Bad Worship Songs: Give me Jesus (Gamoba, Avers)

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned?

We think an excellent worship song should contain the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• Lyrics that do not create uncertainty or cause confusion
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness
• Not excessively metaphorical
• Not excessively repetitive
• Jesus is not your boyfriend

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with this song, Give me Jesus. 

Video link.

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]
I don't want anything but You
You're more than every dream come true
All of the things I thought I wanted
Don't come close to knowing You

[Verse 2]

Now that I'm Yours and You are mine
Our love is the secret that I find
I'll spend forever in the pleasure
I've found looking in Your eyes

[Chorus]
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
You can have all this world

[Verse 3]
More than silver, more than gold
You are the treasure that I hold
Now that I've tastеd of Your goodness
Nothing else will satisfy

[Bridge]
I don't want anyone else
I don't need anything else
You are my one thing
You are my one thing

Overview

The woman who sings in the video does so with a child's voice. Breathy, weak, and unpleasant. On the other hand, we can see how this woman's singing fits in thematically with the almost sexual nature of the lyrics. It's like a teenage girl hyperventilating over the quarterback on the football team, whose name happens to be Jesus.

Really, if not for the mention of (someone named) Jesus, this song is indistinguishable from a lustful fantasy.

The Music

We shall not spend much time analyzing the music.

This is a well-constructed song, with an attractive melody and good production. The chords are basic but pleasant, the procession of musical ideas flows very naturally, and the band plays well. 

But in fact, this may be insidious. The attractive music camouflages the vapid, creepy lyrics.

The Lyrics

The song masquerades as a reboot of an old American hymn, Give Me Jesus. But it's not a reboot.

Here's the lyrics to that song:

In The Morning When I Rise,
In The Morning When I Rise,
In The Morning When I Rise,
Give Me Jesus.

Give Me Jesus, Give Me Jesus.
You May Have All This World, Give Me Jesus.

Dark Midnight Was My Cry,
Dark Midnight Was Cry,
Dark Midnight Was My Cry,
Give Me Jesus.

I Heard The Mourner Say,
I Heard The Mourner Say,
I Heard The Mourner Say,
Give Me Jesus.

Oh, When I Come To Die,
Oh, When I Come To Die,
Oh, When I Come To Die,
Give Me Jesus.

The reader will note that the hymn is about desiring the abiding presence of Jesus throughout life, even in difficult times. Though not a deep hymn in any theological sense, the message is clear about choosing Jesus over things of this world.

But the "modern" version of the song completely negates this in favor of seeking some sort of intimacy with Jesus. Now, we are not suggesting that the subject matter of the hymn must be preserved, but we are saying that if a new song is going to be written with a new theme, then don't quote the hymn at all. Make the new song 100% new instead of 90% new.

Quoting the chorus lyrics of the hymn conveys a legitimacy to the new song that it doesn't deserve. The typical congregant would think, "oh, an adaption of a hymn I'm vaguely familiar with." But it's not.

The final nail in the coffin is that it doesn't even do the intimacy theme very well. As a "Jesus is my boyfriend" song, it even fails at that. The song's lyrics are cringeworthy even as a love song.

It has absolutely nothing to say. Consider the nonsense of second verse:

Now that I'm Yours and You are mine
Our love is the secret that I find
I'll spend forever in the pleasure
I've found looking in Your eyes

What secret did the songwriter find? According to the song, "our love." Were the songwriters searching for this mutual love? But it says "our love," not "your love." The songwriters discovered a secret shared love, not the love Jesus yet has for us when we hated him.

We also must ask, when did the songwriters obtain the ability to look in Jesus' eyes? Is this really the nature of eternity?

There are many words over the course of three verses, there's a chorus and a oft-repeated bridge. Could not the songwriters give us us just a bit of substance and a little less of the vague, amorphous whispers about sweet nothings?

Conclusion

We have written some worship songs ourselves, and find that crafting a good melody and a serviceable arrangement is the hard part. It's relatively easy to create biblical, interesting lyrics. But Bethel music, the source of this song, seems to be able to do the opposite. They write very nice melodies and professional arrangements, but with superficial, fuzzy lyrics oriented to self.

More than an empty suit, this song is actually dangerous. It's dangerous because it lures people in with a worshipful atmosphere, a familiar quote from a hymn, and lovely music, but offers no statements of worship, edifying concepts, or any sort of substance at all.

We absolutely cannot recommend this song.