Have You Heard?

HAVE YOU HEARD?

On my way home from work tonight, I decided to listen to a little radio. I usually don't. Since I got the iPod, i mostly just listen to that in my car so that I don't have to mess around with finding the right station and listening to folks trying to sell me wedding rings or used cars. However tonight I left my iPod at home. And, since i was in the mood, i clicked on the radio and began searching the airwaves. All night block party? nah. All country hits? not a chance. U2 - YEAH! I love U2 esp. their older stuff.

Luckily, I hit this station at the very beginning of the song so that I can listen to the whole thing. The song: Where the Streets Have No Name. Great song. If you know it, you'll remember the long intro that is mostly that guitar riff that is in a lot of their songs. Then, right as I'm about to hear Bono's voice ring out, I hear someone else's: Chris Tomlin. I could tell it was him right away b/c i listen to his music quite often.

If you aren't aware of who Chris Tomlin is, he is one of the more popular artists writing worship music today. He's responsible for Famous One, Not To Us, Forever, Enough, Holy Is The Lord, How Great is Our God, Unchanging, and a host of others. In fact, if you attend church and that church has even begun to think about being contemporary then they have probably displayed a Chris Tomlin original over the latest presentation software.

Chris has coverd lots of songs. He is actually quite good at covering older church music (hymns) and giving them a fresh contemporary feel. Now he's covering U2. I can't help but find this totally awesome. I wouldn't say that it's better than the original (i'd miss Bono's raspy irish voice), but it is very good. Chris' voice is a little more frail, but he pulls it off well and the music is convincing enough that I didn't realize it wasn't the original at first.

So does this mean that we can start singing U2 with our congregations now? Fine by me. Point is, I am glad to see this kind of thing happening. Not that I want to sing U2 songs at church, but because I want worship music to start sounding more like the kind of music that I really enjoy and am inspired by. I want Chris and other artists to start writing music that sounds more like the latest U2 rather than the latest Promise Keepers Anthem. Or maybe Charlie Hall will start writing music that sounds like Coldplay. Will someone just convert Dave Matthews to Christianity so he can start writing awesome worship music...although nobody else would be able to play it.

What songs would you like your favorite worship leader to cover.

I think maybe Dave Crowder could cover "Loser" (beck)