And Therein...

Lyrics

(1)

You know by now the Lord lays hard trails
When you see that man outside in the bucketing rain
You picture it in your cozy home.

You think you've blown a fuse,
Don't know how to react
You don't know where it's at.

And therein lies the difference, and therein.... 

They always say it comes in three and fours  (2)
And that it never rains, it just pours...

You think it's your fault
And you curse the moon
You go to the saloon

And therein lies the difference, and therein... 

He turned the water into wine
And he insisted that we eat swine (3)

And that's the sum of it
Why don't you come to grips?
Just take or leave it.

And therein lies the difference, and therein...

Notes

1. 

According to MES:

"Martin Bramah wrote a good tune and it conjured up the Salvation Army to me," he says. "It was quasi-religious and country and western, which I'd always wanted to do. (Sings) 'Roo-ooby, don't take your love to town.' I love the way they give a message over those stories. Get to the beat of it, that's what I wanted to do: great guitars and a bit of sixth form poetry thrown together."

^

2. "They" say this about misfortune, death or, as Dan points out, tragedy, although "comes in threes" is the usual formulation. 

^

3. Jesus' first miracle was, according to the Gospel of John, turning water into wine. While he was never reported to have insisted that anyone eat pork, some Christians interpret the following passage (given here in the King James version) as implying that Jesus declared all foods permissable:

Mark 7:18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; (19) Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?  

^

More Information

Comments (9)

harleyr
  • 1. harleyr | 06/10/2015
Therein lies the difference... between what and what else? I've always taken the missing end to the line to be 'between you and me' but what do others make of it?
bzfgt
  • 2. bzfgt | 23/11/2015
Right, that's the question. I think of it as indicating that the stuff in the verse "makes a difference" in some way, but it's not entirely clear.
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 30/03/2019
"They always say it comes in three and fours"

"It" being tragedy, in the common saying.
Andrew Durnion
  • 4. Andrew Durnion | 21/04/2019
I like the breaking of the third wall in "...and therein" with the homeless guy mentioned, then pictured and then you get told in no uncertain terms that you've just been had. MES put the train of thought right there, in your noggin, but, good news everyone, you have a home. Be thankful. Even when shit happens, and make no mistake, shit will happen, most of the world is in a much worse place than you. So, be happy in the face of tragedy. And get yourself to the pub.

This is what this song says to me: if things are on top- get yourself out and have a couple pints. It's what Jesus would've done.
bzfgt
  • 5. bzfgt (link) | 21/06/2019
Wise words, AD!
Tobi
  • 6. Tobi | 11/04/2023
And that it never rains, it just pours...

Could that be a reference to "When it rains, it really pours" by Elvis?
dannyno
  • 7. dannyno | 25/04/2023
Tobi, comment #6. It could be, couldn't it. Whether there's more to it, though, than the use of a common phrase to support a rhyme we may never know. But I like the suggestion.
dannyno
  • 8. dannyno | 25/04/2023
Elvis's song G.I. Blues has the line:

And if I don't go stateside soon
I'm gonna blow my fuse


But maybe that's finding things that aren't really intended.
dannyno
  • 9. dannyno | 25/04/2023
And from Nancy Sinatra's rendition of Your Groovy Self in the 1968 Elvis movie Speedway:

Don't take up with no alley cats
They really don't know where it's at

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