It’s funny how you can know, and even love, a song for years and never really grasp what it’s about.

Maybe you just never take the time to really pay attention to the lyrics. Maybe the music works so well that the singer may as well be singing Chinese for all you care. Maybe the words seem too cryptic to bother deciphering.

But one day you pay a little more attention than usual or read something that makes you see the song in a new light, and suddenly its meaning is glaringly obvious. That’s what happened to me recently with Toad the Wet Sprocket’s ‘Fly From Heaven.’

After my epiphany, I immediately thought that I had a great Song of the Day candidate, only to realize that I had featured the song already more than two years ago. But my “no song more than once” rule is restricted to unique versions of each song, so today’s live performance of ‘Fly From Heaven’ is allowed.

So what’s the song about? Well, it’s sung from the perspective of James, the brother of Jesus, who is upset by the perversion of his brother’s message by the Apostle Paul. Paul preached that faith alone would lead to salvation, while James believed that good deeds were necessary (and his brother taught as much). This song is about that struggle.

It’s really quite obvious, too. But for some reason, I never connected Paul and James to the Bible and imagined a much more contemporary setting, perhaps tied to a tragedy within songwriter Glen Phillips’ own family.

I like this song even more now that I appreciate the meaty subject matter.