Waiting for God Lyrics
Waiting for God to show up
We're keeping our fingers crossed
Can't seem to make sense of all of this madness
Waiting for God to show up
(On and on, on and on, on and on, on and on)
Look what they did to her boy
And nobody's blinking an eye
She's choking on sadness with no hope for justice
Just look what they did to her boy
(On and on, on and on, on and on, on and on)
Did she get lost in the rains?
Or was there a lockdown at school?
Maybe the ice cracked and swallowed the house up
Or did they get caught in the fires?
(On and on, on and on, on and on, on and on)
[Bridge]
All this talk of faith
The power of all our prayers
Meanwhile, kids playin' video games
They fall, but they don't get up
Who have we become?
What do we do now?
The waving of our flags
And tears won't bring them back
Waiting for God to show up
We're keeping our fingers crossed
Smiling at fireworks that light all our skies up
While black boys get shot in the back
Were they caught riding their bike?
Or guilty of walking alone?
I can't seem to make sense of all of this madness
Just waiting for God, keep waiting for God to show up
(On and on, on and on, on and on, on and on)
[Outro]
Oh God, who art in heaven
(It goes on and on, on and on, on and on, on and on)
Who art in heaven, come
(It goes on and on, on and on, on and on, on and on)
Stand with us, may your will be done
(On and on, on and on, on and on, on and on)
On Earth as it is in heaven
About
“Waiting for God” is track number five on Garbage’s seventh studio album No Gods No Masters. It’s the track that means the most to Shirley, bringing her to tears every time she listens to it. The lyrics deal with racism and the Black Lives Matter movement.
In their 4/5 stars review, Mojo described the track as being “the closest Garbage have come to a power ballad”.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Those words were the ones I spent the most time on and I wanted to get just so and I wept when I sang them. It was just me and my husband and I’ve only played the record for two people and both times when it comes to that song I’ve burst into tears. I am so outraged by what’s happening all over the globe but specifically to address what’s happening in the country that I currently live in. The treatment of black, brown and indigenous people here has appalled me and I’m aghast at how few white people are willing to speak up and talk about it and fucking figure this out. Even talking about it now, I am so astounded by the apathy and the willingness to just turn away from this unbelievable struggle for black rights and indigenous people. Waiting For God feels to me urgent and necessary and essential and, as a writer, I don’t think you can ask any more of yourself than to be in service of something.
- Shirley Manson, The New Cue
I would have felt really disappointed in myself if I hadn’t touched on systemic racism on this record. It really is something that’s just become more and more pressing on me. When Trayvon Martin was murdered—this beautiful 17-year-old kid, walking home at night in a hoodie, holding a bag of Skittles in his hands and he gets shot by a white supremacist—and the way his death was treated in the press, the way that disgusting George Zimmerman got off by pleading his own fear, I think it triggered something in me. I finally started really paying attention. And I have great shame around the fact that it’s taken me this long and I’m 54 years old. But after the death of Trayvon Martin, I just saw this alarming spate of murders of Black kids in America, it was shocking. It felt like it was every day and nobody gave a shit.
—via Apple Music
- 2.The Creeps
- 4.Wolves
- 5.Waiting for God
- 6.Godhead
- 12.No Horses
- 13.Starman
- 14.Girls Talk
- 16.On Fire
- 17.The Chemicals
