… is by Sting. From his 1999 Brand New Day album. If you like, listen to the song while reading the lyrics below (YouTube version here). Then further below are the lyrics with my thematic-dramatic-arc notes added.
“Fill Her Up”
Mobil station
Where I stand
This old gas pump
In my hand.
The boss don’t like me
A face like a weasel
All on my hands
The smell of diesel.
Here come a big shot
Here he come!
From the city
God damn!
V-8 engine
She runs so pretty.
Woo!
Fill ‘er up, son
Unleaded.
I need a full tank of gas
where I’m headed
Up in the front seat
A pretty red head,
We’re going to Vegas
We’re gonna get wed
So fill her up, son!
Don’t be starin’
Yeah, that’s a real diamond she be wearin’.
I’m gonna treat my baby one day.
I’m gonna fill ‘er up and head west.
That’s it
I’m gonna find some money all right.
See orange tail lights headed west
I got no money to invest
I got no prospects
Or education
I was lucky to get the job at this gas station.
That old cash box
That old cash box
On the top shelf
On the top shelf
The boss is sleeping
The boss is sleeping
I’ll just help myself.
Let’s consider this
As just a loan
I can sort it out later on the phone.
I’m gonna pick my girl up tonight
I’m gonna fill ‘er up and head west
I’m gonna show her all the bright lights
We’re gonna say we lived ‘fore we come home.
And as I head through the woods on the way back
The evening sun is slanting through the pine trees real pretty
It’s like I walked into a glade of heaven
And there’s music playing
And this money is cold in my hand and a voice somewhere is saying:
Why would you want to take that stolen thing?
What real happiness can it bring?
Ohhh Ahhhohhhh Ohhhh
You’re gonna fill her up with sadness
You’re gonna fill her up with shame
You’re gonna fill her up with sorrow before she even takes your name
You’re gonna fill her up with badness
You’re gonna fill her up with pain
You’re gonna live with no tomorrow
You’re gonna fill her up with hate
You’re gonna fill her up darkness
You’re gonna fill her up with light
You gotta fill her up with Jesus!
You gotta fill her up with light!
You gotta fill her up with spirit
You’ve gotta fill her up with faith
You gotta fill her up with heaven
You’ve got the rest of life to face
You’ve gotta fill her up right away
You’ve gotta fill her up with faith
You’ve gotta fill her up with babies
You’ve gotta fill her up with this way
You’re gonna love that girl forever
Your gonna fill her up for life
You’re gonna be her loving husband
She gonna be your lovely wife
You’ve gotta fill her up with gladness.
You gotta fill her up with joy
You gotta fill her up with love
You gotta fill her up with love …
* * *
Here is my gloss: Sting’s lyrics on the left side and my theme-notes on the right side.
I am neither religious nor conservative, but I like this song very much, both musically and thematically.
It captures one strain of religious conservatism: the kind that wants one to live morally upright life — but for that to be integrated with a happy life filled with real value in this world — that recognizes the pull of temptations to take shortcuts — but holds that even the most common of common people can decide the proper course for themselves and successfully embark upon it.
The title is an over-statement, perhaps. Maybe it’s the best American religious conservative song. I’m thinking of the stereotype of optimistic-American-everyman-of-humble-origins who combines practical worldliness with religion. But I am open to suggestion.
I’d change your characterization where you wrote “the end justifies the means”. In my opinion, “short-term satisfaction vs. long-term consequences” might be better.
And that, in a nutshell, is what makes traditional religion so hard to do without. Leaving aside the metaphysical question of whether the universe can be entirely explained by a combination of material causation and random chance, human societies require a means of organically transmitting the rules and self-restraint required for a successful life within a viable community. Without that, going to Las Vegas in a blaze of glory starts to look pretty good to someone with an otherwise dead-end life.
Thus far, methods of transmitting “The Rules” in a top-down fashion or without the force of religion have been found…somewhat lacking.
Interesting suggestion, Neil.
My characterization is a reading of what’s going on inside the young man’s head. He knows he’s stealing (means) but he pushes that out of his mind to focus on the good times it buys (end).
It doesn’t register to me that he’s weighing short- against long-term consequences.
Perhaps I could have chosen my words better. 🙂 You’re quite right, at that moment in the song he’s not weighing anything, he’s only thinking about the short-term pleasure of having “lived” once. Although he must know there will be negative consequences, he’s ignoring them. He’s ignoring what “home” will look like to him when he gets back. But he’s also not really thinking about the “means” as a negative–he’s already rationalized it as a “loan” and has moved on to his plans for the money. He’s completely focused on the the next day or so of his life, with no history and no future beyond that. That’s what struck me as off in the phrase “ends justify the means”.
So maybe it should just be “short-term pleasure without concern for the consequences”.
That works for me too, Neil.
Of Bob Dylan’s multitude of religiously influenced songs, I’d bring to your attention License To Kill. These lyrics come from bobdylan.com.
Man thinks ’cause he rules the earth he can do with it as he please
And if things don’t change soon, he will
Oh, man has invented his doom
First step was touching the moon
Now, there’s a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grows still
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Now, they take him and they teach him and they groom him for life
And they set him on a path where he’s bound to get ill
Then they bury him with stars
Sell his body like they do used cars
Now, there’s a woman on my block
She just sit there facin’ the hill
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Now, he’s hell-bent for destruction, he’s afraid and confused
And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill
All he believes are his eyes
And his eyes, they just tell him lies
But there’s a woman on my block
Sitting there in a cold chill
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Ya may be a noisemaker, spirit maker
Heartbreaker, backbreaker
Leave no stone unturned
May be an actor in a plot
That might be all that you got
’Til your error you clearly learn
Now he worships at an altar of a stagnant pool
And when he sees his reflection, he’s fulfilled
Oh, man is opposed to fair play
He wants it all and he wants it his way
Now, there’s a woman on my block
She just sit there as the night grows still
She say who gonna take away his license to kill?
Copyright © 1983 by Special Rider Music
Thanks, Bruce. Very clearly so.