Vial of hope and a vial of pain
In the light they both looked the same
Poured them out on into the world
On every boy and every girl singing

It's the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival
If the Neon Bible is right

Take the poison of your age
Don't lick your fingers when you turn the page
What I know is what you know is right
In the city you see only light

It's the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival
If the Neon Bible is right

Oh god, well, look at you now!
Oh, you lost it, but you don't know how!
In the light of a golden calf
Oh god, I had to laugh!
Take the poison of your age
Don't lick your fingers when you turn the page
It was wrong but you said it was right
In the future I will read at night

In the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival
If the Neon Bible is true



Lyrics submitted by afimrtl

Track duration: 05:44


Neon Bible song meanings
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62 Comments

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  • 0
    Memory:I remember the Name of the Rose movie where a book was called demoniac because everybody that touched it died. Later, they discovered it's pages was impregnited with poison... All of this happened in a church:

    ''Don't lick your fingers when you turn the page''
    Flag alepdcjon April 21, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:This is my interpretation.

    Neon Bible are catholic priests. Neon (annoying light - you can see it everywhere)
    Bible says: Is a big road and a small road. When you are born - you are on the big road. You do not have to find it. But if you want to find the small one - that´s hard.
    So - we are know that priests are theaching us things, that aren´t in Bible. For example: Hell, Forever living soul, Three God in one God... etc
    "What I know is what you know is right. It was wrong but you said it was right." - Right.
    Priests are teaching us about things "that´s right" but they are wrong.

    Another example:
    "Oh god, well, look at you now!
    Oh, you lost it, but you don't know how!
    In the light of a golden calf
    Oh god, I had to laugh!"
    - Win is definitely not talk to God. He is talking to people, who are doing idols. Golden calfs.
    And what are doing priests? The are praying to golden calfs, what is by Bible wrong!

    So, "Not much chance for survival, if the Neon Bible (priests) is right/true."

    That´s my interpretation.
    Flag kliperson February 01, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:Apologies if this has been posted.

    Neon Bible refers to the outlandish evangelical pastors that preach on TV. Hence, Neon bible (TV=neon, pastors and their religion, bible). It's not an anti-religion song, it's a song about those few folks who give Christianity a bad name with their TV BS and multi-million dollar jets. If the Neon bible is right, we're all in trouble.
    Flag wn52627on November 05, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Frontman Win Butler told The A.V. Club why he chose the title 'Neon Bible' for the album: "I just jotted it down in my notebook and kept coming back to it. The song was very much off-the-cuff, written in one night and recorded the next day. Lyrically, there's a lot of stuff dealing with religion and culture, which I'm really interested in. It's an image that I kept coming back to that really felt like it was the title of the record. And everyone else in the band agreed."
    Flag FloridaGuyon October 18, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:It's not about whether or not a belief is right or wrong. It's about whether or not the reason someone believes it is right or wrong. It is entirely about the drowning out of spirituality by means of being sucked into commercialism and consumerism. Most people are victims to it because we allows ourselves to be victims to it. Commercialism and consumerism have taken the meaning out of everything, and replaced everything with contrived idols, such as iPods, cell phones, televisions, etc. We "pray" regularly and religiously to the television set and internet screen. We find "communion" in celebrity gossip.

    This is song/album is a message to snap out of it and do, say, and believe what you feel for the sole reason that you feel like doing so. Not because the television, internet, or society tells you to do so.
    Flag DevinDude94on September 06, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think they are referring to a book called The Neon Bible en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
    Flag sweetlover1101on August 17, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"This is certianly a criticism of commercialism, capitalism, and greed."

    Oh god! I hope not, that is SOOOOO cliche.
    Flag scolopacidon March 09, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Here's my interpretation.

    I think this is an anti religion song first of all. I say this because of the line "Not much chance for survival If the Neon Bible is right"

    If the bible IS true, then it's right, there is not much chance of survival.

    The line "In the light of a golden calf, Oh god, I had to laugh!" For those of you who don't know, the golden calf was an idol given to the Israelites by Aaron, and the point that Win is saying "Oh god I had to laugh." shows that he finds it funny that some people would worship something as a golden animal.

    The lines
    "Take the poison of your age
    Don't lick your fingers when you turn the page
    It was wrong but you said it was right
    In the future I will read at night"

    I think it's safe to assume that religion is what Win calls, 'The Poison of your Age."
    Then the line that says "It was wrong but you said it was right. In the future I will read at night." Is my favorite line of the whole song because it says that someone is telling him something that he knows is wrong so to get away from the nagging he will "Read at night."







    Flag ActionWaterson February 28, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The musicality of the song is great but I disagree with the lyricist. Yes evangelicals condemn others by fundamentalism which is totally wrong (homosexuality) but I also think the bible gives people hope to get through the day. And I find nothing wrong in that whatsoever. I'd rather believe than not believe. I mean your alive and you can't go back. I've learnt that just because an artist has a microphone and a name it doesn't mean he or she is always right or can tell me what to believe in. Still the musicality is good, I have the song.
    Flag GrungyBeatleon December 16, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i love the way light and night are used. the word "light" early in the song and then "night" at the end seems to reference the obvious logical flaws religion contains, and the level of faith needed to accept religion.

    -Vial of hope and a vial of pain
    -In the light they both looked the same

    at this point in the song there's no distinction between "hope" and "pain" because they bear some kind of similarities.
    by the end of the song, light allows one to see these aforementioned logical flaws behind religion (ie making a distinction between hope and pain). The lines:
    -What I know is what you know is right
    -In the city you see only light
    become:
    -It was wrong but you said it was right
    -In the future I will read at night

    which suggests that these logical flaws have been revealed to this person. Win (the lead singer) sarcastically says that he'll "read it at night" meaning he'll ignore the "wrong" of the bible like so many do.

    this obviously doubles as a reference to the "neon" theme which is used for signs to make them legible at night. great song
    Flag observingkniveson October 20, 2010   Link

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