Victor Barden: Music

• MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

As any New England Patriots fan knows, in American football the team on defense can score, but in just about all other sports the team on defense cannot score. No team or individual ever won a sporting event without scoring. The point of all that is that we are called to run our race as though to win (1 Corinthians 9:24), and we can’t win the race if we are constantly on defense. There could be many verses written to this song because all of us live on defense to some degree in many different ways.
This song took several years to come together fully. The music and chorus lyrics were written before the first CD was released, but the verses didn’t come until shortly afterward. I’ve known a number of people about whom the first verse could be written; the second verse was about a specific young woman who shall remain nameless to protect her privacy, and the third verse, I must confess, is a bit autobiographical.

He’s the toughest guy in town, not a man with whom you mess around.
And day or night he’s ready to fight and knock you to the ground.
But if you could see him when he’s alone, you would see a different man,
And if you could hang around long enough, then you would understand that…

CHO: He’s living on defense,
Trying to make a pretense of being something that he’s not,
Having something that he hasn’t got.
He tries to keep himself covered
Hoping no one will discover that he really is
Just living on defense.

She’s called a tough-nut by everyone, always ready to have it out.
One night a so-called man did things to her that she won’t talk about.
She carries the pain around today, doesn’t dare to let it go
‘Cause she doesn’t want another one to get in so close.

CHO: She’s living on defense,
Trying to make a pretense of being something that she’s not,
Having something that she hasn’t got.
She tries to keep herself covered
Hoping no one will discover that she really is
Just living on defense.

He’s known all over as a funny man; he is always cracking jokes.
He learned to jive just to stay alive and get along with other folks.
But if you knew him a little more, you just might wonder why.
And then you’d see so clearly that he laughs so he won’t cry.

CHORUS 1

Lord, deliver us from
Living on defense,
Trying to make a pretense of being something that we’re not,
Having something that we haven’t got.
How we keep ourselves covered
Hoping no one will discover that we really are
Just living on defense.