Singing Christian lyrics as an agnostic

Justforfun000 · Post by **Justforfun000** » 2007-07-28 07:30pm

And yeah I know I know an agnostic is considered kind of a coward here, but I can't help it. I can't bring myself to fully embrace Atheism, and I can't say I truly believe in God either so I'm really uncertain.

So in any case though, I am a professional singer and even though I wrote a song called "Give me the strength" over 10 years ago when I believed, it's weird to sing it now so I rarely do.

However, a newer song by Martina McBride came out called "Anyway" that she co-wrote on her first album that she decided to lend a hand to writing.

I sing a lot of her stuff and she's one of my favourite singers, and "Independance Day" is one of my signature songs around here. People love it.

Now she does a lot of religious-themed songs,but they are normally slightly subtle, and I don't mind singing those. I'm not ANTI-God by any means, and I don't refuse to sing any lyrics that reference him, but I HATE blatant phrases. For example I'd never sing Tim McGraws "Drugs or Jesus".

Noq that new song of Martina's is actually a great song. I love the melody, and it's popular, AND people asked me to learn it.

I know the lyrics are ones that people here would probably shred to hell for many reasons. I'm guessing people here would accuse them as being "appeals to ignorance", or what have you, but I actually still find them very meaningful and I agree with the sentiment.

But I DESPISE one line in particular. I have to sing "God is great" in the first line of the chorus. ugh. I find that so blatant.

Many times I just sing "God ITS great" instead.

So does anyone get what I mean?

These are the lyrics:

Anyway Lyrics
Artist(Band):Martina McBride
Review The Song (30) Print the Lyrics

Send polyphonic ringtone to your cell phone

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy
It's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
In a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
Yea - I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yea, sing it anyway
Yeah, yeah!

I sing
I dream
I love anyway

Post by **Zaia** » 2007-07-28 08:38pm

Off to ye olde musique forumme. *kicks*

Justforfun000 · Post by **Justforfun000** » 2007-07-28 08:49pm

Off to ye olde musique forumme. *kicks*

Huh? I don't understand?

Post by **Zaia** » 2007-07-28 09:18pm

Justforfun000 wrote:
Off to ye olde musique forumme. *kicks*
Huh? I don't understand?

It's a thread about music and lyrics. I moved it here, to the music forum, because I thought it was more suited to this forum than Off-Topic.

It was either the music forum or SLAM, if you wanted to focus on the religious aspect. But since I thought the point was to discuss having to sing things you might not agree with, I put it here. *shrugs*

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2007-07-29 01:20am

Of course you can change the lyrics, you're the one performing the song. Hell, your change is so small that I don't even see the issue in it.

I virtually always change lyrics around a bit, from a combination of imperfect memory and preference. Take Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith, for example. "I can't say baby, where I'll be in a year" is a good lyric, but doesn't hold a candle to the alternative of "I've got the garage, but I'm parking in the rear."

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2007-07-29 04:16am

Speaking from a purely artistic standpoint, I personally think it's a little disrespectful to change lyrics somebody else wrote. You either like the song enough to perform it or you don't. That said, that change you're proposing would probably not be noticed, but is it really necessary? If you put a little "question mark inflection" on it so it read like:

God is great?
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

It sounds more like a song about somebody who wants to believe in supernatural forces, because it makes them feel good or whatever. Even if that's not you, it's a character you know and can get into for a minute.

Post by **Zaia** » 2007-07-29 09:53am

I think the deciding factor for me would be if I was getting paid for the gig or not. If people have requested a specific song off me for, say, their wedding or anniversary party and are giving me a paycheck to perform, then I'll sing it the way they want it sung (ie: the original, presumably). If, however, I'm out playing at clubs or bars or parties just for kicks and people are requesting songs that way, I'll play my cover however I want.

Justforfun000 · Post by **Justforfun000** » 2007-07-29 02:36pm

It's a thread about music and lyrics. I moved it here, to the music forum, because I thought it was more suited to this forum than Off-Topic.

Gotcha. Didn't know about this forum. Thanks hon.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2007-07-29 02:40pm

Amusingly, in a recent episode of the lame duck comedy Hyperdrive they had exactly what you'd want.....

Ta da! Starts around 4:50