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Roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine
Together we can see what we will find
Don’t leave me alone at this time,
For I'm afraid of what I will discover inside
Cause you told me that I would find a hole,
Within the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal,
And all the while my character it steals
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see
It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive with the restart
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I've seen
Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I will give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul
But you, you’ve gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine
Together we can see what we will find
Don’t leave me alone at this time,
For I'm afraid of what I will discover inside
Cause you told me that I would find a hole,
Within the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal,
And all the while my character it steals
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see
It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive with the restart
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I've seen
Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I will give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul
But you, you’ve gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine
Lyrics submitted by rozelemarijn, edited by goodbit
Track duration: 04:21
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The opening line (and title) is perhaps the most profound lyric. "Roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine." I interpret this as alluding to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The writer has basically been crucified and is dead, not living life the way he was intended to. As Christ was resurrected, the writer wants to be made alive again, but only will make that step if his God does (I believe the song is written to the Christian God). The Bible repeatedly reminds us that man is dependent on God, and nothing can be done for Him without Him. "We love Him because He first loved us (1 John)"… so the writer will fashion his resurrection after Jesus'. The writer proceeds to confess his dependence "Together we… Don't leave me…."
The writer knows, however, that he has been straying from God. Living in the fullness of God requires separation from "idols" in the world. Sacrifice and separation is necessary. This is why he is afraid to be internally searched. He is afraid to give up the things that have filled the void (verse 2) and leave the darkness. He is afraid to burn his bridges (ties with the worldly pleasures). Another strong lyric in verse 2 is "things unreal"… inferring that God and fulfillment of/from God is REAL. His love is real. His way is real. The resurrection is real.
Obviously verse 3 refers to the Prodigal Son. This is an interesting lyric because I think it's very experiential. When coming back to righteousness and purity, we might think that the journey there shapes and changes us. I think it does, but the real change is in the arms of the Father. Again, this REAL love. The welcoming restart… new mercies from God always ready for us.
The prechorus/bridge thingy….. For the writer to question the term Darkness is very ignorant, in my opinion. Very prideful (yet I can relate). We can see that he is at this place where he has become insensitive to the darkness. He's accustomed to this lifestyle ("dominated" by it) and is now not even considering that a harsh term. ("God is light, in Him there is no darkness")
I find the end of the song to be a brutally tragic yet honest resolution. "Hide your fires" like others have said might be taken from Macbeth. I see it as the writer telling God to stay away. "Hide your fires", meaning the burning passion for Kingdom love, and the fire of sanctification. "These here are my desires"… he has come to grips with what he wants, and it's not God, but he will give them up this time. Stubborn in his own actions, the stake is stuck and he has become dull. No passion, no sacrifice, no life.
The last lyrics of the song confuse me a bit since I have read other's interpretations. But I am assuming the writer is still talking to God. Although I greatly admire his honesty, I am taken aback that he would claim his own soul. Not sure what the "you've gone too far this time" refers to. Perhaps the narration has switched from Mumford to God… as if God is talking to the writer.
Very serious song here.
Roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine.
Together we will see what we find.
Please don't leave me alone at this time.
Because I'm afraid of what I will discover inside.
(The struggling parts of his soul will together lead to the discovery of who he is. He's afraid of what he will discover there)
Cause you told me that I would find a hole,
Within the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal,
And all the while my character it steals.
(In an attempt to fill a void in his life, he has temporarily distracted it with fantasies and dreams. But doing so has prevented him from becoming what he is truly capable of).
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see.
(The struggle is obvious)
It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive with the restart.
(Everyone says that 'no regrets' is the way to reach happiness. But in actuality, once this internal struggle is over and he is finally free, that alone is when his heart can change)
Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I will give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul.
(He is finally ready to give up himself and discover what lies within, marking the territory with the person he finds).
But you, you’ve gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine.
(The reason why he wants to embark on this journey in the first place. The fears haunting him can no longer be justified, and are trapping his soul. The discovery must begin now).
It's not the long walk that will change this heart
But the welcome I receive with the restart
This clearly is about receiving salvation and then being forgiven of all sins.
He has been in the darkness of sin and is now turning his life over to God.
Then after the awesome foot stomping comes something like a hallelujah chorus where he gives all of his sins to God and claims his newly impassioned soul that will not allow satan to take control of his life again. This is represented by these lyrics:
Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I will give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul
Now I believe he turns to the devil himself and tells satan:
But you, you’ve gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine
So he was a lost soul who was an unforgiven sinner and was seeing nothing but darkness. Then he asked God into his life and he reclaimed his lost soul through Jesus Christ. And finally he told satan his soul no longer belonged to the devil.
- Let's look inside ourselves,
Together we can see what we will find
- But let's do it together
Don’t leave me alone at this time,
- What time? When I look inside
For I'm afraid of what I will discover inside
- I'm afraid of what I will discover
Cause you told me that I would find a hole,
- You told me but was it there?
Within the fragile substance of my soul
- A hole in the heart
And I have filled this void with things unreal,
- And now I'm admitting it was there because I am putting things into it.
And all the while my character it steals
- And this is what it's doing to me.
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
- Are my desires really that bad?
And yet it dominates the things I see
- Yet all I see is darkness... maybe they are.
It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
- I've made a commitment I'm not going back on
But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
- To receive this Grace I had to burn some bridges
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
- Its nothing I do on my own strength
But the welcome I receive with the restart
- the welcome at the restart is what changed the heart... Grace
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see
---------------------------------------------------------------- Notice the change of tense
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I've seen
- The darkness is now past tense.
Stars hide your fires,
- MacBeth didn't want light to shine on his dark soul
These here are my desires
- His dark desires
And I will give them up to you this time around
- Unlike Macbeth, I will give them up (read the booklet)
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
- And so now I'm in new ground. remember I was on a journey, that started with Grace, I burned any chance of going back, and where have I arrived to?
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul
- An impassioned soul. What triumph.
But you, you’ve gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine
Now this last Stanza confuses us unless you take in the context of listening to all of M&S's songs. The emotion in the way the lyrics are sung are always related to the meaning in the lyrics. This is part of what makes them an amazing band. Thus the tone that this is sung in is more of a joyful irony. It is not angst, or sadness, or anger. It is a gentle kid with a close friend, and indeed is saying, that you haven't gone to far in taking my soul.
So...
Giant hole in our hearts, that we can't fill but grace does, and when our desires are given up the result is an impassioned soul. The victory in this song is unmistakeable to a messed up pastor's kid like me who is finally starting to be captivated by the beauty of the Grace of Christ.
Personally I am christian, so i relate to this is the way of having the holy spirit in my life. However, i stress that this song is not about christianity, rather, its about spirituality, and soul searching. "Roll away your stone il roll away mine," to me feels like marcus (singer) is challenging us to look inside ourselves, and throughout the song or whatever, you will see what you can find.
"And I have filled this void with things unreal,
And all the while my character it steals"
Throughout Macbeth, his soul withers away with each grievous choice he makes and he slips further into an abyss, stealing his character. He was once a mighty general and had the King's favor, but greed and ambition (things unreal) derail him.
"Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see"
Macbeth is constantly haunted by dark images, ghosts, witches. His mind becomes fixated on fulfilling the prophecies foretold by the witches.
"It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive with the restart"
Macbeth has no friends remaining through the fault of his actions. His only escape (restart) is through death. This is where I think most people can find the Christian interpretation because of the reference of grace. When we consider God's grace we don't obtain it through a long walk back to God, it's freely given when we choose to restart. Macbeth's death is releasing his soul from torment and giving it back to God.
"Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I won't give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul"
This is taken straight from Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4. At this point in the song is before Macbeth's death (or possibly his spirit speaking). Macbeth is murdered by MacDuff and instead of a proper burial he is decapitated and his head mounted on a stake.
When you read the actual play by Shakespeare you will see a theme of light vs. dark, good vs. evil, right vs. wrong and the very difficult choices Macbeth, a flawed human, struggles with on his journey. He is a ruthless character, but what draws me into the story of Macbeth is the possibility that any one of us could be Macbeth if the right temptations triggered our ambition.
That's what this song is about to me.
And when it gets to the end, it sounds like the speaker has fallen again, so I'm going to say it's the journey to self-discovery, recovery, and then falling again. And the cycle starts over.
[from] "Roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine..." [to] "For I'm afraid of what I will discover inside"
At the beginning of the journey they're uncovering the cave to their hearts, but the speaker is telling his friend to stay close by because he afraid of what he'll find deep inside himself.
[from] "Cause you told me that I would find a hole..." [to] "And all the while my character it steals"
He's scared because his friend told him that he'd find hole deep inside. His friend has been there so he knows. Maybe the speaker doesn't want to fall in, i.e. fall into a deeper mess than he is already in. But he's been filling that hole with unrealistic worldly things that has been robbing him of his character. He doesn't even know who he is anymore.
"Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see"
They're in a cave so all he sees is darkness.
[from] "It seems that all my bridges have been burned..." [to] "But the welcome I receive with the restart”
He is now realizing just how far down he's fallen, and his friend is telling him that it’s a long way back, probably giving up himself. The speaker knows he has a long way to go to get back to where he was. He doesn't mind though, he's willing because he made the mistakes in the first place. But he is excited to get back to his old life and start over.
"Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I see
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I've seen"
He has finally emerged from the cave...notice how he goes from "darkness dominates the things I see" to "things I've seen". He is no longer in the darkness. He has resurfaced.
"Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I won't give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul"
This is my favorite part of the song because it sounds so victorious, like something someone would truly chant after getting over a trial and gaining a new love for life. Since he can see the stars again because he has emerged from the cave, he's singing to the skies. He's found what he wanted in life and he won't let anyone take that from him, not again.
"But you, you’ve gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine"
And this is where he has fallen back down. Without the support of his friend, he has fallen back into that hole in his soul.
...And that is why it is important to help your friend roll away their stones, because if they are left alone, they'll just end up dragging you down with them or being that person that needs help but doesn't know how to get it. Anyone can go from being the speaker to the friend back to the speaker in this song, I think...
especially this song
the first two stanza's he's talking about the falleness and darkness of the human heart. This girl is asking him to look deep inside of himself and he knows what he'll find won't be good (sin). Then he goes on to say she told him theres a hole in soul that he's tried to fill with things that don't exactly fit and are ruining his character. This is a very common christian metaphor about the need for God.
The chorus says darkness is harsh term don't you think. Also a christian concept the world and our hearts are filled with darkness and he's admitting to that (and yet it dominates the things I see)
next verse he says this girl is telling him about grace and that although he's done it all he'll be welcomed home with loving arms (the prodigal son: a metaphor of the way God welcomes us back with love from our sinful ways)
But then in that bridge part or whatever he quotes shakespeare "stars hide your fires" and he's basically saying I don't want to give up the sinful things my heart desires for God. Then he's basically saying who is God to tell me about my soul (which is silly because if he's God he's the one that gave him his soul, but whatevs. its music I guess