I’ve been writing the blues off and on for years. The more blues I write, the deeper I go. My blues lyrics aren’t just about drinking and cheating, and losing my woman. They’re existential. I question personal values and collective ideologies. I get philosophical. And it’s still the blues.
So what about Gospel? Recently I posted this on Facebook:
The blues and gospel are two sides of the same coin. The blues is personal. It’s about individual struggles and transformation. Gospel is communal and it doesn’t have to be about God or religion, but rather about love, hope, and independence from oppression for the marginalized. And when you figure this out, you’ve got the key to the highway.
So what if we take God out of Gospel? Keep that upbeat, hand-clapping style, but instead of singing about God, we sing about love, hope, and community. Is it still Gospel music?
As someone who has written many traditional country-twinged Gospel and contemporary Christian songs, I say yes. The uplifting music is still a form of Gospel in itself. It celebrates overcoming obstacles. It celebrates humanity. It celebrates love and life. How is that NOT about God?
I don’t think songs have to praise God or worship Jesus in order to be Gospel songs. If the song spreads love and joy, what more might Jesus want? If the song fights oppression, how is that not fundamental to Christ’s message?
Over the past few years, I’ve added a new kind of song into my repertoire. It’s a happy kind of blues. It sounds and feels like old-time Gospel, but the messages in the songs are more about independence, freedom, communal efforts, and love. Here’s a verse and chorus from one I’m working on now:
The Good Ol’ Days Are Here Again
Well you can hear people talking
Trying to bring you down
Saying the good old’ days are gone for good
And they won’t come back around
But I’m here to tell you
That there ain’t no denying
That some people preaching gloom and doom
But in God’s name you know they’re a-lying
Cause the good ol’ days are here again
Come on everybody and clap your hands
Don’t take no church or religion
No bread or wine or superstition
Just a little fellowship with ol’ friends
And the good ol’ days are here again
Back in the days, blues and Gospel were considered opposites. Gospel was God’s music, and the blues was the devil’s music. But I’m not convinced that’s true. I think both forms are extremely spiritual and emotional, and both come from whatever good creative force exists in this universe.
Expect a handful of new blues and Gospel songs coming to my YouTube Channel soon. – dse
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