human
Slow Gherkin Lyrics

The Slow Gherkin's song "Human" is a pointed critique of our tendency to distort and pervert religion, spirituality, and morality to suit our own ends. The first stanza speaks directly about how we take a little bit of truth or inspiration and then contort it beyond recognition to fit our own narratives. This is a warning to anyone who thinks they have the one true interpretation of God or religious texts, because more often than not, they are simply projecting their own biases onto those sources. This is reinforced by the line "That's not God, that's you," which highlights our tendency to confuse our own selves with a divine source.

The second stanza furthers this critique by reminding us of the damage that lying and blame can cause. The mention of "baby Jesus" reminds us of the religious context and how our misinterpretations and misuses of religious texts can lead to harm. The lines "You project a silhouette on a great big wall / Is that the only point of view?" evocatively capture how narrow and limiting our perspectives can be when we think we have the truth. The image of people waiting in the shadow for it all to fall suggests that there are many who are hurt by our distortions of religion.

The chorus, "Human / Lacerate and anoint our sores / Human / Invoke the martyrs as you make some more / Human / With your scriptures and your holy wars / Human / Human is all we are / Only the mistakes are ours," is a chilling reminder that it is we as humans who are responsible for the violence, harm, and distortions of religion throughout history. The final line, "Only the mistakes are ours," is a startling and effective closing thought that reminds the listener that we have the power to choose which aspects of our humanity we will embrace or reject.