Switchfoot: Legend of Chin
The Legend of Chin (1997) kicks off with the manic tunes “Bomb� and “Chem 6A� as the themes of oppressive apathy and self-doubt seem to cloud the mind. Both songs touch on the lure of mind-numbing media and the fact that couch-potatoe-dom cannot be avoided when staring at the pictures on the TV screen. “Life and Love and Why� asks many of the hard questions about life and belonging that will be answered later in Learning and Letdown. “Could it be true/Can life be new/And can I be used� asks Foreman, wondering what about his life could be renewed and used for a greater good. He seems to have a decent idea about the answer to his own question but poses it with uncertainity in the final verse: “Could it be all that I am is in you/Could it be this/Could it be bliss/Can it be you/Can it be you.�
So the singer’s worth may be found in his relationship with the other (rather than in self), emphasized again in “You,� a postlude to “Life and Love,� as “hope is not in what I know/Not in me/It’s in you.� Who is the “you?� I have my bets… but “Ode to Chin� knocks the question out of the park: “Life’s more than girls/God’s more than words/You’re more than this.� There is already established category of what God isn’t—He’s not just mechanical, rhetorical or theoretical—and Switchfoot spends it’s musical history trying to dig deeper. Chin leaves their listeners with an understanding that things are often confusing, complicated, and painful, yet hopeful. And the pushing point is that Switchfoot thinks we should all reach out and use what we have to help others who need help. (Now, where have I heard that before…?)
Click any song below to listen to a sample mp3.
1. Bomb 2:45
2. Chem 6a 3:11
3. Underwater 3:46
4. Edge of My Seat 2:45
5. Home 4:02
6. Might Have Ben Hur 2:38
7. Concrete Girl 5:05
8. Life and Love and Why 2:53
9. You 4:13
10. Ode to Chin 2:13
11. Don't Be There 4:22
Total Running Time: 37:53
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