Beautiful Letdown, part one?

Meant to Live

I don't know whether I'll write several posts over this album or not, but it sure deserves it. I've just begun to really listen to the Switchfoot Beautiful Letdown album, and it really speaks to me. Every other song lifts me, hauntingly, beyond my mundane thoughts. Let me start with the first one - "Meant to Live."

Fumbling his confidence and wondering
Why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he's bent for more
Than arguments and failed attempts to fly

We were made to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside.

Yowza! These California surfers have their finger on the pulse of what's going on in the world and its effects on the human heart. How about this, from "This is Your Life"?

This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, is it everything that you dreamed that it would be when the world was younger,
And you had everything to lose?

Whoa! I find myself trying to answer those questions. They answers would generally be, "I don't know," but that's the point; they're getting me thinking about stuff.

For another example of having their finger on the pulse of counterculture, here's a sample from "Dare You to Move":

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be.

These guys have thought about it and lived to tell about it, and I'm so glad to know there's someone else who feels like really living is resistance. Even though this album is two years old, it seems new to me and it really renews me. Thanks, dudes.

I must say a word about their musicianship; I think the main guy responsible is Jon Foreman, but there are four guys who are, like I said, surfer dudes (Switchfoot being a surfing term, I think). Anyway, Jon has a great voice and the music has a great kick to it; it's so good you'd almost ignore what they're saying, but ah, if you don't, you find that there's inspiration in the words as well as the music.

I must also say I have an automatic softspot for this band for two reasons: one, my husband has always really liked them (I'm just slow to get it) and two, they remind me of my California friends, who are really cool and love Jesus in a fresh way.

"Meant to Live," W&M by Jonathan Foreman and Tim Foreman; "This is Your Life" and "Dare You to Move" W&M by Jonathan Foreman. Beautiful Letdown, 2003, Sony/Columbia.