Bad Religion: Sorrow Meaning

Song Released: 2001

Sorrow Lyrics

Father can you hear me?
How have I let you down?
I curse the day that I was born
and all the sorrow in this world

Let me take you to the herding ground
where all good men are trampled down
Just to settle a bet that could not be...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   johnnyarson

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 1st 2009 !⃝

   Bad Religion has a habit of taking some songs directly from the bible (perhaps not word for word as in this case, but more or less). "Skyscraper" was taken out of the story of the tower of babel and this song, "Sorrow", was taken almost directly from the book of Job. God and the devil make a bet regarding Job, a devoutly religious man. The devil suspects that Job is only an upright and moral man because he lives a good life with a great family and lots of possessions and that, in essence, there are material rewards linked with living out one's life in accordance with the word of God. To prove his point God strips Job of all his possessions, kills his entire family and his servants just to show that Job will continue to live according to God's word. Job Chapter 3, Verse 1: After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which said, 'A man-child is conceived.'
   
   That said, I think this is another Bad Religion song that, like "Suffer", states sorrow (or, to put it differently, suffering) is an unavoidable part of life.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Oct 31st 2007 !⃝

   "Kings and Queens relinquish their crowns" isn't just referring to authority. It's referring to every individual person and suggesting that individual pride and arrogance are the cause of all the world's sorrow thereby suggesting that change must start at a personal, individual level. Only when we let go of our egos and let go of our pride can we begin working towards a better future. It also relates back to We're Only Gonna Die From Our Own Arrogance.
3. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jan 4th 2011 !⃝

   I believe that this song is certainly anti-authority, but in the sense that the authority inherent in society is often derived from Scripture. To understand Graffin takes some time, and I am certainly not an expert (only he is), but being a BR fan for many years, and following his interviews, books, et al, this song strikes me as a sarcastic model created around the idea that authority figures use religion to prop up their own place in such a paradigm, and therefore when they cease this practice, "there will be sorrow ... no more."
   
   When such figures no longer use such clauses as "The Divine Right of Kings," or the concept that the Pope is the spokesman for God, then the yoke is thrown off, everyone is left to a meritocracy, and individuals are reliant upon their own deeds and words, without consideration that such may come from a "greater Being."
   
   It may be easy to assume that this is a father-to-son song about disappointment within the first line, but if one considers "father" to be God, and "son" to be "the flock" then there is a new dimension involved. But the great thing about Graffin is that he constructs his words to allow one to question and form their own interpretation, just as he advocates for so many other aspects of life.
4. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Oct 18th 2008 !⃝

   This song is sarcastic in a sense. In the opening: Father can you hear me, how have I let you down, I curse the day that I was born and all the sorrow of this world. It is like a conflict with god the father. And later: let me take you to the herding grounds where all good men are trampled down, just to settle a bet that could not be won, between the pride for father and his son. I may be off on this, and it doesn't matter because you can pull anything out of a song every time you hear it, but life is hard, life is a bitch sometimes, and there is sorrow in this world and that sucks... curse this world, kinda a negative statement. You could look at the line about pride kind of like god thinks man can deal with it to spite the devil, or on, the other hand to support a conflict or falling out between god and man. The jist though, I think it is a hopeful song but negative in a sense. They aren't saying there will ever be sorrow no more. The true misiah will never come, people can't agree on religion. All soldiers will never but down their guns and so on. There will always be sorrow, it's life, but make the best of it. It ties into that suffering is a part of life buddhist thing. I should have articulated this more... It is early.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 29th 2008 !⃝

   "Prideful father and his son" meaning
   "God and Jesus" Because Jesus died for sins of humanity yet mankind still causing all the sins that Jesus died for.
   
   Remember God wanted to wipe out mankind.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
6. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Mar 25th 2008 !⃝

   Well, that's a wonderful idea. Except for the fact that the song was released in 2002, and we didn't invade Iraq until 2003.
7. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Mar 16th 2008 !⃝

   I think the "prideful father and his son" is an allusion to George Bush Sr. and his son, the president, and the song is an attack on the Iraq War and corrupt politics. The current Iraq war is a follow up to the Gulf War initiated by President Bush's father, George Bush Sr.
8. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jan 25th 2008 !⃝

   I consider myself an Atheist, so my personal leanings are not really influencing my opinion here.
   
   The line in question is:
   "when the only true messiah rescues us
   from ourselves it's easy to imagine... There will be sorrow no more"
   
   Its clear they are not arguing the abolition of religion, but rather false or corrupted understanding religion. The use of "us" is inclusive, both inclusive and individualistic . In the context of the verse its calling for a civil society.
9. cynic

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Dec 12th 2007 !⃝

   Bad religion have always been against the government and religions (mostly christains) parts of the song is saying that once there will be no more pain and sorrow then he'll believe there's a god but until then he won't.
10. everybodyisjesus

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jan 3rd 2007 !⃝

    This song is about a cure to "all the sorrow in the world." He begins off by saying "let me take you to the herding ground/where all good men are trampled down/to settle a bet that cannot be won/between a prideful father and his son," suggesting that competition between men is the root cause of all conflicts. He later states the symptomatic causes. "when all soldiers lay their weapons down/or when all kings and all queens relinquish their crowns/or when the only true messiah saves us from ourselves/it's easy to imagine there will be sorrow...no more." In the first part he is attacking war, in the next he isn't just saying that kings and queens shouldn't exist, but all unfair authority, in the next he says that religion shouldn't exist, and in the final section he is saying that if all these things were true, then there would be no sorrow.

Latest Articles

• 
  A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park
• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)