My favorite song by the band Gin Blossoms is “Lost Horizons”. I think that its appeal lies in the power of a heart laid bare in the lyrics by Doug Hopkins. It moves through three situations, each moving from the outside in. Starting with the locale full of bars and factories, the lyrics go on “I’d drink enough of anything to make this world look new again”. The next move is towards people, that the girl and his relationship has lost its life and purpose. She has nothing to say, so she says “i love you” and even these words are empty…so the lyrics go on “I’d drink enough of anything to make this girl look new again.” And then finally we go to the failures and weakness of the speaker. “I’d never thought i’d still be here today”. It describes hopes that never came to fruition. Plans that were never carried out. Everything seems so stillborn about his life. And so we hear the final words “I’d drink enough of anything, to make myself look new again”.
What’s desired is for redemption, for the world, for the people, for himself to be new. But how does one make new what has become old. There is alcohol that makes things look different for an instant, but it is a trick. If there was some kind of drink, potion, that would make things permanently look new, that’d I’d drink! But there is no such thing, no pill, no antidote and no hope…things remain gray, washed out and fading.
Its the honesty with the yearning for redemption. And, personally, I do think there is redemption in Jesus, not to sound cliche. But the honesty of the plight is profound and i tend to think that whether we admit it or not, we all feel these things at some point. We need redemption. Hopkins’ tragedy as many people might already know, was that his alcoholism brought all kinds of self destructive events, leading to a kind of abandonment by his band mates in favor of being accepted by a major label (the deal was either Hopkins is out or no deal), subsequent success by the band post-Hopkins, all with the songs he wrote giving the band success and hit singles, and then a gold record sent in the mail from them…he went on to smash the record and then committed suicide later.
Knowing that tragedy, it makes me hear Hopkins’ words clearer and then makes me want to shout out to him…that he can be made new… in Christ.
Quinby 