Why Broken Hallelujah? (3): Not “You Carried Me”?

You carried me is a song from the band Building 429. The song is a single off their 2007 release Iris to Iris and is currently topping the contemporary Christian music charts. Building 429, for those who don’t know, are a Christian rock band from North Carolina. They won the Gospel Music Association 2005 “New Artist of the Year” award and have been rising since. Their name points to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” You can take a listen to the song here, and read the lyrics, followed by some comments about why songs like this, written from “a strictly vertical perspective,” can’t bear enough weight to carry the message I’m trying to develop in this blog (and in the book to follow, I hope).

Why Broken Hallelujah? (2)

This song is, one could say, larger than life. It is the kind of song that seems as if it has always been written. Of course that is partly because its main theme, the chorus “hallelujah“, has indeed ‘always’ been written. It is the the ancient Hebrew word ” הַלְלוּיָהּ ” meaning “praise God” and is found over and over in the Psalms. It has also struck a cord because of the interplay of the music and lyrics. I don’t know how many people have done a cover version of this song, but there are a lot of them. The hyperlink on the song title will show the history of covers, and among my favorites are Jeff Buckley, Allison Crowe, Bob Dylan and of course U2. Read through the lyrics and I’ll then make some interpretive comments at the end.

Why Broken Hallelujah? (Part 1)

Ah, so you are curious about the title? Check out the song, first, before I continue. I have to admit that the video seems a bit cheesy in its staging, so you might find yourself closing your eyes.  I do,  or else I just laugh.

What’s next . . .

Welcome to what’s next in my thinking about faith and pop culture. I’ve written on faith and one of my favorite bands, U2. while writing that book, I kept a blog to chronicle the process and it was a blast (it was on blogger, however, which seems like a much less attractive platform compared to wordpress so I’m glad I switched!) I met lots of thoughtful and faithful people through the process and learned about faith and about U2 from people’s comments.

So why the new blog? A new book, that’s why. No, I don’t have a book yet, and I don’t have a publisher. but I’ve started writing and I need a forum for thinking out loud so that I hopefully spark some feedback. The topic is faith and pop culture. The book title is Broken Hallelujah: Faith in Pop Culture. Yes, you should hear a Leonard Cohen reference here.

If you like to think about faith and movies, music, or the arts generally, then stay tuned.

+anon.