Note: This is a work of parody. It is protected under the First Amendment as well as the Fair Use statues of US Copyright laws. Millionaire CCM stars who wish to sue me should just not even bother.
Just for fun I’ve been working through the gigantic “Praise and Worship Fake Book” as a way of playing with my amp, stomp boxes, microphones, etc. These songs stretch clear back into the late 70’s right up the last several years. With the exception of some of the music to come out of Hillsong in Australia, almost everything written since the mid-90’s is drivel.
Have you ever watched a candle that is almost burned to the bottom. Just before it flickers out there’s a bright flash of light. That’s CCM in the last decade a last flash of emotional trite nonsense. The light is out now. There is a slight smell of waxy smoke. And I have to say that I prefer the darkness to the anemic light of JIMB music.
No song is more vacuous than Let My Words Be Few by Matt and Beth Redman. It perhaps typifies everything that is wrong with modern worst-ship music.
- Trance-like melody
- Self-centered ooshy-gooshy lyrics
- Repetition until the audience is either in a spiritual trance or cursing under their breath.
Despite the fact that I’ve been tortured by the song on several occasions, I’ve never been able to memorize the melody. So when I got out the fake book and started working through this song, I just kind of made up a melody. In fact, I improved this song in several ways:
- My melody is far more interesting.
- I use more words, including “yeah yeah,” “true” and “scooby-doo.”
- My version is only four minutes long while most worship leaders stretch this song for as much as half an hour.
Click the little triangle to listen:
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I don’t want to sound immodest but this is one of the best recordings I’ve ever done. “Honey Bee” and “
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” are also terrific if you’re new to the Lingamish style.
Let My Words Be Few is based on scripture! Are we listening to the same song?
“…For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.” -Ecclesiastes 5:2 (NASB)
Scooby-doo to you too! Tonight at the Rhythm amd Brew we are going to hear the group, Bob Dylan’s Grandmother. Maybe next time you are in Albany you can get a gig there.
I think I’m going to write a post “Jesus really is my boyfriend!”, explaining how scriptural and wonderful this image is.
Abstract: God is love, God loves his people and commands them to love him with all their heart and soul, Jesus is the embodiment of that love, the loving relationship between a man and a woman is a biblical image for that between Jesus and the people he died for, Song of Songs, QED.
Try replacing “Jesus” with “Hilary” in the song:
If you ignore the messed up metre, is it now the sort of song your wife might like you to sing to her? Or does she prefer you to multiply your words and time your expressions of love to not more than four minutes? I won’t suggest that you should change the song so that you stand in awe of her, but if you give the wrong answer to these questions you might find yourself in the wrong kind of awe of her reaction.
One more point: you actually misquoted the song when you claimed to find heresy in it; the line is in fact “You are God in heaven, and here am I on earth”. But which statement are you claiming is heresy: “You [Jesus] are God in heaven” or “here am I on earth”? To deny the former is some version of Arianism. To deny the latter (unless you happen to be flying at the time) is an insult to the land of Mozambique. Of course it is also true that Jesus is God on earth and that you are seated in the heavenly places in him. But you can hardly expect a complete systematic theology in one line of a song.
[...] Ker has posted another rant about “Jesus is my boyfriend” type songs, in this case specifically “Let My Words [...]
[...] Ker is complaining about modern worship songs (since the 90s), and Peter Kirk has partially taken him to task about it, wondering about the air [...]
Turning Ecclesiastes into a jingle is quite a feat. It’s the paucity of thought in this song and the weird “I am so in love with Jesus my celestial boyfriend” sentiment that sends this song to the top of the “worst of…” charts.
Here’s another prospective lyric from Ecclesiastes:
“A feast is made for laughter,
and wine makes life merry,
but money is the answer for everything
and Jesus I am so in love with you.”
Mmmmm, I like that. Time to get out the guitar…
Actually, the phrase “You are in heaven and I am here on earth” is a contradiction of the Christian message. Through the incarnation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God is here on earth and we are living in heaven. So, the song is Scriptural but heretical.
I find Thee enthroned in my heart, my Lord Jesus.
It is enough.
I know that Thou art throned in heaven.
My heart and heaven are one.
–Alistair Maclean (Quoted in Celtic Daily Prayer, Day 8 )
I was hoping you’d reply.
If I said, “Hilary I am so in love with You.” over and over again for ten minutes she would run out of the room screaming. Words when over used by incessant repetition lose their meaning.