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
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Audio link.
Verse
Goodbye yesterday
I’m living in the light of a new day
I won’t waste another minute in my old ways
Praise the Lord I’ve been born again
Goodbye yesterday
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
I’ve got resurrection in my veins
Praise the Lord I’ve been born again
Chorus
Again and again and again and again
You rescued me out of the mess I was in
Traded my sorrow for something to sing
I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in
Praise the Lord I’ve been born again
Overview
This is a celebratory song, more specifically a testimony song. It is not a worship song, since it addresses God only once, and that being a simple statement of fact without any element of praise: "You rescued me out of the mess I was in." The songwriters did not even think to say "Thank you."
In addition, the song is almost entirely self-focused. I, me, and my are found in nearly every stanza.
Production-wise, the mix is somewhat muddy. The drums are not crisp, and the vocals sound artificial. In addition, the harmony choices are somewhat odd in that the first time through the chorus the harmony is very tight, but after that it is an open harmony with lots of 5ths and some unisons.
2. The chorus lyrics Again and again and again and again/You rescued me out of the mess I was in violate the narrative of the song. In the context of being born again we were rescued once, not again and again. Now certainly we mess up in our lives periodically, and God does continually rescue us, but the song is about being born again, not about our subsequent messing up.
3. The chorus lyrics Traded my sorrow for something to sing is very nearly nonsensical. How did the songwriters make this trade? Was there a trade with God, or was it a self resolved choice to stop doing one thing in order to gain another? And what thing is this something to sing? Darrell Evans wrote a song back in 1999, Trading My Sorrows, which explains the idea much better.
4. We don't mind when contemporary songs quote the lyrics to old hymns. However, if the way those lyrics are presented are in such a way as to blur or even change the meaning, we have a problem. The original hymn reads,
Lyrics:
Verse
Goodbye yesterday
I’m living in the light of a new day
I won’t waste another minute in my old ways
Praise the Lord I’ve been born again
Goodbye yesterday
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
I’ve got resurrection in my veins
Praise the Lord I’ve been born again
Chorus
Again and again and again and again
You rescued me out of the mess I was in
Traded my sorrow for something to sing
I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in
Bridge
I have decided
To follow Jesus
The world behind
The cross before I won’t turn back
I have decided
To follow Jesus
The world behind
The cross before I won’t turn back
Outro
I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in
I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in
I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in
I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in
Praise the Lord I’ve been born again
Overview
This is a celebratory song, more specifically a testimony song. It is not a worship song, since it addresses God only once, and that being a simple statement of fact without any element of praise: "You rescued me out of the mess I was in." The songwriters did not even think to say "Thank you."
In addition, the song is almost entirely self-focused. I, me, and my are found in nearly every stanza.
Before we heard the song we errantly thought of That Was Yesterday by Foreigner.
Production-wise, the mix is somewhat muddy. The drums are not crisp, and the vocals sound artificial. In addition, the harmony choices are somewhat odd in that the first time through the chorus the harmony is very tight, but after that it is an open harmony with lots of 5ths and some unisons.
The lead singer sounds out of breath.
The Music
Since this is a very up-tempo song it is necessary for the melodies and chords to be fairly simple and oft-repeated in order for it to be playable. It requires some skill to pull it off, particularly with the syncopation of the bridge.
The verse is a repeated I - IV, while the chorus is a repeated IV - V - vi ending with a ii - V turnaround.
The bridge is a repeated I - ii ending with a vi - V - IV turnaround. The outro is a repeated I - ii - I - IV with the same vi - V - IV turnaround.
There is nothing particularly innovative about the orchestration or arrangement, it's just a rudimentary background to provide a platform for the tune and not much else. There is no real hook in the song that makes it distinctive. There is a simple riff in the opening electric guitar with a primary note movement of the third to the fifth and back.
The Music
Since this is a very up-tempo song it is necessary for the melodies and chords to be fairly simple and oft-repeated in order for it to be playable. It requires some skill to pull it off, particularly with the syncopation of the bridge.
The verse is a repeated I - IV, while the chorus is a repeated IV - V - vi ending with a ii - V turnaround.
The bridge is a repeated I - ii ending with a vi - V - IV turnaround. The outro is a repeated I - ii - I - IV with the same vi - V - IV turnaround.
There is nothing particularly innovative about the orchestration or arrangement, it's just a rudimentary background to provide a platform for the tune and not much else. There is no real hook in the song that makes it distinctive. There is a simple riff in the opening electric guitar with a primary note movement of the third to the fifth and back.
Most memorable songs are memorable because they have a hook or a riff that makes them instantly recognizable. An example of this might be Hotel California by the Eagles, which from the very first note the signature sound identifies the song. For worship music, Take Heart by Joel Houston might be a good example. While not necessarily a well known song, the opening riff is distinctive and immediately recognizable.
Like a memorable riff, a memorable melody cements the identity of the song. In our opinion, there is nothing memorable about this melody apart from "again and again and again" which is superficially clever, but it's been done better by other songs.
Like a memorable riff, a memorable melody cements the identity of the song. In our opinion, there is nothing memorable about this melody apart from "again and again and again" which is superficially clever, but it's been done better by other songs.
The bridge melody is actually kind of irritating. Coming in on an up beat, the melody picks the high octave root out of the the air, and with three successive up beats goes to the third, fourth, and fifth degree of the scale. It does that twice, but then on the third stanza the entry timing of the rhythm is later. As a result someone in the congregation will always sing the third stanza too early.
Worship songs should never be the occasion for embarrassment.
The Lyrics
It goes without saying the the main determiner of whether or not a song is a worship song, or even a Christian song, is the lyrics. We find there are several problems:
1) The song's theme is immediately identifiable, that we are new creations, born again, and we are saying goodbye to our past. This is really great theme, but it is poorly developed. Now, we certainly agree that the individual statements of the song generally tie into the primary theme, but nearly every statement assumes the audience possesses a prior, and deeper, knowledge of the concepts. Rather than the songwriters telling a story, they rely on the audience's prior knowledge to fill in the gaps of the storytelling to make it meaningful.
An example of this is I’ve got resurrection in my veins. This is a poetic way of expressing a Bible truth, but the key missing component is that Jesus' resurrection is the power at work in our lives. The audience might possess this understanding, but if they don't the verse makes no sense. And worship songs should always make sense.
2. The chorus lyrics Again and again and again and again/You rescued me out of the mess I was in violate the narrative of the song. In the context of being born again we were rescued once, not again and again. Now certainly we mess up in our lives periodically, and God does continually rescue us, but the song is about being born again, not about our subsequent messing up.
3. The chorus lyrics Traded my sorrow for something to sing is very nearly nonsensical. How did the songwriters make this trade? Was there a trade with God, or was it a self resolved choice to stop doing one thing in order to gain another? And what thing is this something to sing? Darrell Evans wrote a song back in 1999, Trading My Sorrows, which explains the idea much better.
4. We don't mind when contemporary songs quote the lyrics to old hymns. However, if the way those lyrics are presented are in such a way as to blur or even change the meaning, we have a problem. The original hymn reads,
I have decided to follow Jesus;I have decided to follow Jesus;I have decided to follow Jesus;No turning back; no turning back
The cross before me, the world behind me;
The cross before me, the world behind me;
The cross before me, the world behind me;
No turning back, no turning back.
The song reads,
I have decided
To follow Jesus
The world behind
The cross before I won’t turn back
The difference may be nitpicking, but we need to point out that stating the solemn fact that there is no turning back is different than asserting one's intent to not turn back.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There is nothing heretical in the song. It's not offensive or grating on the ear. It's just not very profound. With as many lyrics as it has, pursuing a very well-chosen theme, we think the songwriters missed a chance to write something with substance.
We tepidly recommend it.
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