For My Sunday Song #274, we are going to talk about a song that is not what you’d expect from Rick Springfield. It is a blues song called “Blues for the Disillusioned” off his 2018 album ‘The Snake King’ which is as close to blues album as you will get from Rick. The album didn’t chart, the song was not a single and it might be one you’ve never heard about, but you would be missing out.

The album was recorded during a very dark time in Rick’s life. He had contemplated suicide at one point during his darkest days. I’m not sure if this album was his therapy, but he laid out a lot on this album and this song in particular for me was a standout. There are a lot of religious aspects to the song and not all of them good. He blasts God and the Bible in particular John 16:24 where it says “Ask and You Shall Receive”, but I don’t think Rick feels God answered anything. In fact, I think he is now very disillusioned with God and faith. In reading the lyrics, Rick has had enough of so called “God” and it seems he feels that God has abandoned us all and it really makes this a very sad song.

Some of the other examples are that God manipulated Adam and Eve as well as they say God doesn’t give you what you ask for, He gives you what you need…well tell that to the 13 million starving kids in the Middle East. These parts of the song show some one who is not on the side of God anymore. I wonder where he sits now, I’d love to ask him about it.

The song is more of a ballad type song in tempo and it has a melancholy feel to it which makes sense as the lyrics are pretty dark. There is a not much blues per se, more of a country twang, but the slide guitar gives a little hint at blues. Regardless, there is a nice groove and Rick does sound great, but for me the song is about the lyrics and the meaning behind them all. That is what I found most fascinating about it. For that, I am a huge fan.

Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. Have you ever been to a point where you questioned your faith? I believe we all have at one point or another. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy Sunday!

“Blues For The Disillusioned”

Blues for the Disillusioned
There will be no atonement
Me in my confusion
And in a careless moment
I fell in love with everything
That caused me so much pain
Send a message to my father
Signed it with a mark of cain
I waited for an answer
Like I’d seen the love you do
I teetered like a dancer
Trembled like an ingenue
I never got a message
I never got a call
I crawled out of the wreckage
Nobody there to catch my fall

I know that it was written
Your prayers would all be heard
John 16: 24
It says it word for word
Ask and you shall receive
Your joy will be complete
They set you up for victory
Then they had you your defeat
Come on down to my place
I got Playstation 99
Nixon hangs with Elvis
Sleeping Beauty sleeps with Frankenstein
Saint Joan of Arc and Lenny
Have become the best of friends
Bin Laden wears a sign that says
True love never ends

Blues for the Disillusioned
I know how you all breathe
I was there at the beginning
With Adam and with Eve
And God’s manipulation was
Was partisan at best
Although it was a worst result
To think that you’re all blessed
You’ve been living under false decrees
I guess you get that now
There’s really no such thing as
All that heaven will allow
I wanna be your angel
I wanna be your king
If you wanna be my girl
You gotta sacrifice everything

You keep on drilling
You can’t cut through his firewall
Your spirit is willing
Savor all your drugs and alcohol
Blues for the blighted
Welcome to the wallflower social club
Everyone’s invited
Sai Baba’s here with Beezlebub
I know you thought that life was fair
And you believed the creed
God doesn’t give you what you want
Only what you need
I think that’s pretty dubious
To say the very least
So I tell him that the 13 million
Kids there in the middle east
All my father’s promises
Were made when he was high
You’re kicked out of the nest
And now it’s time for you to fly

Blues for the disillusioned
Blues for the disillusioned
Blues for the disillusioned
Blues for the disillusioned

Blues for the disillusioned
Blues for the disillusioned

Written by Rick Springfield