idolatry (info)   [lyrics]

This song has kind of a complicated past.  It started as the final track on the first Nicotine Fist album, Demonatrix.  I wanted to learn the acoustic version, but I couldn't figure out exactly how Jeff played it, so I just made up some new chords.  The first time I heard the music for this song I sat and penned the lyrics in about 20 minutes, convincing Crazy Matt that I wrote it about Layne Staley.  Click here to hear the Nicotine Fist version of this song.

My favorite line in this song is the second couplet in the second verse.  I think that accurately sums up most religions today and makes it obvious why they're plagued with so many problems.

It's really about Jesus.  Not the Jesus you see on those prayer cards, but the man.  The man behind the myth.  An icon who in 2000 years has gained the ability to turn water into wine, to walk on water, to restore the health of crippled people, to come back from the dead, and to do miracles.  It reminds me of that game 'telephone' we used to play in middle school where you'd whisper a message around a circle of kids and it would come back completely different.  I can just picture two people talking 1800 years ago and one saying to the other, 'Oh yeah?  Water into wine? I heard he could come back from the dead.'

And 2000 years later we see him as a ripped white guy with reddish-brown hair who hates abortions, loves guns, and wants us to kill everyone with a turban or a Qaran.  Also, some industrious folks have written a whole new book about how he came to convert Indians in America and make it so Brigham Young could have dozens of wives.  As if that weren't enough, his story got pimped out to Hollywood by some prick actor who made enough money selling that religious snuff film to buy an island off Japan.

(c) 2003-5 jordan baugher