The static comes in slow

You can feel it grow

Our stream of conscience flows

Under the streets below


The rivers made of sound

Still running underground

Runs like a silent flood

we run as thick as blood


can you hear it rise

up from the ground

can't drown it out

can you hear it now



this is the sound

of a heartbeat

this is the sound

from the discontented mouths

of a haunted nation

we are the voice of breaking

down

can you hear me?

this is the sound

of the desperation bound

by our own collision

we are the voice of breaking

down



the static comes alive

beneath the broken skies

john perkins said it right

love is the final fight



let it rise above

rise above

there is no song

louder than love




Behind the Song:
""You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." -Anne Lamott

"When we talk about heaven we talk about all people praising God together. Well, I didn't meet many people down here that were Christians that were trying to make that happen." -John Perkins

This was the last minute addition to the record. When we were making the final list, I showed this song to Tim (he's my first line of defense- If it gets past Tim, then there's a chance we'll track it). He was as excited as I was. We wanted to have a song with a steady, relentless pulse on the record and we all knew that this one fit the bill. The chorus was originally much more of a straightforward lyric, maybe too much so. So we redid the chorus and began to rewrite the verse lyrics to match the chorus vibe.

Lyrically, I feel like this song is a corollary of Hello Hurricane. I was reading a book at the time, Let Justice Roll Down- it's the autobiography of John Perkins, given to me by a friend of mine. I was struck by Perkins’ honesty and humility. He describes the Jim Crow world of not so very long ago with brutal honesty. We are a haunted nation. Whether we admit it or not, the past runs through our veins. Listen to the streets, they'll tell you the same. We can cover up our racism and narrow-minded bigotry with excuses and time but the sins of the past cry out from the ground. The undercurrents from our history are always buzzing around our ears. But rising above the constant gnawing of past wrongs is the song of Love. Love is the reconciliation. The deliberate act of forgiveness. The deliberate act of moving forward unencumbered by the past. This is the sound. This is the sound." - Jon Foreman (Switchfoot)