Exciting news fellow Fiction Family fans!
So ready for that album! Jon showed me the tracklisting a few weeks ago and it’s PACKED with some STELLAR tunes… it will be great to have Just Rob Me finally on record!
The guys kicked off their Europe tour today with a show in Manchester – here’s a few photos from instagram and then a video of their fantastic cover of “Lucky Man” by The Verve!
Don’t forget, the guys need a few merch workers for the UK shows – for full information on that click HERE. Help out if you can! You’ll have a great time.
The guys sent out a new email, announcing a few new shows!:
Fans, Family & Friends,
NEW SHOWS!
We are excited to announce a few new shows around the holiday season. Check out our tour dates section of the website for the list of the radio shows that we will be playing. We also have a few headlining shows that will be happening in December.
12/7/11
Cannery Ballroom – Nashville, TN
Presale begins today! Get your advance tickets before anyone else.
Password: FALLTOUR2011SF
Also on sale..
12/2/11
Jefferson Theater – Charlottesville, VA
This show is definitely going to sell out!
EUROPE TOUR KICKS OFF NEXT WEEK!
We are stoked to be headed to Europe next week. Can’t wait to see our old friends and make some new friends. Many of the shows are already sold out, but if you can still get tickets, we would love to see you. Come say hello, we’re friendly!
Check out the link below for a list of all tour dates.
We Are The Dark Horses -
Jon, Tim, Chad, Jerome, Drew
Sister musicians Jayesslee posted a cover of ”Dare You To Move” on their YouTube page in honor the victims of the recent Thailand floods – and it’s a pretty sweet cover that’s getting a lot of attention. Already, it has almost 500,000 views!
There’s still plenty of time to sign up for the Design for Switchfoot hoodie contest! Click HERE for more information. And for those who have been asking, hand drawn entries are okay. Good luck!
Our friend Andrew linked us to an article/interview with Switchfoot on Vice Verses on BriterRevolution.com – check out the full article HERE or read an excerpt below!:
What won’t surprise the audience is the connectivity and community the band hopes to foster even more while touring Vice Verses. The band has always been known as fan-friendly with their willingness to stick around long after a show is finished, and Foreman and Butler are both thankful for the Switchfoot community. Foreman says they also plan to consult their fans on ways to get the new music out there.
“We’re pretty lucky to have incredible people that really truly care about the music, so to a certain extent, they dictate the way that we put the music out,” he says. “It is a communal experience. For me, when music ceases to be a communal experience, it’s no longer worth putting it out for the masses. Let’s just play it in our bedroom at that point.”
“The community has always been the reason why we play music,” Butler says. “It’s the conversation with our audience that’s always been the main motivation to write songs and tour and put so much into this. From the beginning when we would answer fan mail from a post office box by hand and try to stay in touch with our audience that way to all of this social media, it’s always been important.
“It’s also good to have that interaction after a show to tear down the barrier between the artist and the crowd,” he continues. “Jon will even sing half the show physically in the crowd some nights and then after the show, we’ll be hanging outside on the curb by the venue for hours talking to people about the music and hearing stories about what songs mean to different ones. The connection that people can have with a song is very personal, and the most vulnerable lyric can become very universal. That’s the power of honest music.”
Even more than the fan, Foreman says he wants to serve the song. “It’s strange how little control I have, it feels like, over the lyrics, even though I write them,” he says with a laugh.
Given the compelling mix of truth and beauty on Vice Verses, no one would doubt Foreman’s priorities. Even after a career of numerous hits and successful albums, Switchfoot have just now reached their finest hour.
Discussion Point: It’s time to end our Vice Verses Community Song Discussion as we dive into the final song – Where I Belong. It’s been a GREAT conversation with you all and thanks to everyone who posted! I know I developed a greater appreciation for a lot of the songs after hearing your thoughts. So let’s go out with a bang as we unpack what many consider to be one of Switchfoot’s greatest tunes… Where I Belong! Here is Chad, Romey and Tim’s commentary on the song:
Chad: “Where I Belong is sort of the grand finale to the recording Vice Verses. We went up to LA to Neal Avron’s studio and we tracked this song all together in the same room. Really sort of an emotional day for us, being the end of a really enjoyable recording season. To have this to be the last song, the grand finale, felt so right. I remember late at night, all of us singing together, singing the background vocals and just having such a great time, all together in the same room. It was sort of a last hurrah for the album.”
Romey: “Where I Belong is one of those songs that for me, I just never want to end. The song is almost 7 minutes long and it felt like we could have gone an hour, singing the same thing, over and over. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album and it’s a song about hope, it’s a song about the finish line and beyond. It’ll be one of those songs that I will cherish.”
Tim: “I like to think that in some alternate universe, there’s an alternate Switchfoot band that’s still playing that song, and they just never stop. I can’t imagine any other song ending the night. Now that we’ve recorded that it just feels like that’s got to be the closer of every show. I really identify with the longing that it expresses, I love the ryhtmic heart beat of it. It was actually the last song we wrote on the record – last song written, last song recorded, last song on the album and it may be my favorite song on the record when it’s all said and done. I’ve got a lot of favorites, I know I’m saying that a lot, but this one is definitely a special one. Another interesting thing is that we kind of get nerdy about the details on a record and we wanted to end this song with the same chord that the album starts. Lyrically, it kind of starts to reprise a little bit with the first song Afterlife. If you play it, just on loop, the record, the song – Where I Belong ends seamlessly into the beginning of Afterlife. We get nerdy with the details because we care. These songs mean a lot to us. Thanks for listening. This record was a really special album to make for us. And we hope you guys dig it.”
Share your own thoughts, opinions and emotions on the song below! We’ll see you in the comments!
About a week before I got VV I was listening to a local radio interview with SF where they said that when they break up (which hopefully won’t be for a couple centuries) this would probably be the last song they ever played, and after hearing it I get why. This is the kind of song to die to.
It’s the kind of song that could be depressing but it’s not, not at all.
I love how they brought the verse from Afterlife in, it just makes the whole thing endless. I know they did that in HH too, but I never listened to HH front to back so I didn’t really get it. VV could go on forever if you want it to. There is no end and beginning to VV, it’s a circle.
“I still believe we can live forever, you an I we begin forever now”
I agree. This is definitely the song I want to die listening to. It is hands down the best song Jon has ever written. I love this song so much. I have a lot of respect for Jon being able to put all of this emotion into a song.
I didn’t want to hear this song at first because it worried me that this was the last song and that they were going to break up. I really didn’t want to hear this song. And I finally came around to it after listening to the whole album. And I am so glad I did. It ties the whole album together.
I would like to call it the best, but for me its a tie up with the likes of Daisy and The Blues… such amazing songs
It took me a few plays for “Where I Belong” to click, but I definitely get it now. It’s the biggest, most anthemic song Switchfoot has ever done, the ultimate embodiment of the “now/not yet” tensions that define their lyrics. Musically, there are definite shades of Oasis and Arcade Fire in there. I love the intro, especially coming after the title track on VV…it just straight-up gives me the chills. Also of note is the way the song builds subtly throughout, from the first verse up to the “I still believe we can live forever” reprise, only pulling back for the bridge. From a performance perspective, I cannot fault this track.
While I like the lyrics of this track on a poetic level, with the Biblical references and all, I kind of have to disagree with the theology they’re advocating here, as well as in many similar songs. The Biblical narrative is not “we die and go to Heaven to spend eternity in a better place,” it’s “God restores Creation, merges Heaven and Earth, and bodily raises His people from the dead to spend eternity in the New Creation.” In other words, contra Jon on the bridge, this body IS your own and this world IS your home, although both will be transformed significantly upon the return of Jesus. The world where you belong is the future of this world, not another entirely.
I think Jon is saying this body isn’t his, but it’s God’s. The bible makes references to that. And this world isn’t his home, because heaven is? Maybe. That was always my perception of those lyrics.
I definitely agree, with it being connected to Afterlife, and we know that their’s an afterlife, a life where we truly belong
Revelation 21:1-3 — “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
God won’t restore the Earth, he making a new one and merging it with a new Heaven. I also think the Bible mentions that His people will have new bodies, but I don’t have time to look up the verse. So, in my opinion, Jon got the bridge correct.
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” -Romans 8:19-23
Paul pretty clearly depicts the present Creation as awaiting redemption along with us in this passage. This pretty much rules out the idea that this Creation will be demolished and replaced with an entirely new one. Rather, it will be both restored and transformed into something better than it ever was before. In Revelation, Jesus is “making all things new”, not “making all new things.”
Also relevant is this snippet of a sermon Peter gives in the post-Pentecost era: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” (Acts 3:19-21)
What’s most important about this passage is that it grounds its theology of restoration (not replacement!) in the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, which pretty universally attest to a future renewal of the present Creation. The restoration prophecies in Isaiah are an especially good example of this, including passages like Isaiah 2:1-5, Is. 25:6-9, Is. 35, and especially Is. 11. Isaiah 65:11-25, the passage on which Revelation 21 is based, is essentially an expansion and recapitulation of the earlier passages like Is. 2:1-5 and Is. 11, all of which are taken to be the future of the present created order.
The big idea is that there will be both continuity and discontinuity between this world and the next, and likewise between our present bodies and those we will have in the coming age. Too often in the Church we’ve portrayed this transition as discontinuity without continuity. Even worse, we’ve often forgotten the whole idea of a future Resurrection and New Creation in favor of a simplistic “we die, go to Heaven, and spend eternity there” scheme found nowhere in Scripture. This latter error is the one that I’m afraid Jon makes in “Where I Belong”.
i agree firmly that God’s eternal plan is to bring redemption to the entire world, that God isn’t going to crumple creation like a crappy rough draft and start all over. this is one of the only things that keeps me striving for life here and now. if God was just going to discard all this crap, if present material things have no value, what’s the purpose of living at all? we might as well just crawl in a corner and die so we can get to heaven sooner.
but no, Christ taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth.” God, reconcile us to Yourself. redeem Your creation. don’t give up on us. i’m ready now. i’m not waiting for the afterlife.
that said, however, i have to support jon’s meaning behind this song (though, controversially, i don’t think these come even close the most poetic and beautiful lyrics he’s ever written). poetic devices aside, though, the heart of this song rings true with the heart that beats inside of my own body.
yes, this is the world that will be redeemed, but no, we’re not Home yet. the essence of Christianity (like the essence of this album) is contradiction. love the sinner, hate the sin. be strong and courageous, but don’t believe it of yourself for a second. be in the world, but don’t be of it. God wants to use you for His glory, and you will always fail Him in the end. i am the already-but-not-yet resurrected fallen man.
i think this song–especially tied together so beautifully to a song from the complete opposite end of the record, literally and metaphorically–this song *is* vice verses.
feeling like a refugee…
this air feels strange to me…
we were born into the fight…
i’m still looking for a home
in a world where i belong…
i still believe we can live forever
you and i we begin forever now
forever now…
we were born into the fight.
Where I belong has to be one of my favorite songs off vice verses. It really tells a story of life. All the lyrics fee that they were writen with love and energy.
Love this song!
” and when I reach the other side.I want to look you in the eye. And know that I’ve arrived. In a world were I belong”
What is there to say about Where I Belong? I get shaky and goosebumps just thinking about it. I was afraid at first to listen to it when I got the record. In fact, I dreaded it. I hate thinking and talking about death, but this song makes it all worth it. Honestly, I cried like a baby when I heard the first verse and cried through the whole thing. I closed my eyes and felt like I was floating. This song feels high on life. I always want to post the lyrics on facebook or twitter but then I get into copying and pasting five verses. It is seamless, beautiful, an escape. So dangerous to listen to in the car (I always want to close my eyes and soak it in, yikes!). It melts in your ears. Gang vocals, always my favorite from any band but especially from switchfoot. This whole album is stellar. When asked what my favorite song is I just simply say tracks 1-12 because there is nothing else to say. Where I Belong feels so personal, yet it just includes every human being. I always imagine holding hands with everyone and singing this like Kumbaya. It is the best closer, like in baseball, your closer needs to best your best, and the strongest. It is classic switchfoot but it is so bold in the lyrics. Jeanna said it perfectly in her review, it feels like the end of the world. As much as I hate thinking about dying and the world ending, this song makes it seem like a celebration. It is not sad, it takes this HUGE concept, throws in some incredible musical support and takes off. The lyrics are everything. Just reading them makes me want to cry. Blast this song, sing it loud, and drive with the windows down. This song is a perfect summer day with your best friends. It is a longing, a memory, and a future. Absolutely 100% solid Switchfoot gold. This song is everything.
Best review of Where I Belong, ever. My exact thoughts on it!
The first time I heard Where I belong my reaction was simply “WOW,” and I know that was a lot of people’s reaction. I can’t imagine a better album closer. Switchfoot has always been awesome at the order of their albums and making their closers fitting the album perfectly, but this one is just so special. I love the intro with the guitar, and the drums come in and how it just builds and builds. Chad’s drumming sounds like he is hitting like a bazillion different drums at one time, and they are so big and full it is incredible. This song presents such a longing that I wish I had more of. It is always pushing for more. Make this life count don’t wait another moment, and tying back into afterlife presents the album theme perfectly. One of my favorite lines is “I’m not sentimental, this skin and bones is a rental, and no one makes it out alive.” Also the lines “Until I die I’ll sing these songs on the shores of Babylon,” and “But I still can hear the sound of my heart beating out, so let’s go boys play it loud!” These two lines again present that longing, and although this world is not my home, I still want to live everything to the best of my ability. This song is a grand finale.
I didn’t get that e-mail. Not sure why… Hmmm.
Where I Belong is easily my favorite Switchfoot song. Jon is at his lyric best describing the aching longing for the afterlife, bringing to mind a C.S. Lewis quote — “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” I love the third verse when Jon talks about finally arriving in heaven and being face to face with God. Wow….just wow.
AMEN BROTHA!
Where I Belong is such a BIG song. Definitely brings up them emotions & I can’t even imagine how crazy it’d be when they end their last concert with this song.
Words cannot describe how much I love Where I Belong. It means so much to me. Like its the only reason I’m alive. Is to get to Heaven and look into Gods eye and know that I’ve arrived. My favorite song by switchfoot of all time. (:
On a side note.. I don’t really like the new layout. Romey looks like death in the new picture. Maybe you could change it.. I don’t know I just like the old one better. Pink and Purple doesn’t really seem switchfooty to me.
when i first saw that picture, the first thing I thought is, Romey looks drugged, Tim looks like a deer in headlights, Drew’s like “Hey, what’s up?” Jon’s like, “Uh… guys, our bus is leaving…” and Chad either looks like he’s about to start a fight or like there’s something wrong with Jon’s ear
(but I like the layout
I think the pink and purple are bright enough to pull it off)
visually when I listen to the song, I picture myself or an individual visiting an empty art gallery with paintings about my/his/her life. The individual walks past each painting of events in his or her life, contemplating, remembering, and musing. Just at the end of the gallery, the individual meets all those who have gone on before him or her and the reuniting is joyous. The individual arrives at the last painting of their death, but walks past it without pausing to look or mourn and exits the gallery to the beyond. Something like that.
That’s the way I see the song in my head.
As Dumbledore said, “Do not pity the dead… pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love.”
“end? No, the journey doesnt end here–death is just another path; one that we all must take. The gray rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass–and then you see it…white shores–and beyond? A far green country under a swift sunrise.” “Well that isnt so bad!” “No, no it isnt.” -Gandalf, Return of the King (one of my favorite movie quotes!)
I feel totally nerdy, but that is probably my favorite scene of Return of the King
That’s not nerdy at all. That is an AMAZING scene!
I love that scene too – that’s one of those scenes that just brings a tear to your eye
duuuuuuude thats one of my favorite quotes toooo! I think it was my senior quote or something–LOVE THAT!
Speaking of Lord of the Rings, who’s excited for the Hobbit next year?!
I definitely am!
Oh yes!!!!
Totally!
Switchfoot AND Lord of the Rings nerds all around. I’m not alone! But yeah for real the Hobbit pt 1 comes out on my birthday next year!
ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, MYSELF, AND, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
Where i Belong is pure beautiful i love that song so much to ask me if i like it is really a rhetorical question. I didn’t i would like it that much cause i never heard it until the actual album came out,(i had all the other songs memorized before it even came out) but like oh my goodness, i was in love from the first listen. Everything from the intro, to the amazing lyrics, the end with the reprise of Afterlife, its all just amazing beyond words. I especially love the lyrics there just so good they dig deep into the soul at least for me like that’s how i feel, why does Jon foreman know exactly how i feel and put it into his songs? I don’t get it i’m puzzled by it but at the same time fascinated. I can say that this new Switchfoot album has motivated me to do bigger things in this life which is what this song is really all about. I have been inspired by this new album to begin writing my own songs, i’m not very good yet but i’m getting better. Being a musician i have always wanted to write songs but i have never done it i have always just played the drums which is what i have been doing for 12 years and i play them in a band called Twice Forgiven, but i want to write songs play guitar piano everything i’m just in love with two things God and music in that order too. So with that i can tell you that i think my favorite lyric in this song is: On the final day I die
I want to hold my head up high
I want to tell You that I tried
To live it like a song
This describes me so well i don’t understand it but somethings are never meant to be understood i guess that’s the beauty of it all. Whatever happens i will never stop playing or singing i don’t want to die knowing i never tried. I’ll die before i let my love burn out. I will never stop playing music it keeps me alive. My hope is to one day change this world and flip everything man has ever known on its head and i think songs are a good place to start.
Until I die I’ll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong
Where i Belong
I feel EXACTLY the same way!!
Where I Belong is definitely my favorite off of the album. It’s just so beautiful, creative, and even to some degree ‘catchy’ in the sense that it really gets stuck in you head – but not in an annoying way. It kind of sums up for me Jon’s amazing writing and Switchfoots amazing connection as a band. Ahhh. It’s been my anthem since the album came out. SO GOOD. Oh, and it really does end the album perfectly. The whole album just has this beautiful concept running through it and it’s one of the only albums I insist on listening to in order, all the way through. There’s no other way to listen to it!
Where I Belong is a very special song – I think a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this one, and I really appreciate that. I think its a song of resignation and final victory. It makes me long for heaven even more – I don’t belong on this earth, so I need to stop trying to fit in with the world that consists of nothing eternal. I seriously tear up every time I hear “but I can hear the sound of my heart beating out, so lets go boys, play it loud!”
Remembering Jon when he told us that before he was afraid to make sequels of songs, afraid that a new song could be incorporated with a previous song… but Where I belong being incorporated with the first song Afterlife is just simply awesome. It just reminds me that just like all of the Switchfoot songs being interconnected with each other, we are all interconnected too! We are in one way connecting to one another through them, or more importantly through the HOPE that exuberates in all of their songs.
As we sing along, we are singing out hope that binds us all. A hope that is to come…
Oh man oh man oh man…. I havent been able to post in a while, been busy and such but I HAVE to get into THIS song discussion. I knew from the first time i heard snippets of this song that it was gonna be something amazing. I remember in that first video the lyrics and the atmospheric feel and just that really emotional bass line the reverb on Jons vocals… it touched me from that moment! I tried really hard to keep that one song special until i had the record in my hands, I listened to all the other songs on ESPN and had heard the intro from the Making of Videos, but ultimately I managed to save this song. And it was so incredibly worth it!
The highlights of this song have got to be in the gang vocals and the guitars. How Jon managed to write a seven minute song with largely two chords, the I and IV, I believe, and keep it interesting and emotionally moving is beyond me! From a theoretical perspective i can only really guess: I THINK that the song is in the Key of A and using a I-IV (mainly because it ends on an A Power Chord) but it could very well be a V-I. After checking out the notes of the lead parts there’s no truly clear conclusion, however I think its this ambiguity that lends the ability for this song to go on and on and on (which is fine by me!) the strongest tonal chords in a key are the I, IV, and V so its a very very stable progression; And thats really how this song feels! After all the trials, doubts, fears, pains, life reaches a satisfying conclusion. Everything is stable, at peace, chaos has subsided and we can finally rest in the arms of peace and fellowship. Thats how this song makes me feel anyways!
It just got better when I got to see them live, with the entire arena singing it gave rise to this tremendous sense of community, just like Chad talked about. Its such a hopeful satisfying song, I sincerely hope it gains the attention it deserves and joins Dare You to Move in the eyes (or ears!) of the listeners
And finally, this song is special to me as the first song I ever transcribed by ear for the guitar
I dont want to spam needlessly so if you want a link to my tab tell me so and i will gladly post it here!
Gah! I always do this! I left out two key points to this song, I already mentioned the gang vocals but I forgot Tims backing vocals that kick in later in the song. Theyre really easy to miss but theyre definitely one of my favorite parts of the song as well as the record! And of course the lyrical reprise at the end. I absolutey LOVE how it ties this song to the beginning of the album. Its so dang poetic and the feeling of resolution is just so tangible!
Tim’s backing vocals are just absolute pure beautiful genius through the whole record.
Yes and amen! I feel that Tim’s backing vocals are one of the strongest elements of Vice Verses. He COMPLETELY outdid himself and raised the bar to a whole new level. Blew me away.
No question about it. He has always done a wonderful job but on this album, on THIS album, he just went above and beyond perfection.
You should post the link!
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/s/switchfoot/where_i_belong_tab.htm
Here ya go! I spent several hours on it and I appreciate feedback!
Nice job! It seems very accurate!
Thanks!!
I’ve been hoping that Jon would release Just Rob Me on an album. That song is the bomb!
(haha littledrummergirl! Do you remember that?)
That is such a good idea- to end Where I Belong with the same chord that begins Afterlife. And nerdy is awesome.
It took me a little while, but Where I Belong is my favorite song. I can totally feel why Jon says that he wants that to be the last song they ever play. I think that this is one of his most lyrically strong songs, even on the album. My favorite part is the last chorus when he changes the lyrics to
And on the final day I die I want to hold my head up high I want to tell You that I tried To live it like a song
And when I reach the other side I want to look You in the eye And know that I’ve arrived In a world where I belong
That part really makes me think about when our life on this earth is over, and we go to Heaven.
This album is just beautiful. Lyrically, spiritually, and musically. I like the direction they took with the bass and drums. I think it really held up nice.
This is an AMAZING album
Hahaha yes!!! And I totally agree with everything you said!
Love “Just Rob Me”. It’s a song you can almost dance to…
Where I Belong. Wow. I listened to the espn stream, so I had heard every song other than this one before the album was released. The wait was almost unbearable, but it was 100% worth it.
I agree with Romey and Tim that this song is something you want to never end. I’ve been trying to limit myself to listening to this song, it’s just so amazing. From the claps at the beginning, just incorporating the crowd with the band as one huge musical instrument, to the very end (Afterlife refrain) is just a masterpiece (PS I thought that was really cool how it loops into Afterlife – the world where I belong).
It really concludes the album. You can see it completing songs, like in Thrive “feels like I travel but I never arrive” and finishes off with “and when I reach the other side, I want to look You in the eye, and know that I’ve arrived”. Restless says “I run like the ocean to find your shore” and then “Until I die I’ll sing these songs, on the shores of Babylon, still looking for a home”. It just wraps everything together.
I love the lyrics in this song, the imagery it paints at the beginning is almost like a final epic battle, “Storms on the wasteland, dark clouds on the plains again, we were born into the fight”.
“I’m not sentimental, this skin and bones is a rental” just amazing. I find it takes me back to The Beautiful Letdown as well in terms of this world is not our own and there’s another place for us. “This body’s not my own, this world is not my own, but I can hear the sound of my heart beating out so let’s go boys, play it loud!” And there’s so much emotion in Jon’s voice, you just can’t help but get into it.
This song is truly amazing. I agree with Tim that “this is definitely a special one”. It is my favorite switchfoot song right now. The guys did such a great job on the album, and it scares me that they’ve only been getting better, I’m just going to enjoy this now.
Forever
Forever
I agree with every single word you said! Its amazing how this song concludes the album and the scenary of the shore, gray skies, battles, really connects with the scenary of the other songs! And in this song, it feels like he is not alone in this battle, and he can clearly imagine the other side, blue skies and blue seas, the end of his journey, and he is not alone, that most of us feel the same way, so we get together to sing these songs… on the shores of Babylon.
Its hard to pick a favorite line on this one but I love the “So lets go boys, play it loud!” and “on the final day I die I want to hold my head up high I want to tell You that I tried To live it like a song. And when I reach the other side I want to look You in the eye And know that I’ve arrived In a world where I belong” And my favorite part of this part is I want to tell You that I tried. Is like, after we die, we will not be able to fix anything, is done, so we have this life, our battles to face, to fight, to try, this is the time, so I agree that the song talks about the end of a journey, but this part reminds me that today is worth living, that I need to keep fighting so in the end I can tell that I tried and be able to look Him in the eye. Truly amazing this song. I can say now its my favorite. PS. I love the drum beat in the beginning, i love it! it really reminds me of One Republic – I love them! – and the backing vocals, as Jeanna said, raised the bar to a whole new level! Amazing.
Sooo, there’s really nothing for me to say that hasn’t already been said. I love this song so much, and it puts such a longing in me that it hurts. When they played this at my show, I remember how everyone sang so loud, and Vice Verses had hardly been out a month, and I thought how in the world does everybody know every single word already? I thought I’d be one of the few who knew the words to the new songs. But everyone sang so loud on this song. There were points where I could hardly hear Jon over the crowd. It was amazing.
…..Thats a very friendly picture of Tim
And I realllly enjoyed that Dare You To Move cover–amazing! “Where I belong” is a very special song. It wraps up the mentality of the band. I have to say, I think the song is kind of sad tho..I know many people disagree, saying its hopeful because its about “the other side” but I don’t know…its very sentimental in a way (even tho Jon specifically sings that he isnt). Its a song that hints toward the end, and nobody wants to talk about the end (ohhh that sounds like lyrics from a Jon Foreman solo song! can anyone guess??). But also in a way its about the beginning of what really matters–another world that really matters, you know? Still…I cry everytime…
I wanna guess! Learning How To Die!!!
Love that song!
I agree with the sadness in it.. we are not in a world where we belong our time we spend on earth, and that sounds sad, doesnt it?
Oh dang, just watched those girls’ cover of Dare. That was freakin’ awesome! It was so different, I loved it.
Where I Belong. Wow. I have the privilege of hearing it the first time live. When Jon said “I want to play a song we’ve never played before” (or something like that) I was like, “seriously?!?” Even though I didn’t know the words, it brought me to tears. From the music to the lyrics, it’s all amazing. And hearing it on Vice Verses was a tear-jerking time too. I absolutely love the longing for a better place with God, and it makes me want to have an even greater longing for it. I love the beginning of it, and the Afterlife part at the end is pure genius. For me, it’s one of the most beautiful songs about Heaven that I’ve ever heard. Well done, Switchfoot.
I also heard all of the songs through the ESPN stream — except for Where I Belong. I’d also seen a few snippets on YouTube of the song and wasn’t too impressed. But the first time I heard it on the CD, I listened wide-eyed at the words and got major goose-bumps up and down my arms. Something about the chorus, “When I die I’ll sing these songs, on the shores of Babylon” — instrumentally, vocally, and lyrically just resonates with me. I pictured Jon sitting on the beach in San Diego singing that
. Awesome ending to a terrific album. Love reading all the other comments here, too!
I was reading through all the comments, and I was surprised because I didn’t see anyone yet who had commented on the significance of “Until I die, I’ll sing these songs, on the shores of Babylon”
…. it’s one of my favorite lines in the song because I love how he relates our time here on earth to the exile of the Israelites in Babylon. We’re separated from our true home, but that’s not going to stop us from singing here until we can reach it.
I love the way it closes the album – it gives the other open-ended songs conclusion, but at the same time it also loops itself around and starts everything over again – the way life is. You have the conclusion, but you have the questions again, and you find the conclusions again, but maybe you don’t quite understand, maybe you didn’t learn your lesson, and you have your questions again. The conclusions will only be finally found on the other side…. in the world where we belong.
I agree with all of these comments. This song is one that touches you in a deep way. It is one of those songs where I will always treasure it. I must add, though, you have to listen to it at the shore/beach/water and you will have a whole new experience.
Where I Belong is just beautiful. In every respect of the word.
Also: LOVIN’ the new look on the site guys! Nice job.
I think everyone already summed up Where I Belong so I’ll just say I echo everyone’s posts
Such an awesome song, makes me cry anytime I listen to it! Thank you Switchfoot!!! And I’m dying to see it live!!
Amen! And lets hope December works out!!! Vice Verses live will be amazing!
YES!!!
I love Where I Belong it’s a great song that I like to listen to but I don’t have the time right now. VV is an amazing album and I really wish I could hear from everyone…but I don’t know how to except for going back. I wish we could make a place on here where we could send in our reviews from like Word or something into here. Kind of like of how GameFaqs.com works where people can send reviews in to whatever came they want to and it then becomes available for anyone to read. So Jenna or anyone else on the team should look at that website and see how it works but I would love to hear from everyone…and not just on this album but every album. Cause I want to know how everyone thinks or portrays a song and album.
So I never really posted in this songs discussion, I never really had time. But Where I Belong is my fav of all time, so I thought I might share my thoughts…
Where I Belong, in my opinion, is the perfect ending on the record. It just sums up the whole longing for something and better and everything, I guess it could be “Restless’s” big brother. I can’t really describe the song I guess, I love it though. Definitely my fav on the album.
So, im not gonna repeat how thoughtful the lyrics are or how musically stable “Where I Belong” is, but I just want to say my experience of the song was largely ruined because the guys spoiled the ending in their highly promoted “Listening Session” video. You distinctly hear the ending with the “Forever now..forever..” SO when I first listened to the song all the way through and realized that id already heard the very end, i felt betrayed. Im now trying to see how exactly it loops into “Afterlife”…I mean yeah it certainly works as far as “Where I belong” ending and “Afterlife” starting but its not exactly a seamless transition.
In the super deluxe edition Jon says to wrestle and debate with the record, which ive done PLENTY of. There’s alot of problems I have with the record, many vices that overshadow the otherwise brilliant songwriting and solid instrumentation. So that’s why “Where I Belong” doesn’t quite cut it for me, it never truly breaks free and rebels, it just kinda plays it safe.
Oh my goodness. That cover is incredible.
Hands down my favorite closer to an album. I can listen to it in the morning before my day and think of my purpose or listen to it at night and wonder what will happen when I die. Sounds like a California western (redundant I know), the first 30 seconds really surprised me into the actual tempo of the song, the words flow really like rental/sentimental. All the lines are great. The last minute is awesome, ties in really well. Just overall a fantastic song.