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Belief Lyrics
Is there anyone who
Ever remembers Changing their mind from The paint on a sign Is there anyone who Really recalls Ever breaking rank at all For something someone yelled real loud one time Oh everyone believes In how they think it oughta be Oh everyone believes And they’re not going easy Belief is a beautiful armor But makes for the heaviest sword Like punching underwater You never can hit who you trying for Some need the exhibition Some have to know their trying It’s the chemical weapon for the war That’s raging on inside Oh everyone believes From emptiness to everything Oh everyone believes No one’s going quietly We’re never gonna win the world We’re never gonna stop the war We’re never gonna beat this is If belief is what we’re fighting for We’re never gonna win the world We’re never gonna stop the war We’re never gonna beat this is If belief is what we’re fighting for Is there anyone who Can remember Ever surrendering With their life on the line What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand? Belief can Belief can What puts a folded flag inside his mother’s hands? Belief can Belief can
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08-30-2006
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08-30-2006
Is there anyone who
Ever remembers
Changing their mind from
the paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who
Really recalls
Ever breaking record off,
for something someone yelled real loud one time?
Oh everyone believes
In how they think it oughta be
Oh everyone believes
And they’re not going easy...
Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching underwater
You never can hit who you're trying for
Some need the exhibition
Some have to know they're trying
It’s the chemical weapon
for the war that’s raging on inside
Oh everyone believes
From emptiness to everything
Oh everyone believes
And no one’s going quietly...
We’re never gonna win the war,
We’re never gonna stop the war
We’re never gonna beat this,
if belief is what we’re fighting for
We’re never gonna win the war
We’re never gonna stop the war
We’re never gonna beat this,
if belief is what we’re fighting for
Is there anyone
Who can remember,
Ever surrendered
With their life on the line?
We’re never gonna win the war,
We’re never gonna stop the war
We’re never gonna beat this,
if belief is what we’re fighting for
We’re never gonna win the war
We’re never gonna stop the war
We’re never gonna beat this,
if belief is what we’re fighting for
What dumps one-hundred thousand children in the sand?
Belief can...Belief can
What puts a folded flag inside his mother’s hand?
Belief can...Belief can
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09-12-2006
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09-13-2006
03-09-2009
believe is a beautiful armor and makes for the heaviest sword kinda implies that when you have a belief no one can rightfully tell you that you are wrong about it... or it makes it harder for people to tell you that youre wrong about it.. when you believe a certain way and get that security from it you at times may be proud of this armor that u see as so beautiful.
like punching under water u never can hit who youre trying for kinda means when you go to try to tell someone theyre wrong about that they think you will in most cases disagree with another person's beliefs... the reason for the most part is that many different beliefs or ideas overlap with many others.
this song implies that ones faith (blind or not blind) is not what is harmful; it is when the person tries to force someone else to believe the same thing. and how any argument rooting from this is pointless... explained in the line:
were never gona beat this if belief is what were fighting for
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09-13-2006
hence - "What puts a folded flag inside his mother’s hand? - BELIEF CAN"
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09-14-2006
I don't really get the "Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching underwater" lyric and the one about changing your mind from the paint on a sign... so if anyone has any ideas that'd be nice...
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09-15-2006
Ever remembers
Changing their mind from
The paint on a sign
Is there anyone who
Really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one time
and he's just saying "does going out to rallies and protests yelling and screaming and waving signs with slogans or whatever actually change people's minds about things?"
the "belief is a beautiful armor
but makes for the heaviest sword" is john mayer saying that it's good to defend your beliefs (armor is for defense) but you can't attack others with your beliefs (swords for attacks) i.e. saying all muslims or christians or jews or gays or blacks or whites or whatever other group out there should die because your belief or holy book or diety says you should
08-19-2009
if you claim not to believe in anything, you will most likely share the view of those who consider belief systems to be at the root of all the problems in the world, including terrorism, poverty and genocide.
i would just like to highlight a few things that I've noticed by looking at the actual words and language.
first of all, did you notice all the question marks (lines starting with "is there anyone who...")? this indicates his own uncertainty about the power of beliefs and the effect they have on people. he is questioning, not suggesting.
secondly, the metaphors he uses, like "the paint on a sign" and "belief is a beautiful armor" makes the concept of beliefs universal, i.e. he's not referring to any one group of believers, either political activists or muslims.
there are two aspects of the meaning that i think people here have got wrong. when he says "(belief) makes for the heaviest sword" he cleverly refers to Paul's description of the christian weaponry in Ephesians. according to Paul however, belief (or faith) serves as a shield to protect us, not a sword to defend ourselves with.
he goes on to liken it to "punching under water" which does not imply that belief is a dangerous weapon but rather that it is completely ineffective as a weapon when used to, eg. justify wars.
lastly, when he says "is there anyone who really recalls ever breaking rank at all..." i think this could also mean: when was the last time we believed so strongly in something that we were willing to take risks to effect change? for example struggle heroes during apartheid who risked their lives because they believed in democracy.
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09-15-2006
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09-17-2006
for the war that’s raging on inside."
John is saying that beliefs cannot be what a political group, a nation, or even you or me takes to the plate with us. If we do that, then the consequences are bloody and tragic. What happens if we believe that no one will attack us on our own soil, and are indifferent? Children will turn into sand. What happens if we continue to take our beliefs to other nations? Thousands of sodiers die. There is no good way to make peace with beliefs. John is trying to communicate that beliefs have not worked for us...we need something else...
A great song by a thoughtful, masterful lyricist.
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09-17-2006
I'm not s a huge ben harper fan but i love his solo on this song too.
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09-18-2006
It's not attacking religion or anyone in particular's beliefs. It's saying that our beliefs are a good thing for us to lean on, but we can't force them upon others. We can't force others to believe what we do.
Nobody believes the exact same thing, so if we all act upon every impulse of our feelings, the world will continue to be chaotic.
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09-20-2006
he's saying that nothing's going to change if we just go around and say what we believe. we have to take action, but no one is. (hence the lines "Is there anyone who /Can remember/Ever surrendering/With their life on the line"). no one is willing to really sacrifice for what they believe in.
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09-21-2006
i also think he is refferring to the wars we wage to bring democracy or freedom but in reality we are just imposing our ideas of what freedom is.
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09-23-2006
what they said it was above:
We’re never gonna beat this is
If belief is what we’re fighting for
my interpretation:
We're never gonna beat the sickness
if its what were fighting for
tell me what you think and if you agree tell me what you think about it
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09-24-2006
i also think the lyrics are: "we're never gonna win the world, we're never gonna stop the war" --- as long as each person has freedom of thought, an unquestionably wonderful aspect of humanity, there is always the risk that one will believe differently, vehemently and dangerously. if there will always be differences in extremist beliefs, there will always be a war to fight.
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09-24-2006
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09-29-2006
Also he kind of gives away the focus of this song when he says "What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand?
Belief can"
"the children" are our young soldiers and "the sand" is the middle east.
I is clear to me that he is talking about the war on terror.
thug3 points out that "everyone believes in how it oughta be/ everyone believes and they're not going easy." - this is very true if you consider how difficult it has been to defeat our enemies, i.e. the "terrorists" who believe that suicide bombing is a beautiful act of sacrifice for their religion.
I would also add that when Mayer says"Is there anyone who, Can remember, Ever surrendering ,With their life on the line"
He wants to point out that we cannot win a fight against an enemy who think we are trying to change their beliefs system and replace it with what we call freedom. People fight harder when their life is on the line.
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10-04-2006
"This next song I'm about to play for you, it's a really tricky one and I didn't think it was going to be on the record, but I really really really fought. I don't think there was a harder fought song that had been put on a record before. It's a really tricky topic. Y'know, you write a song called 'belief', and you better be careful. It took me a lnog time to choose my words correctly unlike the rest of my life. And I ran into Ben Harper one night, actually the night I decided to finish this song. Very kinda senedipidous, asked him if he'd play on it, and he really kinda drove the song home for me, and um, with him on it, it is now officially now I feel the song is really really kinda gritty. And thanks to Ben Harper, this is a song 'belief'. Enjoy"
I'm not sure if that helps anyone's interpretation, just wanted to put that info out there.
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10-10-2006
by "belief is the heaviest armor"
he's refering to how people will use what they believe in for protection. no matter what it is that you believe, christianity, islam, buddhism, nihilism, it determines your outlook on life and can be your protection during tough times. afterall, at the end of the day when everything has gone bad, you still have what you believe to be true.
the next part "but makes for the heaviest sword", he's talking about how people will do anything to defend what they believe in. a heavy sword is obviously a great weapon, so if you believe in something passionately, you'll defend it just as well, no matter what it takes.
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10-13-2006
When people believe something strongly, they are not going to change their mind because someone tells them to. They won't "give up with their life on the line."
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12-01-2006
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12-03-2006
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01-10-2007
when he says "belief is a beautiful armor", he is saying that belief is good for protection/defense.
"but makes for the heaviest sword"...i would have to disagree with what a few people are saying about this line. a heavy sword is hard to wield, obviously because of its weight. you would have very little control when swinging a heavy sword. at the same time, the heavier a sword is, the more powerful and destructive it is. john is saying that using belief as an attack/offense is like wielding a heavy sword, difficult and destructive. it's "like punching underwater, you never can hit who you're trying for", meaning you have no control swinging the sword and will cause more destruction than you intended. innocent people may get hurt, etc. it's just plain impractical to use such a weapon.
sorry for the longwindedness.
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01-10-2007
when he says "belief is a beautiful armor", he is saying that belief is good for protection/defense.
"but makes for the heaviest sword"...i would have to disagree with what a few people are saying about this line. a heavy sword is hard to wield, obviously because of its weight. you would have very little control when swinging a heavy sword. at the same time, the heavier a sword is, the more powerful and destructive it is. john is saying that using belief as an attack/offense is like wielding a heavy sword, difficult and destructive. it's "like punching underwater, you never can hit who you're trying for", meaning you have no control swinging the sword and will cause more destruction than you intended. innocent people may get hurt, etc. it's just plain impractical to use such a weapon.
sorry for the longwindedness.
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01-25-2007
we're never gonna beat the sickness if it's what we're fighting for
but if these are the actual lyrics:
We’re never gonna beat this is
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