Nobuo Uematsu: The Promised Land Meaning

The Promised Land Lyrics

Cur in gremio haeremus?
Cur poenam cordi parvo damus?
Stella nobis non concessit, non concessit
Stella nobis non concessit, non concessit
Venarum pulsus in terram fluens

Parvus, parvus pulsus
Cor mortem ducens

Vita mollis in stellam...

1. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Oct 3rd 2009 !⃝

   This song refers to the tragedy of a cobalt mine explosion in Tanzania in 1977.
2. Graxe

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Sep 25th 2009 !⃝

   This song doesn't really have a strict meaning but more of an overall theme to it. The theme that's focused on the most is life's connection to the planet and vice versa. I use the word “most” due to the line, “Why do we cling to the womb?” Now, from what I got from the word “womb,” it symbolizes and personifies the planet, as that's the place where all living organisms grew and evolved from. So the line is rephrased as “Why do we cling to the planet?”, which is a very good question. Why do we, humans, cling to the planet? One that's dying, no less, as that would be a type of situation where someone would ask this. And the planet is dying, more or less. The entire first verse is pretty much about the aftereffects of what we did to the planet, whatever it may be, since “the planet has not submitted to us.”
   
   From here on, it goes more into the main theme. The last two lines in the next verse mentions insignificance and a heart along with the second line in the first verse. I'm not sure if this is a reference to Sephiroth and/or Jenova entering the Lifestream (and that's IF Jenova entered the Lifestream which I don't know if she did). Since I mentioned the Lifestream, the line that explains what it is is the first line of verse two: “The pulse of the veins flowing through the earth.” “Veins” and “pulse” are both related to the heart. The pulse is a sign that your heart is beating and you're living while veins, along with arteries and capillaries, are the passages or streams that blood flows through in your body. Put the two meanings together and you get Lifestream. The Lifestream flows into and through the earth. A simplified way to describe the Lifestream is the force of life that flows through the planet.
   
   Another way of saying “entering the Lifestream” is mentioned in the next line. “Weak life returns to the planet.” “Weak life” refers to the process of evolution, survival of the fittest- the weak die and the strong live on. So when something dies, its remaining life force returns to the planet and enters the Lifestream. And again, the word “spirit” is used and it might relate to the whole Sephiroth/Jenova-Lifestream thing which I'm not 100% sure of.
   
   This last verse again asks the very first question: Why do we cling to the womb/planet? The last line then asks, “Why do we ask forgiveness in the promised land?” In a religious sense, namely Catholic, forgiveness is a term used to cleanse one of your sins by confessing them to God in a confessional. The “promised land” is, again, the place you go to when you die. In this case, it's neither Heaven nor Hell as everyone enters the Promised Land aka the Lifestream.
   
   Even though this song was made specifically for a movie, that doesn't mean that you can't connect it to reality. Although, Sephiroth, Jenova, the Lifestream, and the Promised Land are direct references to that movie.

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)