Gloryland
Exploring the Human Quest for Glory in Julie Christensen's "Gloryland
Lyrics
You might be a preacher
You could be a preacher
Broadcasting on a satellite
Engaged in broadcasting via satellite
Miss Mamie's looking for an answer
Miss Mamie seeks answers
Watches your program every night
She faithfully watches your program nightly
Diamonds shine from your praying hands
Diamonds symbolize sincerity in prayer
She sends you all the money she has
Miss Mamie contributes all her money
Just to feel a little closer
Her motive is to feel closer to gloryland
A little closer to gloryland
Striving for proximity to spiritual fulfillment
ml
(Blank line, no specific meaning provided)
You might be the president
You may be the president
Take a lot of power in your hands
Holding significant political power
Bend the laws to your advantage
Manipulating laws to personal advantage
Drive your armies to a foreign land
Leading armies to foreign conflicts
You say your cause is just
Asserting a just cause
Lie only if you must
Advocating honesty, even if lying is necessary
Just to keep them believing
Lying to maintain public belief
They're on their way to gloryland
Believers are on their way to gloryland
People keep believing, people keep deceiving
People continue to believe and deceive
Am I my brother's keeper?
Questioning responsibility for others
Am I my brother's keeper?
Repeating the question of responsibility
You might be a young man
You may be a young man
Out of work in a war-torn town
Unemployed in a war-torn town
Streets you walked as a smiling child
Childhood streets now destroyed
Are blown to rubble, death and infidels all around
War brings devastation and enemies
You're drinking thirst, eating hunger
Experiencing thirst and hunger
Praying to the east, and the mullah
Praying to the east and trusting the mullah
Is the only one you can trust
Mullah as the only trustworthy figure
Who gives himself in sacrifice
Sacrificing oneself for a higher purpose
Passes the gate to paradise . . .
Passing into paradise through sacrifice
You walk into the market, cool wind across your face
Entering a market with a cool breeze
Virgin visions in your head & a bomb strapped to your waist
Imagining visions and carrying a bomb
Because it's all waiting there, somewhere far from here
Future possibilities far from the current reality
It's all waiting there, out there somewhere
Awaiting something better, somewhere distant
In gloryland
Alluding to a place of spiritual fulfillment, gloryland
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