Man, this sounds like it could be directly off a Juliana Theory album...great song, but they sound SO similar here.

Psalm 47:1..."O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph."

I dunno, just a guess.

Even though these lyrics are wrong, when I listen to this song I think of how much hate mail Stephen Christian gets from his Christian fans. (People listen but never really get what's going on now) (Act of public depression) and just wants people to step back, enjoy the music and get the bigger picture, that he is a man who makes mistakes but tries.

The OTHER thing I can come up with is the continuing theme of stephen feeling heartbroken for the orphans and widows (see: modestywritersguild.blogspot.com) and this song is directed at the people who think he's a prick, but he really cares about the children who have no voice (there's a clamor in your whispering). This CD is REALLY hard lyrically but anyone else have ideas?



PS: THIS SONG IS REALLY GOOD LOL is not worth putting on here

correction:

"its not the lies that you sing,
but what the silence screams"
(3x)

makes alot more sense and its the correct lyrics anyways.

I personally love that Anberlin, which is a Christian band, isn't shoving religion into their lyrics. It's refreshing, 'cause as much as I love Christian music, it gets to be a lot after awhile. I love how you can connect Anberlin lyrics to Christ and Christianity if you take the time and think about it, but it's not straight up and apparent.

I think this song definately relates to Psalm 47:1 and it also means that actions speak louder than words when it comes to showing Christ to the world.

i think all those other comments are dumb!!! the song obviously means clap your hands all ye children. duh!!!! hello what dont you people get about that?

The comments about this song being sung directly towards Anberlin's christian fans is correct, that is why it is awesome that Anberlin chose this song for christian radio. It is the most obvious when he says, "It's not the lives that you save, but what the silence will scream" meaning that God does not matter how many people you "save" if the silence of sins are screaming within your head. That is the "hell" he is talking about in the song. He is asking everyone to step back and listen to his lyrics, lyrics of retribution rather than preaching. Anberlin's lyrics are absolutely amazing when dissected in proper context.

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Here what the song means and also what inspired Stephen to even write it:

Stephen says he is determined to make Anberlin devotees think.
But the fact that they don't always connect to the deeper meaning in his songs can be frustrating.

That notion gave birth to the lyric,
"I'm so tired of writing songs, where people listen but never really hear what's going on,"
on the winning anthem "A Whisper and A Clamor."

"That line isn't an insult," he says.
"It's more of a challenge to fans to study the words.
I think a lot of times, it's kind of draining on me that people only have one kind of interpretation.
I put a lot of thought into what I do.

With our last album, I'd get emails from fans about the song "Symphony of Blasé" and people would say,
'I just broke up with my girlfriend and that song helped me through it.'

And I'd be like,
'It wasn't a break up song at all.
It was about alcoholism.'
I mean, these songs aren't about the basic pop,
'Ooh girl. I love you.'
They're much deeper than that."

*& it's all an excerpt from:
http://www.toothandnail.com/artist_bio.php?id=19

It's about helping those in need. People sometimes just "whisper" about helping and just say that the cause is important to them but don't do anything about it. But as he says there's a clamour in your whisper. Christian feels that it's time to turn that whisper into a clamour and act on these feelings.

the first impression i got from this song was that he's saying he's tired of people coming to their shows & clapping their hands, but not really understanding what the band is saying with their music. but first impressions are often wrong.

the line "for most of men believe hell..." is "for most who live and breathe..." i have the cd.

I personally think this song is about abortion. He's saying "clap your hands all ye children" and then since the children are still in the womb "theres a clamor in your whispering" theres a motion to go against abortion. Thats just what i got from it.

Anberlin is a Christian band and thats so awesome, but i like how its subtle touches of like their faith and not in your face. this song is beautiful, and yea, we should look deeper into the lyrics and the way the music inhances them. when writing lyrics i think they really poor themselves into them, and people don't appriciate the deeper meaning. i'd be mad if i put so much into writing a song and then the listeners got the completely wrong idea from it because they didn't actually think what they were dealing with, where they were in their life, and how the writer was feeling at the time.

i don't know if that makes much sense. i'm sorry if it doesn't.

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I think it's about joy amongst the brothers & sisters of Christ ("clap your hands all ye children"). It seems a rebuttal to all the Christians who listen to his lyrics and think they don't talk about God, so they're not Christians ("Grow tired of writing songs, where people listen but never really hear what's going on") and telling them that its coming from his heart, so it's all good ("tell me what's so wrong now") and they should rejoice as fellow Christians.

Seems to also be a rebuttal to those who say they should be using their opportunities as a band to preach. They're saying being a Christian is not about how many people you convert ("It's not the lives that you save..."), but how you live your life, and what your actions will say in your defence on judgement day ("...but what the silence will scream").

This might be a stretch, but it seems to be also saying that Stephen's writing is a way for him to explore who he is, and it's theraputic for him ("For most of men believe hell is never knowing who they are now") - this idea is backed up from the way he described his writing process on the Cities DVD.

But I still don't understand the title.

It always seemed to me that when he sings the chorus, I sort of look at it as a representation of the hypocrisy in most churches today.

For instance, the line that goes:

"It's not the lies that you sing,
but what the silence screams."

It's like.. if you ever went to church, you sing these songs to God, but.. most people may never mean them? You don't understand the words your saying, the things you're pledging - it's just empty crap to you. You're doing it out of habit. I could go up to someone say, "I believe Jesus loves me." They'd probably believe me, too. Yet you yourself don't.

The "Silence" is what you do when no ones around. Sure, you may be a great person in front of the other church-goers. But, what do you do in your spare time? What's your own personal "Silence"?

I don't know.
Just a thought.

In the beginning when it says "Growing tired of bedside resolve (Politics lay out the pressure)"

The part that says "Politics lay out the pressure" Is supposed to be "Public Display of Depression"

But beside that...The song is amazing =]

the brake downs are AMAZING in this song!!
Love Love Love it!!!!

I think this song is about ending the silence and actually doing something about whats going on around us. I also think its about seeking out who we truly are, and not becoming what others say we are.

"Growing tired of bedside resolve"

This part makes it seem that somebody is getting tired of praying to solve their problems. (People often kneel and pray by their bedsides)

"(Public display of depression)"

They're frustrated with whats going on and they're becoming depressed.

"Something's got to give now
Something's going to break down"

The person might compromise who they are because of their depression.

"I grow tired of writing songs
While people listen but never hear
What's really going on now"

To me it seems that Christian is saying that if the people really heard what he was saying in his songs they wouldn't be giving in to depression and they would want to be working to change the world around them.

"Tell me what's so wrong now"

He wants to know whats so wrong and what made them depressed when there's so much hope to be had.

"Clap your hands, all ye children
There's a clamor in your whispering
Clap your hands tonight
Hear what the silence screams"

My interpretation of this part is that he wants all the children (fellow Christians) to rejoice in the hope that they have and to give that hope to others. To clap your hands shows the rejoicing, it also could represent action, because clapping makes noise in the middle of silence (silence meaning doing nothing). Whispering seems to mean praying. The clamor is your prayers breaking through the silence because they bring about change in the world. "Hear what the silence screams" means understand that the consequences of doing nothing are too great.

"For most who live and breathe
Hell is never knowing who they are now
Tell me who you are now"

Christian seems to be suggesting that to truly know yourself you have to know your Creator. According to the Bible not knowing yourself would then mean hell, because you chose to reject God. "Tell me who you are now" seems to be a challenge for people to seek and find out who they truly are in God.

"Finally saved from the outside
Trapped in what you know
Are you safe from yourself?
Can you escape all by yourself?"

Here he seems to point out that there's people who know that truth comes from God and the ways of the world are lies, yet they feel trapped because they know better but keep following the lies. Christian points out that to be safe from ourselves we need to abandon ourselves (our pride, our egos, our selfishness) and put faith in Christ so we can die to ourselves and follow Him.

"It's not the lies that you sing
But what the silence will scream"

I think the "lies that you sing" represents the ignorance people have about who they are and what's going on in the world around them. "But what the silence will scream" means once again that because of the ignorance and the inaction the consequences will be great.

Great song.