Low – Murderer

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Send "Murderer" Ringtone to Cell

One more thing before I go
One more thing I'll ask you Lord
You may need a murderer
Someone to do your dirty work

Don't act so innocent
I've seen you pound your fist into the earth
And I've read your book
It seems that you could use another fool
Well I'm cruel
And I look right through

You must have more important things to do
So if you need a murderer
Someone to do your dirty work

Send "Murderer" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by Kapila

Track duration: 07:00


Murderer song meanings
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13 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:If you've never met a Christian that has some ambivalence towards God, then you should get out more. Like Sufjan Stevens in Seven Swans or Abraham there's no doubt about the distaste being hinted and/or expressed for some of the things God's supposedly done. Destroying whole civilizations? Telling a man to sacrifice his son?

    Great artists are just like you and me, with the exception that they don't let their own beliefs get in the way of artistic expression. And that's what this Christian is doing, not letting his belief in God get in the way of his artistic need to take God to task.
    Flag shannon_r_whiteon March 09, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I would say it's religious all the way through.
    "Don't act so innocent
    I've seen you pound your fist into the earth
    And I've read your book
    It seems that you could use another fool
    Well I'm cruel
    And I look right through

    You must have more important things to do
    So if you need a murderer
    Someone to do your dirty work"

    God does pretty awful things in the old testament, "Don't act so innocent." "I've read your book," the Bible. "You have more important things to do," self explanatory. This looks almost like someone is so bad God even would want to kill them, and the singer is wishing he could, and wants to justify it.
    Flag aydiv4on February 09, 2010   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:wow. that's interesting and messed up at the same time, cheers internethandle...

    but still. I like the way people went the crusades references and then a little G. Bush thrown in.
    I guess it's all relative right? Whatever the means to justify violence, filtered through whatever religion.
    Flag muckguppyon July 20, 2009   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:For those suggesting that this song only has religious "undertones," that's incorrect. Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, the two primary members of Low, are married and practicing Mormons. The song doesn't relate specifically to Mormon/LDS theology, however, but more a general Judeo-Christian one. If you watch the documentary that's titled after this song about Low, they both are asked about this song and give some thoughts. Alan Sparhawk basically said that the song is a meditation on a sort of Abarhamic (or, if you're Catholic, you might argue Marian, as well) submission to God's will, but from the perspective of more deeply flawed individual than Abraham. In other words, Abraham submitted totally to the will of God when asked to kill his son - the narrator of this song is expressing a similar desire to do God's "dirty work," if only God asks him to. I suppose it's more of an Old Testament way of viewing God, one might say - the vengeful, wrathful image that tends to lie more in that half of the Christian Bible than the New Testament, and a recognition that part of God's infinite/perfect plan may be to kill. The narrator doesn't question why this would be so, he just entertains the idea that God may desire as such, and bends to God's will, not his own.
    Flag internethandleon December 03, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i heard the band has avoided calling this a "political" album
    Flag atomsplitteron July 15, 2007   Link
  • -2
    General Comment:I'm fairly certain, given the band's politics that it is spoken from the point of view of George Bush.
    Flag Sl1pStreamon July 03, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:How are they "undertones" if he's blatantly calling out to the Lord?
    Flag waxeateron July 02, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It definitely has religious undertones
    Flag atamataon April 23, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I see it more as a depressed cynic who is condemning God whilst at the same time hating himself. The narrator is asking to be God's murderer because 1) God is a violent and cruel deity (this resulting from loss no doubt) and 2) The narrator is no better, hating himself and therefore willing to go along with murder and cruelty in God's name. All of this is done with a very sneering, accusing tone. The narrator, probably once religious, has since turned from the divine while also turning on himself. I see this as a reaction to the cruelty of events and coldness of humans. Existence is bleak.
    Flag couldBanyoneon April 19, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Changes made. I wrote these from a live bootleg, so it was a bit sloppy, but I've now heard the album version, and it's definetly off.

    My interpretation is that he's a fanatical Christian, willing to kill for his god. It makes me think of the Crusades, the Holy Wars, and all that. Or it might be a terrorist who belives that suicide is the path to enlightenment. This is just my theory.
    Flag Kapilaon March 21, 2007   Link

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