4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Notes
Track thirteen is the deliberate twin of track two. Three Elders and a Door marched me into that office over a hard freight-train beat. Set Me Free rolls me back out of it - same rhythm, turned bright and glad - twenty-five years later, and it pays off the line track two left hanging. Back then I sang I did not know that morning what that shut door was. Now I know.
That door they shut, it set me free. The men meant to shut me out. But the Lord had His own hand on it, and the Lord was swinging it the other way. The verses name the two things that office gave me without meaning to. One - I had a conscience, and it was mine, and it answered to the Lord alone. Two - they told me I was nothing off their roll, but I found my name was written somewhere they could not reach to scratch it out. I was not a member, I was a son. And no man takes a son off of the roll.
The bridge does not pretend freedom was cheap. It cost me a church, it cost me tears, it cost me a place to belong. And if the bill came back around tomorrow I would pay it all again. And then the song does the thing this whole catalog keeps doing - it ends with wide arms instead of a clenched fist. Wherever those three men are now, I hope the Lord is good to them. They meant to close a door. What they actually closed was the door of a cage I never knew I was in. And I rolled on out, and I am rolling still.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
It has been the better part of twenty-five years now
Since I sat down crying in a parking lot, a young man with no church
And for the longest time I did not know what that shut door was
The one those three men closed behind me
But I have had twenty-five years to learn it, and now I know
[Chorus]
That door they shut, it set me free
They thought that they were shutting me out
But the Lord had His own hand on it
And the Lord was swinging it the other way
The worst morning of my life
Was the morning I was set free
That door they shut, it set me free
[Verse 2]
They sat me down to tell me that my conscience answered them
That a man should not go reading where his elders had not led
But I walked out of that office with a thing I did not walk in with
I had a conscience, and it was mine
And it answered to the Lord alone
[Verse 3]
They told me I was nothing if I was not on their roll
That a man cut from the membership was a man cut from the vine
But I found my name was written somewhere they could not reach to scratch it out
I was not a member, I was a son
And no man takes a son off of the roll
[Chorus]
That door they shut, it set me free
They thought that they were shutting me out
But the Lord had His own hand on it
And the Lord was swinging it the other way
The worst morning of my life
Was the morning I was set free
That door they shut, it set me free
[Bridge]
And freedom is a real thing, I have held it twenty-five years
It cost me a church, it cost me tears, it cost me a place to belong
And if the bill came back around tomorrow I would pay it all again
Because the man I am, the free man
Was born in that office, on that day
[Final Verse and Outro]
So wherever those three men are now, I hope the Lord is good to them
They meant to close a door on me, and a door is what they closed
But it was the door of a cage, and I never knew the cage was there
Till the morning that they shut it
And I rolled on out, and I am rolling still
That door they shut, it set me free
Commentary