"Farsighted"
A love letter to the hopeful, the optimist, the ones who always see better days ahead. The "Farsighted"
Editor’s Note: This was started about a month ago and I’m wrapping it up tonight, so part of the opening is timed very much to that moment.
This has been one of my go-to in the car songs recently. It’s a real windows down, sing along with every word kind of song as the gray of winter has given to the vibrant sunshine and warmth of Spring, soon the planting of days post Mother’s Day will give way to blossoms and blooms and fruits of labor from gardens. Children are able to play freely outside again as I find myself becoming community dad to the kids in my apartment complex as my daughter is sent to fetch me to roll the kick ball for them as they run around the bases and I chase after the ball by myself.
It’s a time for growth. It’s a time for renewed hope after a dark winter and uncertain times as collapse surrounds us in this country. However, if you ask the farsighted, we know there are better things ahead…
Five Iron Frenzy’s “Electric Boogaloo” was not one of my favorite albums of theirs until recently. This album marked a significant departure for the band in sound, content, and attitude. It’s the album where the band “grew up” in a lot of ways. This was after the growing pains of Scott Kerr leaving the band that were felt in the songwriting on “All The Hype That Money Can Buy” along with a moment where the band approached lyricist Reese Roper and had the conversation of “Maybe songs about mullets isn’t really what we really wanna do anymore…”.
It’s a much more focused album musically as well. Gone is the rhythmic beats of ska music and in it’s place it’s replaced by crunchy riffs mixed with melodic overtones and punctuated by blasts of horns. It’s more alternative rock Chicago than 3rd wave ska. This was fitting at the time as well, as 3rd wave ska had it’s moment in the sun and then faded away to the annals of 90s fads that had seemingly overstayed their welcome in an era where caring about anything too much was not cool.
There’s more to examine on this record but I want to get to the song I have chosen to write about tonight. It’s been one that I have found a certain amount of comfort in. It celebrates those of us who find hope in the darkness. In the places where it feels as if it is the hardest to find. Hope…
Glorious, luminous hope.
Always there, just beneath the dawn.
Let’s get started!
“Farsighted”
Music: Micah Ortega, Reese Roper, Dennis Culp
Lyrics: Reese Roper
To all the farsighted
The sky’s never been so clear
Hello to the hopeful
Goodbye to the full of fear
The song opens up with a proclamation of who this is being written to. The farsighted individual, the one who sees a clear sky. Perhaps he’s even writing greetings to the hope itself and saying goodbye to days that are full of fearfulness.
Glorious
Luminous
This is a phrase repeated at the end of each verse. Let’s take a look at each word individually.
Oxford defines “glorious” as “having, worthy of, or bringing fame or admiration” or secondarily as “having a striking beauty or splendor that evokes feelings of delighted admiration”.
“Luminous” is defined as “(of a color) very bright; harsh to the eye” or secondarily “relating to light as it is perceived by the eye, rather than in terms of its actual energy”.
In both instances I will likely lean toward the secondary definition being the intention of what this words mean. There is a beauty to the energy of these people, it is worthy of admiration, it is bright and wonderful, almost to the point of being hard to look at. Which it can be when you are feeling rather defeated and that one friend of yours just cannot stop seeing the good things that still surround you. You love them, but they can be downright obnoxious at times…
Regardless, these are words of celebration of the gift from God that has been given to the farsighted. In short, it is “glorious” in the feelings of admiration it should invoke and “luminous” in the light it brings in times of darkness.
Let’s continue…
The heavens have painted
Have brushed you with angel wings
And you know in your heart that the farsighted see better things
This is the first instance of the chorus that will eventually be built upon more later. This furthers the idea that this gift of farsight is a gift from God as the heavens have given you the wings of the angels of themselves. I will not get into the debate on if angels have wings or not1.
However, whether or not the Malachim of the Bible are winged is up for some debate, they are also the messengers of God. I do believe this is the author’s intent in these lyrics. The farsighted are in some way the messengers of God, telling his people that there are better days ahead even in times of difficulty of strife. Or that difficult days are ahead and to make their preparations and hearts ready for difficult times. Either way, we shall emerge if we remain faithful.
Let’s go on to the next verse, which I will break up a bit more than the first.
Hello you daydreamers
Hello to the in-between
Again we are greeting a group of people. This one is a little more specific, particularly addressing the daydreamers and those who are in-between. In-between what, you might ask? We’ll get to them in a minute…
The daydreamers are the one who allow themselves to drift from reality to one of their own making, usually something more positive than the situation they find themselves in. In a way, they are given the gift of farsight so that they may see a future that does not involve the current uncomfortable circumstances that they are currently in.
However, usually daydreaming is something that is looked down upon. It takes us away from studies or work, it removes us from the present reality of our lives. However, it is in those daydreams where worlds beyond our own are crafted and created. We do this in dreams when we are asleep as well, however, it is more difficult to recollect or record those instances and unless you are a believer or practitioner of lucid dreaming, it is more difficult to control. Here the author is greeting a group of people whose gift or ability to daydream is often seen as a negative but instead is going to be celebrated.
“Hello to the in-between” is a greeting to those who are between two places in life. In a way, we are almost always between two places in life in some circumstance, so this speaks to all of us at once. However, it may also be directed specifically at those in times of perceived darkness. It’s a message to turn to those who are the daydreamers, or to allow yourself to become one. Allow yourself to wish for better things in life, which leads us directly into…
Behold all you've wished for
Promising things unseen
This is a reminder to have faith in the unseen. The things promised by God but requiring faith to know that they will be given in due time. Let’s turn to the scripture for a moment.
16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NRSVUE
We can go even further and look towards Hebrews for another instance of faith being instrumental to the unseen.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1, NRSVUE
In dark times it’s important to remember to allow ourselves to be farsighted, to have faith, to believe in the things unseen. To dream.
Glorious
Luminous
Here we are again, repeating these phrases. The daydreamers are glorious and luminous. Our faith in dark times is glorious and illuminates those times as well, defeating the darkness with hope. To quote another song from Roper which someday I hope to write a larger piece about:
Darkness can’t perceive the light,
Though lightlessness has chilled us numb,
And though its wings may cloud the skies,
The dark shall never overcome
— “These Frail Hands”, Brave Saint Saturn
It is up to us to keep our faith in these dark times and know that better things can come of those dark times if we use them as an opportunity to enact change for the better. We are ultimately the decider of how long dark times exist through our own actions and how much work we put into making the darkness disappear. Do not despair of what is currently there, dream about what could be in front of you.
The rockets are burning,
The dreamers are at full swingThe heavens have painted
Have brushed you with angel wings
And you know in your heart that the farsighted see better things
We’ve added an additional visual to the chorus. This is one of lift off, taking us away from the physical limitations of Earth by launching us into space. We are now accelerating at a quickening pace as the rockets take us to new heights of hope and dreams of what we may achieve. The dreamers have been given permission to dream to their full potential, and their visions of a better future are brighter than ever.
Farsighted see better things, the farsighted
Farsighted see better things, the farsighted
Farsighted see better things
This is a chant before the last verse. This song lacks a proper bridge, so I’m going to take this as an intended bridge to the song as it’s repeated at the end. In classic Roper style the bridge is where he drops all intention of what the song is about and says what he’s feeling. For an already earnest writer, this song is even less layered in poetic license and metaphor and stands instead as a celebration of those who have the gift of farsightedness. Let’s continue to the last verse, possibly my favorite.
Hello to the burnouts
The left out and left behind
Again, we start out the verse addressing the intended audience. This one is to those who are burned out by the circumstances of life. The ones who life has left our or left behind. They are the ones who seemingly need the farsighted the most, the ones who possibly have the least hope.
For farsighted drifters
Matchless one-of-a kind
“For farsighted drifters” brings to mind a specific audience for me, and it may be Roper’s intent in who this song is for specifically. It’s a song in celebration of the prophets of old. The likes of Elijah, Elisha, and even Jesus Christ himself.
Also that “Matchless one-of-a kind” is delivered with such exuberance and there was a time when I saw so much of myself in this song that the feeling of being so “matchless” and “one-of-a kind” hit me so deeply at an emotional place.
Glorious
Luminous
The rockets are burning,
The dreamers are at full swingThe heavens have painted
Have brushed you with angel wings
And you know in your heart that the farsighted see better things
Yeah
The farsighted see better things, the farsighted
The farsighted see better things, the farsighted
The farsighted see better things
So, to all the farsighted. The dreamers, the hopeful, the burnouts, the left behind, the drifter, the hopeless, the ones who think all is lost…
Don’t forget to dream. Stay farsighted my friends.
This one has sat in the hopper for a bit and this album came up in discussion today so I thought I would go ahead and wrap it up (it was 99% finished) and put it out for today. Day 16 of June30 is go2
Though it’s an interesting one, the distinct Biblical differences between Seraphim, Cherubim, and Malachim, that discussion is for a more pedantic author than I.
See below
