Re: St. Caedmon

[John Paul Davis <johnd at antioch-college_edu>]

Paul Soupiset wrote:
> Caedmon's ...
> more poeple in the south seem to have heard of them, despite good tour
> support. 

Well I probably didn't hear of them because I don't keep up with the CCM 
really.

> John, of your three pejoratives, my guess is they would glom onto the "band"
> word. 

They call their music "Christian" on thier web page, in the Biogrpahy 
section. Anyway, my personal definition of "Christian" music has less to 
do with content and more to do with what label the band is on - in this 
case Essential Records.
Anyway, it hasn't got anything to do with a judgement of a band (I've 
never heard them) - I just was curious about why everyone else seemed to 
know who they were and I didn't; on this list the answer is usually that 
the band is a CCM band.

>Kind of like -- what's that "band" from Ohio's name -- you know one
> where vaguely spiritual lyrics seem to be conjured up album after album?

I dunno about that - here's a description of the inspiration behind the 
song "You Created" from the band's newest album:

"I believe that if I were to throw myself toward the minute-by-minute 
confrontation of the gospel, as David did, I would discover that God did 
not put anything among, around or inside of me that achieves even a 
loose definition of satisfaction when compared to God and the beauty of 
His grace. I truly desire to have an understanding of God’s presence and 
mercy that compels me to supernatural joy, but for now, I still seem to 
be obsessing with the things that God gives me, instead of His presence 
alone.
--Joshua Moore"

Sounds pretty straightfowardly Protestant spiritual to me, not "vaugely" 
spiritual - references to salvation by grace, echoes of C.S. Lewis-type 
concepts of joy, etc.

Again, nothing wrong with that, but the Oragnizationl Geek in me likes 
to call things what they are... Johnny Cash;s lyrics are often pretty 
specifically Protestant Christian, and I totally dig Johnny. But his 
stuff used to show up on country music labels until his most recent 
record deal, so I tend to think of him as either country or early rock 
and roll.

I see OtR's music as heavily influenced by Protestant Christian memes 
too; thier spirituality is "vauge" only because they don't openly 
declare the specifics of their personal theologies (much in the way U2's 
sirituality is "vague"). But I don't think OtR's spirituality is "vague" 
in the sense of it not being clear what memes have influenced them - I 
wouldn't for example, be tempted to think OtR were Buddhist or Muslim, 
for example. The concept of prayer, as found in "I Radio Heaven" or 
"Happy To Be So" is marked by ideas unique to Protestant Christinaity - 
the understanding of prayer as a primarily personal (rather than as a 
public and ritual) act is pretty Christian, and the expectation of an 
*answer* is quite Protestant.

Or take an oldie (but a goodie): "Ubiqutous Hands" - that's a fairly 
straghtforward decription of a Protestant understanding of the 
realtionship between God and an individual human - and quite Lewisian, 
if you ask me.

So I don't see on the CC webpage that they do a version of "Caedmon's 
Hymn." Pity.

- John



np: "Alive" - Pearl Jam



-- 
John Paul Davis
Center for Community Learning
Antioch College
http://www.antioch-college.edu/ccl

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The benefits of helping somebody is beneficial

- George W. Bush
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http://www.johnpauldavis.org

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