The Struggle

Album: The Struggle (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • When we spoke with Tenth Avenue North lead singer/songwriter Mike Donehey in 2012, they hadn't yet settled on a title for their third album, which ended up being named after this song, as much of it deals with the problems Christians face that are not always talked about. When we brought up how social problems are thought of differently in the church, Mike said: "Maybe that's something that I hope to communicate in our songs. I actually wrote a song for our next record called 'The Struggle,' which basically says, 'Hallelujah, we are struggle, we're not struggling to be free.' And a lot of times it's almost like the church doesn't give people permission to struggle with things. Even though in the Scriptures we're called Israel. We've been grafted in Israel. Israel means 'Struggles with God' or 'Wrestles with God.' And a lot of my songwriting comes out of the struggle between what I believe is God's truth and then where my heart's at and how there's always a collision process that takes place of the truth trying to win out over my emotions. And my emotions having to meld to what truth says. And so it's usually a big inspiration where the songs come from."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Daniel Lanois

Daniel LanoisSongwriter Interviews

Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.

Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Al Jourgensen of MinistrySongwriter Interviews

In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The Remasters

Brian Kehew: The Man Behind The RemastersSong Writing

Brian has unearthed outtakes by Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello and hundreds of other artists for reissues. Here's how he does it.

Desmond Child

Desmond ChildSongwriter Interviews

One of the most successful songwriters in the business, Desmond co-wrote "Livin' La Vida Loca," "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" and "Livin' On A Prayer."

Graham Parker

Graham ParkerSongwriter Interviews

When Judd Apatow needed under-appreciated rockers for his Knocked Up sequel, he immediately thought of Parker, who just happened to be getting his band The Rumour back together.