Song Breakdown: "I Know Things Now"

When I listened to the entire playlist of Into the Woods a few days after seeing the movie, I noticed something about the song I Know Things Now.

Take a look at the first few lyrics:

Mother said,

"Straight ahead,"

Not to delay

or be misled.

I should have heeded

Her advice...

But he seemed so nice.

The first few: "Mother said, straight ahead, not to delay, or be misled." when I heard these, I changed the word mother to 'God'. God is always telling us, go straight ahead, don't let sin get to you, keep going, don't let it draw you in.

Then,

"I should have heeded her advice...but he seemed so nice."

We should have listened to God, done what he had said, but like all humans, we are not perfect. And like all humans, we are easily drawn in. Naive. Sin seems nice, seems wonderful at first...but then it changes at the last minute, and you can't leave it. Which brings me to the next set of lyrics:

And he showed me things

Many beautiful things,

That I hadn't thought to explore.

They were off my path,

So I never had dared.

I had been so careful,

I never had cared.

And he made me feel excited-

Well, excited and scared.

Satan shows us many wonderful and beautiful things, that's how he draws us in. And we are always so careful, trying to avoid sin at all costs, and then we think to ourselves: "I've been so good lately...maybe...maybe just this once. It won't hurt." So we stray just a little bit. And sin makes us feel excited, and like the song says: "Excited and scared."

When he said, "Come in!"

With that sickening grin,

How could I know what was in store?

Once his teeth were bared,

Though, I really got scared-

Well, excited and scared-

But he drew me close

And he swallowed me down,

Down a dark slimy path

Where lie secrets that I never want to know,

And after that one slip, Satan has us once again, and when he calls us, sometimes we listen. And we don't know what's going to happen, but we don't care, and we go in anyway. And again, he seems scary but we're still excited though scared, and then...We learn secrets that we never ever want to know, but we know things now, even though we didn't want to.

It then goes on to say she slid down a path and at the end of is her Granny, then:

So we lie in the dark

Til you came and set us free,

And you brought us to the light,

And we're back at the start.

And I know things now,

"You" is Jesus. Jesus came and set us free, gave us a fresh start, and we know more things now then we did before.

Many valuable things,

That I hadn't known before:

Do not put your faith

In a cape and a hood,

They will not protect you

The way that they should.

And take extra care with strangers,

Even flowers have their dangers.

And though scary is exciting,

Nice is different than good

We know a lot of things about the world and sin now, that we didn't before. Don't put your faith in yourself, don't think just because you've been so careful, that sin won't drag you back in again. And of course, be careful around strangers, even the little things have their dangers, and even though scary can seem exciting, nice is different than good.

And finally:

Now I know:

Don't be scared.

Granny is right,

Just be prepared.

Isn't it nice to know a lot!

And a little bit not...

-Meghan