More Musicians Embrace Godlessness

Yesterday, I mentioned that Jazz bassist Ben Allison recently outed himself as an atheist. Apparently, he’s not the only musician taking that path.

The band A.F.I. (A Fire Inside) has a new album coming out tomorrow titled “Crash Love.”

One song on the album is titled “Sacrilege” and the lyrics allude to a pro-atheist stance:

How could you recognize
and cherish hysteric fairy tales.
They’ve come to life.
Now sit by and listen…
the whole world wails.

…

How is it divine
when it’s flawed design?
Fill the cracks with faith I can’t find.

Oh please believe I’m doing just fine.
For what’s deceased I shall never grieve.
Just let your faith die.

Did I say “allude to”? I meant they come right out and say it: religious beliefs are absurd and we’d all be better off without the superstition.

Meanwhile, David Bazan was the frontman for (as the submitter put it) “one of the few historical non-sucky Christian bands” Pedro the Lion. But his faith is slipping, too.

His new solo album, “Curse Your Branches,” came out earlier this month.

According to the LA Times review, he’s come a long way since his Christian days:

Bazan built an intensely devoted following inside the Christian community during his decade-long run with Pedro, asking tough questions of religion from the perspective of a thoughtful believer. Here, though, the doubt that Bazan has always scratched at takes a firmer, more certain form: “I clung to miracles I have not seen,” he admits in “Bearing Witness,” “From ancient autographs I cannot read.”

The past tense there is crucial: “Curse Your Branches” documents Bazan’s coming to terms with his newfound agnosticism , a change of heart he credits in “When We Fell” to his inability to accept “the threat of hell hanging over my head like a halo.” (“In what medieval kingdom does justice work this way?” he wonders later in that song.)

How exciting!

Now, we just need one of these artists to make it big enough so they can sing these lyrics on TV or at an awards show.

Speaking of which, can we have a Grammy category for Best Contemporary Atheist Album? Kathy Griffin could present it…

(Thanks to Jay and David for the links!)

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Dan

Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley (and solo work) has some pretty intense atheist lyrics:

Born Secular:

“I was born secular
And inconsolable
I heard that he walked
He walked the earth

God goes
Where he wants
And who knows
Where he is not

Not in me

It’s the way
Mothers greet their sons
When it’s a moment too late
It’s the law of the land
But sometimes the dam just breaks

God works in mysterious ways
And god gives
And then he takes away

From me”

Absense Of God:

“The absence of God will bring you comfort, baby
And planning’s for the poor so let’s pretend that we’re rich”

Dejalo:

“My mama is an atheist
If i stay out late she don’t get pissed “

Raise Up With Fists:

“It’s hard to believe your prophets
When they’re asking you to change things
With their suspect lives, we look the other way
Are you really that pure, sir?
Thought I saw you in Vegas
It was not pretty, but she was (not your wife)”

The Charging Sky:
“

And it’s a surefire bet I’m gonna die
So I’m taking up praying on Sunday nights
And it’s not that I believe in your almight
But I might as well as insurance or bail
Cause institution’s like a big bright lie
And it blinds you into fear and consuming and fight
And you’ve been in the desert underneath the charging sky
It’s just you and God
But what if God’s not there?
But his name is on your dollar bill
Which just became cab fare”
Justen

Jay Brannan (http://www.jaybrannan.com) has a song called “Goddamned” that alludes to an atheist stance.

Here’s a sample of the lyrics:

“Cause virgins don’t have babies
And water isn’t wine
And there’s a holy spirit maybe
But she would never rent a room with walls built by mankind
Mary and Mohammed
Are screaming through the clouds
For you to lay your goddamned arms down
Rip your bigot roots up from the earth and salt the goddamned ground

Zeus was afraid of his girlfriend
So he swallowed her in bed
Then he bore forth Athena
When they cracked open his head
Her brother tried to rape her
Athena got away
And when his seed hit the ground
The grass gave birth that day
Now we all freely admit
This story’s clearly bullshit
No one would lay down their life
Or start a war for it
So throw your stones and pray
You’ll be rewarded someday
I hope it all goes your way
But something tells me
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
No one’s coming to save you
Save yourselves
From turning earth into hell”
Revyloution

Don’t forget Neil Peart! The drummer/lyricist of Rush was thought to be an atheist. He put all rumors to rest with this song from the Snakes and Arrows album:

I’ve got my own moral compass to steer by
A guiding star beats a spirit in the sky
And all the preaching voices –
Empty vessels of dreams so loud
As they move among the crowd
Fools and thieves are well disguised
In the temple and market place

Like a stone in the river
Against the floods of spring
I will quietly resist

Like the willows in the wind
Or the cliffs along the ocean
I will quietly resist

I don’t have faith in faith
I don’t believe in belief
You can call me faithless
You can call me faithless
But I still cling to hope
And I believe in love
And that’s faith enough for me
And that’s faith enough for me

I’ve got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leading up or down
And all the shouting voices
Try to throw me off my course
Some by sermon, some by force
Fools and thieves are dangerous
In the temple and market place

Like a forest bows to winter
Beneath the deep white silence
I will quietly resist

I don’t have faith in faith
I don’t believe in belief
You can call me faithless
You can call me faithless
But I still cling to hope
And I believe in love
And that’s faith enough for me
And that’s faith enough for me

Like a flower in the desert
That only blooms at night
I will quietly resist

I don’t have faith in faith
I don’t believe in belief
You can call me faithless
But I still cling to hope
And I believe in love
And that’s faith enough for me
And that’s faith enough for me

And that’s faith enough for me

I guess he still calls himself a ‘linear thinking agnostic’, but thats just a pedantic argument. If youre not a theist, youre an atheist. This middle ground bs is just political correctness gone awry. Either you collect stamps or you don’t.
Brian’s A Wild Downer

Add The Living End to the list

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6nhizPXtso
dan

i still think they might be giants deserve a shout-out for their new kids song “science is real:”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty33v7UYYbw
Paul Lundgren

Attention Rush fans, if you haven’t seen the video for “Malignant Narcissism,” check it out.
John Paley

Check out Epica, a Dutch female-fronted-metal band. Many of their songs are critical of religion, the ’embrace that smothers’. “Cry for the Moon” is an excellent example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dys1_TuUmI4
Tina St. Sebastian

If wikipedia is anything to go by (hah!) we already have all the good ones.
MikeTheInfidel

Wait. Pedro the Lion was a Christian band?? This is from their song Foregone Conclusions:

You were too busy steering the conversation toward the Lord
To hear the voice of the spirit begging you to shut the fuck up.
You thought it must be the devil trying to make you go astray;
Besides, it could not have been the Lord
Because you don’t believe He talks that way.

… I mean, we’re talking about a band with a song called Rapture that is a somewhat erotic depiction of a guy having an affair, building up to an orgasm:

This feels so good…
Just barely moving…
The tension building…
Our bodies working…
To Reach the goal…

Oh my sweet rapture
I hear Jesus and the angels singing
Hallelujah
Calling me to enter the promise land.

Talk about blasphemous.
Hannah C.

I love that more and more bands are writing lyrics about their Atheism. It reminds me that I am not alone, and that I am not a bad person. And, to put it frankly, that kicks ass. =]
Mike G

http://atheistmusicblog.blogspot.com/

A long list of Atheist songs and artists. Thought I would share.
ChameleonDave

No one has quoted John Lennon??
Mr. Vorhias

How about Jello Biafra, lead singer of The Dead Kennedys, and Lard?

Right on down to this song satirizing televangelists:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mi4Sg4pY6s
Ken in Aubrun

Dont forget the legendary Bad Religion. Close to probably three-forths of their songs in a twenty plus year career are critical religion.
Christopher Wing

http://www.mediafire.com/file/4jcjckmyyvi/religionandscience-mcthfg.zip

Hey all –

A little self-promotion… the above is a link to a free download of my album entitled “religion and science are enemies.” No lyrics, but the intent is there 🙂 Electronic dub & psybient.
Tim D.

Hells yeah! AFI reference. Cookies for Hemant….but to be technical, they’ve had non-religious-themed songs for quite some time now. Just listen to “Black Sails In The Sunset.” The song “God Called In Sick Today” comes to mind.
muggle

Gilbert O’Sullivan’s pretty clear:

“But as if to knock me down,
Reality came around
And without so much as a mere touch,
Cut me into little pieces
Leaving me to doubt,
Talk about God and His mercy
If He really does exist
Why did He desert me.
In my hour of need,
I truly am indeed,
Alone again, naturally.”

One of my favorites and there are so many, many more that I love.

A one liner I truly love is:

“Dog eat dog
Every day
On our fellow man we prey”

From Offspring’s “Genocide”

And Godsmack got me through when I was being harrassed on the job.

And, of course, there’s also “Drive” and “Imagine”.
Claudette

I am shaking and crying with joy right now. Because I love music and I love music that really speaks to me and skepticism. Jenny Lewis’/Rilo Kiley’s music is A+!

Jenny Lewis’ first solo album “Rabbit Fur Coat” (chill, she’s a vegan) is absolutely fantastic. It’s got a lot of great secular songs, but she’s not ripping religion. She’s being honest and does so beautifully. I highly recommend it!

Neon Bible is the second album by the Arcade Fire and it’s got a lot of great secular themes.

Like I said, I’m shaking and crying with joy thinking about how much secular music has changed my life. (Much more than people arguing back and forth about the ontological argument). I love music with depth that touches on issues of atheism even if they don’t come right out and scream “I HATE RELIGION” or “GOD SUCKS” or something lame like that.

I’ve ALWAYS ALWAYS loved Incubus’ song “drive” (heck, I love a lot of their music). The lyrics about choosing water over wine and holding the wheel and driving always seemed like a tongue in cheek rejection of Christianity. Lyrics:

“So if I decide to waiver my
chance to be one of the hive
Will I choose water over wine
and hold my own and drive?”

It’s a great song. Also, one last song that I have to post the lyrics to. It’s by Of Montreal and it’s called “Gronlandic Edit” (if you like trippy, fun music then you just might love this band)

“I guess it would be nice to give my heart to a god
But which one, which one do I choose?
All the churches fill with losers, psycho or confused
I just want to hold the divine in mind
And forget all of the beauty’s wasted

Let’s fall back to earth and do something pleasant
We fell back to earth like gravity’s bitches
(Physics makes us all its bitches)”
Claudette

One more comment … Has anyone listened to They Might Be Giants’ latest album “Here Comes Science.” Yes, it’s for children, but I’ve learned quite a few things from it and the songs are A LOT of fun (and informative). It’s great. It’s not an atheist album. It’s pro-science. I HIGHLY recommend this album for parents and big kids and science lovers and pretty much everyone.

Lyrics from the first song “Science is real”:

“Science is real
From the Big Bang to DNA
Science is real
From evolution to the Milky Way
I like the stories
About angels, unicorns and elves
Now I like the stories
As much as anybody else
But when I’m seeking knowledge
Either simple or abstract
The facts are with science“

Seriously, I love this album and I love listening to grown folks sing children’s music! Lyrics for “Meet The Elements”:

“Hey, who let in all these elephants?
Did you know that elephants are made of elements?
Elephants are mostly made of four elements
And every living thing is mostly made of four elements
Plants, bugs, birds, fish, bacteria and men
Are mostly carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen”

Okay, I’m done. I could quote lyrics forever.
David

This is my favorite song so far on Bazan’s Curse Your Braches: It’s actually got a great, pop anthem upbeat sound.

With the threat of hell hanging over my head like a halo
I was made to believe in a couple of beautiful truths
That eventually had the effect of completely unraveling
The powerful curse put on me by you

When you set the table
When you chose the scale
Did you write a riddle that you knew they would fail
Did you make them tremble
So they would tell the tale
Did you push us when we fell

If my mother cries when I tell her what I discovered
Then I hope she remembers she taught me to follow my heart
And if you bully her like you done me with fear of damnation
Then I hope she can see you
for what you are

When you set the table
When you chose the scale
Did you write a riddle that you knew they would fail
Did you make them tremble
So they would tell the tale
Did you push us when we fell

What am I afraid of?
Who did I betray?
In what medieval kingdom does justice work that way?
If you knew what would happen
And you made us just the same
Then you my Lord can take the blame

More about Bazan here. Great article.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-passion-of-david-bazan/Content?oid=1169181
Jessica Sideways

Well, this is good – the last thing we need is to encourage people to believe in religious fairy tales.
Rocket0023

A Camp – Colonia – Bear on the Beach:

Imaginary gods could never save you
But I didn’t want to tell her, I didn’t want to tell her..
Doubting Thomas

Does this mean that musicians are going to stop thanking God when they win a music award?
muggle

One can hope, Doubting Thomas. One can hope.

I was sick when I posted this. (That’s where I’ve been the last couple of days, down with bronchitis and a sinus infection.)

That’s the only excuse I have for overlooking another of my all-time fav’s, REM’s “Losing my Religion”. Yeah, I know they recanted and said it wasn’t about that but I’m not buying that. I mean, have you seen the video. I think they were just running scared of the nutters.

Also, my only excuse for not giving Incubus (thank you, Claudette, and, yep, we get the same thing from the lyrics) and John Lennon credit above for “Drive” and “Imagine”.

Oh, and Claudette, I’ll have to check out that album for my six year old grandson.

And there’s also Blood, Sweat and Tears “And When I Die” which is a great tongue in cheek mockery of the fear of hell and judgment.

God, there’s just too many. This is, really, nothing new.
Anonymous

If I may submit: The Lamb Most Lost. (The Death Bed Conversion)

http://youtu.be/UcmnOPJYfxQ