Music and Religion or “We’re Bigger than Jesus”

Some adults that were once children might say they were “raised on meat and potatoes” or the more ethereal “raised on the gospel of the Baptist church”.  Not me, however. Thanks to my father, I was raised on a little known band called “The Beatles”.  While other kids were memorizing bible passages to secure their entrance into the pearly gates, I was learning the words to “Let it Be”.  Instead of Matthew, Judas, James and John…I learned: John, Paul, George and Ringo.  They were my apostles.  To be fair, it wasn’t just the Beatles. I certainly got my earful of Pink Floyd, too.  The Dark Side of the Moon was a regular soundtrack at my childhood home, always paired with my dad’s glass of wine and synthesizer musings. 

 “Breathe, Breathe in the air…don’t be afraid to care…”

  I can still hear him singing.  In this music my father would go somewhere else, a transcendental experience for sure.  It was then that I learned there are many ways to get to heaven.  Before you as a reader start the rumor that I am anti Jesus, know this:  I am not anti-Jesus.  I have a metaphor for this.  You know when a great musical artist puts out a track that is so mind blowing and so emotional it feels like your chest has been torn open with your heart fully exposed?  Then, years down the road another artist takes the chance and does a remake that ends up feeling exactly like missionary sex instead of, well, the Kama Sutra. Well, Jesus is to the original as religion is to the remake.  So, I suppose you can spread the rumor that I believe heaven can be reached by way of sex, music AND Jesus (this is just a partial list).  If a full list is what you are looking for please send a request to offtheravenstongue@yahoo.com.  Please know that I don’t check my email on the Sabbath or while I am praying to Allah, Buddha, or to the Celtic Goddess of the Moon.

 Surely, one of the beautiful qualities of contemporary music is that it can be recorded exactly as the artist intended and replayed over and over again in its purest form.  Pure, divine, un-manipulated – just like Jesus. No artist in his right mind is going to successfully attempt a remake of Speak to Me/Breathe.  Why?  Because art is divine and fleeting. True musical art is the jam session.  True art is the lyrics and guitar riff that wake you up in the middle of the night begging to be written.  True art already exists and is looking for a channel, searching for the person open enough to receive.  Sounds just like God to me.

 So, find your own path to God.  Open your soul to the gifts of the Divine.  And for fucks sakes, pick up a guitar and sing.

 Finito.

 * John Lennon “We’re more popular than Jesus now…” 1966