Take a girl who in essence can't understand symbolism even those few times she can identify its presence, introduce her to a band loaded with symbolism, and you get one girl who absolutely loathes the band. Right?
Nope. And that still perplexes me every time I stop to think about it. That and their refusal to abide by standard grammar rules for capitalization.
Anyway, from the first time I heard them, I loved Jars Of Clay. They're still one of my favorite Christian bands, their music (especially on this self-titled debut album) of unusually good quality for being contemporary Christian. The pop has a more mature tone like such artists as Nichole Nordeman, but Jars Of Clay often goes heavier on the rock. (This is most obvious on songs from The Eleventh Hour like "Scarlet" and "Whatever She Wants.")
The music isn't inherently beautiful, but it's attractive and involved. Violin, guitar, and other things I can't identify (one might be a tamborine) interweave for the song in such a way that they're often difficult to separate or distinguish.
"Look at the crowd bleeding with laughter over the way you entertain at beck and call," Jars Of Clay says of many people's lives. "They just like to see you fall—and you don't really mind." Why act, why put on a façade for a crowd? "One day those strings will choke you."
Of course, I've already admitted that I can't really understand symbolism, so I know I'm missing some points to the lyrics. The idea is that you're a marionette getting puppeted around a stage for the crowd's benefit. They don't care about you, and you as a puppet don't care about your position. At least, that's what I've gotten out of it after some years and probably a few hundred times of hearing the song.
Add (tenor?) vocals from songwriter Dan Haseltine that articulate the song well, and you have a song that's ultimately one of the better ones Christian pop has to offer.
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10
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