In my opinion, and I wrote the song so my opinion should count for something, the key lyric in the whole song is A single slide, a single move, a single raised hand in the room could shift the lines that change the whole world too. Sour Grapes is essentially a song about change and behind its musical complexity it carries a pretty simple message: if you want to change your world you have to first change yourself and then stand up for the change. Yes, I know it sounds very Michael Jackson Man in the mirror but so what? That jacko was onto something (before he caught glimpse of his reflection and jumped into another nose job).
However, Sour Grapes begins with the lyric, “We made this bed now we lie in it, started a fire just to burn in it, make no bones about it.” Change is not easy. Our current existence is a bed we have made. To change means we have to be willing to let go of our current identity, to end the safety of what we know. “Sleep now under these uncertainties. Dream now, dream of all the possibilities” It is easy to dream of the possibilities but it is the uncertainty of the outcome that mostly prevents change because what we leave behind after we change is still a part of who we are. I think it was Marcus Aurelius who said (and I am paraphrasing) “What ever is, is also the seed of the change to come”.
So, this being said, the bold steps that the people of Iran are taking, in trying to change is remarkable. They are “peeling layers of life from layers of death” but in death there is life – and it is a new life they are fighting for.
Everything is so connected. Change is so connected. It is remarkable that I have a common understanding with people with whom I may only have an genetic connection. I am blown a way that I am moved by their fight for change.
They are “spitting sour grapes through the skin of their teeth” and asking, “How many lies can we entertain?”
To them I say, “Here is wishing you everything you dream about.” Your change will come. May your leaders take note. They can not stop change. They may only delay it. In the words of John Naisbitt, to conclude, “Change occurs when there is a confluence of both changing values and economic necessity, not before”.