Music Notes

Gods Don't Pray, by ID

My 20th is a deep cut off the 2024 Imagine Dragons album Loom. It's ironic, I'm writing this in one sitting back to back with yesterday's, and the two songs are thematically diametrically opposed, as you might guess by the provocative title.

Sound:
Gods Don't Pray is built around a surprisingly infectious, bouncy bass line, with edgy synth waves and squelchy little sounds interspersed. Musically it's fairly simple, allowing the words to come through without a lot of fussy effects.

Theme:
The lyrics are where it's at in this song. This is one of the only songs my bands have recently released which I memorized all the words to quickly. I only remember bits and pieces mostly these days, since I don't write them down by hand anymore (golly, how did I ever have time for that )

When I first saw the title Gods Don't Pray in the Loom tracklist, I worried it would be a deeply sacrilegious song. ID has previously put out songs discussing Dan Reynolds "Lennon-ish" lack of faith; in 2022's Take It Easy, he declares "they tell me heaven's just a lie—well I'm not surprised!"

I didn't need to worry, though, because this song is far more relevant to earthly drama than it is spiritual. Although I will point out that as Dan was raised Mormon, he is familiar with their understanding of humanity eventually achieving divinity. This may have led to his questioning why he should pray and who exactly he would be praying to if he did. There is some dispute over how the song's theme originated in the studio.

Dan speaks with a remarkably tidy rhythm: the two verses have a perfect 10-8-10-8 syllable count. I always say he talks more than he sings; in a way, he's really reciting poetry. This relates to his love of 90's hip-hop like Tupac and such. This also makes Gods Don't Pray very easy for me to sing. It's the kind of song I bring with me when I have to walk alone.

Where Dan says "love me, hate me and make me ugly, break me and shame me…" it was like a gut punch in my soul when I first heard it. I know exactly how that feels…

Significance:
Gods Don't Pray captured my fancy in a truly powerful way when I first listened to it. I imagined all sorts of dramatic scenarios, kind of like what you would see in Road to Perdition. As a sensitive person, I avoid watching movies at all costs and instead take satisfaction in songs which give me "movies in my head."

One of the scenarios I imagined had to do with the decadence of Rome and the Caesars' tendency to consider themselves gods. A father figure in ancient Rome had complete control over his household and those of his adult children, right down to determining if they lived or died. A situation like this is ripe for horrific distortion.

In essence, that is ultimately the working definition of a "God" for Gods Don't Pray: one who holds the power of life and death in their hands.

I became so obsessed over this song that during the month of August, when I decided to write something for Steven's fire-themed horror contest, I assumed I would be taking inspiration for a solidly horrifying tale from Gods Don't Pray. I even told him that in a Newsfeed comment, to which he responded dryly, "why am I not surprised?"

It didn't really work that way… the twisted, dysfunctional father-son relationship I had in mind managed to normalize itself, and ultimately the story I hammered out had little to connect it with the things I thought about when I listened to Gods Don't Pray.

Indeed, I think I might have had an easier time writing the story if I hadn't been so sure I would be inspired by one specific song. That experience taught me an important lesson about separating my music from my writing.

Enjoy… if you can

Words: 681.

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