God Bless You

Album: Set The World on Fire (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • 590AD was not a good time to be living in Rome. The plague was consuming the city and when Pope Pelagius died of the disease, morale was at an all time low. The first act of his successor, Gregory the Great, was to order a sorrowful procession through the city and the plague soon subsided. It is said that Pope Gregory originated the usage of the phrase "God Bless You" when someone sneezes, as sneezing was a mortal symptom because of the plague. (The Romans used to cry "absit omen!" (flee, omen!)).

    It is unlikely that Black Veil Brides frontman Andy "Six" Biersack was thinking of Pope Gregory the Great when he titled this song - here's what he told Kerrang! magazine about the tune: "This is more of a snotty send-off. There are so many people that you meet in life and try to get close to, who ultimately let you down; time and time again they show their true colors. I think you've got to be able to take the high road and say, 'God bless you, do what you gotta do in life.'"

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