Bad worship songs - I Will Follow Jesus, by Circuit Rider Music

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, I Will Follow Jesus.

--------------

Video link.

Lyrics:

VERSE 1

For too long we’ve been quiet
Silenced by the lies of the enemy
But a new song is arising
From our mouths we’ll sing out a new melody

VERSE 2
We will not miss this moment
We were born for such a time as this
Reaching for our brothers and our sisters
We won’t let the devil win

PRE-CHORUS
We won’t look back at our old lives
We’ve seen the King
He paid it all and now we are His
He’s everything

CHORUS
I have decided I will follow Jesus
Anywhere He leads us that’s where we will go

VERSE 3
We’ve got no more questions
We will go in His authority
Jesus exalted is the vision
We say yes with no apologies

BRIDGE
I’m riding with Jesus wherever He goes
Living surrendered this life’s not my own

Overview

We just published a critique of a song, Goodbye Yesterday, that also quoted the hymn "I have decided to follow Jesus." This is apparently an upcoming imitative trend in worship music, much like overcoming fear has been appearing in various worship songs. We certainly admire the resolve to follow Jesus, if we could  sing about this ambition without the song becoming too self-focused. This song does not avoid that pitfall. It very nearly achieves a score of 100% self.

The background music promises an uplifting time of worship that neither the lyrics nor the melody delivers. The largely pentatonic melody is surprisingly flat and unimaginative. In the video we see crowd shots showing they are ready to worship, and when the tiniest hint of worship appears in the song they jump on the opportunity. Good for them. If only the song itself provided opportunities to worship. It does not.

The Music

The chord progression for the first two verses is iv - V (first inv.) - I, V - ii, repeated. For the pre-chorus, IV maj7 - V - vi - V (first inv.) - I, repeated with a ii chord to lead into the chorus.

The chorus one chords are vi - IV - V - ii, while chorus two is vi - V (first inv.) - I - I (first inv.) - IV. The bridge one chords are IV - VI - ii - vi, while the bridge two chords are vi - ii.

The song's third verse chords are vi - E -V - ii, repeated with a vi added.

There are various tags and interludes interspersed. 

Because these chords can be arranged in various combinations without impeding the functionality of the music, the songwriter simply changes the order of the chords to make the song seem less repetitive. I and vi are interchangeable, as are ii and V. The progression can resolve with either a perfect cadence or a deceptive cadence, and the anticipatory nature of the dominant V chord can be softened by following it with a ii. 

The Lyrics

This is our major complaint. The song is nearly devoid of worship. There is a statement in the pre-chorus about the King paying it all, and He's everything ("everything" seems to be a good thing, but awfully vague). Another statement in verse 3 describes Jesus exalted as the vision, but that's it. Everything else is about what we will do and won't do. Every statement about Jesus is third person.

Verse one claims we've been silenced by the enemy, but according to the song the evidence that this has ended is our new song. This statement is generally nonsensical.

Verse two asserts that the timing of our lives is important, but right after this we find:

Reaching for our brothers and our sisters, we won’t let the devil win

It's really a mystery as to what this means, and also how it connects to the moment we're in. If we are reaching for the lost, why are they called brothers and sisters? If these brothers and sisters are already saved, then why are we reaching for them? How might the devil win in this situation, and how are we going to to stop him?

Verse three states that we have no more questions. This of course is categorically false. We will always have questions because of the inscrutable nature of our God. We suppose that the songwriter meant that we will not question His call upon our lives. Or perhaps we will not question what He has commanded. Bottom line, a worship song must not make absurd statements or create uncertainty.

The entire song is voiced by the corporate "we." But the chorus changes from "we" to "I" and then back to "we." The bridge does the same. These kinds of internal inconsistencies are simply sloppy.

Conclusion

This is just another garden variety, vague and meaningless foray into irrelevance. This song might last a couple of weeks but will fade into obscurity rather quickly. We suggest a worship team not waste time learning it.