of?"

"Truly, truly we have become
Hated and feared for something that we don't want
Listen, listen. Most of us believe that this is wrong"

this can be seen for many different things the church dose or on the other hand seen as the many awful things society claims is right, but we all know is wrong...I need some help understanding this song so help!

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jroth7
02-23-2006

Rated 0 
I think the religious implication you’ve discussed is spot on. What I have to add below is an account of Gideon’s insurrection against an occupying force and how this positive religious story needs to be remembered by Christians today.

When I was a kid in Sunday school, the teacher would tell bible stories. They were pretty exciting, believe it or not. This one in particular. I'll get to that later.

SS teachers (somewhat fitting) would illustrate their stories using felt bible figures on a felt board. They'd stick to the board and could be moved around. --"Make a sound, come down off the wall"--

The story of Gideon is pretty sweet, especially to kids (Religion should appeal to the hearts of the young). It's about oppression, faith and just being balls out. In the story, Gideon questions God, destroys the neighborhoods altar to Baal pissing everyone off and leads an insurrection against an occupying force. -- "What does this remind you of" --

So Gideon gathers up volunteers. To demonstrate that the victory to come could only be attributed to God, God instructs Gideon to put the men through a series of tests. This reduced the force size from 32,000 to 300. With 300 men he went up against an army of 135,000. He equiped every man with a trumpet, a torch and a clay pitcher. they stuck the torches in the clay pitcher so they could sneak up on the enemy (this was around 3am). Gideon gave a signal and they all broke their clay pitchers (revealing the light), blew their trumpets and shouted "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."

This is when all the sunday school kids shout "The sword of the lord...."

The Midianites look up, see a bunch of torches and hear trumpets blazing and people shouting, get scared and run away.

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GibbardtheGreat
04-22-2006

Rated 0 
Listening to this song, I know the lyrics are religion references, but what's hidden is who Gideon is. He could be, as you say, Gideon from the Torah. I say Gideon is God.

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slinkstersars
04-23-2006

Rated 0 
i want to meet gideon

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espound
05-11-2006

Rated 0 
Gideon is President Bush. The references to Gideon of the Old Testament (See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06402c.htm) make a nice contrast when considering Bush's role in the Iraq war.

"What does this remind you of?" is a bit more difficult. Could be that MMJ is making the same reference (though it's a very veiled reference) that the Colorado school teacher made in comparing Bush to a notorious dictator (Hitler).

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bharQ
06-14-2006

Rated 0 
"Do you all have different books in the Bible than I do? Are you all Gideons? Who are the fucking Gideons? Ever met one, no! Ever seen one, no! But they're all over the fucking world, putting Bibles in hotel rooms! Every one of them: 'This Bible was placed here by a Gideon.' When? I've been here all day and I ain't seen shit! I saw the housekeeper come and go, I saw the minibar guy come and go, I've never laid eyes on a fucking Gideon! What are they, ninjas? Where are they? Where are they from? Gidea? Who the fuck are these people?!

"I'm gonna capture a Gideon. Yeah, I'm gonna make that my hobby. I'll call up the front desk one day and say, 'Uh, I don't seem to have a Bible in my room.'"

-Bill Hicks

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damagingd
08-04-2006

Rated 0 
Interesting Topic and Song! The story of Gideon is found in Judges 6, someone already talked about it. I think it has a deeper meaning that should be put into context. First of all Gideon was raised in a Pagan home, he honours his father, but destroys the idol. Because Gideons faith needs bolstering he devises a few tests for God. His faith is flawed, yet God complies. Gideons army defeats the enemy through psychological warfare, driving them into panic to slay each other... Gideon can be reminiscent of all of our hearts - no matter how flawed it may be, God honours our faith. Pressing us to ask questions : "what does this remind you of?" Not necessarily to George Bush, but to all of America. It is possible to honour our family members while we make different choices, either spiritual or otherwise. Another meaning is that God's will is always near and clear to you.

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Big-Empty
09-30-2006

Rated 0 
This song is absolutely MEZMORIZING.

I think it's about religion.

When we were young, we thought of religion as something very simple: God is good, and he created us all.

Now that we're older, we understand some flaws in the Biblical stories and become more liable to doubt them.

Basically, religion is spreading farther and farther apart as time goes by. Why? Not because of science.

But because of the Church's ways of giving us that religion.

No gay marriage.
No pre-marital sex.

The concept of hell, I believe, was made up. Yes, made up. It was made to MAKE us want to do good. It's a way of scaring us into living by the guidelines.

Think about it this way: If you do something really bad, two things are going on in your head. One, it's a human emotion to feel bad for the person or persons you affected, balanced by two, the fear of sinning. When many people sin, they realize what they did is a strike against them. But, however, you go on with your everyday lives. This may be procrastination.

Take, for example, myself. When I sin, I think: "Ehhh...I'll go to Reconciliation later and cleanse my soul". I haven't gone to Reconciliation in YEARS.


Now, just to say it, I am not anti-religious. I have my beliefs, and I keep them.

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Bigs
12-24-2006

Rated 0 
"Truly, truly we have become
Hated and feared for something that we don't want
Listen, listen. Most of us believe that this is wrong"

I think this part is addressing the rest of the world regarding their views of America. A lot non-Americans think everyone here is stupid and believe we support the war and the president. MMJ addresses these people by saying "we believe this is wrong" and "don't fear/hate us for something we don't want".

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mudstaind
01-30-2007

Rated 0 
The bulk of this song has got to be referencing the Iraq war and Dubya.. "animal.. come on..what does this.. remind you of.." Bush is the animal, and this war has been frequently compared to Vietnam. "most of us believe that this is wrong.." The majority of Americans, and better yet, the majority of all countries around the globe, feel this war was totally unnecessary and wrong. "listen.. listen.." Bush & Co. are absolutely stubborn and in denial when it comes to criticism regarding their choices. "religion should appeal to the hearts of the young.." This war was religiously charged, particularly by the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and many other key figures in the religious right.. Their incessant ramblings of a nearing Armageddon, and suggesting this war is a precursor, most certainly will discourage young people from embracing religion.

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mudstaind
02-13-2007

Rated 0 
I think the Bush/Gideon comparison is there because Gideon was supposedly ordered by God to go to war.


"I believe God wants me to be president" -- GWB

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lackofclr
08-02-2007

Rated 0 
religion should appeal to the hearts of the young

for me, that just says it all

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Ethan_M
09-24-2007

Rated +1 
Gideon, what have you told us at all?

-- The Israelites pleaded with Gideon to be their King, but he responded "only God is your ruler".

Make a sound, come down off the wall.

-- He's speaking about religion being cold and stale, that it's just a picture on the wall. I think of it as a crucifix, he's asking it to "come down off the wall", to stop being lifeless, irrelevant and unimportant.

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zappastache
12-04-2007

Rated 0 
Well, this is definitely one of my favorite My Morning Jacket songs... it's very beautiful when they play it live as well as on the record... or off the record. ha. Anyway, I've thought a lot about what this song means to me, and that is that the song conveys the feelings of those who follow Christ and truly strive to be more like him, and how "Christian" as a title has been given a bad reputation by those who give themselves the title and go against what the Bible states. What I think of when I hear this song is an old Baptist church that my grandparents go to where they sing hymns with no passion or desire to worship, and I think that's kind of what My Morning Jacket is referencing to, well something along those lines. Like what Ethan M said, religion today desperately needs to "make a sound, come down off the wall."

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zappastache
12-04-2007

Rated 0 
oh, and when Jim James says, "Animal, come on. What does this remind you of?" I think he's referring to those "Christians" that are luke warm and choose not to earnestly and passionately live for God, and how they are like the ones in Gideon's time. Jroth7 mentioned that too.

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Tom T
06-27-2008

Rated 0 
jim james is a lot like bob dylan in that his song can be left to numerous meanings. from interviews I have read jim james seems to have a spiritual streak, reflected in his lyrics. So basically gideon encompasses basic faith, modern events in the news etc.

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j0v0
08-21-2008

Rated 0 
I don't get "what does this remind you of?" as being a comparison to Vietnam or lukewarm Christians (which is an interesting subject of Evil Urges, but that's another forum).

I think it's about how some people consider Muslims, Iraqis, or whoever as being a group of religious zealots who despise Christians, while not considering that they're doing the same thing.

I also think that it's expressing a worry that religion is being more and more perverted into something that separates us, insulates us, and exaggerates our differences. And it's not the churches that are doing this, as far as I've seen.

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johnnyrottin
10-28-2008

Rated 0 
I think it's saying did we not learn anything from the story of Gideon (there's more than one way to win a war or deal with problems...a la Iraq). Then the part about religion is just what was said above...what the hell happened to it. It's now more about politics than goodness and love and all that crap. The other verse is like Bigs said above...almost a plea to the rest of the world...that we too believe this is wrong so don't hate/fear us. Great song!

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BCKnight
11-04-2008

Rated 0 
This is such an incredible, if enigmatic song! The first verse seems to be an indictment of religion in general. What did this Sunday school lesson really teach us, when you look around and see how fucked up everything is any way. Even if it's based on a Judeochristian story, still, religion seems to do a lot more harm than good in our world. All over the world, horrible, bloody wars have been/are being fought in the name of some religion. So it seems like Jim's questioning this. Plus, his repetition of "Animal" makes it seem like he's saying that, despite our creation of all these religions, we're still just animals.

More specifically, that second verse seems to refer to the war in Iraq, or a general criticism of the Bush doctrine in general:

"Truly, truly we have become
Hated and feared for something that we don't want
Listen, listen. Most of us believe that this is wrong"

But that one line "What does this remind you of?" is just genius. So ambiguous, but you can use it to support just about any interpretation of this song you have. Reminds me of "I'd love to turn you on" from "A Day In The Life" by The Beatles. It's a sly little line.

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