[Verse 1:]
Honest where I start from
I try and impart my wisdom
A combination of truth and fear
That’s the way it’s always been
My father and his before him
At times we hurt the …
[Verse 1]
Oh, pity me
I’m so alone and so blue
My friends have all gone away
Their friendliness too
[Pre-Chorus]
It was I on my own
With no need to belong
And I wanted to die
That’s when …
[Verse 1]
Got some money, got some cash
I’m rich and now I’m sad
And I wonder if I’m sad about the money that I have
Got some boats on my plane
At the hotel …
[Intro]
Yeah
Polishin’ a goddamn sword, you know what I’m sayin’?
Polishin’ a sword (Uh, uh, uh, uh)
Concrete Family, Concrete Industries, Concrete Boys up, always, never down
(And this beat from Cash, not from …
When the only sound in the empty street
Is the heavy tread of the heavy feet
That belong to a lonesome cop
I open shop
When the moon so long has been gazing down
On …
Ya,1 you never said a word2
You didn’t send me no letter3
Don’t think I could forgive you4
See, our world is slowly dying5
I’m not wasting no more time6
Don’t think I could believe you7
Ya, you never said a word
You didn’t send me no letter
Don’t think I could forgive you
See, our world is slowly dying
I’m not wasting no more time
Don’t think I could believe you
Ya, our hands will get more wrinkled
And our hair, it will be grey8
Don’t think I could forgive you
And see the children are starving9
And their houses were destroyed10
Don’t think they could forgive you11
Hey, when seas will cover lands
And when men will be no more
Don’t think you can forgive you12
Yeah, when there’ll just be silence
And when life will be over
Don’t think you will forgive you13
Ya, you never said a word
You didn’t send me no letter
Don’t think I could forgive you
See, our world is slowly dying
I’m not wasting no more time
Don’t think I could believe you
Ya, you never said a word
You didn’t send me no letter
Don’t think I could forgive you
See, our world is slowly dying
I’m not wasting no more time
Don’t think I could believe you
Ya, our hands will get more wrinkled
And our hair, it will be grey
Don’t think I could forgive you
And see the children are starving
And their houses were destroyed
Don’t think they could forgive you
Ey, when seas will cover lands
And when men will be no more
Don’t think you can forgive you
Yeah, when there’ll just be silence
And when life will be over
Don’t think you will forgive you14
“Ya” is an abbreviation for the Hebrew word for God (“Yahweh”), translated as “the LORD” in most English version of the Hebrew scriptures.
This means God is silent, absent.
“You didn’t send me no letter” just reinforces the point that God is absent.
Whereas many people believe they need God’s forgiveness for their human shortcomings, Lilly Wood and Robin Schulz are turning the tables by suggesting it might be God who is in need of ours forgiveness.
This song is a work in “theodicy,” meaning that it questions God for all of the evil in the world. It is like the classic book of Job found in the Old Testament.
That is, not wasting any time trying to find God.
Although people believe God exists in the midst of suffering, the artists believe the suffering is proof enough of God’s non-existence.
Wrinkled hands and grey hair are signs of old age, signs of physical deterioration of an individual, which the artists sing in comparison to a world that id falling deeper into despair.
Hunger statistics are at their worst in human history, and despite the massive amounts of money invested in hunger-alleviation programs, the epidemic still spreads.
“Their houses were destroyed” is a reference to war. The artists are highlighting all of the bad things happening in the world.
Lilly Wood and Robin Schulz claim they are not alone in believing God shouldn’t exist.
This post-apocalyptic imagery refers to global warming and climate change (“the seas will cover lands”). The artists claim that if God is real, he won’t be able to forgive himself for dragging humanity through such tragedy.
Conveying a very pessimistic worldview, the artists reinforce the idea that God is at fault for the messes in our world, if he indeed exists
Again, this song’s main purpose is to question God in light of the evil in the world.
3 user explanations and meanings
MikeAT
Good interpretation. Some people get confused about the video, where there is a lot of people with a skull painted in their faces, or in flags, stickers, and so on. But, the image of the humans absence of this world, and the beginning of the reign of silence, got more sense if you realize that Cycle “C” is related with the Apocalypse.
priest
This is a beautifully written song because it forces you to question who is unforgiven – those who are godless jump all over not forgiving god – but because once a human places blame they wipe their hands of it but if you listen she sings of problems in man and questions nothing of God but rather points out problems with this world of men religious groups and corporations and what God has been made out to be but truly god is silent and it is fair to point out he may not forgive him self for being silent but he forgave man already it’s our silence to what’s wrong in this world that is unforgiven so we wear masks and rebel and refuse to blame our self
Luke
This song I liked, but the song itself has all its concepts wrong. What Lillywood is saying that all the evil in this world is not humans fault is very untrue. War, murder, etc is our fault. Some may argue that Natural Dosasters our not our fault, which is true, but this is nature. But why would God allow all this to happen? This is the very question that is being asked in this song.