Talk:Song for America

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I won't try to correct this article again, but the claim that "Livgren’s lyrics to "Lamplight Symphony" and "Incomudro" were centered on Christian themes, as was fairly typical of his work" is wildly inaccurate.

1. Song For America is about how man is defacing his environment. 2. Lamplight Symphony is a fictional ghost story about a lost loved one. 3. Incommudro (a Hymn to the Atman) touches on the Buddhist / Hindu concept of the atman as well as reincarnation which are not Christian themes.

Livgren wouldn't begin to explore Christian themes until 1979's Monolith album.

Please read his autobiography "Seeds of Change". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.87.61.57 (talk) 15:59, 1 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

As far as the individual songs: the article doesn't say anything about the lyrics to "Song For America", so I don't understand why you've mentioned that. Calling "Lamplight Symphony" a "ghost story" seems a bit disingenuous; a ghost, by definition, is a person who has died prematurely and is left with important unfinished business. None of that is indicated in the song's lyrics. Indeed, the song gives no hint as to whether the wife is really there at all, or just a figment of the protagonist's imagination. Moreover, the repeated lyric "someday they'd be as one" indicates that his wife has (or at least, he believes she has) moved on to an afterlife, and is not just a lingering spirit. The song is (and I have to say that I thought this was obvious) essentially about the protagonist coming to terms with his wife's death. It's hard to find anything in the song that isn't based on Christian principles.

That's interesting about "Incommudro". I'll go edit the article to correct that point. I'll also have to see if I can change the wording to be less contentious.

As far as Livgren's writings in general, it's inescapable that Livgren wrote about Christian themes well before he officially became a Christian; he even explicitly refers to things such as "the mark of Cain". I can understand why it's tempting to apply the generalization "Nothing Livgren wrote before his conversion has anything to do with Christianity", but such as generalization is inconsistent with his actual output.--Martin IIIa (talk) 23:06, 1 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]