Weezer's "This is Such a Pity" (fan video)
Iron and Wine's "Prison on Route 41" (live)
Brave Saint Saturn's "Under Bridges" (fan video)
I. There is one truly great moment on Weezer's 2005 album Make Believe, and it is the part when the way that the BGVs and lead vocals on "This is Such a Pity" sync up changes so that together they say "all our love / destroys us."
II. A Praise Song for Jezebel: Books and Culture editor John Wilson writes about Iron and Wine. Also, Christian Music Today's Tim Avery on The Shepherd's Dog. And my take on the album for Beliefnet (from a while back) recommends the record, but frankly I don't like it nearly as much as anything else Sam Beam has done. And I'll just add that the most blatantly non-Christian Iron and Wine lyric, not mentioned by Wilson, is "my savior/is not Christ the Lord/" from "Prison on Route 41." This shouldn't mean much, though, as I don't think Beam has many incarcerated family members, either. But beyond this -- beyond the fairly obvious notion that singing about something doesn't necessarily mean you "believe" it -- I still wonder about the impulse (which I still feel in myself at times) that says "watch out, this music isn’t Christian."
III. When I first heard "Under Bridges," by Brave Saint Saturn, I thought, everyone needs to hear this song, and then also I hope no one ever hears this song. You really have to have spent a lot of time ensconced in the evangelical subculture to understand how groundbreaking it is for Reese Roper to sing " Savior of the prostitutes/drunkards, rapists, and the gays," and how it is anything but bigoted for someone like him to sing that on a Tooth and Nail record that was sold mostly in Christian bookstores. This is maybe the best song this guy ever wrote, and he wrote a lot of songs that Evangelicals need(ed) to hear.
PS: Did anyone notice that Portland's Five O'Clock People reunited? !
1 comment:
Have you ever been to Arts Alive! in Eureka and listened to the accordion player on the corner? His name is Rick Fugate and he's a Reese Roper fan. I love standing there and singing Bridges at the top of my lungs with Rick, he also plays some awesome FIF tunes.
I'm a Christian and Reese's songs have left such an impact on my heart I'm going to get a dandelion tattoo. Anyway, Bridges blew my mind, the fact that he sang it at all, it breaks my heart and fills my eyes with tears... anyway, I simply love this song and Brave Saint Saturn in general. I'm glad you noticed it, because not a lot of people did.
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