Song: “Lean on
Me”
Artist: DC Talk
Album: Free at
Last (1992)
Track: 12
While everyone got really excited back in 1992 about “Jesus
is Just Alright,” “Lean on Me” seems to be the more enduring cover tune of the
two. Like in “Free at Last” (the song,
not the album), this proved to be a really great mix of hip hop, soul, and
rock, which was the thing that really set DC Talk apart in this portion of
their career.
The Good
Very little to complain about here, and a lot in the “Good”
column. This is a song about Christians
supporting each other. We immediately
think, of course, of Paul’s admonition to the Galatians, “Brothers, if anyone
is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a
spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one
another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” With that verse in mind, we see right away
that “Lean on Me” is a most appropriate song to cover in this context. Lest they be too vague, the two added rap sections,
one at the beginning and then in the middle, sets the context not to general
friendship, but that of Christian brotherhood.
Thus they take a mainstream song and reset the subject by just adding
some clarification.
We’ll talk about those two raps in more detail, because
there are some rough edges there that need to be smoothed, but the main idea is
solid. They even tie it in with Christ’s
offer to us, that we should cast our cares on Him and that He loves us.
The Galatians passage is paraphrased quite nicely with the
lines, “Don't dog a brother out when he stumbles and falls, just be there to
lean on, y’all.” It’s actually a little
frustrating when here (as in “that Kind of Girl”) DCT proves themselves so
skilled a paraphrasing Scripture accurately in rap form. It makes me wonder why they spend so much
time in the other songs not doing
this. How much better this album would
be if Toby quit talking about himself and started doing more lines like this
one?
The main part of the song, which is really just about
friendship, takes on a new light when prefaced by the initial rap, and there is
no confusing this for generic friendship of the world.
The Bad
Why do they keep doing this?
I’ve really become annoyed reading through these lyrics on how much of
the raps consist of just plain ol’ bragging.
It’s less prevalent here than in other tracks, but we still have lines
like: “Cause I'm housin’ this joint like a brother with an attitude, and coming
straight so you best give me latitude.”
It’s a bit annoying when mainstream rappers do this, but we should
expect Christian artists to set the standard higher. Our focus mustn’t be us!
The main force of my complaint (which is relatively minor)
is on the approach. Christian fellowship
is a great mercy to the Church, and something to enjoy and share. The song here sometimes makes it a
threat. Yes, we are commanded to love
one another, but DCT reminds us of the standard of love without giving us a
solution when we don’t meet it: “Here to
tell the people that love's what we lack / In this family we gotta love like
Christ / So precise in your life so take this advice…”
Well, yes, the love we should have is that precise. But is anyone else scared to try to help my
brothers and sisters in the church after listening to that? This album in general is very heavy on the
perfect standard of love, but it has very little relief for when we fail. There are hints of that relief (“The Hardway”
is a great example of that), but it seems like DCT was trying to encourage
their target audience (teen Christians) so much that the Gospel sort of fell
off the back of the trailer. I would have
liked to have heard more Gospel throughout this album. I love that they preach Law – we need a lot
more of that! And they usually preach it
lawfully, meaning that they actually get the Law right (we especially need more
of that). And on top of that, they
preach Law to Christians! That is
fantastic, because there are movements out there that effectively dump the Law
once someone becomes a Christian and just focuses on Grace. No, we need the Law too. We need to be told what is expected of us as
adopted children of God. We need to be
told that we have a standard we are asked to reach.
This is what is known as the “third use of the Law” – one
that tells Christians how they are to live.
In the Reformed tradition, this use of the Law is not without its need
for the Gospel. Even as Christians we
fail at this standard, and we are in need of forgiveness and hope.
So I love that the Law on this album burns, but without the
salve of the Gospel, we do not have a fully Christian message. And I don’t necessarily think that there
should be Gospel in every song or any such thing. My point is merely that the balance seems off
as a whole.
Overall
Basically, a good message in a good song. One of the true highlights of the album is here,
and while I have some minor issues with some of the lines, I think we can nod
our head with the lyrics on this one.
