The Bible and Music

Today in class we presented some of our songs that we found in the scavenger hunt. It was pretty cool to see what other people came up with. I was surprised how many rap songs had biblical allusions. It was also pretty cool to see that other people had some of the same songs that I came up with. Professor said that there will be a master sheet with all the songs that were found with biblical allusions. I want to take a gander at that list to see if there was any songs that I know that I had no idea were full of biblical allusions.

I wanted to also post what I found for the Scavenger Hunt. Some of the songs I found were mentioned in class, but not all of them. Below are several songs I found with biblical allusions, why I thought they connected to the Bible, and a link to the song in case anyone wants to listen to them!

Contemporary Songs with Biblical Allusions

1. “Go Rest High on That Mountain” Vince Gill: This song focuses on the idea that once one’s work is done on earth, they will go to heaven. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtmAVGPEPSI
2. “Jesus, Take The Wheel” Carrie Underwood: This singer has many songs that are connected to the Bible. Furthermore, this song clearly connects to the idea that sometimes life can be out of our hands and that is when a connection to Jesus is important.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky4rfA_tebY
3. “When I Get Where I’m Going” Brad Paisley: Song discussing what will happen once one gets to heaven; also mentions sin done on earth; the idea of heaven directly connects to religion and the Bible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYHT-TF4KO4
4. “Oceans” Hill song United: Song talks about calling God’s name when fear is present, and also discusses the savior Jesus Christ and mentions the miracle of walking on water. This song also directly mentions the importance of faith in one’s life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBJJJkiRukY
5. “Unanswered Prayers” Garth Brooks: There is a lot of mention of prayer and God in this song, and this song also recognized that humans cannot always understand God and God’s unanswered prayers but that there is a bigger meaning and a bigger plan. The song states, “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GuA5PZx3K4
6. “Anyway” Martina McBride: This song discusses although life is not perfect, God is still great. Love is a big focus as well, and both of these things connect to the Bible and religion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZjTBW-raGw
7. “Below My Feet” Mumford and Sons: This song focuses on Jesus and what he says and stands for. References to Jesus and the importance of his words is a direct connection to the Bible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HIIAYpzGWs
8. “Something in the Water” Carrie Underwood: In this song, the singer prays to God and calls upon God to rescue her. Also this song talks about power of religion/the Bible to change people and make them stronger.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH9kYn4L8TI
9. “Lord Give Me a Sign” DMX: This song talks about trying to talk to the Lord and getting signs from God and mentions Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5epObO5fTqU
10. “Everything” Lifehouse: This song talks about the power of God being truly moving and powerful and talks about trust in God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYO1Pf-_EQw
11. “You Raise Me Up” Josh Groban: Song discusses the Lord raising us up in life and after life. It is a very strong and powerful religiously connected song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oni0tO_HN30

Today, we looked at several songs with biblical allusions in them.  I was most surprised to hear that J.Cole, a very popular rap artist, actually had a whole album that was a biblical allusion.  His album Born Sinner is all about him trying to reconnect to God.

It was interesting hearing everyone’s findings on the songs that allude or reference to the bible in pop culture.  One common theme in the music was that the songs included references not only in the bible but to social justice causes and civil rights.  In difficult times, artists use their talents as a vehicle to discuss challenges and how faith has helped them overcome these obstacles or challenges.

One student discussed how Chance the Rapper used music to discuss his hardship and battle with drugs.  In difficult times, Chance lost his faith but through music and healing, he was able to find his faith and write music to discuss his journey.  The song “How Great” allows Chance to praise God and rejoice because the devil didn’t win and Chance was triumphant in his accomplishments.  The song is optimistic and shows how grateful the rapper is to have overcome his battles.

Another great song is “Where is the Love?” by the Black Eyed Peas.  This song uses music to highlight civil rights issues and bring up these issues in everyday discussions. The band is able to break the silence and allow conversations to happen about these difficult topics.

On Tuesday, we were asked to use the class period to find songs that had references and allusions to biblical texts. I managed to find quite a few of these, but the ones that stood out to me the most were those within the genre of rap. To the listeners that are not fans of rap music, these songs are all the same. Some listeners may say, “I don’t like rap music, because it’s all the same”. Rap music, in its modern form, seems to always be associated with sex, drugs, and crime. For this reason, rap is one of the last genres that students would look at when asked to find songs with biblical allusions. That is also why it is so intriguing. Ironically, most of the songs that I found fell within the genre of “rap”. I found eight songs within this genre that made both direct and indirect references to the Bible.

• Boogie Down Productions — Why Is That?
  • “Genesis chapter eleven verse ten, Explains the genealogy of Shem”

• Black Star – Thieves In The Night
  • “They say money’s the root of all evil but I can’t tell

You know what I mean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar bills

Or is it the mindstate that’s ill?”

• Kanye West – Mercy
  • “Well, it is a weeping and a moaning and a gnashing of teeth

It is a weeping and a mourning and a gnashing of teeth”

Matthew 13:42

• Pusha T – Sweet Freestyle
  • “Jealousy’s a sin, Cain killed Abel

Backstabber, Caesar had Brutus

It’s hard to weed ’em out, even Jesus had Judas”

1 Corinthians 3:3

                “Jealousy’s a sin”

Genesis 4:1-8

                “Cain killed Abel”

Matthew 26:47-56.

“Jesus had Judas”

• Beastie Boys – Shadrach
  • “We’re just three MCs and we’re on the go

Shadrach, Mesach, Abednego”

Daniel 1 – Daniel 3, which tells the stories of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

“These three young Jews were spared by divine intervention from a Babylon-style execution: getting thrown into a fiery furnace (as outlined specifically in Daniel 3).”

• 2Pac – So Many Tears
  • “Though I walk through the valley of death

I shed so many tears

If I should die before I wake

Please God walk with me”

This is a reference to the oft-quoted Psalm 23, which begins, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

• Muggs – John 3:16
  • “What do you mean, John 3:16?

For God so loved the world everyman packs an M-16”

This is a reference to John 3:16, which states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“‘every man packs an M-16’ sheds light on the much-debated topic of the existence of evil. Simply put, if God is good and loves the world, why do people feel the need to pack M-16s?”

https://genius.com/posts/1674-Top-10-biblical-references-in-rap

Listeners, because they associate rap music with drugs, sex, and crime, tend to overlook these allusions. Even the genres that seem to be far-from religious have biblical references. When searching for songs with these references, I found that there are songs that I’ve listened to several times, and never noticed the biblical references. Needless to say, this assignment was very interesting.

This does not necessarily have a lot to do with the Bible part of this class, but I watching this TV talk show, and the host was interviewing a successful singer/songwriter from Puerto Rico, Residente (fun fact: Lin Manuel Miranda is his cousin). Anyway, they came upon the subject of authenticity which reminded me of the discussion we had a few classes ago. He talked about how it was important for him to make his music as authentic as possible. If he is inspired by a culture, he travels to that country, works with, and writes songs with the locals. He was explaining how important it was to him, authenticity, he said he can’t just sit around in a studio and make music from Africa in Puerto Rico – its not authentic. His new album which was released last week, was primarily inspired by African culture because he lived there for a few months and made some of his music with locals. He says he wants to completely immerse himself in the culture from which his music comes from. Anyway, I just thought this was really interesting here’s the interview:

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/rmvhhm/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-residente—bringing-authenticity-back-to-music-with–residente—-extended-interview

Dr. McGrath posed a really interesting question of whether or not it matters what the composer intends a song to mean. In my opinion the answer to this question could be yes or no. Although the true meaning of the song is important, the listener may find a different meaning in a song than the composer intended. For example, some songs may mildly connect to something religious or biblical when the composer didn’t even think of that. If a song means something to the listener that is different from what the composer thought, this new meaning may also be significant in many ways. Furthermore, this is why my answer to this question is yes and no; the composers intent for meaning matters, but so does the way the listener interprets it. I guess this is another way that music is very complex. I think that is something that is emphasized every class–the complexity of music is revealed in almost every topic we discuss. When this complexity is combined with the Bible, it only becomes more complex!!!

After going through all of my songs (I listened to practically all 800 of my songs on spotify), I was shocked on how many of them referenced the Bible. Especially, Mumford and Sons, I listened to them early on so like the “The Cave” and “Little Lion Man” I love those songs, and others. I guess I never truly listened to theirs songs, but A LOT of them reference the Bible and Philosophy in general. I looked up the singers and writers backgrounds – they all studied religion and philosophy in college which makes sense. Other songs were more obvious like Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin, whom of which my parents introduced to during my 80’s rock phase of music taste. One genre I did not expect was rap, I love Chance, but again I never knew about the multitude of references to the Bible (mostly because I do not have a religious background), but I found that there was at least 3 or 4 references in several of his songs from his new(ish) album Coloring Book.

This activity I actually enjoyed a lot because one: I love listening to music, and two: I like interpreting lyrics because it provides the song with more depth and more of a connection for myself to make. Overall though, I do have to say this was especially challenging for me because I do not necessarily align myself with any particular religion, so I feel like my interpretations and passages maybe a stretch or incorrect, but I tried and I got a lot more songs than I thought I ever would.

Although I could not come to most of the session where Rob Saler spoke, I was rather pleased with what he had to say. He made a reference to our voices and using them for musical purposes. It was neat to hear that he was promoting the right to use our voices to make a statement.

I also really liked a quote that he had on the back of his presentation, “Every morning when I wake up I dedicate myself to helping others find peace of mind. Then, when I meet people, I think of them as long-term friends: I don’t regard others as strangers.”                                                                        

When going about this task, I struggled with limited direction. I tried to find as many songs as I could, and ended up with a somewhat substantial list, though I believe some allusions are stronger than others. I wish that I had a time frame, because some older music is still popular, like much of the classic rock genre. The first 23 I found in my internet search, and the last group are ones in my music collection that I can see referencing the Bible.

Scavenger Hunt 6 April