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52 | Reinhard Kopanski www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 41–57
missionary-evangelistic approach do not jump out at listeners here; in fact,
there is little evidence that the song relates to PCM at all. The lyrics, especially
in the chorus, could be found in many songs focused on an interpersonal rela-
tionship in which the lyrical “I” is rather unassertive or requires reassurance.
The self-doubts of the lyrical “I” are evoked in the first verse through popular
music tropes (“I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough /
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up”48), whereby the counter-
part to the lyrical “I” provides her / him with strength, as in the opposition in
the chorus “You say I’m strong / When I think I’m weak”.49 In addition to being
common tropes of secular popular music, such lyrics are in line with what we
saw in the Koenige & Priester example. A difference from secular popular mu-
sic songs utilizing similar lyrics becomes evident to a listener only in the third
verse, which addresses God directly: “Taking all I have and now I’m laying
it at Your feet / You have every failure, God, and You’ll have every victory”.50
That said, the booklet consistently capitalizes “You” and “your”, unambigu-
ously suggesting the lyrical “I” is addressing God as the provider of strength,
not a human counterpart in an implied (romantic) relationship. For a listener
who first reads the booklet, the religious connotations are evident before the
music begins.51 Moreover, a Christian background can be readily identified in
the line “I believe”52 in the chorus, for the phrase “I believe” can be heard as a
strong commitment by the lyrical “I” to transcendence. However, the phrase
is open to interpretation: here the line is followed by the words “what you
say of me”,53 and in popular music more generally, the words “I believe” form
a common phrase that does not necessarily suggest a relationship to God.
In English-language secular popular music the wording “I believe” is used to
build emotionally affective metaphors: in one’s abilities (“I believe I can fly”54),
in emotions (“I believe in a thing called love”55), in people (“I believe in you”56)
and much more.
48 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes.
49 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes.
50 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes.
51 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes.
52 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes.
53 “You Say”, (Look Up Child, Lauren Daigle, US 2018a, Centricity), liner notes.
54 “I believe I can fly” (R., R. Kelly, US 1998, Jive).
55 “I believe in a thing called love” (Permission to Land, The Darkness, US/GB 2003, Atlantic/
Must … Destroy!).
56 “I believe in you” (Nobody but Me, Michael Bublé, US 2016, Reprise Records).
JRFM
Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/02
- Title
- JRFM
- Subtitle
- Journal Religion Film Media
- Volume
- 06/02
- Authors
- Christian Wessely
- Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
- Editor
- Uni-Graz
- Publisher
- SchĂĽren Verlag GmbH
- Location
- Graz
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Size
- 14.8 x 21.0 cm
- Pages
- 128
- Categories
- Zeitschriften JRFM