In today’s episode of The Cross & the Jukebox, we talk about Vampire Weekend’s “Harmony Hall.” There is a dissonance between the dark lyrics of the song and the exuberance of the melody. Koenig’s lyrics speak to the way that anger can create a false sense of harmony, but also how that harmony can lead to injustice creating an incongruence between words and actions or a person’s public and private personas. Further, the imagery of the song points to some of the deepest longings in the human condition, especially the way that the pursuit of power can be the result of trauma and shame and end up replicating abuses of power. Though the temptation is to become cynical, Christians must instead recognize the pernicious effect of sin and at the same time not become apathetic to the injustice around us.
Join me each week as I think about some of my favorite songs. I hope you’ll subscribe and leave a review or a comment.
Episode Notes
Song Exploder Interview with Ezra Koenig: https://songexploder.net/vampire-weekend
“Are We the Baddies?” Clip: https://youtu.be/hn1VxaMEjRU
