The Singer / Lyricist is God speaking first-person

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Only example I can think of is Ripple by Robert Hunter / Grateful Dead. Very bitter-sweet!

Ripple

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near, as it were your own?

It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air (note 1)

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of man

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall, you fall alone
If you should stand, then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way, I would take you home

― Portable Dorkness (Dick Butkus), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:06 (nineteen years ago)

"Mickey" by Toni Basil

― Sadly, he will be the next Alexis Petridish. (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:10 (nineteen years ago)

I call bullshit and I also call you Mickey because you're so fine you blow my mind.

― Portable Dorkness (Dick Butkus), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:11 (nineteen years ago)

Obvious:
Randy Newman - "God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)"

― Hideous Lump (Hideous Lump), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:31 (nineteen years ago)

Alias - "Divine Disappointment" (all I remember off the top of my head is "From the day I gave you life to your last anointment / You have all been nothing but divine disappointment")

― lookin' in my mirror, not a Jagger in sight (sixteen sergeants), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:36 (nineteen years ago)

"Sympathy For The Devil," but only if you're Alestair Crowley.

― treechewer (Maximillions), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:50 (nineteen years ago)

Prefab Sprout - One of the Broken
("Hi, this is God here.")

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 02:00 (nineteen years ago)

I don't agree that the lyrics to Ripple are the voice of god speaking in the third person

― Adam S S (Zephery), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

I don't agree that the lyrics to Ripple are the voice of god speaking in the first person

― Adam S S (Zephery), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 02:34 (nineteen years ago)

Julian Cope must have!

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 04:02 (nineteen years ago)

"Fire" by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown!

― Neil Stewart (Neil Stewart), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 11:14 (nineteen years ago)

Todd Rundgren, "God Said"

"I don't dwell upon you, I dwell on something else...
and I'm am not really here, so get over yourself..."

― hank (hank s), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 11:28 (nineteen years ago)

The Teardrop Explodes - Seven Views of Jerusalem

(I believe that this is written from the POV of Jesus, but who knows, when Cope is at work.)

― Going Through The Motions (kate), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 11:29 (nineteen years ago)

xpost, disagree all you like. Ripple is God in first person. The opening and ending verses make it quite obvious. He begins by pointing out that no matter what He does, you can't see the face of God, despite the fact He is within and all around. Would you hear His miraculous glowing sunshine voice singing to a tune miraculously played on an un-strung harp? Would you hold it near, as it were your own?

The final verse says all who would lead must follow (they must follow God), but if they choose to be their own leader and fall, they fall alone (ie. Adam/Satan). But, even if the leader was able to stand firm, without following God, then he has nothing to guide him. This is a beautiful, subtle verse. It closes with "if I knew they way, I would take you home," meaning there is no way for God to convince you to follow him.

Also, the "hand-me-down, thoughts are broken" line refers to something very specific I won't bother getting into, which really shows Robert Hunter's Rosicrucian / Masonic interests (also displayed throughout many other GD lyrics).

― Portable Dorkness (Dick Butkus), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

Marvin Gaye, "Love Me Now or Love Me Later"

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

Prince, "I Would Die 4 U". Deliberately ambiguous, but works very well as God-first-person. Better than "Ripple", anyway, which just sounds like a hippie-pompous guru type to me. (If it's God, how can God not know the way?)

There are tons of liturgical music which are settings of statements attributed directly to God from the first five books of the Old Testament. I know I know some version of the V'ahavtah ("And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart . . . ") but I can't think of it now. A Jewish folksinger named Debbie Friedman has a nice song called L'chi Lach, which is what God said to Abraham, except transposed to the feminine.

I also can't remember the scores of Jesus Christ, Superstar or Godspell now, but certainly Jesus must have some first-person songs there.

― Vornado (Vornado), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

Not the narrator, but he's got a featured role in Elvis Costello's God's Comic

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

If it's God, how can God not know the way?)

Why not? People have a damn funny idea about what God is supposed to be, especially Christians, which is not supported by the Bible whatsoever. The old testament says the universe was built on kindness (chesed) and in exodus it says "the LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name" (and the name here is YHVH, which is attributed to chesed, which is mercy & kindness). The Bible also says that YHVH is perfect, omniscient and omnipotent, yet he feels regret. He is the beginning and the end. He is perfect and he is also the one who makes calamity / evil.

How would God show YOU the way, if you will humor me for a moment in supposing God exists? According to the Bible, one of his favorite angels rebelled. His first human creation rebelled. Today, anyone could see a miracle and turn around and rationalize it away.

― the Adversary (but, still, a friend of yours) (Uri Frendimein), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

Jay-Z, anyone? "Hova" and all that?

― A Radio Picture (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

I also don't imagine God saying, "I don't know, don't really care."

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

Beatles - Blue Jay Way.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

I also don't imagine God saying, "I don't know, don't really care."
I can. You don't have a Rosicrucian-Masonic concept of God like Robert Hunter. Think of God's words to Job, "Who comes before me that I should pay him?" Why can't God have an easy sense of humor?

― the Adversary (but, still, a friend of yours) (Uri Frendimein), Thursday, 26 October 2006 00:27 (nineteen years ago)

In his online diary, Robert Hunter blurts it out:
I had a deeply religious aunt, dear woman, who once read my lyric book and commented: "it's beautifully written, but what's the point? What are you trying to tell people?" All I could answer was: "I wonder myself, sometimes." I guess her point was that, since it was not a call to churchliness as she understood it, it simply didn't signify. I didn't pursue the conversation. Didn't seem much point. Nor did I think less of her for her Indiana plainspokenness. I've always believed that the creative act is its own excuse, but that may be an inexcusably secular view. Received an email today asking if Ripple was a "spiritual". I replied "Without question."

The creative act is it's own excuse.
"Don't really know, don't really care."
"Who comes before me that I should pay him?"
Knowledge (ie. The Tree Thereof) is not something God cares about, as all Knowledge is false and the lie is what accounted for man's/satan's fall in the first place. Wisdome and Understanding are above Knowledge. Knowledge does not have a place on the Tree of Life.

Here, Hunter also contrasts religious dogma with mysticism. His aunt being the perfect example of what Masonic literature refers to as "profane."

― the Adversary (but, still, a friend of yours) (Uri Frendimein), Thursday, 26 October 2006 00:45 (nineteen years ago)

Wisdome = olde english typo

― the Adversary (but, still, a friend of yours) (Uri Frendimein), Thursday, 26 October 2006 00:50 (nineteen years ago)

Every word ever sung by Clapton, obv.

― sylvie and babs (sylvie and babs), Thursday, 26 October 2006 20:02 (nineteen years ago)

I can't resist an opportunity to be the lamest

http://www.allthingsdistributed.com/historical/Images/clapton_is_god.jpg

― the Adversary (but, still, a friend of yours) (Uri Frendimein), Thursday, 26 October 2006 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.