The Spirit in popular music

On Wednesday I led Bread for the World at St Martin-in-the-Fields reflecting on the Spirit in popular music.

I began the service by reflecting that rock music has been called ‘The Devil’s Music’ as it emerged from the secular culture of the 1950s. 'Conservative Christians in the United States were by turns hostile to the transgressive race-mixing early-1950s rock ’n’ roll and Elvis Presley’s hip-grinding sexuality, relieved by the early-1960s white-boy surf and hot-rod bands, and subsequently horrified by the Beatles.' But, in the end, 'rock music became the musical lingua franca of emerging non-denominational Evangelicalism: the music that the conservative Evangelicals rejected became the cornerstone of Evangelical liturgy.' A recent book called ‘The Devil’s Music’ tells that story but, for those who believe in the ‘missio dei’, the understanding that the mission of God is bigger than the mission of the church, that God is at work outside of the church and that part of what we do as Christians is to find out where God is at work and join Him there, there is a more interesting story to tell about the Holy Spirit and rock music. So, the service as a whole aimed to enable reflection on that story:

In the early days of rock ‘n’ roll a unique event occurred; four of the biggest stars at the time happened to all be in the same recording studio at the very same time. They were Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee-Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Although they were not there to record but they did start a jam session. Someone left the tapes rolling, recorded their jamming and later released it under the title of the Million Dollar Quartet.

So what did these four rock ‘n’ rollers sing when they got together for this impromptu jam session? The answer is that they sang hymns and country gospel songs. Because they all grew up in Southern Pentecostal Churches they drew on a shared background of Spirituals, Gospel and the charismata of Southern Pentecostalism. In creating rock ‘n’ roll each substituted what they deemed as secular words and movements for sacred songs and mannerisms. For example, Elvis’ first musical inspirations came at his Pentecostal church services at the Assembly of God in Tupelo. He later reflected that the more reserved singers didn't seem to inspire much fervor, but others did. They would be "jumpin' on the piano, movin' every which way. The audience liked 'em. I guess I learned from them singers."

As Bill Flanagan wrote in his book ‘Written In My Soul’, 'Rock & roll was born in the American South … The whole history of rock & roll could be told in Southern accents, from the delta bluesmen and country troubadours to the Baptist gospel singers and Okie folkies.' Blues singers included ministers and evangelists, such as Revd Gary Davies and Blind Willie Johnson. Paul Ackerman, a scholar of poetry and songs, wrote the following about Country singer Hank Williams: ‘A country songwriter without a highly developed sense of religious values is rare, so it is natural that Hank wrote many songs with spiritual themes.’ The tradition of Christian socialism in the US is epitomized particularly in the life and music of the folk singer Woody Guthrie.

Something similar occurred as Soul music developed out of Black Gospel. Ray Charles began a trend which was later successfully followed by the like of Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, among many others, when he introduced gospel-singing techniques and the exhortatory style of Pentecostal preachers into his vocal style and adapted church-based songs into R&B hits. Tony Cummings wrote that: 'From James Brown to Diana Ross, black singers consistently show their origins to be a storefront church in Harlem or Macon or Detroit ... it’s a cliché. Every soul artist interviewed seems to have an identikit story – “I was always interested in music. I sang in a church choir.'

All of which means that rock and soul music has a spirit that derives from the exuberance and ecstasy of Gospel music (songs like Every time I feel the Spirit and Up Above My Head). This inspirational spirit informs the music regardless of its often secularized content. Gayle Wald wrote that: ‘Like rock music, Pentecostalism tapped into something -- a Holy Spirit -- or human spirit? Whatever it was, it was deep and it seems to embody the sacred-secular tensions that run throughout the amazing story of rock.’ The entire purpose of Pentecostalism was to play music that most let its adherents feel the Holy Spirit in their bodies. It is that spirit that is transposed into the feel and flow of rock and soul and it is this that gives rock and soul its affective nature. As Jim Cosby writes this is where ‘the heart, joy and sheer exhilaration of rock 'n' roll comes from.’

A second way in which the Spirit impacts within rock music is in relation to the inspiration of the songs which are written and sung. Some years ago I read a book called ‘Written In My Soul’, a series of interviews with some of the most well-known singer-songwriters from the 1950s onward, and was struck by the extent to which these great artists – Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison and others - felt that their songs were given to them in moments of revelation, that their songs were already written and ‘came through them as though radio receivers – without much conscious effort or direction.’

As example, Neil Young said, ‘My best work just comes through me. A lot of times what comes through me is coming from somewhere else.’ Similarly, Dylan has spoken of songs coming through the writer and cited Van Morrison’s ‘Tupelo Honey’ as a song that had always existed and Morrison the vehicle through which it came. In his interview Morrison confirmed that that was the only way he wrote songs; the only way he could write.

To my mind, these are experiences of the Holy Spirit coming, although it is often not recognised as such. The Spirit comes and makes connections, bringing clarity, making sense. That is not just something for artists or even for preachers, it is something that can happen for us all and not just in major life-changing moments of revelation but also in minor everyday epiphanies.

In ‘Creation Dream’, a song by the singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn, he sees the creative Christ singing creation into being by means of lines of power which burst outward along the channels of the song Christ sings. Inspired by this vision, Cockburn asks the creative Christ if he can be just a little of his creative breath as it moves over the waters of chaos - the face of the deep – to bring all things into being. When we are moved by the Pentecostal spirit of rock music or receive a moment of clarity and inspiration that comes from somewhere else, we are connecting with the creative spirit of Christ.

Bruce Cockburn is not the only musician to write in these terms. Low are US indie rock band formed by a couple who are both practising Mormons. In a song called ‘Holy Ghost’ from 2013 they sing: Some holy ghost keeps me hanging on … I feel the hands, but I don't see anyone / It's there and gone / Feeds my passion for transcendence / Turns my water into wine / Makes me wish I was empty / Now I don't know much / But I can tell when something's wrong … But some holy ghost keeps me hanging on. Similarly, singer-songwriter Victoria Williams has a song from 1990 called ‘Holy Spirit’ in which she describes camp-fire singing on the banks of old Lake Bistineau and singing with a stranger on the metro in New York as moments when the Holy Spirit was flowing. She concludes: I have seen it on a mountaintop / I have felt it beneath stars /I have felt it in a churchyard and even in some bars / It will make you laugh, make you cry, make your heart go ping / Yeah the spirit, holy spirit will make you shout and want to sing … the spirit, holy spirit is flowing...

Victoria Williams’ song is a perfect expression of the mission dei, the understanding that God is already at work in our world in a way that is bigger than the church - I have seen it on a mountaintop / I have felt it beneath stars /I have felt it in a churchyard and even in some bars. In these ways, and others, the Holy Spirit is also experienced in rock and pop music itself.

For more on these themes, see 'The Secret Chord', my co-authored book which is an accessible exploration of artistic dilemmas from a range of different perspectives seeking to draw the reader into a place of appreciation for what makes a moment in a 'performance' timeless and special.

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Victoria Williams - Holy Spirit.