Black and Gold - Sam Sparro

Apologies to anyone out there in the ether who has actually been waiting for my next post. As of August 2013 I'm going to have alot more time on my hands and will be able to commit more to updating this blog much more often than once per year !! An update every two weeks will be my target to start with and I also plan to be active on Twitter and other social media.

In the meantime, lets change the pace a little bit from the classic "Reverence" of the last post. I've long been amazed by the sheer breadth of musical genres that have been influenced by mysticism but before we launch into our first thrash metal example - lets take a look at what I would classify as regular pop music.

Sam Sparro was raised in a musical and gospel loving family. Its therefore not too surprising that his biggest career hit has a strong message. First of all - I LOVE this song - Black and Gold - just for its rhythm, melodies and groove. The fact that there is a great message of revelation and theophany in the beauty of the natural world is a great bonus. Others have argued that its a lyrical defence of non-Darwinian theories on the origin of species. I don't see that particularly, but it does strike me as a critique on scientific materialism. More importantly for me its a love song to the universal spirit and also a love song of devotion to a fellow human lover.

If the fish swam out of the ocean
And grew legs and they started walking
And the apes climbed down from the trees
And grew tall and they started talking

And the stars fell out of the sky
And my tears rolled into the ocean
And now I'm looking for a reason why
You even set my world into motion

'Cause if you're not really here
Then the stars don't even matter
Now I'm filled to the top with fear
That it's all just a bunch of matter

'Cause if you're not really here
Then I don't want to be either
I wanna be next to you
Black and gold, black and gold, black and gold

I look up into the night sky
And see a thousand eyes staring back
And all around these golden beacons
I see nothing but black

I feel a weight of something beyond them
I don't see what I can feel
If vision is the only validation
Then most of my life isn't real

'Cause if you're not really here
Then the stars don't even matter
Now I'm filled to the top with fear
But it's all just a bunch of matter

'Cause if you're not really here
Then I don't want to be either
I wanna be next to you
Black and gold, black and gold, black and gold
I wanna be next to you
Black and gold, black and gold, black and gold

'Cause if you're not really here
Then the stars don't even matter
Now I'm filled to the top with fear
But it's all just a bunch of matter

'Cause if you're not really here
Then I don't want to be either
I wanna be next to you
Black and gold, black and gold, black and gold

******************************************

The first two verses ask the question: if Darwinian evolution is true why do people need God to set the big bang off and get the whole show going? A simplistic God of the Gaps theology does not stand-up to any substantial critical thinking. The spirit is immanent in all:

"God sleeps in the rock

Dreams in the plants

Stirs in the animals

And awakens in Man"

- Old Sufi Proverb

The line "and my tears rolled into the ocean" is a lovely emotional reference to the long established use of water as metaphor for many aspects of mystical experience:

"In the spritual marriage, the union is like what we have when rain falls from the sky into a river or fount; all is water, for the rain that fell from heaven cannot be divided or seperated from the water of the river" - Teresa of Avila

"The best of man is like water, Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them, Which flows in places that others disdain, Where it is in harmony with the Way" Tao Te Ching v8

"Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water, Yet nothing can better overcome the hard and strong" Tao Te Ching v78

Then the chorus (starting: 'Cause if you're not really here) tackles the question of the true reality of materialism. First of all the choice of "here" rather than "there" is really important. "you're" is referring to God and he needs to be "here" in space and time - not somewhere over "there"!!

The word play of "the stars don't even matter" is wonderful. The word "matter" being derived from the same root that gives us words such as: materialsm, metre, measure; but also the same root as Maya, Mary, mother, meaning etc. On top of that there is the other meaning of  "matter" as something being important. If the spirit does not exist then how can a physical reality be percieved?

In the second part of the chorus I'm particularly touched by the line: "'Cause if you're not really here, Then I don't want to be either, I wanna be next to you". To me its a hope that the universe is not just a cold, physical reality and nor is it just pure spirit - it has to be inseperably both. Its time to cleave the Cartesian Split and recognise the unity of the whole universe: spiritual and physical. Layering over that meaning, the fact that Sam is gay gives the line "I wanna be next to you" added resonance. Many gay people have at best been rejected, and in many cases persecuted, by many churches and religions. I'm convinced that God / the Universe doesn't have sexual preferences for the human species!