4/23: Totem

Or, did Neil think of science as another form of idolatry?

I've got 12 disciples and a Buddha smile
Garden of Allah, Viking Valhalla
A miracle once in a while.

Past!Me thought it was absolutely hilarious to place “Totem,” a song about our relationship to gods and idols, on the first full day of Passover. (Especially since the one religion not explicitly referenced in the opening verses is Judaism.)

There’s some cool moments in this song, particularly at the bridge where Alex opts for a lighter touch on the guitar. I also happen to think Geddy’s voice sounds ethereal and lovely on the “sweet chariot, swing low / coming for me” that closes out the song.

That said, I’m not sure “Totem” quite hits the mark for me—at least, not in the way it was intended.

Generally I have no problem with Neil’s atheism; ”Faithless” and “Ghost of a Chance” are two of his best songs, IMO. However, the vibe in “Totem” is less confident than condescending. The lyrics lump every religion into the same bucket—even some that aren’t religions, but civilizations (Aztec and Maya)—reducing them all to mere frameworks of good and evil designed to manipulate you and prey on your fears. But the narrator, of course, doesn’t believe in all that hooey. No, he believes in what he sees and hears; he has “celestial mechanics to synchronize [his] stars” and so on. He doesn’t need faith, because he’s a scientist.

This is one of those times that I think Neil wrote a song cleverer than he may have intended. Because by holding up science as the antidote to religion’s framework of fear, Neil implicitly argues that his trust in science somehow insulates or protects him from the same manipulations worked on those other, less-enlightened Believers. Which, of course, is exactly what those Believers think about their individual religions—that it will protect and insulate them from being manipulated and afraid. Neil is unintentionally holding up science as a form of idolatry—his totem, just like all the other “totems” referenced in the song.

Or maybe it was intentional. Maybe that’s the point of the song? It very well could be—the more I sit with Neil’s lyrics throughout this project, the more I’ve begun to suspect he was far more self-aware than I ever gave him credit for.