The Thermals – A Pillar of Salt

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We were born to sin
We were born to sin
We don't think we're special sir
We know everybody is
We've built too many walls
Yeah, we've built too many walls
And now we gotta run
A giant fist is out to crush us

We run in the dark
We run in the dark
We don't carry dead weight long
We send them along to heaven
I carry my baby
I carry my baby
Her eyes can barely see
Her mouth can barely breathe

I can see she's afraid
She could see the danger
We don't want to die or apologize
For our dirty God, our dirty bodies

Now, I stick to the ground
I stick to the ground
I won't look twice for the dead walls
I don't want a white pillar of salt
I carry my baby
I carry my baby
Her eyes can barely see
Her mouth can barely breathe

I can see she's afraid
That's why we're escaping
So we won't have to die, we won't have to deny
Our dirty God, our dirty bodies

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Lyrics submitted by fsharpflatmajor

Track duration: 02:57

"A Pillar of Salt" as written by Hutch Harris, Kathleen Foster

Lyrics © Royalty Network

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A Pillar of Salt song meanings
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26 Comments

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  • 0
    My Opinion:Well, holy shit. I guess I'm the only queer on this page. I don't know about you guys, but when I hear a song about a couple fleeing the city of Sodom due to persecution for sin and dirty bodies, I tend to think of sodomy, and the sort of couples the acts known as sodomy were associated with. I think of my girlfriend, and how she has to defend against straight opinions regarding her sexuality. I think of how I grew up surrounded by an atmosphere of fear regarding my deepest loves and basic identity. I think of the American states which have only recently overturned laws regarding sodomy, or have yet to do so, due to their oppressive Christian beliefs. I particularly think of the conservative assholes who hate queer and trans* people so much that the country envisioned in this album seems not all that far off for me and mine.
    Flag Scrawleron January 24, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:reminds me of Horns by Joe Hill. No apologies for what we are, no regret. it only paralyzes us and turns us as incapable of feeling as Lot's wife (the pillar).
    Flag tippitaon September 02, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I find it interesting that the chorus of
    The Front Bottoms - Legit Tattoo Gun
    also mentions "dirty god" and "dirty body"
    "But I am not a dirty god
    And I don't have a dirty body"


    coincidence?
    Flag jojojo20on April 25, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:In my interpretation, it is an outcry to stop the persecution of originality. Strong lyrics portraying running from the "giant fist out to crush" them, is symbolic of society's tendency to crush anything that is different, or that is not mainstream. The references to the Bible are from the story of Lot, who was forced to flee from the city of Gamorrah to save his family. Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back towards the city, hence the title. The overall theme of the song, is that anything original is forced to keep running from society's judging hand.
    Flag Ddud3on January 16, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:"our dirty god" or "our dirty bodies"?
    Yes, definitely escaping gomorrah, but in self defense, no?
    Flag Rickmu05on December 01, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:No one else interpreted it as reflections on getting an abortion? I mean yeah the biblical references obviously play into it, but I think it's a lot less about rehashing Lot and more about a commentary on how that attitude ("God will punish you if you go against his will" ie "God will give you a baby if you have premarital sex") can just make things harder for a situation that's already stressful enough. I have no idea if that's what the Thermals wrote it about or not, but I think it's a pretty interesting way to hear the song. It makes the words a lot more poetic, too - whenever he references "baby" and "she" he could be talking about his actual unborn baby or his lover. Some would obviously be about the baby, like sending dead weight to heaven. But other lines, like "her eyes can barely see, her mouth can barely breathe" could be about the lover's sobbing or about the fetus' innocent and passive state - either way saying "she never chose this."
    Flag oceanfuckeron January 22, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Someone may have already said this, but this song is literally the escape from Sodom and Gamorha put into song. Like I said in my comment on "Returning to the Fold", these guys don't have anything against religion in general, or Christianity, just when it's abused and used to keep people from thinking freely. In the "Returning to the Fold" comments page, someone posted a direct quote from the lead singer talking about his views on Christianity: Basically, he was raised a Christian and was very active in church when he was a teen. Now, he wants to believe in God, at least in some form, but he feels like all his life he was never "really convinced". So it's not an anti-religious song, because he himself is an agnostic with Christian roots.

    For those of you who don't know the story of Sodom and Gamorha, there was basically this city where everyone was sinning. Many people use this story to justify their hatred towards gays and "Sodomy" but that was only a very small part of their "sinning". They were incredibly cruel to beggars and a major portion of the story revolves around their hatred and mistreatment towards outsiders. Because of this, God destroyed the city, but sparred a man named Lot and his family. Two angels in the form of humans guided them out of the city and told them not to look back at the destruction, but Lot's wife disobeyed and was turned into a pillar of salt, hence the song's name.

    On the band's website the song is the story of a couple who are trying to flee from a fascist government of "Faux-christians". "Faux" means "Fake" or "False", which is evidence that they don't hate Christians per se, just people who use and abuse it for their own agendas

    Sorry for the long comment, but this pretty much sums it up: The song, as well as the whole album, is about a couple fleeing from an unjust government that uses Christianity to oppress the people. This song in particular is ironic in that they're comparing their fleeing from their country to a biblical story where a couple also tries to escape an unjust non-Christian government, so they're trying to say that Christianity isn't the problem, but anytime a government uses an idea to oppress its people.

    Flag Ashlyynon October 07, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:"Don't wanna wipe a pillar of salt" = "Don't want my wife a pillar of salt"

    Of course, this song is about the story of Lot. I think it's also a criticism of the hypocrisy of humans persecuting sinners (We were born to sin/We don't think we're special, sir/We know everybody is).
    Flag broke_rock_star77on April 12, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:youtube.com/…
    Flag miyginon April 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:youtube.com/…
    Flag miyginon April 26, 2008   Link

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