I can't help it. I love Odetta and Aretha and Elvis's Gospel and Ralph Stanley and I'll fly away and goin' down to the river to pray and gettin' on my travelin' shoes and dropping my g's all over the place.
Of course it's all nonsense. But such beautiful heartfelt, moving nonsense. You could almost wish it were true. I heard a recording of shaped note singing recorded in the 1950s in the back of the beyond of Tennesee, preformed by people who probably had 6 teeth apiece and no education beyond the 6th grade but how they sung. With no instruments. Just one leader lining the words for the people who couldn't read. Fabulous.
Anybodu else love this?
2006-09-03 05:09:59 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Gospel is the root of rock and roll. There is no shame in loving it. :) Hell, just because you like the song "I Shot the Sheriff" doesn't mean you really think shooting authority figures is a good idea.
2006-09-03 05:19:51 · answer #1 · answered by Girl Wonder 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Not at all. I like a lot of gospel music, and I also like a lot of sufi music (i.e. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan). John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' (which he called his 'prayer to God') may just be my favourite piece of music. Handel's Messiah is breathtaking.
They way I see it, these people are tapping into something within the human character that people rarely tap into - a 'higher state' (in an non-religious meaning). It's their faith that gets them there, about which I think 'whatever', but it's the destination that matters, not the journey. God inspires them to their heights - I don't have to believe in God to appreciate the passion that they have.
Peter Buck of R.E.M. once said that the was an atheist but he'd probably be a Christian if he had been born black, because he wouldn't be able to resist gospel music. A dodgy racial perspective, maybe, but I get where he's coming from.
But I suspect that, past you, me and Pete, there aren't many of us out there...
2006-09-03 05:27:59 · answer #2 · answered by XYZ 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I love gospel music. It's uniquely American. Gospel has help(false or not) millions struggle though their daily grind of life.
Some of the best talent in the world has turned to Gospel music for relief, and entertainment. I sure enjoy the music even I know it's based on a myth just as the lion king is.
2006-09-03 05:15:06 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
in no way. I probable capture myself making a music surprising Grace as quickly as a month. There are additionally many songs on television or Radio that I grew up with. I enjoyed Con Air while the airplane is crashing and the loopy dud starts making a music, "he's have been given the completed worldwide in his palms." classic!
2016-10-01 06:26:56 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's certainly possible to appreciate the art form w/o wanting the message. I used to live near an African-American church in Philadelphia and I enjoyed the music emanating from the open windows in spring and fall!
Sometimes I think if white Christian churches had had better music I would have enjoyed the mandatory church attendance I had to do as a teenager.
2006-09-03 05:13:33 · answer #5 · answered by Stimpy 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I love gospel music, too. Old hymns, especially.
I heard a recording once of a country church (the times when they gathered once a month for the traveling preacer.) It had everyone singing melody and harmony, the hymns the way their families sang them, and they sounded incredible.
Goosebumps, even if they are songs about Sheep.
2006-09-03 05:17:38 · answer #6 · answered by emilystartsfires 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I love Aretha, but even though her roots are in gospel, I much prefer her soul music. I almost never play her gospel stuff, and I have it all. She is the only gospel singer I pay any attention to, but again it is her secular stuff that I like best.
2006-09-03 05:24:51 · answer #7 · answered by LaRue 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've always enjoyed gospel music. I'm probably more agnostic then atheist, but I think the love of music of any kind has nothing to do with your religious preferences.
2006-09-03 05:15:41 · answer #8 · answered by Linda 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Gospel music can be very captivating and enjoyable (as long as you don't the the words seriously). It is also a good example of demonstrating that religion is primarily based on psychology rather than reason.
2006-09-03 05:14:48 · answer #9 · answered by Gallivanting Galactic Gadfly 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Absolutely! That's the kind of gospel music I prefer.
2006-09-03 05:13:54 · answer #10 · answered by Missy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋