The Myth of "Pull Me Out."

One of my favorite musical artists, Bebo Norman, opens his most recent album with a song called "Pull Me Out." As the title implies, the song is a desperate plea for God's rescue from this world. In my opinion, this song is a good example (though perhaps not perfect) of the "Coming of a Messiah" myth. The verses of the song express despair because of the way the world has stolen Norman's joy: "And now I feel like I'm treading water, and I'm hardly real - I'm just trying harder to make my way on the earth by standing still." This "everything is beyond help" mentality is something that is characteristic of this particular myth. In fact, according to the myth, things will never get better unless a messiah comes. "Messiah" does not necessarily refer to Jesus Christ; rather, it is any sort of a figure who comes to redeem a group of people and restore the way things were. However, in this song, the messiah figure is indeed Jesus Christ, whom Norman begs to "reach down here and pull me out."

Although this song does fit the "Coming of a Messiah" myth pretty well, I think it is not an exact match because Norman seems to advocate a complete removal from the situation. It seems to me that the myth describes someone who changes the situation to something better, rather than simply saving people from it. But all things considered, Bebo Norman's song "Pull Me Out" is a good example of a media text that predominantly exhibits the "Coming of a Messiah" myth.