They’ve raised the bar with Strength to Survive, their fourth full-length album, an intoxicating mix of hot-rod reggae grooves and urgent, zeitgeist-capturing themes. The album, produced by John Alagia (Dave Matthews, John Mayer, O.A.R.), is the band’s first for ATO, the label co-founded by Dave Matthews.
Hemphill says the album was greatly inspired by Bob Marley’s Survival. “That’s the greatest reggae album ever made,” he says. “It has the best basslines and the best lyrics ever heard on one record. Marley wrote it after he went to Africa. I was 13 or 14 when I listened to it for the first time and it triggered all these long-forgotten memories of when I lived in Africa as a kid. My dad was an IMF res rep in Liberia in the late 80’s. I remember when the coup first started—- my family had to hide in these iron bathtubs for 3 days because the military was shooting at everything. I was 7 and that was one of my first memories. We made it out on the last flight. So Africa was always a big part of our lives—- it defined our family, in a way. Music came right after that, so, for me, music was always tied to Africa and music was always something powerful.”
Shortly after returning from Africa, Hemphill met Bobby Lee (bass) in the first grade in Virginia. The two instantly became best friends, finding common ground through their love of hip hop, rock and reggae which they performed together at their middle school talent shows. Throughout high school, they met Ryan Berty (drums), Kenneth Brownell (percussion) and Patrick O’Shea (keyboards) and together formed SOJA. The band gigged locally in the DC area while a couple of the guys finished school, all the while making plans to hit the road after graduation. They actually wound up owning the road.
Over the course of the past few years, SOJA has sold more than 200,000 albums, headlined large theaters in more than 20 countries around the world, generated over 40 million YouTube views, amassed nearly 2 million Facebook fans, and attracted an almost Grateful Dead-like international fanbase that grows with each tour, with caravans of diehards following them from city to city. Most impressive of all, they’ve accomplished all this on their own. This 8-piece band has spent the past year and a half grinding it out from venue to venue, playing more than 360 dates, including headlining sold-out tours of North and South America, as well as opening for O.A.R. and sharing stages with everyone from Dave Matthews Band to Matisyahu.
With Strength to Survive, the band makes an impassioned call for unity and change with universally relatable songs about faith, hope and love. “I could go on and on about the horrible damage we’ve done to the earth or the problems that arise when countries compete for money over an imaginary border, but the album has one central theme,” says Hemphill, “and that’s our hope for the world to be one family.”
It’s a concept best exemplified in the song “Everything Changes.” “People out there with no food at night,” sings Hemphill, “And we say we care, but we don’t, so we all lie/But what if there’s more to this, and one day we become what we do, not what we say/Maybe we need to want to fix it. Maybe stop talking, maybe start listening/ Maybe we need to look at this world less like a square and more like a circle.”
Among the album’s many highlights is the ethereal “Let You Go,” about the road not taken, “Mentality,” the disc’s hard-hitting opening track, and the one-two punch of “Be With Me Now” and “When We Were Younger,” the latter bringing together the macro and the micro with the simple yet resonant line, “All of my answers, now that I’m older, turn into questions.”
Hemphill says the band’s simple and honest approach to music is what’s enabled them to break through obstacles of language, distance and culture in amassing an international following. “What’s the alternative – pop music?” he laughs. “Pop music—especially American pop music, is about having money, sleeping with models, living in mansions, spending all of our time in clubs and generally being better than the rest of the world. It’s funny, ‘cuz everyone here is broke. We sing about different things—things that actually matter. I think our fans appreciate that.”
“When I look out in the audience and I see these kids with tears in their eyes, not because I’m singing a love song, but because I’m singing about how the world is dying and we’re the only ones who can stop it, that is huge. I live for that. We played a festival in Brazil in front of 80,000 people, and everybody was singing every word—in English. After one of the songs, I told them, ‘We’re on the road a lot, and people always ask me, “Don’t you ever get homesick? Don’t you miss your family?” I said, ‘It took me awhile to realize this, but this is my home, and you all are my family.’ The place just blew up. It was amazing. But it’s the truth—those are my people and I always want to do right by them. It’s is the only game in town for me.” ❖
By My Side
Soldiers of Jah Army Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the more that I press her is the more she slips away.
Act like I don't need her but...Yo, you're necessary...
Like ten days from now I won't see your face when I sleep.
Act like I can hear, but Jah knows I'm deaf.
Act like I can see but now, yo, from me sight has left.
Act like I don't know but, I know these things...
Each morning, on each night
When I need you by my side
On each morning and on each night
When I need you
Like I don't care but each and every time
Your face comes across it never ever leaves my mind.
Oh, like I don't know but...I know your thing
Like I don't feel it, but I'm gonna feel it every evening now on -
Each morning, on each night
When I need you by my side
On each morning and on each night
When I need you
I act like I left her, but the truth is I beg her, beg her to stay...
And the more that I press her, means all the more that she slips away.
Act like I don't need her, but I'm here to tell you that you're necessary.
Like ten days from now I won't see your face when I'm on -
Each morning, on each night
When I need you by my side
On each morning and on each night
When I need you by my side.
- On each morning and on each night when I need you so desperately
The verses of Soldiers of Jah Army's song, "By My Side," convey a conflicted relationship between the singer and their significant other. The lyrics transparently unveil the ironic contradictions in the songwriter’s behavior when it comes to their love interest. The lyricist 'acts' like they have moved on from their lover, but in reality, they are begging their partner not to leave them. The more they demand their lover's attention, the more they push them away. Despite this behavior and irrespective of how hard they try to ignore it or pretend it is not happening, they still need their lover close to them. The singer confesses that even if their lover were to leave, they would not be able to help fantasizing about them every day and night, wishing they were by their side.
The singer then uses imagery and symbolism to describe the emotional state they are in. They express that they are deaf and blind to everything around them because their lover's presence is all that matters. They acknowledge that they are well aware of their feelings for their lover and try to convince themselves otherwise. However, every morning and night, the thought of their lover not being there with them builds a great deal of anxiety.
Overall, the song's message is that no matter how much they try to hide it, the singer is emotionally attached to their lover, and their absence affects them immensely, leaving an unfillable void in their life.
Line by Line Meaning
I act like I left her, but I really beg her to stay.
Even though I act like I don't want her around, in reality, I plead with her to stay by my side.
And the more that I press her is the more she slips away.
Trying harder to hold on to her only pushes her further away from me.
Act like I don't need her but...Yo, you're necessary...
I pretend that I'm fine without her, but in reality, I need her in my life.
Like ten days from now I won't see your face when I sleep.
I worry that if she leaves, I'll miss her presence even in my dreams.
Act like I can hear, but Jah knows I'm deaf.
I pretend to listen, but in reality, I fail to hear the message she's trying to convey.
Act like I can see but now, yo, from me sight has left.
Although I pretend to see, I've lost the ability to see things clearly without her presence.
Act like I don't know but, I know these things...
I pretend to be unaware, but deep down, I know how important she is to me.
Act like I don't feel it but I'm gonna feel it, every morning now on
I try to hide my emotions, but I know I'll feel the pain of her absence every day.
Each morning, on each night
When I need you by my side
On each morning and on each night
When I need you
I long for her to be with me every moment of every day – morning, evening, and night.
Like I don't care but each and every time
Your face comes across it never ever leaves my mind.
Even though I pretend not to care, the memory of her stays with me constantly.
Oh, like I don't know but...I know your thing
Like I don't feel it, but I'm gonna feel it every evening now on -
Although I act ignorant, I know what makes her happy, and I dread the void her leaving will create.
On each morning and on each night
When I need you by my side
On each morning and on each night
When I need you
I can't help but need her with me every single day – morning and night.
I act like I left her, but the truth is I beg her, beg her to stay...
I lie about wanting her to leave when, in truth, I plead for her to stay by my side.
And the more that I press her, means all the more that she slips away.
Trying to hold on tighter only makes her pull away further from me.
Act like I don't need her, but I'm here to tell you that you're necessary.
Although I fake independence, I know that she's essential to my life.
Like ten days from now I won't see your face when I'm on -
If she leaves, I know that even ten days from now, I'll miss seeing her face in my life.
Each morning, on each night
When I need you by my side
On each morning and on each night
When I need you by my side.
I need her presence to accompany me through my days and nights, without exception.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind