For my second blog post, I decided to listen to Belle and Sebastian's album, Dear Catastrophe Waitress. I decided on this album because I love the band and this was one of my favorite albums during my middle school years and still is. The songs are catchy and always put me in a good mood. The lyrics are inspirational, and sometimes slightly odd, but so am I and I enjoy the uniqueness.
Many of the songs are about a girl, more specifically love. These songs vary between sex, breaking up, beginning a relationship, and eloping. Relationships and love are gifts form God. I believe when 2 people love each other, it is a reflection of God and His love for human beings. In fact, there are many allusions to God in many of their songs. If you find yourself caught in love is a song about thanking God, or in this case "the man above." One stanza reads: "If you find yourself caught in love say a prayer to the man above But If you don’t listen to the voices then my friend You’ll soon run out of choices What a pity it would be You talk of freedom don’t you see The only freedom that you’ll ever really know Is written in books from long ago Give up your will to Him that loves you Things will change, I’m not saying overnight You’ve gotta start somewhere." I've never really paid much attention to these lyrics and what they were really speaking about. It wasn't until today when I read the lyrics online and really thought about how this song really reflects both the empire and the kingdom. It's saying that love should be cherished, it's a beautiful and rare gift, and for this thank God. The song appears to be suggesting that human beings are incomplete without love. Being single is not a coveted or good thing ("if you're single and looking out, you must raise your prayer to a shout.") I believe this is true to our society today. People are constantly in search of something to complete them. Whether it's money, or in this case love, something becomes an idol in their life. God is love, and created human beings to love one another. However, we must first love Him and not put anything in place of our relationship with Him, including another a person.
I still cannot get over the previous stanza. I found myself quite surprised when I read those lyrics, mostly because this isn't a "Christian band," yet I feel like they really have an understanding on salvation and God's love, and what life is about. Being thankful, cherishing love, and finding freedom through God. Just by a "secular" band which references drugs singing about reconciliation and love through God is pretty kingdom-like and stepping outside of the empire. Whether that was the purpose of the song or what the band truly believes, I don't know, but either way it does attribute to the kingdom of God.
Questions:
Do you think it is odd when God is mentioned in "secular" songs today? Should we think it is so odd? Why do you believe these artists do so? What does that say of music, the music industry, and the empire?
Do you think music has an effect on your spiritual growth whether it's Christian or non-Christian?
That's a great album. I'm not sure what their faith background is either, though it's important to recognize that many musicians who are Christian are very reluctant to name themselves as such for all sorts of (mostly good) reasons. "Christian" has come to mean so much more than "follower of Christ" and it was originally a term applied to those whose lifestyles were so distinct, they were associated by outsiders with the life of Jesus, rather than self-identified. Unfortunately, we tend to box artists up into too small of a category if they openly say they're Christian and then our interpretations of their art becomes too narrow and proof-texting. Interesting issues at stake here...
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