Lyrics and Music by Superchick
Song descriptions by Max Hsu

ROCK WHAT YOU GOT

Once upon a time, there was a duckling that looked a little different than everyone else. The other ducklings made fun of it a lot. At puberty, that duckling got teased about its high forehead. When that duckling grew up, it turned out it wasn’t a duck at all. It was Tyra Banks.

We’ve all heard that story. It’s easier to believe we’re ugly than to believe that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. You have to fight the lie; no one hands it to you. You have to shake off the insecurities and the beliefs that hold you down. When I see people being who they were created to be, they light up the world around them. You can be that person. I can be that person. If there was hope for this ugly duckling, there’s hope for everyone. Be who you were meant to be.

Lyrics:
This one’s for the beaten down / The ones who lost their rock and roll / Rise up you lost ones, claim your crown / You were born to rock inside your soul

Welcome misfits, orphans, all / The ones who feel they don’t belong / You were made to rock, so stand up tall / Go rock the world and prove them wrong

Rock what you got / Rock what you got / Don’t ever let them make you stop / Rock what you got / Light up the lot / No one can rock the way you rock

This one’s for originals / Who strike out towards the great unknown / Fear not the missteps, take the falls / The rock you find will be your own

This one’s for the beaten down / Who gave up on their rock and roll / Lift your eyes from what drags you down / You were born to rock inside your soul


ALIVE

I studied computer science in high school. I had an uncle at IBM who helped to develop the microdrive. I spent 4 years studying computer science, and when I graduated I got recruited at a big network solutions company. I was there for 5 years until the tech collapse left us all without jobs. Now I’m doing IT maintenance at a big box chain. Every day I get to work, fix the same problems and play solitaire until 5:30 when my boss isn’t looking. Superchick never existed. We didn’t sell 700,000 records. I never met all the amazing people that are my friends today. I didn’t see 20,000 of them jumping up and down at our show in New Zealand. I never wrote and produced records. I never photographed covers for magazines and albums. I never shot music videos. I never tried surfing, bought my motorcycle or jumped out of a plane. I never met my wife.

Well, that’s what would have happened if I’d done the “sensible” thing. But everyone is born with a destiny. God gives us talents that he means us to use. We are meant to live, while we’re still alive.

(no disrespect intended to my fellow geeks in the computer industry – I’ll probably be asking you for a job when this ride ends!)

Lyrics:
Don’t bury me, I’m not yet dead / Not a walking zombie with no head / Not a Stepford wife made to obey / Don’t want to go through life that way

I’m alive, I’m alive / That’s what I say / I’m alive, I’m alive / Gonna live that way / I’m alive, I’m alive / That’s what I say / I’m alive and I’m gonna live today

Do robots dream of electric sheep? / I need to live my dreams, not just in my sleep / I’ve been holed up here, but it’s time to leave / I need to make my move while I’ve air to breathe

Don’t give me drugs, no Novocaine / I must be alive ‘cause I still feel pain / We were born with wings / We were made to fly / We were meant to live while we’re still alive


HEY HEY

About 2600 years ago, a Babylonian king called Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. The king made a huge golden statue and decreed that all the people should bow down before it, or be thrown into a blazing furnace. Three young men refused to bow down, saying that it was against their beliefs. True to the king’s word, they were thrown into the fiery furnace - but they did not burn. Seeing this with his own eyes, King Nebuchadnezzar called them out and declared that no one should speak against the God of those three men.

Actual rebellion takes a lot more courage than appearing to be rebellious.

Lyrics:
Some people you can never please / You might as well just let them be / They mock everything not their own / From their imaginary throne / But I won’t bow down, even if the whole world thinks I’m crazy

So hey hey, this song is for us / So put your hands in the air if you’re crazy like us / Hey hey / Hey hey, that’s freedom you hear / Comin’ right to your ear, that’s the sound from our bus / Hey hey

Why try to be like someone else / When you can only be yourself? / No one can sing the song you do / Be true, be legendary you / So I won’t sell out, even if the whole world thinks I’m crazy

Why kiss the feet of the people who kick you / When you can be anything that you want to?


HOLD

The difficult thing about grief is that we pass through it alone. Just as with physical pain, though my friends may empathize with me, I have to pass the kidney stone by myself. I can find comfort in their presence, but at some point they have to go home and tend to their own lives. God, however, feels my pain, never goes home, and never lets go of my hand – even if I don’t reach out to him.

Lyrics:
Tell me that it’s gonna be okay / Tell me that You’ll help me find my way / Tell me You can see the light of dawn is breaking / Tell me that it’s gonna be alright / Tell me that You’ll help me fight this fight / Tell me that You won’t leave me alone in this

‘Cause I need, I need a hand to hold / To hold me from the edge / The edge I’m sliding over slow / ‘Cause I need, I need Your hand to hold / To hold me from the edge / The edge I’m sliding past / Hold on to me

Tell me I can make it through this day / I don’t even have the words to pray / You have been the only One who never left me / Help me find the way through all my fears / Help me see the light through all my tears / Help me see that I am not alone in this


BREATHE

The mother of my friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I asked my friend how she was dealing with it, and she cheerfully said “denial.” When my own father had prostate cancer years later, I came to understand the way your brain locks down on the only outcome you can accept. Fortunately, my father came through the surgery well and is cancer-free now. We’ve seen a lot of hospitals in the last couple years as different family members have fought with cancer, but this song is for anyone struggling to find hope in the darkness – anyone so lost that they have to make up reasons to live.

Lyrics:
Please tell me you’ll fight this fight / I can’t see without your light / I need you to breathe into my life / Don’t tell me this is goodbye / I won’t grieve – it’s not yet time / Each breath breathed is keeping hope alive

So keep breathing / Go on breathe in / Keep on breathing / Go on breathe in / Just breathe

Each breath breathed means we’re alive / And life means that we can find / The reasons to keep on getting by / And if reasons we can’t find / We’ll make up some to get by / ‘Til breath by breath we’ll leave this behind

All you have to do is breathe


SO BEAUTIFUL

When I listen to our finished records, I don’t hear what other people hear. I don’t hear the song or the things we got right - I hear the things I didn’t get right. I hear the off notes, weak arrangements, clumsy lyrics and parts that I wish were better. Sometimes it’s so bad it makes me cringe. I feel like I went to the Olympics and I got silver. Silver’s not bad, but when you have gold standards it’s still a failure. I listen to other people’s records, and they sound so much better to me than anything I’ve ever done. I think it’s human tendency to focus on what we wish we could fix rather than what we got right. So many people look in the mirror and discount themselves. We see only the flaws. We have one ideal of success and beauty, and we criticize ourselves relentlessly if we don’t conform to that. We warp and twist ourselves to hide the ugly creature we think we are. We believe that love must be earned because we ourselves are not worthy of love. This robs us of who we are and who we can be. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and God means for us to shine light and joy into the world - not to creep fearfully and timidly from place to place. Superchick was born out of that message, and it’s a message we will keep repeating because the enemy does not sleep, and his insecurities still gnaw at our hearts. We will shout defiance from the rooftops over and over until all have heard that God has indeed made us all so beautiful.

Lyrics:
We are light, we were born beautiful / We were meant to be more than these shadows of girls / They cut us down to size, afraid we’ll change the world / But we’ll fight for your right to be beautiful girls / If every girl could see her beauty we would be an army

We are a thousand voices strong / We are each girl who sings this song / We are a beauty that’s our own / And we are, and we are / So beautiful

We have dreams we were born to fulfill / We were meant to be more than just fairy tale girls /We are colors so bright, each a beautiful girl / We are stars in the night, and we’re changing the world / When every girl can see her beauty we will be an army

CROSS THE LINE

In “Iron Man,” Yinsen saves fellow prisoner Tony Stark’s life twice. The first time Tony is brought in, wounded Yinsen operates on him to save him. The second time, Yinsen fights the guards, knowing it will cost him his life to buy Tony enough time to complete the iron man suit. As Yinsen lies dying, Tony says to him, “Thank you for saving my life,” and Yinsen replies, “Don’t waste it.” Moby wrote a letter to some of us who had worked on a Christian dance album and rightfully took us to task for being derivative and boring. He writes, “I want us to live and create boldly. If Christ had not lived boldly, he would be known for his ability with a hammer, not his willingness to be hammered to a cross.” If we truly believe that someone died on a cross to save us, do the lives we live reflect that gift?

Lyrics:
Follow the leader, stay in the lines / What will people think of what you’ve done this time? / Go with the crowd, surely somebody knows / Why we’re all wearing the emperor’s clothes / Play it safe, play by the rules / Or don’t play at all – what if you lose? / That’s not the secret, but I know what is: / Everybody dies but not everyone lives

I’m gonna ride like I’ve got the cops on my tail / I’m gonna live my life like I’m out on bail / I’m gonna be out front, gonna blaze a trail / I’m gonna cross that line

Everybody freeze – don’t step over the line / Don’t stand up, they’ll shoot down the first one who tries / Try to change the world, they’ll think you’re out of your mind / Revolutions start when someone crosses the line / They want us to lie down, give into the lie / Nothing has to change, and no one has to die / That’s not the secret, but I know what is: / Everybody dies, but not everyone lives


ONE MORE

If you want to do something, do it. Then do one more past where you’re comfortable. Repeat daily. In the process, you will have not only learned or achieved what you set out to do, but you will have also learned to be a fighter. Any positive change you seek to make in your life, whether it’s losing weight or becoming an Olympian, will be an uphill battle that you will fight every day with yourself. Our natural tendency is to lie down, to give up and admit defeat to ourselves before we even take the first step… but it is learning to always take that next step that will get us to our dreams. If your dream is 100 steps away, how many did you take today?

Lyrics:
It feels like I have lost this fight / They think that I am staying down / But I’m not giving up tonight / Tonight the wall is coming down / I am stronger than my fears / This is the mountain that I climb / Got 100 steps to go / Tonight I’ll make it 99

One more / Go one more / Yeah, yeah / Don’t stop now / Go one more / Yeah, yeah / One more / Go one more / Go one more / Yeah, yeah

I have everything to lose / By not getting up to fight / I might get used to giving up / So I am showing up tonight / I am my own enemy / The battle fought within my mind / If I can overcome step one / I can face the 99


CRAWL (CARRY ME THROUGH)

One critic wrote the following about our album, Beauty from Pain: “The songwriting seems more vapid, despite the personalized approach, with most songs merely offering a message of ‘we all hurt, but hold on because it’ll get better.’” I think this critic missed the second half of the message: “Hold on, it will get better. You are not alone, God is with you.” This is not vapid; there is a place below bottom where that is the only message that makes any sense. A friend called me to let me know about his baby birth, but as he asked me to pray, he choked up, unable to get the words out to tell me that his son was born with Down syndrome. I’ve watched mute and helpless while friends have lost family members to cancer. I’ve personally been to the dark place where suicide seems like the only way out. In those times, when our hearts have broken and are overflowing with grief, we don’t need clever theology or smart slogans. All we need is the fundamental core truth of it all...that God has not left us - and though we may have lost hope and lost ourselves and lost everything, He has not lost us. “How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day?” Psalm 13:1-2

Lyrics:
How long will this take? / How much can I go through? / My heart, my soul aches / I don’t know what to do / I bend, but don’t break / Somehow I’ll get through / Cause I have You

And if I had to crawl / Well You’d crawl too / I stumble and I fall / Carry me through / The wonder of it all / Is You see me through

O Lord, where are you? / Do not forget me here / I cry in silence / Can you not see my tears / When all have left me / And hope has disappeared /You’ll find me here

When everything I was is lost / I have forgot, but You have not / When I am lost, You have not lost me / You have not lost me


STAND IN THE RAIN

I never thought this song would do well at radio because it had a very specific message about finding the courage to face things you were running from. Initially, it tested poorly and many stations wouldn’t play it. A couple of brave program directors later and the phone started lighting up. It went on to hold 10 weeks at No. 1. Recently, as I listened to the song again, I realized people were writing themselves into the song, and it took on different meanings to different people. That’s the amazing thing about ministry – you do your best with what you can see and sometimes God takes those humble efforts and uses them for much bigger and better things.

Lyrics:
She never slows down / She doesn’t know why, but she knows / That when she’s all alone / It feels like it’s all coming down / She won’t turn around / The shadows are long and she fears / If she cries that first tear / The tears will not stop raining down

So stand in the rain / Stand your ground / Stand up when it’s all crashing down / You stand through the pain / You won’t drown / And one day what’s lost can be found / You stand in the rain

She won’t make a sound / Alone in this fight with herself / And the fear’s whispering / If she stands, she’ll fall down / She wants to be found / The only way out is through everything / She’s running from / She wants to give up and lie down