My name is Maxi Jazz, and I ain't no joke
I make ya choke on the mike when I go for broke
When I come into a jam I tear off my shirt
I have no knowledge of fear, cos I'm here to do work...
The title track for Faithless' debut album is a suprising one, not at all what most people expected for a group best known for the dancefloor anthems Salva Mea and Insomnia. However, this is a great showcase for showing off Maxi Jazz's intense talent and stands out as one of Faithless' best tracks, both on the album and ever. The lyrics not only mean something special written down, but when aurally expressed with the addition of Rollo (Roland Armstrong, brother of Dido) and Sister Bliss (real name Ayalah Bentovin)' beats, bassline etc truly come alive. My own personal experience is of listening to the track 20 or more times (no, not in a row...) to learn the lyrics just so I could recite them in my head whenever I wanted to. As with most lyrics, they don't look like much written down, but hearing them rapped by Maxi (aka Max Frazer) on the track for yourself will reveal the real meanings behind the words.
The edit released as a single featured a cut-down version of the full lyrics, with different inflections in the rap by Maxi Jazz. There was also a chorus added and the entire track shortened from around 6 minutes on the album to the 3-and-something minutes acceptable for radio airplay. It is widely accepted, however, that the above version is superior, because of the more natural rapping style that Maxi uses, and the chorus added to the radio edit manages to deflect the power of the verses. That is not to say that the radio edit is poor, but its overall feel is very different, thus once again showing the greater public a different side of Faithless: a side and style unbelievably different from that shown on all three of their albums.
I'm not a mystic, my views are realistic, simplistic...
I won't find peace of mind rollin around on the floor
The point I wanna make is
You can never escape from your faith
The mistake is to take without givin, from within
You wanna know how I'm livin?
I'm cool, I'm lookin after myself
I would never place wealth before my spirit...
The essence of what Maxi is trying to get across on this track is contained in these few lines. It is about not giving in to materialism, and Maxi clearly rates spiritual health above money and possessions, which are, after all, only temporary.
By referring to himself as the "GOD" (the "Grand Oral Disseminator") on this track (which he does not continue in any other track on any album, by the way, although does on this album's insert) Maxi is both making a religious point (see below) and simply saying "listen up, this is important". Almost every line of this track has something meaningful to say, reflecting the genius of Jazz's lyric-writing skill. It's not short, either (7 minutes 43 seconds in total, about 3 or 4 minutes of which is taken up by the rap - itself split into two main pieces, with the intro as seen at the top of this writeup), so Maxi clearly as a fair bit to say.
I ain't a Christian, sometimes I feel like dissin em
But listen, I'm just tryin to tell ya what I know
If you would once relax, chill to the max...
As is obvious, Maxi Jazz is not a Christian. He is actually a Buddhist. Maxi's lyrics for Faithless are not always motivated by his religion, however - infact, this is the only example I can think of where he mentions religion at all. This is not, therefore, a precedent for the rest of this (or any other) album by Faithless, but does reveal something about the band's name. "Faithless" refers to the fact that none of the band members are religious devotees, and although Maxi is Buddhist neither Rollo nor Sister Bliss follow a religion as such.
If I say God is alive I know you'll wanna know why
Babies die, food don't grow. Why trains smash, planes crash
Situation mash an slam-bam, ya fellow man
He didn't just give us the planet and it's wealth
Deep inside your soul he left a piece of himself
The Lord is in here, his voice is small
Y' keep lyin and tryin, denying the call from inside
You can't hide responsibility
He can set ya free, see, butcha hafta listen
An who's that false idol I see ya kissin
Money, success an untold wealth, good health
An all ya hafta do is love yourself...
The age old question: if God exists, why do bad things happen? Maxi places the blame squarely with us. We keep "lyin and tryin", ignoring the voice of "the Lord" who has been inside us all along. Well, this is obviously a personal belief of Maxi's. Whether you agree with this or not is also entirely subjective, but either way Reverence is a great start to a great album. Even if you completely disagree with what Maxi Jazz raps on this track, you cannot help but be impressed with both the buildup to the lyrics and the way in which Maxi raps them. although not the longest track on the album, it is easily the longest rap (even split into two main chunks), and showcases the talent of the three main members of the group Faithless - Maxi in the raps, and Rollo and Sister Bliss on the production side.
Ya don't need eyes to see: y'need vision...
CST Approved
Words in italics by Maxi Jazz, responsibility (and blame) for the in-between stuff falls to me.
These are not the full lyrics, by any means. In compliance with copyright changes, there can only be 250 words max shown here. The full lyrics consist of about 600 words, I believe.