Christian song - Save the Family

[MarioD]

SteveS is one fantastic Christian poet and in fact is in the process of assembling his poems for his first publication.  He wrote this for a song.  BobH and myself put the music together and Steve sang it.

Save the Family
     
     Lyrics and vocal by StephenS
Background tracks by BobH and MarioD

Yet another young person is killed
At the hands of a empty soul
Both of these lives are gone
 Their family  suffers the toll

A father steals to feed his family
From God, he cannot hide
If he'd given his heart to Jesus
Jesus would surly provide

There are so many lives in turmoil today
Is it because, We forgot how to pray
Satan is so happy, when things go "his way"
So many end up, with his "hell to pay"

In all of my years
What I've seen that has changed
The lords become optional
Isn't that strange
Family's were strong
When we prayed everyday
Now family s are week
And the further we stray

With no moral compass
We have nothing to hide
We mistreat our neighbor
And still we feel pride
We can turn our backs
On a brother in need
So we can have more
Satan named that "greed"

So many have become blind
Or they, choose not to see
There is only one way
To end all this misery
We must put Jesus first
In our lives, everyday
And go back to the old way
And "relearn" how to pray

Let us love our neighbor
As we love ourselves
Let us put all of our sadness
Back on satan's shelf
Let us return to the days
When family's were strong
Let us pray to the Lord
That we all get along!!

[folderol]

Sorry, this just doesn't work for me.
Religion is a highly personal thing, and to have one specific pushed so hard seems wrong.
I've known some wonderfully caring people with no apparent faith beyond a belief in humanity.

[MarioD]

I hear you Will and I totally agree with you.  I hesitated a couple of weeks prior to posting this one.  I only did post this because SteveS is a very good friend of mine and hopefully get some feedback on the backing tracks.

I've known some wonderfully caring people with no apparent faith beyond a belief in humanity.
As have I.   I believe there is a big difference between spirituality and organized religion.

peace

[offthewall]

I got to agree with Will here about the 'message'.
The music, however, I feel has some elements that don't work too well.
The chorus sections have plenty of drama but I think the verse sections could do with that choir taken out and some other element added instead. Not sure what would work but possibly piano could do it. There also seems to be a lot of background hiss here which detracts somewhat.

[Daniel Pompougnac]

I think religions are the worst things that have happened to humanity, a kind of black hole that has frozen and frozen progress, intelligence and tolerance.

So, I try to forget the lyrics of this song and I'm only interested in what I hear, the sound, the melody, the ambience of the song.
Strangely enough, I like and it reminds me in some ways of a singer-songwriter that I really like, Robert Wyatt.
Very strange piece.