I know this is probably gonna get me some flack, this being a “cool kids site” and all, but I’ve got to ask: Have you let Jesus into your heart? Better yet, have you let Jesus into your iPod?
Allow me to explain. As I’ve said in past posts, I am a lover of melodies. Lyrics don’t mean much to me, but melodies really drive it home (considering this site focuses mainly on club music and Lady Gaga lyrics, I get the impression that I’m not the only one shunning the “importance” of words). It was long ago that I realized the best melodies come from the world of contemporary Christian music. I already think that Ryan Tedder knows his way around a good melody, regardless of what people think of his songwriting or OneRepublic. That said, if Ryan Tedder worked in the world of Christian pop, Earth would explode. We just wouldn’t be ready. All those Left Behind books? They are about the day Tedder works with Amy Grant and tobyMac. Since Lent is the season of sacrifice, let me tell you about the time I gave up secular music and discovered the melodic world of “family friendly, family first” music.
Back in my halcyon days at Cornell, I was entrenched in the world of a cappella. Since it was a rather small community, it tended to be the source of most friendships and romantic couplings. Around my sophomore year, a nice girl in one of the female groups caught my eye. She was cute, and sweet, and the kind of girl that might bake you pies if you lived in some backwoods, bumblefuck town near a “crick”. For the sake of protecting identities (and the fact that she just got married, so I don’t want her husband coming to kick my ass), let’s call her “Wendy”.
Anyway, Wendy was a nice girl, but she wasn’t into all the cool, fun things college kids like to do. Sure, she might drink some beer after the arch sing, or swear and quickly cover her mouth, but Wendy liked to spend her free time in other pursuits. In fact, outside of singing, her main social outlet was Campus Crusade for Christ. Now, I grew up in a pretty fire & brimstone church. I’d heard it all, but I never really went to any of the group stuff. I’d gone to an event in the past, where one of the kids told a story about his brother in the Army. Apparently, Army Bro had found out one of the guys in his barracks was gay, and everyone proceeded to beat up the guy with soap-filled pillow cases. As the van cheered in approval, I realized these weren’t my kinda folks! Having come from this background, the last thing I wanted was a “Christian community”. As far as I was concerned, JC and I had a good thing going on our own. Needless to say, Wendy wasn’t having it.
She tried and tried to get me to go to CCC, and I think I went once. That was enough. Afterward, I tried to convince her that I could deal with The World and all its evil on my own. For some reason, I decided that music would be the first target. Now, I’m not quite sure how I thought I could just get rid of secular music, as I was in a group that did nothing but U2 and Erasure songs. That said, I thought of singing as a “job”, while I was burning CD-R’s (remember those?) left and right, filled with dc Talk and Mark Schultz.
The transition was a bit hard at first. After all, this was the height of the boyband craze, and I’m only human. I mean, shit – “Bye Bye Bye” had just come out! “BYE BYE BYE”! The song where even the hardest motherfucker was like, “A’ight, that chorus is kinda catchy.” Despite all this, I still managed to find some nice, spiritual music. When I do something, I tend to get a bit fanatical, so I was even drawing little crosses and stuff on the discs with Sharpies.
Needless to say, the whole Wendy thing didn’t last too long. Turns out she’d never even been kissed, and I suddenly felt dirty. I didn’t want to be some 18 year old’s first kiss. I just didn’t. Plus, as much as I was digging Amy Grant’s non-“Baby Baby” work, I still had a need for some “Oops, I Did It Again”. That said, the one thing that I took away from the experience was a new found appreciation for Christian music. Not being a lyrics guy certainly helped matters, but I’ve got to be honest: a lot of the music isn’t as preachy as you might think. Hell, City High’s “What Would You Do?” hits you over the head with more of a hammer than some of the stuff you might hear on Christian radio. When I was in elementary school, a guy named Paul Hill came to my school and taught us songs like “Awesome God”. That was almost 20 years ago, but I’ve never forgotten it. In fact, when I first heard T.I.’s “What You Know”, I thought to myself, “Hey, this background sounds kinda familiar!” (It wasn’t an official sample, however). I learned that a great melody makes for an excellent vehicle for a message. It’s simple propaganda, but you can tap your foot to it. Now that we’ve come to the end, and to keep my girlfriend from kirking out that I just wrote about another girl, I thought I’d leave you with a sampling of the music that just kinda sneaks Jesus up on ya:
Mark Schultz – “He’s My Son”: It’s essentially about a man, praying to God to save his sick son. Outside of one “God” reference, this could be sung by Leona Lewis in some Hollywood tearjerker, and you’d never know it’s true intention.
tobyMac – “Lose My Soul”: Former member of Christian hitmakers dc Talk, tobyMac brings us a song about struggling not to lose yourself in this crazy world. It’s even got a cameo by Kirk Franklin – he was addicted to porn, so he’s just like us! With a couple of Clear Channel edits, this song could fit into any commercial free spin in place of BEP’s “Where Is The Love?”
Francesca Battistelli – “I’m Letting Go”: Do ya like Sara Bareilles? If so, you’ll love this! Plainly put, it’s about a woman who hs decided to “let go, and let God”, yet she doesn’t say it in so many words. Again, it’s the kind of song you’d hear on Hot 99.5 after some Jason Mraz song, and you’d never even know what it was really about until you gave it a bit more thought.
So, I hope I’ve been successful in showing you that there can be enjoyable songs in the places you’d least expect. Not a sermon, just a thought. I really hope Lon Solomon doesn’t try to sue me for that…
