Bannerman

[Image: 'Squint' Front Cover]

Sections:

Lyrics

One man's grinning from behind the net
Waits 'til the camera's adjusted
Don't you worry 'bout the flak you'll get?
Aren't you scared of getting busted?

The ball gets booted
It hits the crossbeam
Up goes the banner, "John 3:16"

He don't worry 'bout the critics
They tow the line
He don't worry 'bout the cynics
They live to whine
He ain't gonna change the world
But he knows who can
Bannerman

Prime time football in the Buffalo snow
Freezing his little epidermis
Lifts that banner at the first field goal
Drinks clam chowder from a thermos

He's never missed a game
He never spells it wrong
He never talks back when they tell him "move along"

He don't worry 'bout the critics
They'll howl for days
He don't worry 'bout the cynics
They navel-gaze
He ain't gonna change the world
But he knows who can
Bannerman

Sports fans everywhere dying for a drink
But they've gotta find the well first
One man's ready with a banner and a wink
A whole lotta souls are getting well-versed

Every time I see him
I smile a little more
I can't help praying for another high score

He don't worry 'bout the critics
They'll howl for days
He don't worry 'bout the cynics
They navel-gaze
He ain't gonna change the world
But he knows who can
Bannerman

He don't worry 'bout the critics
They've met their match
He don't worry 'bout the cynics
They sniff and scratch
He ain't gonna change the world
But he knows who can
Bannerman

Recorded Appearances

Albums

Promos

Bootlegs

About The Song

From Squintlets, The Lament... promotional CD for the Squint album, 1993:

Last year I was reading a newspaper article about these three guys that travel around the country, and actually, around the world, carrying these banners that say "John 3:16" and they hold them up at sporting events. Actually, I think they've gotten very sophisticated--they carry around walkie talkies and check to see where the cameras are and put up this banner. The fact of that matter is, I kinda dug the idea. It's like, you let the Bible speak for itself. You get people looking it up. Hopefully the Word doesn't return void. So, the song is like a tribute to these guys--no satire intended at all--I actually liked the idea. Somewhere along the line you can sort of get so sophisticated with your approach to the gospel you sort of lose the heart of it, and I just sort of liked the idea and the approach, and that's where the song came from.

From Creation '94 Press Conference, June 29th(?), 1994:

One of the first songs I wrote [for Squint] was "Bannerman," which, those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's a song that's a tribute to that guy that holds up John 3:16 banners in sporting events, like at the Buffalo Bills games. I think maybe part of the reason for writing a song--I was reading an article about these guys and how they do it. The sort of artlessness of holding up a banner that says "John 3:16" in front of a television camera I think really appealed to me especially after being in [Chagall Guevara] where all of the guys in the band were Christians, but we had no specific agenda as far as Christianity or anything like that. I guess we sort of hoped that some light would sort of leak out in the places that we played and in the music that we did.

But I would have to say that, as far as that part of [Chagall Guevara] goes, it probably wasn't very satisfying, and that coming off an experience like that, the thought of a guy that just holds up a banner, telling people "for God so loved the world," seemed like a really good thing. Probably the same reason I still like seeing street preachers is they have more nerve than I do, for one, and probably a lot more of us are Christians because of preachers boldly proclaiming the gospel than getting so cooled-out at a rock concert in a club where some of the members are Christians that we decided we had to find Jesus.