Song: “If I Die”
Artist: Stryper
Album: Reborn
(2001)
Track: 7
I cannot tell you how much confusion this review caused
me. Apparently, the tracks on my iPod
are misnamed and numbered at this point, so when I thought I was listening to
this song, I was listening to something else.
So in looking up the lyrics, they weren’t at all the same a
s what I was
hearing, which made me think that dem internets had messed up. But no, it was me.
That being said, I was rather looking forward to reviewing
the other song, because I really like it, but I’ll get to that one next.
The Music
Music is very often approached as primarily about getting a
good hook, and then filling in the rest with something simple just to make the
song longer so it’s playable on the radio.
If that 20-second segment is catchy, the song will sell well. That doesn’t mean the song is good
though. A good hook in pop music is
critical, but a good song should be good throughout. The hook gets someone’s attention, but the
song should hold that attention.
Certainly, not every melody or lick in the song needs to be equally
catchy. The hook will do its job, but
you lose far too much when the rest of the song does not maintain the energy
provided by that melody.
That is the case here.
The chorus on this song is very cool.
It’s a soaring and singable tune, catchy and memorable. The verses, however, are something else. The best word I can come up with is
“meandering.” It’s like Michael Sweet is
desperately searching for a melody that he never finds. I’ve listened to the song scores of times,
even just fifteen minutes ago in preparation for this review, and I’ve already
forgotten the melody of the verses.
Again.
The guitars are fun here, as they are throughout the album. A lot of these songs are arranged very
simply, really just with heavy rhythm and an occasional lead lick. That’s not a bad thing at all. Stryper is providing some nice heavy pop
songs here in the middle of the album that move things forward quite nicely.
You are my air
I rather feel the same way about the lyrics. The chorus is good (we’ll get there in a
bit), but the metaphors in the verses are a bit rambling and weak. We actually have a big problem with bad
metaphors (or at least unexplained metaphors) in Christian music, and that is
not normally a problem I find in Stryper.
But this is an exception.
“You are my air / You are the ground that I stand upon.” Well, obviously this is not true, and
metaphors are not meant to be literally and woodenly true, but what are we
meaning here? Do we mean that God is the
source of life and all provision? Well,
yes, that is true. Does it mean that God
is nature? That would be heresy.
I’m relatively sure that Stryper means the former rather
than the latter, but it’s not at all clear in the song, and what we end up with
are a bunch of bad metaphors that don’t actually tell us anything about God
because they are so flimsy.
In the second verse, we are a bit more defined, but still
not saying all that much. In fact, the
line about wanting to “keep you satisfied” makes this more of a love song to a
girl rather than a worship song. And I
would assume that is where we are going except for the chorus.
Musically and lyrically, the verses just feel hurried and
lazy.
What we do / what is
done
But then the hook is delivered, and it’s a good one,
musically, and theologically. We at last
are clear on who we are talking about.
The redemption the singer has is from God, and not because of his own
works. Yes, he speaks of himself, but in
reaction to God’s love and sacrifice, not in praise of himself. God gives life and definition.
I’ve noticed this in a couple of songs off this album
already, that Stryper is quick to react to God’s love and sacrifice in their
songs. When this is done in Christian
music, it is normally done very badly, and the song ends up being about what we
do for God. I generally recommend that
singers focus solely on what God has done just to avoid this mistake. And it is a grave mistake, especially in
worship. I’ve heard a lot of songs in a
worship context that are really about what we are doing there (“Here I come to
worship, here I come to bow down”) and ultimately have nothing to do with God,
but are really about us.
Stryper does not fall into this trap. There is no doubt as to who deserves the
praise in this song, and everything they say they will then do is in reaction
to that. This is a really nice way to
approach the topic – glory is given to, God, and that glory is intensified when
the band reacts to His love. God is the
inspiration to action here, which is really a complement not to the band, but
to God.
Overall
This is probably the most frustrating songs on the album,
because the chorus is good enough that I don’t want to skip it when playing the
album (like “Live Again”), but at the same time the verses are bad, and I
regret not skipping it. Theologically,
it is a mixed bag as well, with some good stuff in there, but you have to slosh
through some pretty bad metaphors before you get there.
