OK - I couldn’t exactly come up with a catchy finish that would mirror the Buggles reference without overstating my point.
Worship songs on the radio. Good, bad or ugly?
Yes. Yes. And yes.
I’m talking about recognizable corporate type worship songs that one would find in any church doing modern music in America / the UK / Australia.
Radio is great. Christian radio stations can be great. One of our local stations does great ministry… well beyond the DJ-ing.
The Good:
Any medium that gets the Church singing the praises of God with Scripturally-sound, engaging, Christ exalting, God glorifying music is a good thing. The truths of the Word and the nature of God’s character on the minds and in the mouths of the people of God is a good thing.
AND we now get to join the Church across the globe in singing songs with one voice.
Worldwide.
For whatever reason my heart seems to resonate powerfully with songwriters from the UK (Redman, Hughes, Beeching, James, Townend, Mark, Cantelon, Layzell & others). 20 years ago, we really wouldn’t be hearing their songs like we do today.
The Bad:
The time constraints – One of the things I really like about the ‘traditional’ hymns is the sense of story conveyed. Now, even I will admit that singing through all 17 (original) verses of “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” on a Sunday morning would get old, but I wonder if content is getting squeezed for the sake of time. So the song will get air time.
Maybe it’s because as a songwriter I know that any song beyond 3 and a half minutes has slim chance of ever being heard on the radio, and therefore being used by the Church at large for worship. (this whole discussion recognizes God’s sovereignty, which does not depend on us, and can overcome anything)
Steve Fee recently articulated this well at 7|22 held at Northpoint Community Church in Alpharetta, GA. I had been mulling over this for some time, when I happened to catch an online video about songwriting and I thought, “good. I’m not the only one thinking this.”
Fee went on to talk about the song of praise that the Israelites sang as they came through the Red Sea. Check it out in Exodus 15:1-18. It’s long. Really long. And who knows how long it took to write, rehearse…. It just says, “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD” I’m sure it was Spirit-led in all facets, but that kind of song wouldn’t fly on the radio. It makes “Bohemian Rhapsody” look like “I Wanna Hold your Hand”. And can you imagine singing, “By the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up.” (v. 8) in church on Sunday? Have you EVER sang a song about God’s nostrils?
The Ugly:
With the proliferation of Christian Radio, streaming media and digital downloads, everyone from Matt Redman to Uncle Jim-Bob’s Hillbilly Praise Tabernacle has gained a wider audience.
Sometimes a great musical ‘hook’ overshadows lyrical weakness. (To be fair, this can be true of older songs as well - like “In the Garden”)
Sometimes a song is 90% great and then someone tried to fit in a rhyming word that just made the line trite or cliché, or lame, or just … off.
I love the melody, feel and much of the lyrical content of the song “Above All” – but the chorus – right at the summit – fails:
“Crucified, laid behind a stone
Condemned to die, rejected and alone
Like a rose, trampled on the ground
You took the fall, and thought of me above all.”
My apologies to Mr. Leblanc... but the glory of the Father was on Christ’s mind above all. Yes, I personally, and the world’s inhabitants individually were on His mind, but it was the Father’s glory that relentlessly motivated Him. It’s a great song, but just that phrase stops it for me.
Or the song “Trading My Sorrows” by Darrell Evans. Again, Darrell has done a great service to the Body through his writing and music, but this song could have done so much more. The bridge is great, the verses could have done a better job explaining that we don’t just “choose joy”, we don’t just trade heartache for happy – God shepherds us through the valley, he shapes and corrects and molds us.
But the chorus?
Yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord.
Yes, yes, Lord
Yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord.
Yes, yes, Lord
Yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord.
Yes, yes, Lord. Amen.
It about as meaningful as the chorus to Geoff Moore’s “Home Run”:
Whoa – oh – oh – oh!
Whoa – oh – oh – oh!
Whoa – oh – oh ! Home run!
Now, these guys must be doin’ something right? Right?
After all, they’re on the radio.
I think with the context tweaked, this song makes a good point.
