GOD SONG

My house was built for loving not a theatre of war
I take the poison for the cure
But he's my man and I've been doing him wrong
Yeah he's my man and I've been doing him wrong
And I'm praying for the strength not to carry on

I've watched and learnt to lead a decent life
But meanwhile I'm dying inside
Cos he's my man and I keep doing him wrong
Yeah he's my man and I've been doing him wrong
But I'm praying for the strength not to carry on

I was built for loving not playing at war
And I leave justice in the good hands of the law
But he's my man and I've been doing him wrong
Yeah he's my man and I've done him wrong
But I'm praying for the strength not to carry on

Written by: Beth Orton
Album version on: Daybreaker

Ryan Adams and Emmylous Harris provided backing vocals for this track. Read what Orton has to say about this song:

"I'll tell you a story about 'God Song', and how that came about. I was doing a Harry Smith project. You know Harry Smith? The folk anthology? [The seminal three volume The Anthology of American Folk Music]. They wanted me to do two songs, and I'd been busy, and the day before the gigs, the CD arrives, you know, the folk anthology, and the idea is there are particular songs they want me to song. So I tried to put the CD on, and for some reason my CD player decided to break that day. So all I had was the words, and the chords at the top of the page. I had never heard the song 'Frankie And Johnny' before. 'He's my man and he keeps doing me wrong', is the chorus. So I just had these words, and I just made up my own melody. And I sang it that night, and I was like, "Fuck I Love this,' and I was like, 'I'll just do a cover of it, 'And then I was like, 'Oh, fuck it!' And then I heard the original, and mine is nothing like the original. And I was like, 'What if I wrote my own words to the chorus?' So I started just messing around in my own time, not for anyone else, not for any reason, but for my own thing. And then I was just mor einterested in the idea of he's my man and I keep doing him wrong. And now, maybe this is my answer to that song, maybe this is me being Frankie. Maybe, maybe, I'm the modern-day Frankie and I'm just admitting that actually I'm doing him wrong, or maybe he is God, and maybe when you reflect on someone, you reflect on your relationship to God. And... I don't know... If you want to get really into it, there is a literal sense in what I'm saying, but what I'm saying is also really not literal. It's kind of a ... I don't know... I just really get into all that... For me, it's like this on top of this, that underneath."