I was listening to the new Jars of Clay album yesterday.  I hadn’t really listened to the whole thing through yet and I stumbled upon the song “Headphones.”  The lyrics really caught me.  They made me think about our tech saturated culture.  We walk down the street with our heads down and our headphones in.  We were made for community, yet we isolate ourselves.  We yearn to live life with others in meaningful, intimate relationships; but we push people away regularly.  The song made me think, the world is hurting, we are hurting and we are ignoring it.  We need community more than ever.  In the age of connection by technology, we can end up farther away from community than ever…

I don’t have to hear it
If I don’t want to
I can drown this out
Pull the curtains down on you
It’s a heavy world
It’s too much for me to care
If I close my eyes
It’s not there

With my headphones on

We watch television
But the sound is something else
Just a song played against the drama
So the hurt is never felt
I take in the war fires
And I’m chilled by the current events
It’s so hopeless
But there’s a pop song in my head

phones on
With my headphones on

At the tube stop
You sit down across from me
I think I know you
By the sad eyes that I see
And I wanna tell you
Everything will be ok
But you wouldn’t hear it
So we go our separate ways

with our headphones on

I don’t wanna be the one who
Tries to figure it out
I don’t need another reason
I should care about you
You don’t wanna know my story
You don’t wanna own my pain
We’re living in a heavy, heavy world
And there’s a pop song in my head
yeah there’s a pop song in my head

Yeah it’s a heavy world
Oh no, I don’t wanna have to hear it
Heavy world

No, I don’t wanna have to hear it

Headphones
Written by Dan Haseltine, Charlie Lowell, Stephen Mason & Matt Odmark
The Long Fall Back to Earth
Jars of Clay