Jesus the Mexican Boy

Now for my monthly post. I should try to get better at doing this blog thing.

Iron and Wine is probably my favorite band right now. I have a recording of their show at Calvin in 2005 (don't tell, please), and I've been listening to it constantly for the past few days. If I'm not listening to it, then I'm singing one of the songs. You get the picture.

Anyway, Monica went out and bought a few more of their albums this weekend. She gave me the disc "The Sea..." I forget the title right now, but it's about the sea. This song, Jesus the Mexican Boy, is on the album, and here are the lyrics:

Jesus the Mexican boy
born in a truck on the fourth of July
gave me a card with a lady naked on the back
Barefoot at night on the road
Fireworks blooming above in the sky
I never knew I was given the best one from the deck

He never wanted nothing I remember
Maybe a broken bottle if I had two
Hanging behind his holy even temper
Hiding the more unholy things I do

Jesus the Mexican boy
Gave me a ride on the back of his bike
Out to the fair though I welched on a $5 bet
Drunk on Calliope songs
We met a home-wrecking carnival girl
He's never asked for a favor or the money yet

Jesus the Mexican boy
Born in a truck on the 4th of July
I fell in love with his sister unrepentantly
Fearing he wouldn't approve
We made a lie that was feeble at best
Boarded a train bound for Vegas and married secretly

I never gave him nothing I remember
Maybe a broken bottle if I had to
Hanging behind his holy even temper
Hiding the more unholy things I do

Jesus the Mexican boy
Wearing a long desert trip on his tie
Lo and behold he was standing under the welcome sign
Naked the Judas in me
Fell by the tracks but he lifted me high
Kissing my head like a brother and never asking why

Ahh...what a great little poem. There's many ideas one could draw from this work, but I'll share a few that strike me.

The first is the idea that if Jesus were born today, he'd be a mexican boy born on the fourth of july. I'm not sure what the fourth of July signifies here, but the idea of Jesus being from Galilee in Israel being allegorical to him being born a mexican in America today really strikes me as fairly accurate: low on the socio-economic ladder, not highly esteemed by most of society, and largely ignored by the powers that be.

The second thing that strikes me is the sinfulness of the first person speaker in this song. His incessant sinning is met with incessant love from Jesus. That's comforting to a fellow sinner.

So, there's my cursory treatment of this wonderful song. Listen to it for yourself, along with some of Iron and Wine's other works. They're wonderful--at least I think they are.