Thursday released their debut album, Waiting, in late 1999 with original guitarist Bill Henderson, who left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Steve Pedulla. The band gained popularity with the release of their second album, Full Collapse, in 2001, and released their third album and major label debut, War All the Time, in 2003, which reached number seven on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Thursday released their fourth album, A City by the Light Divided, in 2006, and two further albums, Common Existence and No Devolución, before announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2011. In a January 2013 interview, Geoff Rickly confirmed that the band had actually disbanded. However, the band announced a reunion in 2016. Their reunion would conclude with a performance at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, NY in March 2019.
The band has been considered influential to the post-hardcore music scene in the 2000s, and is credited as one of the key bands to popularize the darker emo sound and screaming vocals which came to prominence at the time.
Sugar In The Sacrament
Thursday Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You followed footsteps in the dark,
And found your faith left out behind your father's car.
You said "there's no one watching over me or over you, it's always out of reach"
I'm still sinking into:
Oh my God, where are we now?
Like sugar in the sacrament.
If it was just one night, then we would be released.
Tie these lies between our teeth
Keep tearing open bodies, "let it bleed" tonight.
Where have you gone?
Off with the friends you couldn't keep?
Your mother's arms fill up with all the empty needs.
So the saints line up to bring her in
Comfort her and it's always comforting when they start to sing the same old:
"holy, holy, lift up your dress.
Feel your body dissolving
Like sugar in the sacrament"
"if it was just one night, then you could be redeemed.
Tie these sins between your teeth,
Make hollow promises we'll never keep tonight"
This is all we've ever known of God.
Fight with me. let me touch you now.
The lyrics of Thursday's song Sugar In The Sacrament is rich with symbolism and metaphors that explore the human experience of losing faith, feeling lost and seeking redemption. The opening lines, "What have you done? You followed footsteps in the dark, And found your faith left out behind your father's car," describe a person who is trying to find their way back to their faith, but is struggling to do so. The imagery of leaving their faith behind their father's car suggests they have been separated from their family and their spiritual beliefs.
The chorus's line, "Fractured lives dissolving like sugar in the sacrament," compares the dissolution of a person's life to the dissolving of sugar in the sacrament. The sacrament refers to the religious act of communion, where bread and wine are symbolic of the body and blood of Christ, respectively. The use of sugar as a metaphor suggests a loss of sweetness or purity, symbolizing a person's loss of faith and how it is being broken down, slowly and painfully like dissolving sugar.
The last lines, "This is all we've ever known of God. Fight with me. let me touch you now," highlight the desperate need for connection and intimacy with others, which is often what faith provides, but in this case, it is a cry for help from someone struggling to find hope in a difficult world. The song explores the existential struggles we face in life, the fracturing of faith and relationships, and the search for redemption and meaning in it all.
Line by Line Meaning
What have you done?
Asking about someone's actions and behaviors
You followed footsteps in the dark,
Walking in the dark and uncertain path
And found your faith left out behind your father's car.
Lost the belief that was once strongest
You said "there's no one watching over me or over you, it's always out of reach"
Declaring there's no divine intervention in life
I'm still sinking into:
Suggesting someone is still in a dark place
Oh my God, where are we now?
Asking where someone is in their journey
Fractured lives dissolving
Life breaking into pieces and disappearing
Like sugar in the sacrament.
Life vanishing like sugar in religious ceremony
If it was just one night, then we would be released.
If faults were limited to a single moment, we'd be free
Tie these lies between our teeth
Trying to hide lies, but they're hard to keep
Keep tearing open bodies, "let it bleed" tonight.
Acting recklessly despite the consequences
Where have you gone?
Asking where someone's gone
Off with the friends you couldn't keep?
Wondering if someone left friends they couldn't maintain
Your mother's arms fill up with all the empty needs.
A mother's love and care can never be enough
So the saints line up to bring her in
Religious customs and traditions come to console
Comfort her and it's always comforting when they start to sing the same old:
Finding comfort in same old religious rituals
"holy, holy, lift up your dress.
Misusing religion inappropriately
Feel your body dissolving
Suggesting the body is losing its identity
Like sugar in the sacrament"
Religious practices eliminating humanity
"if it was just one night, then you could be redeemed.
Hopeful that redemption is possible
Tie these sins between your teeth,
Holding onto sins hoping no one finds out
Make hollow promises we'll never keep tonight"
Promising things we aren't capable of delivering
This is all we've ever known of God.
This is what we understand about God
Fight with me. let me touch you now.
Asking someone to fight and make them feel desired
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: III, ANDREW EVERDING, GEOFFREY RICKLY, ROBERT KEELEY, STEVEN PEDULLA, THOMAS RULE, TIMOTHY PAYNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
flylotonight
2018 and still rocking out to this album.
Will Terhart
I remember getting up early to go to kmart before school to get this album and Tool's 10k Days the day they were released... 12 years later this album still holds up
- λlτεrηιτγ -
powerful albums
Blasted Habits
I interpret a a little bit of this as being unwell, especially mentally, as an adult and failing to recover.
John O'Beirne
i agree with you. I always took this song to be about some sort of rape, specifically
- λlτεrηιτγ -
Ever grow up in the area of Jersey they're from?
brittany milburn
do u no how long i have been waitin for sumbody to put up the album version of this song? fucking forever. its about damn time. much thanks.
Zeppie Kerberus
I looked it up again and it seems like youtube changed something. Some of my Thursday-vids are now free to watch - but I don't believe for long and then they will go down again.
Zeppie Kerberus
Hi! Where are you from? Youtube gave me a list in which countries it is blocked. And that was just about the whole world ;)
Art.hropod
that "oh my god" part always sounded suspiciously similar to Magazine by Pedro the Lion