God

Album: 22 Dreams (2008)
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Songfacts®:

  • Paul Weller told Mojo magazine June 2008 about this spoken word piece: "It was (guitarist, Steve) Craddock suggested we had a spoken-word piece. I'd had a poem knocking around for two or three years. I showed it to him and he liked it. It's Aziz Ibrahim (one-time Stone Roses guitarist) reading it - he also put some Punjabi at the end. He's a Muslim but agrees with the words."
  • Weller added in an interview with told The Sun newspaper: "I've had the poem for ages. I've not been able to use it even though I liked the sentiment in it. Then Steve Cradock was saying we really needed a poem on this album. Aziz just came down on a social visit and we got him to do it. It's an interesting one because he's a very devout Muslim man - it's an interesting twist."
  • This track suggests to some that The Modfather has found religion. Weller told The Sun : "I don't know about finding God. God finds you, I think. I don't have any belief in any organized religion. I find that all very divisive. I wouldn't knock any organized religion. If it gives people faith and strength it's a good thing. But if it divides people it's the antithesis of what it's supposed to be about."
  • Weller discussed his religious beliefs further during an interview with The Observer March 11, 2012, telling the newspaper that he believes in God, "but not in a Christian way." He added that he believes, "Some kind of force, energy," has mapped out his life. "You don't always choose the life you have, do you?," he concluded.

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