Josh Groban: Weeping Meaning
Weeping Lyrics
It was huge, it was angry,
It was drawing near.
Behind his house a secret place
Was the shadow of the demon
He could never face.
He built a wall of steel and flame
And men with guns to keep it tame
Then...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:Weeping was written by a South African soldier who was fed up with apartheid (the whites ruling the blacks). Josh Groban heard the song while in South Africa and wanted everyone to know about the sadness of apartheid. Listen to the song again - it will mean so much more when you realize what it's about.
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2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:I personally took this song as an allagory. The "man who lived in fear" could apply to anyone who has broken dreams and hurts from his past still haunting him (the shadow of a demon he could never face). He pretends "it doesn't matter now, it's over anyhow, he tells the world that it's sleeping" but somehow he can't let go of the pain, and "the fear and the fire and the guns remain." He may try to protect himself by having a tough front (roaring), but weeps during the night when no one is watching. People look on and say this guy has a lot of steam, but they can't see what's really fueling the bluster of the man. I'm sure we all know (or are) someone just like that, who is weeping inside but tries desparately to cover up the pain with a front. Praise God that He is able to take the sting of the pain away and heal hearts, not that He necessarily erases the memories, but He enables us to go on. It's a touching song.
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3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:Josh Groban may have made this song more accessible to the international community but it is in fact a song about apartheid South Africa. It was written by Dan Heymann of the South African band Bright Blue, while completing his compulsory 2-years of National Service in the South African army in the mid-1980's. From Dan's own website:
"I've been asked many times about the symbolism in the Weeping lyrics, so maybe I should say something here.
The man referred to in the Weeping lyrics is the late P. W. Botha, one of the last white leaders of South Africa before the end of the Apartheid regime;
The demon he could never face in the Weeping lyrics refers to the aspirations of the oppressed majority,
while the Weeping lyrics also refer to the neighbors, literally the journalists from other countries who were monitoring the situation in South Africa."
Further notes from Dan's website:
"Weeping had its debut in South Africa in 1987, as a protest song about the oppressive white government. The writer of Weeping, Dan Heymann, was an unwilling white soldier, drafted into the Army. Weeping began as an instrumental piece, expressing his unhappines at being drafted by the regime, and later he wrote words to Weeping when the government declared a State of Emergency and imposed a ban on media-coverage of the situation in South Africa."
It is an extraordinarily powerful song, and was voted the "All-time Favourite South African Song" in 1999. -
Weeping can be anywhere, by anyone.
I see an innocent boy, humiliated by his brother, neglected by his mother, falsely accused, bullied, abused. Convinced at puberty that he would never have it any other way and receive love, he developed maladaptive behaviors that were not violent, but further separated him from his feelings--including the that elusive love.
Decades later, after achieving modest academic success and trying awkwardly to date, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and called attention to himself after horrible crimes took place where he was and where he came from. He was exonerated, but local authorities never told higher authorities, and he spent years weeping behind walls, threatened with guns, and all alone fighting his demon. When he identified it and sought help exorcising it, he was told that he must be diagnosed, that in his infirmity and old age that he must pay consequences, and that he was bound to get worse and worse. All of his work was sabotaged, and any new and creative contributions were rejected because the word was passed around that he was a terrorist and a threat.
He is fighting to find hope in his heart, but it is still weeping.
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I have always interpreted the weeping as the pain of the oppressed African people. The leader tells the world that they're sleeping (complacent, apathetic or powerless), but yet there is evidence of their struggle all around. On the other hand there is the fear that is kept alive that the Africans are like a roaring lion, wishing to violently devour the whites. The writer is almost saying: "Can't you see, they're not roaring (in bloodthirsty violence) but weeping" - crying for their rights. Weeping is not to be interpreted as powerless, but the very power of the oppressed. It is a call to humanity.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Perhaps not the original intentions of the lyricist, but this song can easily be applied to the Middle East, a "shadow of a demon" to Americans, who must tame it with guns and fire without explanation to people. Meanwhile, the Middle East weeps, behind a steel wall of media lies.
Beautiful song, anyway. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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My interpretation was also of it in Africa, though I thought of the refugees all over the central African area. I thought of how the government would keep these people in silence and always in need. The guns and the fire and the men are the soldiers who are hired my the government to "guard" such people.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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