"Saint Augustine"

God is light
Light is good
God is good

There's a bag lady siften through trash in my neighborhood
Asked for a light, ya know I understood

God is light
Light is good
God is good

Where you gonna run when they come for you?

Have you heard about the infant born with a handgun
Shot his twin brother coming out now he's an only son
He's a good boy, wait and see
We'll rehabilitate him one-two-three

God is light
Light is good
God is good

Where you gonna run when they come for you?
They'll hear you playing your guitar

Hey Saint Augustine
There's a flaw you see
You've reasoned quite
Illogically

God is light
Light is good
God is good

Where you gonna run when they come for you?
They'll hear you playing your guitar

God is light
Light is good
God is good

Where you gonna run when they come for you?
Where you gonna run when they come for you?
Where you gonna run when they come for you?

I think what Rob is saying is that Saint Augustine's syllogism about God (God is light, light is good, therefore God is good) can also be twisted. The second part of that equation comes from the New Testament and its acceptance is a completely different debate that brings into question the validity of Christian scripture and the existence of God in the first place. The first part of the equation is the part that seems airtight, I mean who would argue that light is bad? Well Rob does, in my humble opinion. Rob's point is to show that light is responsible for allowing us to see the sad and societally neglected "bag lady sifting through trash in my neighborhood," as well as the dark (yet slightly comic) image of "the infant born with a handgun" that alludes to the pervasive violent nature of society today. If light shows us all these horrible things, then how can it be good? "There's a flaw you see, you've reasoned quite illogically." Furthermore, the question goes farther to ask whether a God who is light, and not only illuminates all the sad and disturbing things that the song references but is also responsible for all these things as on omnipotent entity, can really be good. As a result, it is a critique of Saint Augustine's syllogism and a rehash of the age old question of how a good God can allow evil into the world. The "now you're playing your guitar" and "dooo do doo doo doo" parts are far too deep and philosophically demanding too approach without a PhD and a whole library of theology and philosophy texts, however. By the way, I personally feel that their are answers to Rob's questions and that God is good and loving but that is a whole other discussion altogether.

I used to hate this song. Now I love it. I think it is one of the best written pieces of music I've ever heard. There is a fusion of music and lyrics that imbues the song with intense meaning for me.

Alex Orr, right on with your insights. You've focused on the chorus (who knew it was a syllogism?!?), so I'm only going to glance at that before looking at the rest of the song and how it works to buttress the argument posed.

God is light, light is good, God is good.

These lyrics take the voice of Saint Augustine and they set up a logical, deceptively mathematical equation. A=B, B=C, therefore A=C. The criticism that both Alex Orr and I think Rob is making targets the second phrase of that sequence. The idea that "light is good" assigns a moral value to light, an idea that dates back at least to Plato (the fire casts artificial light inside the cave, but to truly see, one must step into the light of day outside the cave, etc.). I'm not going to argue whether light can actually be "good" or not, but I think this is the idea that Rob is challenging.

However, this is only a piece within the entire movement of the song. As a whole, it takes on the entire ramifications that arise from this flawed use of logic, the sociocultural outlook of this perspective. Whereas Alex Orr makes a good point by discussing the idea that the light allows us to see both the good and evils of the world, I would say that the "omnipotent narrator" actually assigns the idea of a moral "light" as a value to the Saint Augustine voice, one that guides that voice through the following verse:

Have you heard about the infant born with a handgun
Shot his twin brother coming out now he's an only son
He's a good boy, wait and see
We'll rehabilitate him one-two-three

The crux of the narrator's criticism is articulated in the speed with which this verse's speaker, who is the modern descendent of Saint Augustine or perhaps Saint Augustine himself, believes that the rehabilitation can be achieved. The irony that drips through that speaker's "one-two-three" damns him for his own belief that it is that easy to fix a problem that is at the core of another person's existence.

Still, this verse is layered with criticism from the narrator. It plays off the idea of Original Sin with the more contemporary conception of learned or experiential evil, and the first two lines also echo the biblical story of Cain and Abel ("They say that Cain caught Abel rolling loaded dice, the ace of spades behind his ear and him not thinking twice.") However, Cain is not a "good boy," he never gets "rehabilitated".

There's a bag lady sifting through trash in my neighborhood
Asked for a light, ya know I understood

The belief in one's own religious righteousness and the ability to properly educated and direct children is attacked at the very beginning of the song, in this first verse. How can the Saint Augustine speaker pontificate about solving the problems of a fundamentally flawed individual like the child that kills his own brother, when examples of his own failures run rampant?

Where you gonna run when they come for you?
They'll hear you playing your guitar

This little couplet addresses the listener directly, and that gives it incredible power. In a song where there are layers of speaking voices, at last it feels like the singer is speaking directly to the audience. But the message is one of sadness; even if you follow your dreams and are true to your heart (i.e. play your guitar), "they" will still mark you down as evil for not falling into line with their beliefs.

I think I've definitely left a lot out of this, there's a lot more that I'd like to say but I cant really take the time right now. Only thing left to say is that when Chuck's intro slide solo resolves into that three-chord vamp - now that is righteous.

Intro: Hit
F --1--- --3--- --3--- --2--- --1--- --1---
a few times softly, louder each time

Here are a few forms of each chord
G: Em:
--3--3--3------ --0-------
--2--2--5------ --2-------
--0--0--5------ --2-------
--0--0--4------ --0-------
--0--3--3------ --0-------
--3--3--3------ --0-------

The first form of each chord seems to sound the best, but the bar G and the Bm7 at the 7th fret seem to be the easiest progression to play. Fool around with the combinations and find out which works best.

God is light, light is good, yeah God is good.
G Bm7 G Bm7 G Bm7
There's a bag lady steppin' through trash in my neighborhood.
G Bm7 G Bm7 G Bm7
Asked for a light, you know I understood
G Bm7 G Bm7 G Bm7
God is light, light is good, yeah God is good.

Chorus:
F Em F Em G C(9) F
Doo do doo do do.
Where you gonna run when they come for you? G Bm7 They'll hear you playing your guitar.

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