On another songwriting list I used to take part in, someone would post a song with, say, the word 'damned' in it. Not even used as a curse but in its 'proper' context - ie, meaning 'condemned'.

But then someone else would post a reply saying that they didn't think Jesus would approve of such language, using 'cuss' words and all that. So then the original writer would feel ashamed and embarrassed, and come back promising to take the word out.

Or there would be writers who'd express some sort of spiritual doubt in a song and find themselves being told off for that - which would lead to them scrapping that part of the song or dropping it altogether.

And I'd be thinking s/he was a fool, quite frankly, turning a decent song into something that was now mediocre. A lyric that was interesting, which showed understanding of the human condition, turned into something bog-standard.

Then there'd be the people who'd claim that using sarcasm in a song was 'unChristian' or even 'anti-Christian'.

So I'd point out, in case they hadn't read it, that the main guy in the New Testament used that technique quite a few times in order to make a point. Remember the stuff about rich men, heaven, camels and the eyes of needles, for example? Or when he pointed out that the rules of the sabbath should serve the people, not the people serve the rules? And what about the remark about rendering to caesar the things that are caesar's, and to god the things that are god's? And so on.

Last edited by Steve Cooke; 04/23/10 04:50 PM.
Steve Cooke
Stockton-on-Tees, UK
http://wwww.soundcloud.com/stevecooke