November 11, 2014 at 8:10 am, by Carl

 

Technically, this song was written by Matthew Porter, the drummer in Anodyne.  He brought the very cool lyric to the band in 2005 and we had a blast putting it together.  Since I really loved his creative method of telling a story of relationship and of Jesus, I wanted to include this song in my list of Greatest Hits.

 

chaos cover

We spend a lot of time in this society focusing on heroes.  The recent issues within the NFL highlight the challenges these days of finding a hero.  The retirement of Derek Jeter give us a different perspective, a person who performed for 20 years at the highest levels and, from what everyone says, carried himself with grace.  Still, even a good person like Jeter isn’t really who should be in the category of what makes someone a hero.

 

So, as Matthew wrote the lyrics, he cast a series of quick vignettes that describe what it might be like to be a hero.  The singer is saying to the other person that they want to be the hero in their story.  There’s no reply, of course, so perhaps the other person still has this decision in doubt.  In the final driving chant of the band, they up the ante by describing some ultimate examples of being a hero.  Here, the veil is lifted and Matthew lays out who is really asking the question “may I be your hero”—Jesus.

 

Jesus has indeed “conquered death and sin…died, then rose again…laid it on the line” and is eager for us to say “I am yours and you are mine.”

 

We recorded this song for our second band CD, The Comfort of Chaos.  This was the lead track from the CD and we really thought it was some of our best work.  I hope you enjoy it.