“Redemption Day” by Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow
A&M
1996

This song is a cry for God's Kingdom to come bringing with it an end to evil in our world especially in the area of war and violence.

I've wept for those who suffer long

But how I weep for those who've gone

Into rooms of grief and questioned wrong

But keep on killing

It's in the soul to feel such things

But weak to watch without speaking

Oh what mercy sadness brings

If God be willing

There is a train that's heading straight

To heaven's gate, to heaven's gate

And on the way, child and man,

And woman wait, watch and wait

For redemption day

Fire rages in the streets

And swallows everything it meets

It's just an image often seen

On television

Come leaders, come you men of great

Let us hear you pontificate

Your many virtues laid to waste

And we aren't listening

What do you have for us today?

Throw us a bone but save the plate

On why we waited till so late

Was there no oil to excavate?

No riches in trade for the fate

Of every person who died in hate

Throw us a bone, you men of great

There is a train that's heading straight

To heaven's gate, to heaven's gate

And on the way, child and man,

And woman wait, watch and wait

For redemption day

It's buried in the countryside

Exploding in the shells at night

It's everywhere a baby cries

Freedom

Interpretation

I've wept for those who suffer long

But how I weep for those who've gone

Into rooms of grief and questioned wrong

But keep on killing

The narrator describes her intense sorrow when people suffer but she pities even more those who are wronged and in vengeance inflict harm on others. September 11th 2001, is a perfect example of the narrator's sentiment. She weeps for those who were harmed in the attack but she weeps even harder for the United State's reaction which repaid evil with evil and escalated the violence.

It's in the soul to feel such things

But weak to watch without speaking

Oh what mercy sadness brings

If God be willing

This stanza focuses on each individual's response to evil acts. It’s normal to be horrified when evil things happen but this should not lead us to endorse vengeance. In fact, the narrator states it is "weak" or cowardly not to oppose retribution and endorse mercy. Mercy is the proper response to sorrow though it is only possible through God.

There is a train that's heading straight

To heaven's gate, to heaven's gate

And on the way, child and man,

And woman wait, watch and wait

For redemption day

The narrator longs for a time when evil will not be repaid with evil but when everything will be redeemed. All of us (“child and man and woman”) are waiting and hoping (even if we act on these hopes in wrong ways) for this “redemption day”.

Fire rages in the streets

And swallows everything it meets

It's just an image often seen

On television

The narrator describes real violence (rioting, war, protests) that we see on TV but don’t experience firsthand. Because of that separation we stay passive and unmoved to action.

Come leaders, come you men of great

Let us hear you pontificate

Your many virtues laid to waste

And we aren't listening

Society's leaders have failed to solve the problem of violence. The narrator even states that these leaders are guilty of feeding those destructive fires (their “virtues [are] laid to waste”). They have lost contact with the people they are supposed to be leading—no one hears what they preach anymore because their actions have invalidated their message. This is directed specifically at religious leaders who appear to endorse retribution instead of preaching Jesus' gospel of peace and nonviolence. By adopting the world's way of responding to evil, they have nullified their their message.

What do you have for us today?

Throw us a bone but save the plate

On why we waited till so late

Was there no oil to excavate?

No riches in trade for the fate

Of every person who died in hate

Throw us a bone, you men of great

This stanza is a continuation of the previous one. It condemns governmental leaders for trying to appease people while they continue to enrich themselves, grab more power, and destroy more lives. The three accusations include oil, trade, and war. The average person is excluded from the benefits of trade and commerce and yet subjected to the destruction and pain of violence in war.

There is a train that's heading straight

To heaven's gate, to heaven's gate

And on the way, child and man,

And woman wait, watch and wait

For redemption day

It's buried in the countryside

Exploding in the shells at night

It's everywhere a baby cries

Freedom

Up to this point, the song carried a defeated tone. The narrator uses the inescapability of death ("buried in the countryside") and the lack of choice we have in birth (a crying baby) to illustrate how we've made struggle (exploding shells in warfare) seem inevitable. But that isn't true. We are free. War, violence and retribution are choices we make and are not inevitable. We can choose differently as individuals and as a nation.