The Bible and Music

During class today, we shared out about what songs we found from the scavenger hunt. Everyone shared songs that they found and how those songs connected to the Bible. This conversation was interesting to hear. Some students found similar songs as me, and some found others, that I would not have thought of. It was cool to hear about how songs that I had listened to all my life, can relate to deeper ideas and topics. I would’ve never saw these connections before, so it was very interesting to learn about.

Something I am worried about though, is the final project. I don’t know if what I have is good and when the final is due, officially. These are some things, I would like more information on.

Today in class we went over the findings of our scavenger hunt for biblical allusions in music. All of the songs that people have found I had never heard before today, except for Viva la Vida by Coldplay. What I have discovered is that many songs that are secular have references to the Bible and sometimes multiple in the same song. Being in this class and doing this exercise has lead me to discover that I know many songs with Biblical allusions already. Artists who have backgrounds in religion will reference it in their songs because it is just background knowledge for them. For people who don’t have the background in the Bible, listening to these songs where these references are it would go over their heads but for those who do catch it, it bring a sense of connection to the artist and the meaning in their music.

From the beginning of class, we start by sharing the music allusions to the Bible and analyzed each song. The first two songs were not similar to several students in class, however most everyone had heard it before. Some of the connections to the Bible were more direct than others and some actually find more than one verse or story that was depicted in the song lyrics. I liked how we listened to the song after we shared and it gave me an idea of the style of music, instead of solely looking at the lyrics for imagery. A few songs had other allusions to Christian songs too, like Carrie Underwood’s song, “Must Have Been Something in the Water.” A surprising song that was shared was, “Viva La Vida.” This is a song that I was familiar with and previously listened to multiple times. I did not realize how many biblical allusions that it had and how in depth you could go to look into each line in the lyrics. The “David” song that was written by Noah Gundersen was another one that had an interesting story and its message relating to David and Goliath. This common story is known for the underdog story, however the artist is not depicting these two fighting each other. He relates it to his personal experiences and battles. Nearly every line in this song starts with “I” and it is the artist reflecting on his own life. The song that I shared was, “Fire” by U2. U2 was a band that I used for four of my songs that had biblical allusions and finding one song of theirs led me to more.

The most shocking allusions I found was Lady Gaga’s Judas. The lyrics and imagery are very profane which was interesting to see because usually biblical references are used to praise something. In the music video for Judas the imagery is very strong and a very sexualized version of Mary Magdalene’s life.

I went home over the past weekend and got to showcase some of my new skills with piano to my grandma, who has played nearly all her life. I did not showcase my limited playing ability to my grandmother, however we spent the majority of our time discussing the makeup and keys of the piano. I played the few basic songs that I am familiar with like “Mary had a Little Lamb.” My grandma shared with me that her goal was to learn a new hymn or song a week, which was really interesting to me. She has sheets upon sheets of music that she has played and some that she is still planning to dive into. It was motivational and interesting that my piano lessons over the past few weeks have came into play and I can discuss them outside of just the lessons.

Over the last few days and the weekend, I have been doing research on modern and older music that has connections to certain scenes or words in the Bible. It was a neat experience for me because I had the chance to find songs that were unfamiliar to me and some that were on the top of my playlist. The songs that I found ranged from 80’s rock music to country songs that were released a few years ago. I had to dig deep into a few songs to search for the deeper meaning and connection to the Bible, while some had more direct allusions. The verses and scenes also were diverse and came from several different chapters in the Bible. We did not have class today, so we will spend the majority of class on Wednesday talking about the songs that we discovered. I am anxious to see the similar songs that my classmates have and ones that stand out that have not been looked into.

In class we discussed allusions. At first we started off by discussing what an allusion is. Then we discussed allusions in specifically Christian songs. Those were easy to find and talk about. We discussed our project about finding allusions in modern songs. I thought it would be harder because simply mentioning “God”. I am excited to discover different allusions though.

Wednesday we discussed music with allusions to the Bible. Many people had different songs that were related to the Bible but I’m not sure if they were necessarily allusions. I am interested to start the scavenger hunt and see where I end up on the search but also nervous that I won’t find anything. I haven’t heard very many songs that make me even think of the Bible but I guess that’s the entire point of this project. I can’t wait to see what I find, there might even be some songs that I listen to everyday.

In class on April 4, we discussed allusions in music to the Bible. An allusion is something that hints at something else, assuming you have prior knowledge on the topic being alluded to. For this specific reason, finding allusions in music to the Bible is going to be a challenge for me, as I have no prior knowledge on the Bible whatsoever. We also discussed how much connection would be needed to be considered an allusion. We decided that there would need to be a substantial connection, more than just the mention of a line or phrase from the Bible, making this task even more of a challenge for me. An example we looked at was the In the Garden hymn. We debated if the garden was Eden or Gethsemane. A specific song I really liked over the past couple years as a teenager is the song “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” by Hillsong United. Despite the fact that I am Atheist, this song is so beautiful and I would highly recommend it to anyone if they care to listen. It is very religious and spiritual, yet it does not allude to the Bible. I was hoping to use this, but seeing the lyrics again reminded me I would not be able to. Just thought I would throw it out there as a recommendation to anyone who is interested in a great song!

In class we discussed biblical allusions in hymns. Off the top of my head nothing is coming to mind. The scavenger hunt to find allusions to specific bible passages/ stories seems as if it will be quite challenging. I hope it is easier than I anticipate.