“Heaven Over Our Heads” by TV Girl
Premise-wise TV Girl’s “Heaven Over Our Heads” is similar to “Higher Ground”, a track found earlier on their “Grapes Upon the Vine” album. And that’s because both pieces focus on, as Brad Petering puts it this time around, “wonder(ing) sometimes if heaven is over our heads”. In other words he’s questioning the existence of such a realm, or let’s more precisely say state of being.
On this song, Brad’s musings don’t read as much as if they are centered on religion or spirituality, as in heaven being a place per se. Instead, it’s more like the vocalist has become so depressed that, let’s say he questions the existence of a higher power.
The way Petering sees it, as alluded to numerous times throughout “Grapes Upon the Vine”, life in and of itself is sort of a fruitless or ultimately unfulfilling occupation. But that disposition has been notably shaped not only by his less-than-ideal perception of the state of the world but also some bad things Brad feels he has done in the past.
Or one can say that, in combining those two notions, he perceives the world as being an evil place, one where people do what they feel they need to do in order to get by. And as can be gathered, he also doesn’t believe there’s an ultimate punishment for wicked behavior nor vice versa.
“And I just wonder sometimes
If heaven’s over our heads”
In the end, all tracks considered, from a spiritual standpoint TV Girl can perhaps most accurately be considered as a nontheistic act. It isn’t such that they don’t believe in certain commonly-held religious beliefs, such as the existence of Heaven, though as can be gathered from this song they obviously doubt.
But more to the point, from the perspective of Brad Petering, is that we’re all equal in our imperfection. Therefore, let’s say that for someone like him, he can’t really tell why one person would be allowed into the pearly gates but the other not. Or at least that’s one solid theory in trying to explain the main sentiment behind aforementioned album in its entirety.
When was “Heaven Over Our Heads” released?
On June 30th, 2023, the band released their 5th studio album titled “Grapes Upon the Vine”. This song is the twelfth track on the album.
