Saturday Song Stories - "Main Street"

Wow...I can't believe that we are almost through the song stories. This is week 11 and there are only three more after this.

Main Street was written in one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring parts of our great country...Tim Horton's. I find that I concentrate best in busy coffee shops and for some reason much of my best reading and writing is done there.

It's hard to say if there was a specific situation that inspired Main Street. I don't remember one, but it was written as I began to think through some of the ways that us humans exist. I was probably watching my fellow coffee addicts interact with each other. Anyway, Main Street is a metaphor for the way that we all live according to the patterns of this world without really thinking about them. For instance, the first verse talks about how we dare not show weakness ("in our dresses and suits we try to hide the bruised truth") and how we work to build wealth without asking why we need so much ("fanning the flame of ritual gain"). The bridge sums it up well..."The tragedy of all this is that we're convinced that this is all there is. This is where everybody lives, and after all what option does life give?"

When we renew our minds and do not conform to the patterns of this world, it is almost as though we are singing a song, barely heard among the clamoring bustle, as verse two mentions. But when others see an alternate way of existence to the way of the masses, they sing along as well.

I know that that sort of talk rings a bit hollow these days, partly because everyone talks about making a change and doing things differently. The only way that I can see these ideals having meat on their bones is if one imitates Jesus. Anything else is just walking up the same street on a different sidewalk.