Think about the lyric for a second. Maybe its the story of a man (woman) where everything is going wrong. Or maybe its the story of a man (woman) who is so lonely and out of step with everybody else that his (her) world is the opposite of everybody else's (in his minds eye).

I started a joke that started the whole world crying.
I started to die that started the whole world living.
I started to cry that started the whole world laughing.

It is a song of sadness and despair. Everything is wrong and the person has sunk to the state where he (she) is convinced that it is his (her) fault. There is no hope left.

It is an incredibly powerful lyric. Think about this the next time you pass a homeless person, and aids victim, a drug addict or any of societies "left outs". Maybe they've given up. Maybe they really just need someone to restore their hope.

Yes, it is the perfect holiday song. The holidays should be about hope.

 

^Interesting thought and challenge. It is hard to imagine what life is like for those, "left outs." When I lived in NYC, young people in our church made whole bunch of sandwiches and passed them out to the homeless on a regular basis. Almost everyone accepted our sandwiches with gratitude. We always felt that we made a small difference even if it was only for one meal.

 

What it says to me is this: Very often we don't give a lot of thought to what we say, or what we do. Personally, I don't look at it as depressing or morose, just a reminder to try to stay present to our lives and the lives of those that we interact with. We don't just want to go thru life on auto-pilot, not realizing our impact until it's too late!

 

Its about giving up. Its about having no hope left.

 

Hmmmmm, food for thought. And just maybe its about having good intentions that are misunderstood, do you think? Example, I thought I'd make someone laugh, but instead everyone cried. I thought I'd live, but it was only by not living I made people happy. Ie, he had all the best intentions yet he was not successful in what he was trying to do. Thanks for making me think, Rob. No one does enough thinking.

 

You are absolutely right. Its about things not working the way you wanted them to.