Music Monday: The Fray - Syndicate

For whatever reason, I've had this song stuck in my head all last night and this morning, so it gets inaugural honors for Music Monday. It comes from the Fray's latest, self-titled album. Have a listen. (since you can't embed the actual video/song, I had to find a live version; the music starts about 34 seconds in)



Lyrics:

Half way around the world lies the one thing that you want
Buried in the ground, hundreds of miles down
The first thing that arises in your mind when you awake
Is bending you 'til you break, let me hold you now

Baby close your eyes, don't open 'til the morning light
Baby don't forget, we haven't lost it all yet

Don't know what you're made of 'til the one thing that you want
Is coming with the dawn and suddenly changes
The Monday syndicate meets everyone the same
All we've lost to the flame, listen to me now

Baby close your eyes, don't open 'til the morning light
Don't ever forget, we haven't lost it all yet
All we know for sure is all that we are fighting for
Baby, don't forget we haven't lost it all yet

Someday when this is over
We may still have no answer
For now it's when I hold her
We are closer, we are closer

Baby, close your eyes, don't open 'til the morning light
Don't ever forget, we haven't lost it all yet
All we know for sure is all that we are fighting for
Baby, don't forget we haven't lost it all yet

We haven't lost it all yet
We are closer, we are closer.

When this album came out, Meghan was immediately in love with it, and for good reason: it's a great collection of songs. Pretty soon (after she listened to it all the way through for about the 17th time), she decided that she really really really really really wanted to go see them in concert. Being the loving, adoring, giving husband that I am, I made sure that it happened. She ended up going to the concert not long before she left for New York last summer to help with training for her company. Since most of the album is written in regards to losing something or being away from someone or the struggle of life, and this was all around the same time that she was going to be gone for five weeks, I came to associate nearly every one of the songs to her. Of course, I've find that I associate most every song with her one way or another, but these were different. When I hear "Syndicate," it makes me think about us being apart, waiting for her to finally be home. That opening line, "Halfway round the world lies the one thing that you want," gets me every time. My mind immediately goes back to that summer.

In my research on what the actual meaning of the song may be (I didn't get to digging too deep), I found several theories, mostly by fans. Some associated the lyrics with faith, one with the Holocaust, some with long-distance relationships, and quite a few with the war in Iraq. These folks point particularly to the lyrics, "Halfway round the world lies the one thing that you want, buried in the ground, hundreds of miles down." What's halfway around the world and buried hundreds of miles beneath the sand? Oil. I thought this theory was tremendously interesting and spot on if the lyrics were taken at face value. As far as the faith aspect goes, that's a different approach. I grew up going to Christian schools and listening to Christian music on the radio. Much of my life is touched by this worldview. I've found that, in the Christian community, if there's anything in a song that can be tied to being about faith? It will be. I'm not saying that many of the songs that are used in this way aren't meant for that specific purpose, I know that some of them are. What I am saying is that not everything is intended that way.

That's the thing about music, though: you can interpret it however you want to. Everything is going to mean something different to everybody. When I hear "Syndicate," it makes me think of my wife and the time that we've had to spend apart in the past. It makes me remember longing for her and how I couldn't wait to hold her in my arms again: "For now, it's when I hold her. We are closer, we are closer." But to someone else, it reminds them of their faith, or a long lost friend, or something completely different. It's all a matter of inspiration and timing. Where were you when you first heard it? What were you going through? These are the things that shape our perspective. To each their own.