The lyrics for “One of Those Days” focus on hope for change. Despite dealing with a frustrating run of bad days, the message remains optimistic and upbeat, repeating the reassuring refrain that bad luck cannot last forever and things are bound to turn around.

The song was written for the animated film Animal Crackers (2020) by Glen Phillips and Dean Dinning of Toad the Wet Sprocket. The musical tone of Glen Phillips’s songwriting often underscores his deeply introspective and emotional explorations of vulnerability, acceptance, and the intricacies of everyday life. However, for this animated film context, the spirit of this song is unabashedly upbeat and cheerful with generous amounts of style drawn from 1950s rock.

The youth also offer R.E.M.’s iconic hit “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” which was chosen for this month’s worship theme of chaos. The song is about coping with chaotic societal changes through a stream-of-consciousness mindset rather than an actual literal apocalypse. The fast-paced lyrics rattle off political tension, media overload, and historical references to capture the frantic sensory overload of modern life. The phrase “as we know it” is crucial. It means familiar structures, political eras, or personal routines might collapse, but life and humanity go on — hence the defiant reassurance, “and I feel fine.”

You may know this song! Feel free to join us on the refrains and sing in the spirit of the inevitable — and sometimes confusing — whirlwind change of modern life mixed with a spirit of the endurance of our collective humanity.

 

—Chris