Commentary
This song is the last track on Annie Lennox's latest album "Bare". Annie Lennox/Eurythmics (as well as Dave Stewart and his solo stuff) has perhaps been my biggest muse in terms of artistic integrity and expression. Annie's deeply personal "Bare" where she explores some of her darker emotions after a divorce from a 12 year marriage even though she herself is a very private person and doesn't relish the public eye/trappings of fame like a lot of "celebrities" was one of the things that inspired me to create this page and explore my own internal psyche a bit more.
I've reached a point in my life where i can no longer even pretend that i believe in God. This has been slowly coming for a long time and finally around this past Easter i realised that the ever decreasing faith i had was finally no more. I've tried. I've wanted so badly to believe that there's a benevalent higher power but whenever i've needed him most or prayed my hardest, i not only came up short time and time again but often was kicked down much more by life...like i was being punished for even putting my trust in God.
I'm sure there are those that will say that because i'm gay, i should naturally be "anti-God". I may presently be an aetheist, but i would never equate gay with anti-Christian as there are many gay men and lesbians with strong faith and are doing wonderful acts of humanity often surpassing those who wish to carry the label of Christian while bashing other members of the human race in the name of religion. I've attended (sometimes regularly, sometimes infrequently) a few churches where the membership was predominently gays.
But on a strictly personal level, i myself just can not believe anymore. For me to pretend otherwise would be giving in to religious abuse and just as i've vowed not to be a victim to man, i will certainly not be a victim of deity. I'm not a satanist either - i would never put my faith in an evil entity. But i've seen no evidence of a benevelent God either. As much as i wish i could. This song really spoke to me as it's all about a desperate attempt to communicate and be heard by a higher power when one knows deep down they're not being heard. The lyrics don't do this song justice - one really needs to hear the pleading longing despertion in Annie's voice as she sings. The end of the song contains a pause of silence as if the narrator is waiting for some kind of response and then eventually is answered by a buzz of static...like all this time the whole effort has been futile...no one's there, no one cares. Simply brilliant. Thank you Annie.
Other songs that explore that same theme (which may also eventually be published here) include XTC's "Dear God" (perhaps the most eloquent song to come out of the '80's.) and Depeche Mode's "Blashpemous Rumors". Often when i sing Eurythmics' "Missionary Man" at karaoke, i'll throw in lines from "Dear God" during the instrumental.
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