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The Blessing Curse

Back to something more serious after yesterday’s Anna and the Aliens. Andy starts out The Blessing Curse with some of the layered vocals that are such a hallmark of this album. He layers them up through all the interludes in the song, showing quite a vocal range. Oh yeah, and then he starts to sing.

I got robbed today
He put a gun up to my chest
And would not go away
Til’ he had everything
But he did not leave with everything
Cause I’ve got things you cannot steal

This story of being robbed while on the job came from one of Andy’s blog readers. And here we come to the heart of this song: that there are things that can be had that cannot be taken away.

Her brother’s coming home
It’s been too long
He fell too far
But mended bones
Do not fix everything
But we can heal, I must believe
That we have things this world can never steal

Here we get a picture of a man coming home, I’m guessing from war. Broken bones can heal, but there are wounds that are deeper. Here he holds out the hope that there is healing even from these deeper wounds, a peace that can be found that will counteract the pain of this world.

Maybe getting what you want is a blessing
Cause you may find that it can sting and it can burn
What if it’s just a hint of all that you are missing?
Getting what you want is both the blessing and the curse

The vocal on this chorus reminds me of some of the vocal stylings of another one of the Square Pegs, Andy Gullahorn. Beautiful.

Folks can’t believe my job
But dying never stops
So I keep building boxes to put it in
But the life already said goodbye to grief and sin
And it rose up like a ghost
The love, the joy
The chosen soul still holds the things
That death can never steal

This verse came from a story of a person who builds coffins for a living. What a job, to be constantly reminded of death. But again comes the hope, that the soul holds things that even death cannot steal. The song ends almost abruptly, but I think that serves only to draw more attention to the point. There is hope.