Monday, December 20, 2004
(1:56 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Love Songs for the Lord
This weekend my mom graduated from college with a degree in elementary education from the University of Michigan-Flint. Proud, dutiful son that I am, I went to Michigan to attend her graduation party and ceremony. In the process, I was somehow roped into attending my "home church," something I have not done for many years. Overall, it was much better than I thought it would be -- the pastor is a very engaging speaker, and his sermon was surprisingly good.I did, however, have some complaints about the music. The choir's big anthem quickly degenerated into Republican propaganda, at which I turned to my sister and said, "What the fuck?" The main problem, however, was the "chorus"-style song with which the service opened. I have long distrusted that style of music, and yesterday I fully understood why: it's not that the musical style imitates pop music, nor that the lyrics are overly simple. The real problem is that all of them have the basic ethos of a love ballad. I actually talked to my family about this issue at the restaurant after church, and amusingly enough, Bryan Adams' song (Everything I Do) I Do It for You started playing -- I said, "This song could be taken and sung as-is in a church, and everyone would assume it was about God." Here are the lyrics:
Look into my eyes - you will seeThe only thing that would really have to change is "I'd lie for you." Other than that, it practically already is a "praise and worship" song -- especially because the subject of every verb is "I." That's right: though the song says, "I'm going back to the heart of worship, where it's all about you, Jesus," in reality, it's all about me and what I'm doing. I don't talk about how God has supposedly acted in history or anything that could be identified as having anything to do with Christianity in specific -- I just sing a song whose lyrics are basically, "I hereby worship." Purely performative and purely self-referential. And that goes along with the general ethos of a love song, too, where saying "I love you" is all about me as well.
What you mean to me
Search your heart - search your soul
And when you find me there you'll search no more
Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for
You know it's true
Everything I do - I do it for you
Look into your heart - you will find
There's nothin' there to hide
Take me as I am - take my life
I would give it all - I would sacrifice
Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more
Ya know it's true
Everything I do - I do it for you
There's no love - like your love
And no other - could give more love
There's nowhere - unless you're there
All the time - all the way
Oh - you can't tell me it's not worth tryin' for
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more
I would fight for you - I'd lie for you
Walk the wire for you - ya I'd die for you
Ya know it's true
Everything I do - I do it for you
I'm not saying to return to the old hymns -- use whatever musical style and instruments you want. If you want to make songs simple so that people will feel comfortable singing them, that's fine too. But please -- it can't be too hard to write a song that says something other than "I hereby worship."
But seriously, this is not a Christian blog.
