Epitome: Sam Sparro – “Black and Gold”

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Sam Sparro – “Black and Gold” - A Spiritual Interpretation

Sam Sparro’s Black and Gold is a bold, legible song all about truth. It asks the critical question… ‘Why this world and all things in it?’ If not God, if he’s not here, nothing actually matters.

In the first and second verses Sparro takes a dig at the evolutionist in my view. If evolution was a relevant life theory things would continue evolving; i.e. the failure for things to continue to evolve would bring this theory undone.

If the fish swam out of the ocean

and grew legs and they started walking

and the apes climbed down from the trees

and grew tall and they started talking

and the stars fell out of the sky

and my tears rolled into the ocean

now i'm looking for a reason why

you even set my world into motion

If Sparro is looking for a reason that God’s set his world in motion, he’s simply curious about what would make any normal, rational person, curious. Why are we here? I’ve been a Christian for quite some time now and apart from believing I’m here to mould my character toward Heaven, I still don’t know why… and may never know. The meaning of life, like so many things is very esoteric in my view. This does not cause me to lose hope. On the contrary, I am full of hope that I can do so much good in God’s name whilst I’m here: that’s my purpose.

s
'cause if you're not really here

then the stars don't even matter

now i'm filled to the top with fear

but it's all just a bunch of matter

'cause if you're not really here

then i don't want to be either

i wanna be next to you

black and gold

i looked up into the night sky

and see a thousand eyes staring back

and all around these golden beacons

i see nothing but black

s
Black and Gold is about space; golden beacons shining forth on that ‘black’ background of nothingness. When we have a good look some time at the starry night sky, we can’t help but notice how very big the universe is and how commensurately small we are; it’s the biggest dichotomy.

i feel a way of something beyond them

i don't see what i can feel

if vision is the only validation

then most of my life isn't real

Anyone half spiritual knows that not everything visible is real. We can see fear in a person, yet what they respond to is not necessarily real; it’s only ‘real’ for them.