March 28, 2024

Underneath it’s all the same love

I was surprised to hear a powerful song on mainstream radio about LGBT rights for one thing. But then the song is also openly anti-religious too. When I thought about it how can a song about how harsh the world is to LGBT people be anything but anti-religious in order to speak the truth?

The steady stream of hate coming from the pulpits turns more people away from the church than any advocate of atheism ever could.

Same Love Lyrics

by Macklemore (bold emphasis mine)

[Verse 1: Macklemore] When I was in the 3rd grade

I thought that I was gay

Cause I could draw, my uncle was

And I kept my room straight

I told my mom, tears rushing down my face

She’s like, “Ben you’ve loved girls since

before pre-K”

Trippin’, yeah, I guess she had a point,

didn’t she

A bunch of stereotypes all in my head

I remember doing the math like

“Yeah, I’m good a little league”

A pre-conceived idea of what it all meant

For those who like the same sex had the

characteristics

The right-wing conservatives think it’s a

decision

And you can be cured with some

treatment and religion Man-made, rewiring of a pre-disposition

Playing God

Ahh nah, here we go

America the brave

Still fears, what, we don’t know

And God loves all His children

Is somehow forgotten

But we paraphrase a book written

35 hundred years ago

I don’t know

[Hook: Mary Lambert]

And I can’t change

Even if I tried

Even if I wanted to

And I can’t change

Even if I tried

Even if I wanted to My love, my love, my love

She keeps me warm [x4]

[Verse 2: Macklemore]

If I was gay

I would think hip-hop hates me

Have you read the YouTube comments

lately

“Man that’s gay”

Gets dropped on the daily We’ve become so numb to what we’re

sayin’

Our culture founded from oppression

Yeah, we don’t have acceptance for ’em

Call each other faggots

Behind the keys of a message board

A word routed in hate

Yet our genre still ignores it

Gay is synonymous with the lesser

It’s the same hate that’s caused wars from

religion

Gender and skin color

Complexion of your pigment

The same fight that lead people to walkouts and sit-ins

t’s human rights for everybody

There is no difference

Live on! And be yourself! When I was in church

They taught me something else

If you preach hate at the service

Those words aren’t anointed

And that Holy Water

That you soak in

Is then poisoned When everyone else

Is more comfortable

Remaining voiceless

Rather than fighting for humans

That have had their rights stolen

I might not be the same

But that’s not important

No freedom ’til we’re equal

Damn right I support it

I don’t know

[Hook: Mary Lambert]

And I can’t change

Even if I tried

Even if I wanted to

And I can’t change

Even if I tried

Even if I wanted to My love, my love, my love

She keeps me warm [x4]

[Verse 3: Macklemore] We press play

Don’t press pause

Progress, march on! With a veil over our eyes We turn our back on the cause

‘Till the day

That my uncles can be united by law

Kids are walkin’ around the hallway

Plagued by pain in their heart

A world so hateful

Someone would rather die

Than be who they are

And a certificate on paper

Isn’t gonna solve it all

But it’s a damn good place to start

No law’s gonna change us We have to change us Whatever god you believe in We come from the same one

Strip away the fear

Underneath it’s all the same love

About time that we raised up

[Hook: Mary Lambert]

And I can’t change

Even if I tried

Even if I wanted to

And I can’t change

Even if I tried

Even if I wanted to My love, my love, my love

She keeps me warm [x4]

[Outro: Mary Lambert]

Love is patient, love is kind

Love is patient (not cryin’ on Sundays)

Love is kind (not crying on Sundays) [x5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0

9 thoughts on “Underneath it’s all the same love

  1. Loved it the first time I heard it here (we got an amazing alternative station here in Kansas City). Thanks for reminding me!

  2. I heard this song twice today on local radio, and thought. Holy shit, that’s powerful, and it hits all the right notes?

  3. “Same Love” is a very powerful song, and it’s been good hear it get so much airtime (although I wonder if I’ve been hearing it more here in California than you’ve heard it in Texas).

    _

    But I’m not sure it can be said to be anti-religion – it’s more specifically anti-religiously-motivated hate. And Google itself informs me that Macklemore himself has described himself as “spiritual, but not religious” and said “Music is how I connect to God”. Perhaps he could be called anti-organized-religion.

  4. Lilandra:

    I first heard this song earlier in the summer. I usually have the radio on in my car, but it is often background noise. I didnt start to pick up on the lyrics until the tail end, but like you, I was floored. As a gay man, hearing an artist sing about gay rights was amazing. I scrambled once I got home to figure out who the artist was, but the radio station didnt pick up. Then came the DUH moment. After a few minutes of searching online, I found the artist and lyrics. The song is moving. And it is mainstream. The message it delivers is reaching a LOT of people via a popular medium.

    I do not listen to hip hop/rap, as much of what I have heard does not appeal to me.

    Macklemore does. It is all the more powerful given his in-song criticism of hip hops treatment of gays.

  5. powerful video great massage… as a straight male i’m appauled at what we do to eachother, and often in the name of some “all loving god(s)”…. make it a point to combat the ignorance most display daily, do not just brush it off, confront it, doing anything less is the same as condoning it.

  6. Thank you, Lilandra. One of my children is gay and trans, and watching what she is forced to go through just hurts. I’m sending her this video with all my love attached to it.

  7. As a mother of a junior in high school who happens to be a lesbian, I burst into tears while driving when I first heard this playing. I have seen so much hate in my 50 years and none so poignant as what I have seen as my daughter has come of age. Can you imagine this playing on the radio even 3 years ago?? Damn, something’s in my eye again.

Leave a Reply to michaelbusch Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top