#hello hurricane

[madison-the-geek]

"Love is never a demand."

- Jon's note for Enough to Let Me Go, which was later scratched through, but you can still read it. Reading those words next to the song lyrics actually made me want to cry. Only a few but still really impactful words.

[svvitchfoot]

Hello Hurricane: An Album Analysis

Hello Hurricane was one of the albums that my older brother owns that I used to steal on a regular basis. Not as often as The Beautiful Letdown, but it was one of my favorite albums as a kid. It’s still pretty up there, honestly. I have a distinct memory of running around outside with both my brothers as a kid singing the titles track during one of the hurricanes in the early 2010s.

Hello Hurricane is, structurally, the most... concrete? There’s a structure to this album that differs from other Switchfoot albums. There’s a beginning, where we face an oncoming storm and prepare for it, a middle, where we weather the storm, and an end, where we face the damage of the storm. This storm could be literal, I’ve lived in a place where hurricanes are an occurrence, but most often, it’s a metaphorical storm. To me, and this might not be a surprise, this metaphorical storm represents fear and doubt. Which leads me to my thesis: belief in something in the face of fear/doubt. I think Hello Hurricane is the first album that I’m not using the title track as one of the songs I discuss more in depth (arguably Fading West, but does that even count if Fading West the song isn’t on Fading West the album?), I’ll be talking the most about Free, Yet, and Sing It Out.

I actually didn’t know what to make of Needle and Haystack Life in the context of my thesis, but it’s the lines “don’t let go/don’t give up hope/all is forgiven” that led me to an interpretation. This song is an encouragement to find the thing to believe in, the metaphorical needle in the metaphorical haystack of the metaphorical storm of literal life.

Mess Of Me is about the belief in forgiveness, especially forgiving yourself. Forgiveness isn’t easy, and sometimes holding on to something is stopping us from believing.

Your Love Is A Song is just beautiful. It’s about the belief in unconditional love, a love that fuels us, guides us, heals us, and gives us hope.

The Sound is about the belief in a cause, the belief that you’re working for something greater than yourself that will help others, both in the present moment and in the future.

Enough To Let Me Go is about the belief in the love of the people we love, the people who will support us through times of fear and doubt

Hello Hurricane is a song about defiance, defiance fueled by the belief in love and hope. “You can’t silence my love” says the song, a defiant statement supported by the belief in that love.

Always, another incredibly beautiful song, about the belief in commitment to this life we have right now.

Bullet Soul is so much fun. I see this song as being about the belief in our own dreams and the things we want to achieve.

Red Eyes is a song that’s taken a long time to grow on me. It’s acknowledging that it’s hard to believe in something when all you have are fear and doubt, it’s clinging to the last threads of belief in something. It’s interesting as the last song on the album, because it certainly isn’t as loudly hopeful or defiant as other songs on the album. It’s sad, it’s nursing hurt from facing the storm, but there’s an undercurrent of quiet hope that persists.

Free is one of my favorite Switchfoot songs. It’s a song about the belief in something greater than ourselves, but also a plea to free us from the chains of fear and doubt. It’s belief is uncertain, almost, like we want to believe, but we need some kind of reassurance that everything is going to be ok if we put our faith in something greater than ourselves. Belief is a fight, and I love how this song frames the fight as something that we lose sometimes. Even if we don’t believe with our whole heart, sometimes all we can do is say we believe, to cry out into the darkness for help believing.

Yet is another song about quiet belief, a belief that persists in spite of everything. We weather the storm, and then we come out the other side, with our belief battered, but not broken. There’s a defiance here that’s different from the defiance of Hello Hurricane. Where Hello Hurricane is loud, standing up and pushing back, Yet is quiet, that moment in a fight right after you get knocked down where you push yourself to your knees and try to convince yourself the fight is worth it. There’s also a softness to this song that I love. I mean literally, it’s a quiet song, but it has a soft tone, too. It’s gentle in it’s defiance, gentle in holding on to that battered belief that’s been through so much.

Sing It Out has taken even longer to grow on me than Red Eyes. It’s another song for after the storm, when our belief is battered but still here. We’re still singing, though, we still hold on to our belief. “I’ll sing with what’s left of me”, because there isn’t a lot left, but we still have cause to celebrate, because we survived, but also for the joy of singing, for the hope that our belief can heal and we can find other things to believe in, for the love of the life that we have been given.

[jenniferstolzer]

Song of the day - the desperate cry of an artist who can only process their emotions through creation. I feel it in my marrow.

[etoilesetlicornes]

Your love is a symphony All around me Running through me Your love is a melody Underneath me Running to me Your love is a song

Switchfoot

[itisyay]

Song of the day: 4-4-2019

HELLO HURRICANE by SWITCHFOOT

[lostplaylist]

The dawn is fire bright Against the city lights The clouds are glowing now The moon is blacking out

[existential-celestial]

Switchfoot | Always

Hallelujah, I'm caving in Hallelujah, I'm in love again Hallelujah, I'm a wretched man Hallelujah, every breath is a second chance And it is always yours And I am always yours

[empathicstars]

switchfoot’s ‘hello hurricane’ album: sentence starter meme (pt. 1/2)

mix and match these! remove, add words -- make it work! enjoy and have fun! (pt. 2)

the highs and lows; we call it living. 

it’s no accident we’re here tonight. 

don’t let go. don’t give up hope. all is forgiven. 

all is not lost.

become who you are.

it happens once in a lifetime.

we are once in a lifetime. 

i found miracles there in your eyes. 

i am my own affliction. i am my own disease. there ain’t no drug that they could sell. there ain’t no drug to make me well. 

it’s not enough. 

the sickness is myself. 

i made a mess of me. 

it’s hard to free the ones you love when you can’t forgive yourself. 

yeah, forgive yourself! 

i wanna reverse this tragedy. 

i wanna spend the rest of my life alive. 

the stars are falling out, my dreams are fading out. 

i’ve been keepin’ my eyes wide open. 

your love is a symphony, all around me, running through me. 

your love is a melody, underneath me, running to me. 

your love is a song. 

the dawn is fire-bright against the city lights. 

the clouds are glowing now, the moon is blacking out. it’s blacking out.

i’ve been keepin’ my mind wide open. 

your love is strong. 

your love is my remedy. 

the static comes in slow. you can feel it grow. 

the river’s made of sound, still running underground. 

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.

this is the sound of the desperation bound by our fallen condition.  

we are the voice of breaking down.

the static comes alive, beneath the broken sky. 

john perkins said it right: love is the final fight. 

there is no sound, louder than love! 

down! 

let it rise above, up from the ground, can’t drown it out! 

do you love me enough to let me go? 

oh, i’m a wandering soul. 

i’m still walking the line that leads me home. 

alone... all i know. 

i still got mountains to climb on my own. 

do you love me enough to let me follow through; to let me fall for you?

my love... 

back from the dead of winter. back from the dead and all our leaves are dry. 

you’re so beautiful tonight. 

back from the dead you went through. back from the dead, and both our tongues are tied. 

every breath you take is not yours to own; it’s not yours to hold. 

do you love me enough to let me...? 

breathe it in and let it go. 

but every seed dies before it grows. 

come set me free. 

i still believe you could save me from me. 

inside this shell there’s a prison cell. 

i can still hear the blue sky call. 

the chains that hold me back inside are the prisons of my mind. 

why would i do what i hate? 

but when i try to reach above, i only hurt the ones i love. 

my home is not in me at all. 

i had a dream where my chains were broken open.