I’ve been trying to write about Switchfoot and how much I love them for a while now. At first I wanted to write about my Top 10 songs, but I couldn’t keep it to just ten songs. I tried to write about my favorite albums, but again it seemed like I was just writing about all of them. Finally I decided to share my favorite lyrics.
Switchfoot are often called a Christian band, because they write about faith and God. But I don’t think of them as a Christian band – not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that to me, the connotation means that their songs are written expressly for church service, and Switchfoot’s songs are not. Maybe because I place spirituality and faith over religion, and I believe that faith is a personal thing, I think of Switchfoot as simply a band that happens to sing about God a lot. My niece once said to me that a song like “Where The Light Shines Through” is obviously a reference to Christ’s wounds, but I never picked up on that (I can be pretty obtuse sometimes). But Switchfoot concerts are always a spiritual experience for me, so maybe that’s where the religion comes in. I always feel so cleansed after their last song, like I just witnessed something pure and joyful. I guess it’s fitting that the Grammy they won is for Best Rock Gospel album, because not to be sacrilegious or anything, but their concerts are like my church.
They recently announced a hiatus from touring, which breaks my heart a little. For the past two years they’ve treated us to an Easter concert here in Manila (at an amazing amphitheater with a cool and chill vibe), and now we’re spoiled because the thought of no Easter concert to look forward to is a blow (selfish, I know). But I hope they get the rest they need so they can come back and make more music. So in the meantime, let me share my favorite lyrics from them.
Album: The Beautiful Letdown, 2003
Gone
Every day we borrow
Brings us one step closer to the edge (infinity)
Where’s your treasure, where’s your hope
If you get the world and lose your soul
Album: Nothing Is Sound, 2005
Stars
Stars looking at our planet watching entropy and pain
And maybe start to wonder how the chaos in our lives could pass as sane
I’ve been thinking ’bout the meaning of resistance, of a hope beyond my own
And suddenly the infinite and penitent begin to look like home
The Shadow Proves The Sunshine
Crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine
Shine on me
Let my shadows prove the sunshine
Golden
You’re a lonely soul in a land of broken hearts
You’re far from home, it’s a perfect place to start
Album: Oh Gravity, 2006
Awakening
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my heart’s still beating
It’s beating,
I’m bleeding
Album: Hello Hurricane, 2009
Hello Hurricane
You can’t silence my love
Enough To Let Me Go
Every seed dies before it grows
Breathe it in
And let it go
Every breath you take is not yours to own
It’s not yours to hold
Red Eyes
What are you waiting for,
The day is gone?
I said I’m waiting for dawn
What are you aiming for
Out here alone?
I said I’m aiming for home
Always
Every breath is a second chance
Album: Vice Verses, 2011
Restless
Until the sea of glass we meet
At last completed and complete
The tide of tear and pain subside
Laughter drinks them dry
I’ll be waiting
Anticipating
All that I aim for
What I was made for
With every heartbeat
All of my blood bleeds
Running inside me
Looking for you
Souvenirs
Here’s to the twilight
Here’s to the memories
These are my souvenirs
My mental pictures of everything
Where I Belong
And on that 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 songAnd 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
Album: Fading West, 2014
Love Alone Is Worth The Fight
I’m headed down the open road unknown
And we find what we’re made of
Through the open door
Is it fear you’re afraid of?
What are you waiting for?
Who We Are
‘Cause we are fire
Burning brightly
You and I
We light the sky
When we ignite
When we come alive
Slipping Away
Remember that kid with the quivering lip
Whose heart was on his sleeve like a first aid kit
Where are you now, where are you now?
Remember that kid, didn’t know when to quit
I still lose my breath when I think about it
Oh, where’d you go?
Album: Where The Light Shines Through, 2016
Where The Light Shines Through
Cause your scars shine like dark stars
Yeah, your wounds are where the light shines through
So let’s go there, to that place where
We sing these broken prayers where the light shines through
I Won’t Let You Go
If you could let the pain of the past go
Of your soul
None of this is in your control
If The House Burns Down Tonight
Ashes from the flames
The truth is what remains
Live It Well
Awaken all my soul
Every breath that you take is a miracle
mister beebop 