Series: Songs of Sacrilege

  • Songs of Sacrilege: The Story of Isaac by Leonard Cohen

    leonard cohen

    This is the one hundred seventy-second installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Songs of Sacrilege is The Story of Isaac by Leonard Cohen.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    The door it opened slowly
    My father he came in, was nine years old
    And he stood so tall above me
    His blue eyes they were shining
    And his voice was very cold
    He said, “I’ve had a vision
    And you know I’m strong and holy
    I must do what I’ve been told.”
    So he started up the mountain
    I was running, he was walking
    And his ax was made of gold

    Well, the trees they got much smaller
    The lake a lady’s mirror
    We stopped to drink some wine
    Then he threw the bottle over
    Broke a minute later
    And he put his hand on mine
    Thought I saw an eagle
    But it might have been a vulture
    I never could decide
    Then my father built an altar
    He looked once behind his shoulder
    He knew I would not hide

    You who build these altars now
    To sacrifice these children
    You must not do it anymore
    A scheme is not a vision
    And you never have been tempted
    By a demon or a god
    You who stand above them now
    Your hatchets blunt and bloody
    You were not there before
    When I lay upon a mountain
    And my father’s hand was trembling
    With the beauty of the word

  • Songs of Sacrilege: Chasing Empty Mangers by Derek Webb

    derek webb

    This is the one hundred seventy-third installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Songs of Sacrilege is Chasing Empty Mangers by Derek Webb. Webb, formerly part of Contemporary Christian Music group Caedmon’s Call, is now an unbeliever.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    the tiny christmas tree
    the empty stockings hanging
    the house devoid of chaos and life
    while daddy’s getting drunk
    the peanuts kids are dancing
    there’s no star atop the tree tonight
    ’cause i’m taking what you give
    the baby god returning
    bringing peace to every house but mine

    so another man takes the fall
    just for doing all he could
    in light of what you dreamed up
    for your glory and another man’s good

    oh god, what have i done
    without your great permission
    knowing fully of the end at the start
    like a dirty goddamn trick
    i either sin as i resist you
    or i do it as i’m doing my part
    so all my empathy
    to judas and the devil
    they were yours as much in light as in the dark

    so another man takes the fall
    just for doing all he could
    in light of what you dreamed up
    for your glory and another man’s good

    so tonight i’ll watch the skies
    for a sleigh and saint appearing
    like a great star running out of space
    on this drunken christmas eve
    i gotta say that feels as likely
    as any one of you three showing your face
    so a toast to all my friends
    who are lost and beat and bleeding
    still chasing empty mangers out of faith

     

  • Songs of Sacrilege: Goodbye, for Now by Derek Webb

    derek webb

    This is the one hundred seventy-fourth installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Songs of Sacrilege is Goodbye, for Now by Derek Webb. Webb, formerly part of Contemporary Christian Music group Caedmon’s Call, is now an unbeliever.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    the reason it’s been so long since we talked
    i’m not ready to show up and feel nothing
    i don’t even feel sad anymore
    i’m just always looking for your replacement

    i still believe in love
    like i believe in just war
    i think it’s possible
    but maybe just not anymore

    so i say goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    so i say goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now

    so i’m back in the corner of this bar
    just studying a glass and these faces
    i’ve been looking for the one i lost
    and for eternity in the wrong places

    so either you aren’t real
    or i am just not chosen
    maybe i’ll never know
    either way, my heart is broken

    as i say goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    as i say goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now

    so you left me here to document the slow unraveling
    of a man who burned the house down
    where he kept everything
    excommunication never made much sense to me
    like abandonment to demonstrate how you’ll never leave
    and yet you say

    and i say goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    oh, i say goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now
    goodbye, for now

  • Songs of Sacrilege: Everything is Made to Last by Ciaran Lavery

    ciaran lavery

    This is the one hundred seventy-fifth installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Songs of Sacrilege is Everything is Made to Last by Ciaran Lavery.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    Woke up in the afternoon again
    Where you been? Where you been?
    We go waltzing through the past
    Everything is made to last
    Maybe Jesus knows my name
    I can’t be sure, I can’t be sure
    I sin like an every day man
    Nothing ever goes to plan

    [Chorus]
    Ooh-ooh-ooh
    Ooh-ooh-ooh
    Living outside, living fast
    ‘Cause people wanna be alive and a part of the dream
    It all lights up to a God they’ve seen
    But I wanna be alive and a part of the dream
    Ooh-oh-oh
    Ooh-oh-oh

    Night crawls through my window again
    Let it in, I let it in
    Not sure if this feeling’s gonna pass
    So leave me where the shadows cast
    Wonder if there’ll be a change
    In everything, with everything
    We sin everyday because we can
    I’m afraid of what I am

  • Songs of Sacrilege: ’74 No by The Magnetic Fields

     

    the magnetic fields

    This is the one hundred seventy-sixth installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Songs of Sacrilege is ’74 No by The Magnetic Fields.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    Is there a man in heaven looking out for you?
    Is there a place dead loved ones go?
    Is there a source of wisdom that will see you through?
    Will there be peace in our time?
    No

    We knew Karmu, a faith healer—the black Christ, he said—
    Laying his hands on high and low
    Did he cure colds and cancer, and bring back the dead?
    Did he refuse donations?
    No

    My friend Scott says there’s flying saucers
    Hiding inside our hollow moon (Our hollow moon)
    And then there’s Karl, card-carrying communist
    Cause revolution’s coming “soon” (It’s coming soon)
    And Carolyn believes in fairies
    And Gabrielle believes in ghosts
    Yeshe believes in reincarnation (We’ll meet again)
    And David, in heavenly hosts (Heavenly hosts)

    My mother believes that this physical universe
    Is a big holographic show
    And she says someday science’ll catch up with her
    Has she a shred of evidence?
    No

     

  • Songs of Sacrilege: Straight to Hell by Darius Rucker

    darius rucker

    This is the one hundred seventy-seventh installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Songs of Sacrilege is Straight to Hell by Darius Rucker (with Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and Charles Kelley).

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    I grew up just west of the tracks
    Holding me to hold me back
    Around your door she’s calling out my name
    I come in at 5 AM
    And she is waiting for me
    She said, “Where have you been?”, I said, “I was out!”
    She said, “You’re no good cause you’re running without love”

    And I’m going straight to Hell
    Just like my momma said
    I’m going straight to Hell (to Hell, woohoo)
    I’m going straight to Hell
    Just like my momma said
    I’m going straight to Hell (oh and I’m gonna burn it down, baby)

    The black widow and the ladies man
    Met down at the laundromat
    And tried to make me understand
    And just then, her mother bursts in
    And said, “You’re the son of that bitch in the wind
    Get out of my house and hit the road”
    And I kept falling like a Rolling Stones’ song

    Cause I’m going straight to Hell
    Just like my momma said
    I’m going straight to Hell (oh straight to Hell)
    I’m going straight to Hell
    Just like my momma said
    I’m going straight to Hell

    The stars came out and warned me so
    As I walked on down the road
    Fifty bucks and a suitcase steered me clear
    She took my hand as we walked into the sun
    A new day’s promise had just begun
    We’ll make it alone whether you like it or not
    And I turned around and shouted “Help me momma!”

    Cause I’m going straight to Hell
    Just like my momma said
    I’m going straight to Hell
    Oh yeah, I’m going straight to Hell
    Ooh just like my momma said
    I’m going straight to Hell

    (Oh Lord help us
    Yeah I’ll bring the whiskey boys
    Y’all taking me with ya
    Help me Jesus, help me Jesus, we all are
    Oh!)

  • Songs of Sacrilege: God is On Our Side by Roxanne Cote

    god is on our side

    This is the one hundred seventy-eighth installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Songs of Sacrilege is God is On Our Side by Roxanne Cote.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    Can’t you see the starving child?
    Can’t you see the corpses piled?
    A comedy of dirt and blood
    And God is on our side
    Sex slaves and trafficking
    Broken homes are for bidding
    Love at a price to buy
    And God is on our side
    Day and night
    I yearn for you
    by the dimmest light
    And I know
    I’m bearing my greatest fight
    Where religions were made to divide
    My brother and I
    For all the love we tried and
    Prayers we lied and
    God is on our side
    Monks and kings are born heartless
    Living in wild circus
    But your myths are here to guide
    And God is on our side
    Governing a red madness
    Fruiting a black sadness T
    he faith in me has died
    And God is on our side

    Christopher Hitchens Monologue

    Is it good for the world to appeal to our credulity and not to our skepticism? Is it good for the world to worship a deity that takes sides in wars and human affairs? To appeal to our fear and guilt, is it good for the world? To our terror, our terror of death, is it good to appeal? To preach guilt and shame about the sexual act and the sexual relationship, is this good for the world? And asking yourself all that while, are these really religious responsibilities, as I maintain they are? To terrify children with the image of hell and eternal punishment, not just of themselves, but of their parents and those they love Perhaps worst of all, to consider women an inferior creation, is that good for the world? And can you name me a religion that has not done that?

    Are you gonna hide forever?
    Are you gonna hide forever?
    Are you gonna hide forever?
    Are you gonna hide forever?
    Are you gonna hide forever?

  • Songs of Sacrilege: No Rest For the Wicked by Cage the Elephant

    cage the elephantThis is the one hundred seventy-ninth installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Songs of Sacrilege: No Rest For the Wicked by Cage the Elephant.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    I was walking down the street when out the corner of my eye
    I saw a pretty little thing approaching me
    She said, “I never seen a man, who looks so all alone
    Oh, could you use a little company?
    If you pay the right price, your evening will be nice
    And you can go and send me on my way.”
    I said, “You’re such a sweet young thing, why you do this to yourself?”
    She looked at me and this is what she said:

    [Chorus]
    “Oh there ain’t no rest for the wicked
    Money don’t grow on trees
    I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
    There ain’t nothing in this world for free
    Oh no, I can’t slow down, I can’t hold back
    Though you know, I wish I could
    Oh no there ain’t no rest for the wicked
    Until we close our eyes for good”

    Not even 15 minutes later I’m still walking down the street
    When I saw the shadow of a man creep out out of sight
    And then he swept up from behind, he put a gun up to my head
    He made it clear he wasn’t looking for a fight
    He said, “Give me all you’ve got, I want your money, not your life
    But if you try to make a move I won’t think twice.”
    I told him, “You can have my cash, but first you know I gotta ask:
    What made you want to live this kind of life?”
    He said:

    “There ain’t no rest for the wicked
    Money don’t grow on trees
    I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
    There ain’t nothing in this world for free
    Oh no, I can’t slow down, I can’t hold back
    Though you know, I wish I could
    Oh no there ain’t no rest for the wicked
    Until we close our eyes for good”

    Well now a couple hours past and I was sitting in my house
    The day was winding down and coming to an end
    And so I turned on the TV and flipped it over to the news
    And what I saw I almost couldn’t comprehend
    I saw a preacher man in cuffs, he’d taken money from the church
    He’d stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills
    But even still I can’t say much because I know we’re all the same
    Oh yes, we all seek out to satisfy those thrills

    You know there ain’t no rest for the wicked
    Money don’t grow on trees
    We got bills to pay, we got mouths to feed
    There ain’t nothing in this world for free
    Oh no we can’t slow down, we can’t hold back
    Though you know we wish we could
    Oh no there ain’t no rest for the wicked
    Until we close our eyes for good

  • Songs of Sacrilege: Amen by Halestorm

    halestorm

    This is the one hundred eightieth installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Song of Sacrilege: Amen by Halestorm.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    Can I get a
    Uh hu
    Can I get a
    Uh hu
    Can I get a
    Uh hu
    Can I get a
    Uh hu

    A fire’s gotta burn
    The world is gonna turn
    A rain has gotta fall
    Fate is gonna call
    But I just keep on breathing
    Long as my heart is beating

    Someone’s gotta hate
    It’s never gonna change
    Gets harder everyday
    This is one hell of a place
    Keep your heart from freezing
    To keep yourself believing

    But I won’t run
    I’m not afraid
    I’ll look em in the eye
    Gonna hear me say
    It’s…

    My life
    My love
    My sex
    My drug
    My lust
    My god it ain’t no sin
    Can I get it?
    Can I get an Amen?
    My grace
    My church
    My pain
    My tears
    My hurt
    My god, I’ll say it again
    Can I get it?
    Can I get an Amen?

    Can I get it?
    Can I get an Amen?
    Can I get it?
    Can I get an Amen?

    Life has gotta kill
    Faith is gonna blind
    Hope is gonna fade
    The truth is gonna lie
    Sometimes there’s no reason
    To justify the meaning

    But I won’t run
    I’m not ashamed
    It’s gonna take more than this for me to break

    My life
    My love
    My sex
    My drug
    My lust
    My god it ain’t no sin
    Can I get it?
    Can I get an Amen?
    My grace
    My church
    My pain
    My tears
    My hurt
    My god, I’ll say it again
    Can I get it?
    Can I get an Amen?

    Can I get it?
    Can I get an Amen?
    Can I get it?
    Can I get an Amen?

  • Songs of Sacrilege: When We Fell by David Bazan

    david bazan

    This is the one hundred eighty-first installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.

    Today’s Song of Sacrilege is When We Fell by David Bazan.

    Video Link

    Lyrics

    [Verse 1]
    With the threat of hell hanging over my head like a halo
    I was made to believe in a couple of beautiful truths
    That eventually had the effect of completely unraveling
    The powerful curse put on me by you

    [Chorus 1]
    When you set the table
    And when you chose the scale
    Did you write a riddle
    That you knew they would fail?

    Did you make them tremble
    So they would tell the tale?
    Did you push us when when we fell?

    [Verse 2]
    If my mother cries when I tell her what I have discovered
    Then I hope she remembers she taught me to follow my heart
    And if you bully her like you’ve done me with fear of damnation
    Then I hope she can see you for what you are

    [Chorus 2]
    What am I afraid of?
    Whom did I betray?
    In what medieval kingdom
    Does justice work this way?

    If you knew what would happen
    And made us just the same
    Then you, my lord, can take the blame