Learn From It

So I finished up this evening of cleaning, laundry and reorganization—and reading more blogs than I care to admit—by listening to an album entitled Price of Progression (Geffen Records), by The Toll, the best live band that ever was, and some damned fine friends of mine from way back. The lyrics are posted here without permission (I hope they won't mind).

This song is apropos of a blog I was introduced to, written by a guy who "used to be" gay, who is now restored to his "relationship with Jesus". Mutual Exclusivity and Either-Or Fallacies are tools of the Devil. Or Republicans. (remember when there used to be a difference? Me neither.)

My take is that there's enough prejudice in the world without also being tedious about it (although there is a delicious lack of irony in his statement, "San Francisco is God's City!").

Anyhoo, here's the mp3 of it, too. It's over 11 minutes long, because there is a section in the middle (what they used to call a 'rap') where he goes off on a narrative tangent, something that in live performances differed (sometimes wildly) from night to night.

Living in the Valley of Pain

And the river moves my mind...and the river moves my mind today....

Rain meets the River,
River meets the Valley,
Valley meets the Rain...

Living in the Valley of Pain

Child of wax, Votive Soul sing the hymns they left unsung
Resurrect the quintessential truth sealed in catacombs
I confess I left the Church, armed with pen and blatant sin
Consumate and consecrate, the purist prayer that the contaminate

River and the Rain
Rain that plays the River's game
River and the Rain
Living in the Valley of Pain
Should I do or should I die?
Living in the Valley of Pain
Don't you know what I mean when I say
Everybody living in pain.

Priests and poets juxtaposed till the Judgment Day
Blood-stained monks making marble out of junk
Takin' their tithe and walkin' away

Cloaked in cassocks, black and gray, Innoculating fear
All the guilt and years abstained,
Ejacuate Immaculate Rage!

River and the Rain
Rain that plays the River's game
River and the Rain
Living in the Valley of Pain
Should I do or should I die?
Living in the Valley of Pain
Don't you know what I mean when I say
Everybody's goin' insane

Rain meets the River
River meets the Valley
Valley meets the Rain
Everybody's going insane.

Living in the Valley of Pain
Should I do or should I die?
Living in the Valley of Pain
Don't you know what I mean when i say
Everybody's going insane.