Religion and Music

The last of the anniversary vote-getters is the topic of this post: Religion and Music. Music has always had a central role in religious practice. The earliest worship scriptures we have (namely the 1500 BCE Vedic writings from South Asia) are hymns. In other words, they are songs. Prior to that, certain ancient Mesopotamian writings make clear the role of music in reaching out to the deities they worshiped. There are those who argue that music is inherently religious, while others argue that music created religion, or vice versa. That's a debate for another time  - it's clear the two have long been interrelated, and will continue to be.

What I want to do here is look at some of the ways religious ideas have been employed in popular music from the last few decades, particularly in songs that (for one reason or another) I have personally found compelling. There are prominent examples I won't do much with, like Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" or Joan Osborne's "What if God was One of Us?" not because they're bad songs, but they just never really spoke to me.

The first example, for both the song and its video, is Madonna's (controversial) "Like a Prayer" from 1989. The video is below and the lyrics are here.

While some saw the song and video as blending the sacred with the profane and showing how sexuality could be sacred (even comparing it to the Biblical Song of Songs), others saw the video and its use of Christian imagery as blasphemous, including the pope at the time, John Paul II.

In other cases, songs use religious imagery or ideas to critique society. One such example, also from the late 1980s, is Motley Crue's "Wild Side." Supposedly, bassist and lead songwriter Nikki Sixx wrote the song as a twisting and inversion of the Lord's Prayer to describe life on the pitiless streets of Los Angeles. Read the lyrics and see for yourself.

Some bands employ religious imagery over and over in their songs, like U2. We could talk about "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Mysterious Ways, " "If God will Send His Angels," for Christian imagery or, I would argue, "Beautiful Day" or "Walk On" for Zen Buddhist inspirations. However, I have always enjoyed one of the band's lesser known and rougher-edged tunes: "The Fly." Off Achtung Baby, the song was conceived of as a message sent from a demon or a trickster figure suffering in Hell. Read the lyrics and take a listen.

I enjoy everything about the song, from how the distorted guitars match the distorted thoughts, to the switch between high-voiced choruses and snarling verses, to the soaring guitar solo. The greatest part, though, is the philosophical: the singer ("the Fly" persona) offers many compelling and persuasive aphorisms, but he is, after all, a denizen of Hell. Is he being insightful and offering sincere advice, or is this just another attempt at deceit? I used to think of the song every time I taught Othello in Core 4, since that combination of insight and deceit perfectly summarizes Iago. Whichever it is, we get some of my favorite lyrics of all time about the experience of writing or any other kind of creative endeavor: "Every artist is a cannibal / Every poet is a thief / All kill their inspiration / And sing about the grief." 

One final example evokes, in both its ebullience and its lyrics, the sentiment with which we started: music itself is a kind of religion as it gives rise to spiritual, transcendent feelings. This is the song "Ever Tear Drop is a Waterfall" by Coldplay. Read the lyrics and take a listen.

The song talks about how the beat of the music melds with the narrator's pulse, puts "Heaven in sight" and lights up the "Cathedrals in my heart." That's a beautiful image for how music and religion connect with one another, not to mention our own vitality. Beyond that, I've always found this song to be particularly inspirational. Whenever I'm down, I like to think I'm only "in the gap between the two trapeze" -- whatever it is, it's just a blip and I'll catch hold in a minute. In addition, I love the mind-blowing Zen-like quality of saying that "Every siren is a symphony / And every tear's a waterfall."

Religious experience is often defined as "ecstatic," which derives from Greek literally as "standing outside oneself." If you've ever been to your favorite band's concert and felt part of something bigger than yourself as the crowd cheers, or just been compelled to dance at home alone to a catchy song, can't we say that's being pulled "outside oneself"? Whenever we do, we enact what humans have known since the beginning: music and religion go together.

What are your favorite songs that deal with religious topics, images, or themes? What music gives you a transcendent feeling? Feel free to comment to this blog or at Facebook. Until the next time, take care.