Gira lived with his parents in a relatively affluent suburb of Los Angeles, California, though they divorced when he was a young teenager. After staying with his alcoholic mother for much of his youth, he was sent to live with his father in Indiana and then Paris. He ran away from home and hitch-hiked across Europe, and was finally arrested for selling drugs in Israel. Although he was only a teenager at the time, he was placed in an adult prison. His father found Gira with the aid of Interpol and sent him back to the United States. Back in Los Angeles, he played in a band called Little Cripples and enrolled in art school and imagined that he would someday be a visual artist (Gira sketched obsessively); however, he soon became disillusioned with the elitism and academia surrounding the art world and dropped out. He was also in a band called Curtain, later called Strict Ids (source: Brendan Mullen's book "Live at the Masque"). However, Gira's interest in art is known to have affected his music; Inner Female is a study of Francis Bacon. It could also be said that Gira's visceral, surreal writing style is comparative to Bacon's paintings.
In 1979 Gira moved to New York City in order to start a band; he was influenced by No Wave and noise artists like Suicide and Glenn Branca. He played with the band Circus Mort before forming Swans. Before achieving success with his music, Gira was forced to work many tedious, backbreaking jobs in construction and demolition. He also began a short-lived art magazine, No.
Initially, Swans' focus was raw rhythm and abrasive textures, usually eschewing melody for visceral power. They became known for their abrasive experimental and post-industrial sound. The band's lineup and sound evolved over time, most markedly with the inclusion of Gira's eventual girlfriend, Jarboe, who added her ethereal voice and synthesizers to the group in 1985. Gira and Swans spent the next twelve years releasing studio, live, and side-project albums. Gira's frustration with the various record labels they recorded for grew over time.
After dissolving Swans in 1997 Gira released a solo album under his own name and began a new musical direction with The Angels of Light, which are a quieter, more acoustic-based group than Swans. Nonetheless, The Angels of Light retain much of the intensity of Gira's former project. While The Angels of Light are a rather traditional "song-based" group, Gira also spent time experimenting with soundscapes, found sound, and loops with the The Body Lovers project. He has also released several albums under his own name including Drainland (1995), The Somniloquist (2000, a spoken word album), and What We Did (2001), a collaboration with Windsor For the Derby's frontman Dan Matz.
Gira founded his own record label, Young God Records, which has released albums from such artists as Devendra Banhart, Mi and L'au, and Akron/Family as well as the Swans, The Angels of Light and The Body Lovers back catalogues.
Akron/Family served as Gira's backing band during the recording of and touring for The Angels of Light's 2005 album, The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People'.
GOD
Michael Gira Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The Poison Fires Glow
And In The Blood Of Our Procreation
Annihilation Grows
Yes Love Was Made For Slaves Like Us
Designed To Fetishize
Consumption, Waste And An Identity
Based On A Dying Lie
The End Of History Is Now
And God May Save The Victim
But Only The Murderer Holds Real Power
We Came Across The Seas
We'd Fill With Offal And Disgust
And Any Object Industry Required
We Bought, Enslaved, Or We Crushed
And Now Our Minds Are As Naked As The Paradise We
Stripped
And Our Reward Is Our Entropy
Our Emptiness Is Our Gift
So God Forgive America
And Every Human On This Earth
And God Forgive The Ruined Lives
And Nothing Is What It's Worth
The first stanza of Michael Gira's song, "God," paints a bleak picture of America, where poison fires are glowing and annihilation grows in the blood of procreation. The second stanza suggests that love was designed to fetishize consumption, waste, and an identity based on a dying lie, making slavery of love to people. In the bridge, he pleads to God for forgiveness for America and every human on earth, including ruined lives, noting that nothing is worth what it appears to be.
The overall theme of the song is the destruction of American and human values. Gira deconstructs the concept of love in American society, intending to point out the dangers of blind love and turning a blind eye to the gradual destruction of the environment and society at large. Americans have become slaves to love, leading to a consumption-based society and a wasteful identity that is based on lies. He is trying to convince people to wake up and see what's going on because America's end of history is now.
Line by Line Meaning
And All Across America
In every corner of America
The Poison Fires Glow
The destructive actions of humanity intensify
And In The Blood Of Our Procreation
Future generations inherit our mistakes
Annihilation Grows
The destruction of ourselves and our world is increasing
Yes Love Was Made For Slaves Like Us
Our unhealthy obsession with material possessions and societal norms is enslaving
Designed To Fetishize
Our perception of love has been warped by society
Consumption, Waste And An Identity
Our society values consumption, waste, and a false sense of identity
Based On A Dying Lie
Our distorted values are built on a foundation of falsehood
So God Forgive America
As a nation, we ask for forgiveness
The End Of History Is Now
Our world has reached a crucial turning point
And God May Save The Victim
Those who suffer may be saved by a higher power
But Only The Murderer Holds Real Power
Those who cause harm hold the most influence
We Came Across The Seas
Our ancestors arrived to America by boat
We'd Fill With Offal And Disgust
The land and natural resources were exploited and polluted
And Any Object Industry Required
Anything deemed necessary for industry was taken by force
We Bought, Enslaved, Or We Crushed
Our society has a long history of violence and oppression
And Now Our Minds Are As Naked As The Paradise We Stripped
We have left ourselves vulnerable and exposed by damaging the world around us
And Our Reward Is Our Entropy
The natural consequence of our actions is decay and decline
Our Emptiness Is Our Gift
The way we have lived our lives has left us with a feeling of emptiness as our legacy
And Every Human On This Earth
All individuals are accountable for our collective actions
And God Forgive The Ruined Lives
We acknowledge the pain and suffering we have caused
And Nothing Is What It's Worth
Our distorted values have led us to devalue the very things that are truly valuable in life
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MICHAEL ROLFE GIRA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Borbs
This is the greatest thing Gira has done as a solo artist.
Miłosz B.
I'm sorry, but from what album of Gira it comes? Or from Swans?
ok it's from compilation "Songs for a Dog"
Nick Wright
i think Blind is his triumph imo
Borbs
VizualPerception who dis
vizual
fancy finding you here
xgum
i'd love to write a song like this, but whenever i try, it just ends up sounding too much like god damn the sun
Ronan Kerrigan
Relatable
xgum
Tapwater Deluxe woah he saw my Anthony Braxton comment
Boyo
These vocals on the original instrumental would make a near perfect song
Richard Roberson
Easily a ten