What if God was one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus…
Most of the commentary on Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” focuses on its depiction of God. Is Osbourne saying God is Good? Bad? What exactly? The more important character in the song is the stranger on the bus. She asks us to consider, “What if that was God?”
Would you treat that person differently? I bet you would. What does that say about us?
Interestingly, most of our conceptions of God view Him as all-seeing–so he sees all our bad actions anyways—regardless of whether or not he is directly in front of us. For some reason, it seems much more powerful if the stranger on the bus that we were ignoring, or treating poorly, was literally God. We would feel like a bigger screw-up. Why is this, when God sees everything? The point being, if you would treat a stranger differently if you knew that person was god-in-disguise, perhaps you need to re-examine how you are living your life.
We naturally think of hypocritical, sanctimonious, outwardly religious people during this thought experiment, but I am not so sure that atheists would turn out much better. I would definitely treat people differently if I knew a random person could be god-in-disguise…an all-powerful being who could instantly turn me into a rock. I would be on my best behavior and treat everyone with dignity (just in case).
Perhaps I should be living a better life. Seeing God in the everyday, and examining how we treat others is essential to the message of this song.
The sound is a bit of a throw-back to the sounds of the 60s and 70s, though it came out in the mid-nineties. The lightly distorted guitar sounds like something Lindsay Buckingham or Neil Young might bust out. Osborne’s voice is strong and clear, and she delivers the chorus exceptionally well. It is a great hook with a catchy title.
One of Us Lyrics
So one of these nights and about twelve o’clock,
This old world’s goin’ ta reel and rock.
Saints will tremble and cry for pain,
For the Lord’s gonna come in his heavenly airplane.
If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with Him in all His glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?
And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
And yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ to make his way home?
If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see if, seeing meant
That you would have to believe in things like heaven
And in Jesus and the saints, and all the prophets?
And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
And yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ to make his way home?
Just tryin’ to make his way home
Like back up to heaven all alone
Nobody callin’ on the phone
‘Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome
And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
And yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ to make his way home?
Just tryin’ to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just tryin’ to make his way home
Nobody callin’ on the phone
‘Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome
songwriter: Eric Bazilian