I am a big fan of Megadeth, a thrash metal band from USA. “Looking Down The Cross” is a song featured on their first record “Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good!”, to be precise, it’s the seventh track. The album was released in 1985. Back then, the lineup of this legendary thrash metal band consists of:
- Dave Mustaine — vocals & guitar
- Chris Poland — guitar
- David Ellefson — bass guitar & backing vocals
- Gar Samuelson — drums
Below is the original cover of the album. Brace yourself, it’s going to look dumb and corny
I’m not going to talk about the history of the band’s formation, their background stories, their mission, etc. In this post, I am going to take all of you my fellow readers to dig a bit deeper into the song called “Looking Down The Cross”. Let us begin.
As usual, I’m going to describe the objective aspects of the song first. Sure it features blistering guitar lines armed with full powered distortion placed by both Mustaine and Poland. The intro of the song sounds quite unconventional back in those days. Mustaine incorporates harmonic tapping and regular tapping while Poland follows Ellefson’s bass lines along with Samuelson’s kick drum; the three of them become the foundation of the song. Few bars later, diminished chord progressions kicks in followed by main vocals while the bass lines and drums remain constant although some fill-ins take place here and there (no wonder, Samuelson and Poland came from jazz background). Finally the story in the song starts to develop. With the root taking place in the A minor-ish scale, the guitar lines feature constantly switch between palm muting and regular strumming while the bass and drums build a new foundation to alter the vibe of the song. The vocals…well, simply continues. This features a number of unorthodox phrasings regardless the quite orthodox chord progressions. The role of each instrument remains constant enough throughout the song but the riffs are constantly changing from one section to another. The first section features a guitar solo part by Mustaine which turns out unexpectedly easy, considering his abilities back then. This first part kind has kind of A-B-C-A-B structure along with some twists on several places. Then the song’s mood shifts a bit. It’s the second section. The vocal carries on, but the guitars don’t. The bass and the drums finally get their spotlights in that 4 bar section. The guitars finally kick back in but not as aggressive as the first section; they only enhance the song’s mood at the moment. Suddenly we’re in the third section of the song. Opened by considerably hard riff consisting of alternate pickings, hammer-ons and pull-offs, along with horizontal left hand movements (arguably the hardest rhythm guitar line of the song), the vocals now are constantly high pitched. The rhythm guitar plays an octave-ish progression twice before the lead guitar starts ripping the third string on the first A note by high speed alternate pickings while the rhythm guitar carries on. After that, the song enters a breakdown, and mind you, a heavy one (you simply won’t be able to resist the urge to do that old school head-bangs). No words can do justice to this section and I’ll leave it that way. Anyway, Mustaine starts the second solo which is now unexpectedly hard, unlike the first one previously described. The breakdown consists of 4 bars, followed by the same chord progressions an octave lower. The vocals starts chanting the final lines of the song, considerably the climax of the song. In fact, this fourth section is arguably considered the climax part of the whole song. Finally the outro takes place. The outro features the same technique as the one primarily used in the middle of the first section of the song, only now the octave-ish chord progression is a bit different. An F power chord is the final chord of the song, accompanied by a descending moaning vocal line. Overall, the song features A-B-A-B patterns except for the A-B-C-B-A part.
Now let’s take a look into the lyrics of the song below (I shit you not, this might be one of the best lyrics I’ve ever read in my whole life, subjectively speaking):
Now before they take me
And my blessed life
Now you’ll know why death
Was summoned here tonight
I’ll recall my perils
They’ll kill me in pride
No, I can’t run away
There’s no place to hide
Though too much to live for
I owe enough to die
Ask not for salvation
My death shall mean their lives
Hatred and guilt the alter they’ve built
High priests of sun
Destiny, fate the wicked ones gate
Beckoning you in
Down the walkways
Through the blood stained town
Looking down the cross
Bleeding from the crown
Led to stay
To die besides the thieves
Kill the king
Of the world to be
And now to you, this will come
A putrefying pestilence
More noxious than the serpents breath
Malevolently destined
More corrupt than the malice of
Choronzon
More disease than the wind
Of the moonlight sun
Putrefaction you’ve caused
No need for confession
Now you wish you had a god
To stop your demolition
Crushing the bones of the hundred folds
Swinging the judgement hammer
Man, woman, child no-one is safe
The heads of the dead are the banner
And this was all you got
So don these broken wings
Sands of time run out
Bells of Hades ring
Is this a nightmare
To unhallow thy name
Smell of brimstone
Dancing in the flames
No help now
As you fulfill his task
Chief of evil
Has got you by the ass
Set free
To shaken the throne
Just a dream?
Your weeping all alone
Looking down the cross
(speak no evil)
I’m looking down the cross
(speak no evil)
Now let’s move on to the lyrics. One thing that i guess all of us should notice is the unique structure of the song; it has no chorus (or sometimes known as “reff”). The lyrics (and also the music) was written in a story-like structure, always taking the audience into a new chapter each, from the beginning all the way up to its’ climax. Why is this lyrical structure is the one being used in this song? Well, I guess considering the idea of the song did come from a Biblical story. It’s a song about Jesus. For those who aren’t familiar with the Bible, there’s a story about Jesus Christ’s arrest and crucifixion. It’s a part of the New Testament section of the book, precisely the first four chapters (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Try to read the story, if you will, I’m not going to force you but it’ll come handy if you want to understand the context completely). With a reference like that, the infamous verse-chorus structure would be incapable of representing the message and the vibe of the story, therefore I think we should agree that this story-like structure is necessary in order to guarantee that the whole aspect of the story itself remain intact.
And finally, we dive back into the title of this post by elaborating all of the previously established deductions. The song starts with a creepy vibe, depicting Christ’s anxiousness prior to his arrest…and execution of course. The rest of the song represents the things he would have to go through. In fact, this song is about Jesus’ final thoughts before his death. In Christianity, there is one dogma that says
Jesus Christ is 100% God and 100% human. The best encapsulation of his state of being is that he is a God in the form of human. He chose to become one of us because it is impossible for us to become like him…which means a God. It’s God’s ultimate work in order to save mankind from eternal punishment.
Being told so, all of you who are interested may take a look back into his documented final moments. Once you’re done, think about this:
All of his words are kind. All of his actions are free of sin. Considering he is 100% God and 100% human, isn’t all of this…uh…to God-ish? Where’s the human side of him, besides the moment when he stated that he was thirsty. All of his documented human side only features physical experiences: being thirsty, drowned in excruciating pain, falling down while carrying his cross, talking, etc. What about his unspoken thoughts? Well…I guess it’s okay to make him a bit more…human
And this is when the title of this post kicks in. We humans are blessed (or doomed) enough to have this thing called empathy. Considering Jesus is also a human, isn’t it a good thing that we are able to empathize to what he had been through? When we give our empathy to someone else, we are likely to think about changing our positions. By that, I mean we tend to place ourselves in the his/her shoes. Now take a look again at the lyrics of “Looking Down The Cross”. Can you feel it? Isn’t that what our thought would’ve been if we were him at that time? All the anxiousness, the fear of suffering and death, all makes perfect sense. Now you might feel comfortable that you can empathize Jesus, but some of you might also think that this kind of empathy should not exist.
We can’t judge God using human standards, it’s extremely arrogant to do so; it’s called blasphemy.
As cliche as it sounds, I dare to say that’s what religious people think of their God(s). It’s a blasphemy to project our humanly thoughts into God’s mind, so to speak. But again, the Christian dogma says that Christ is 100% God and 100% human. So what exactly should we feel when we read about his final moments? Should we empathize? If yes, just how far? Where does this fine and considerably blur line between empathy and blasphemy lies when it comes to cases like this? Well, it’s all up to all of you my fellow respected and loved readers to decide. Oh and it’s okay to decide not to think or care about all of this stuff, of course. I’m trying not to take even the slightest bit of your freedom of thoughts. The choice is all yours.
I think that’s it for this post. Anyway, for those of you who haven’t listened to the song but curious enough to do so and also for those of you who know the song and simply want to listen to it again, ladies and gentlemen, this is it. Behold, “Looking Down The Cross”
