I recently discovered Mat Kearney, and am falling really hard for “Closer to Love.” It’s somehow simultaneously simple and breathtakingly honest but also complex and layered, like all the best songs are. The line “I guess we’re all one phone call from our knees,” is heartbreaking and devastatingly true.
Not quite sure yet what this song is actually about. I’ve debated with some friends; several think it has religious meaning because of Mat Kearney’s Christian faith. While I have nothing against spiritual music, I think this song invokes God without being about god. One friend thought “closer to love” meant “closer to death,” and therefore closer to god.
So far, I think it’s about two friends, one or both of whom has just been hit with a great personal tragedy. The song is about how they help each other cope and get through the tragedy together, intensifying their love in the process. The statement “you pull me closer to love” implies that while the tragedy made the speaker feel hate, contempt, helplessness and anger, he is finding himself powerfully drawn back to love as he and his friend deal with life’s obstacles together.
She got the call today, one out of the grey
And when the smoke cleared, it took her breath away
She said she didn’t believe ‘it could happen to me’
I guess we’re all one phone call from our knees
We’re gonna get there soon
If every building falls, and all the stars fade
We’ll still be singing this song, the one they can’t take away
Gonna get there soon, she’s gonna be there too
Cryin’ in her room, prayin’ “Lord come through”
We’re gonna get there soon
(Chorus)
Oh it’s your light; oh it’s your way
You pull me out of the dark, just to shoulder the weight
Cryin’ out now, from so far away
You pull me closer to love, closer to love
Meet me once again, down off Lake Michigan
Where we could feel the storm blowin’
Down with the wind
And don’t apologize for all the tears you’ve cried
You’ve been way too strong now for all your life
I’m gonna get there soon, you’re gonna be there too
Cryin’ in your room, prayin’ “Lord come through”
We’re gonna get there soon
(Chorus)
Cause you are all that I’ve waited for all my life
(We’re gonna get there)
You are all that I’ve waited for all my life
You pull me closer to love, closer to love
Pull me closer to love
You pull me closer to love
Closer to love, closer to love, closer to love
You pull me closer to love
Filed under: Uncategorized
According to Mat’s words, he claims it’s being closer in a relationship or a faith. My guess is, when he wrote it, he meant God. He claims ALL his lyrics are typically driven from his faith. Which is very evident in his earlier work. So, his faith has a lot to do with the lyrics in Closer To Love. That’s not coming from me. That’s coming from him.
Yeah…unless you’re a Christian, I guess it would be difficult to decipher Christian lyrics. Being a follower of the Lord, I read those lyrics and immediately realize their meaning. By love, He means Love, as in, God. God is pulling him closer to Him. He was naming a scenario where a woman gets a call, and, in her tragedy, she goes to God, and God comforts and heals her. By saying, “I/she/you’re gonna get there soon” just means, we’ll all go through tragedy, or a tragedy, sometime in our life, and in that time, we need to turn to God. Because He is the only one who can heal us by drawing us closer to His love.