“Belief” is the third track and second single off Continuum. Despite being released as a single in November 2006, a music video was never produced.
Lyrically, the song details the pitfalls and dangers of belief and conviction – Mayer notes that, though it provides “armour,” belief also “makes for the heaviest sword.” It focuses specifically on the fallout from war, which is in many cases motivated by beliefs (see The Crusades and, more recently, the Korean and the Vietnam Wars).
The song notably features singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ben Harper on guitar.
Lyrics of Belief
Is there anyone who
Ever remembers changing their mind from
The paint on a sign
Is there anyone who really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one time
Oh everyone believes
In how they think it ought to be
Oh everyone believes
And they're not going easily
Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching underwater
You never can hit who you're trying for
Some need the exhibition
And some have to know they tried
It's the chemical weapon
For the war that's raging on inside
Oh everyone believes
From emptiness to everything
Oh everyone believes
And no one's going quietly
We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for
We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for
Is there anyone who can remember
Ever surrender, with their life on the line
We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for
We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for
What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand?
Belief can
Belief can
What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand?
Belief can
Belief can