“Body Bag” by I Prevail
Daniel Santos by Amanda London·
Brain Burkheiser has described “True Power”, the album this song is part of, as one in which lyrically, I Prevail has taken a no-holds-barred approach. So what we are dealing with in this case is a critical piece, one which can be said to be macrocosmic, even though the addressee is an individual or more accurately, a personification.
');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; })(); You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for I Prevail's Body Bag at Lyrics.org.What he or she personifies is a weak person, not in the physical sense but more along the lines, as inferred, of someone who is, say more about complaining than they are effecting desired change in their life. And what the vocalist(s) is saying in that regard is “just shut your f–king mouth”.
This piece can be classified as confrontation also. The vocalist takes a very aggressive and even threatening tone towards the unspecified addressee(s). In fact as far as threats go, the second verse of this piece, in sentiment, feels a lot like a gangsta rap song. But it doesn’t seem Eric is threatening just for threatening’s sake. Instead, it’s as if he’s trying to scare the aforementioned types of individuals into facing up to the world instead of whimpering about it.
And that encouragement is based largely on the reality that “Body Bag” has an underlying spiritual/religious side to it also. For instance, the idea the title ultimately points to is that at the end of day, “everybody” eventually dies. Also the breakdown/bridge in particular reads as if it is against certain common religious beliefs, such as the “second coming”.
What such underlying assertions are meant to bring about is listeners likewise believing that really there’s only one outcome to life and that also they are for the most part on their own, with the desired end result being that they toughen up resultantly. Indeed from the viewpoint of I Prevail, it would appear that they designed this song as an expression of tough song.
');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; })();I Prevail
I Prevail is a group of rockers from the Michigan city of Southfield. They’ve dropped two studio albums thus far. The first being 2016’s “Lifelines”. The second being 2019’s “Trauma”. Both fared pretty well on the Billboard 200.
“Body Bag”
The group’s third studio album, 2022’s “True Power”, is as of this writing yet to come out. “Body Bag” is one of the tracks from this album.
I Prevail has been around since 2013. The following founders of the group are still down for the cause as of this track’s issuance:
- vocalist Brian Burkheiser
- vocalist Eric Vanlerberghe
- guitarist Steve Menoian
Their current bandmates are guitarist Dylan Bowman and drummer Gabe Helguera.
Menoian, Vanlerberghe and Burkheiser are credited with writing this song in conjunction with Jon Eberhard and another artist known as Myth. And it is also Myth, Jon Eberhard and Joey Doherty who produced “Body Bag”.
