Five of the best songs that came straight from God
The rock music industry has always seemed at odds with the teaching of God, what with the stereotypical lifestyle of excess. However, the truth is that several high-profile recording artists are profoundly spiritual and have explored their faith in many of their works.
Music is often the best way to examine our relationship with whatever lies beyond; not only is it a lyrical form of art in which questions can be raised but so too can musicians often feel that their gift for singing or playing an instrument is indeed a gift from a higher power.
There are several faithful artists from a wide variety of religions. Leonard Cohen is Jewish at heart but was also ordained a Buddhist monk in his adulthood. Cat Stevens’ religious background comprises Greek Orthodox, Baptist, Catholic and Islamic influences.
So, including those two folk heroes mentioned above, let’s take a quick look at five tracks that, in the eternal words of Trent Reznor, can “bring us closer to God”.
Five of the best songs that came straight from God:
Prince – ‘Let’s Go Crazy!’
Throughout his career, Prince displayed an unshakeable belief in God. In his 1984 Purple Rain track ‘Lets Go Crazy!’, he delivered the sermon line “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life,” accompanied by a church organ solo.
The iconic musician revealed that the song represented the battle between good and evil, between Christ and Satan. He said, “‘Let’s Go Crazy’ was God to me. It was: Stay happy, stay focused, and you can beat the elevator. Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down? Oh no, let’s go!”
The Who – ‘Baba O’Riley’
The quintessential Who song ‘Baba O’Riley’ takes its name from Pete Townshend’s spiritual guide, the Indian guru Meher Baba. In order to get closer to Baba, Townshend fed data about the Avatar into a computer which subsequently churned out the song’s iconic synth riff.
Townshend also dedicated his 1969 rock opera Tommy to the spiritual teacher. Years later, after the release of ‘Baba O’Riley’ in 1971, the guitarist also recorded several Baba tribute albums, including I Am, Happy Birthday, With Love and Who Came First.
Cat Stevens – ‘Miles From Nowhere’
Cat Stevens is one of the most spiritual musicians of the 20th Century. He had been born Steven Georgiou to a Greek Orthodox father and a Baptist mother and attended a Catholic school in his youth. In 1977, Stevens converted to Islam and took the name Yusuf Islam, by which he is known today.
In his wonderful track ‘Miles From Nowhere’, Stevens examines his inner spiritual life and expresses his gratitude for being able to experience the slings and arrows that life grants us. The lyrics “Lord my body has been a good friend/But I won’t need it when I reach the end” are particularly pertinent.
David Bowie – ‘Silly Boy Blue’
David Bowie expressed an interest in the 1960s for Tibetan Buddhism. In 1966 he said, “I stumbled into the Buddhist Society in London when I was about 17. Sitting in front of me at the desk was a Tibetan lama, and he looked up and he said, ‘Are you looking for me?’ He had a bad grasp of English and, in fact, was saying, ‘Who are you looking for?’ But I needed him to say, ‘You’re looking for me.'”
Bowie had considered becoming a monk before his music career kicked off, and his 1965 track ‘Silly Boy Blue’ details a journey to a great monastery. Fittingly, the last verse has no words to represent achieving enlightenment and words, therefore, being meaningless.
Leonard Cohen – ‘You Want It Darker’
One of the best songs of the 2010s was certainly Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want It Darker’, taken from the album of the same name that Cohen released just 17 days before his death. Cohen knew that the end of his life was in sight, and the song details him making peace with the Lord before ascending into the afterlife.
The song features the repeated call of “Hineni, hineni”, which translates to “Here I am” in Hebrew, reiterating that Cohen is almost touching the gates of heaven as he sings the song, leaving his mortal coil once and for all. Truly spellbindingly genius, as we came to expect from the master poet.
