Four (Surprising) Pop Songs for Easter

For over 50 years, pop musicians in all genres have explored the meaning and significance of Jesus in their music. The result is a rich collection of songs that consider important spiritual questions like faith, doubt, and prayer in unique and often provocative ways. Delvyn Case and I both have a deep interest in the ways faith is expressed in and through pop music in all its many guises. In a recent series for HeartEdge we attempted to tap our differing interests and knowledge by choosing four songs for each festival we discussed. In this post I’d like to share the 4 songs we chose for Easter.

‘Windows in the Sky’ – U2

‘Window in the Skies’ is a little-known song by the Irish rock band U2, being one of two new songs featured on their 2006 compilation album U218 Singles. It was released on 1 January 2007 as the album's second single and was only performed live on the fifth leg of U2's Vertigo Tour. It is one of U2’s most directly and obviously Christian songs while also using some creative and evocative metaphors to describe Good Friday, Easter Day and their impact.   

The song contains a brilliant synopsis of Easter: “The rule has been disproved / The stone it has been moved / The grave is now a groove / All debts are removed.” It doesn’t preach as it primarily us asks a question, but the question is central to the witness of Christianity – “see how these Christians love one another” i.e. the resurrection is shown to be real by the changes in our lives. “Love left a window in the skies,” is also another brilliant Easter image.

‘I Just Want To See His Face’ - The Rolling Stones

The gospel elements to some songs on ‘Exile On Main Street’ have been attributed to the presence of Gospel pianist and singer Billy Preston during the final recording sessions in Los Angeles. At this time Preston took Jagger to Sunday services. Jagger and Charlie Watts also saw Aretha Franklin recording her live ‘Amazing Grace’ album at this time. Jagger said of this experience, “It was a really electrifying performance she gave, it raised the hair on the back of your neck.” “One of the things that made it really interesting,” Jagger said, “is that you were there, you were involved. Being there in a church, you’re part of the experience — you’re not just a member of an audience somehow.”

The pianist on this track, however, is Bobby Whitlock and the song is a jam which followed a conversation in which Jagger asked Whitlock about his Dad who was a preacher. Jagger said of the song, “I'm just playing the Doubting Thomas.” Doubting Thomas later saw Christ.

‘Blinded by Your Grace, Pt. 2’ - Stormzy

The chart-topping debut album ‘Gang Signs and Prayer’ by Grime artist Stormzy, a South London MC, features two songs dedicated to God’s grace. On the album there are tracks about his battle with depression, his difficult relationship with estranged father, and one song that begins with his mother praying over him. ‘Blinded By Your Grace part 1,’ is a chilled Gospel-flavoured interlude, while ‘Blinded By Your Grace Part 2,’ is an all-out power ballad complete with Gospel choir and electric guitars. After brushes with drug dealing, gang violence and depression, Stormzy comes to the realisation that God lavishes love on us no matter who we are, where we have come from, or what we have done: “Lord I’ve been broken / Although I’m not worthy / You fixed me, I’m blinded / By your grace / You came and saved me.”

The song combines testimony and preaching making a classic statement of the effect of Christ’s death and resurrection. "One of the things that I'm most impressed by, in God, is the grace that he has," Stormzy explained to The Guardian. "No matter what we do, there's always this, ‘OK, it's fine. I understand.’ That's not to say I can go out and do something bad… But just that knowing that someone's got you throughout anything, and they're not going to judge you, they're just going to understand your situation. That’s grace."

‘Easter’ by Patti Smith

In ‘The Theology of Patti Smith’, Stephen Webb writes, “Her best work, including ‘Mercy Is,’ her lullaby for director Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, is immersed in the poetic tradition of Blake and Rimbaud as well as the language of the Bible.” Smith explains that, “I left organized religion at 12 or 13, because I was brought up a Jehovah's Witness. I have a very strong biblical background. I studied the bible quite a bit when I was young and continue to study it, independent of any religion, but I still study it.”

Stephen Webb says of this song: “’Easter’ (1978) is a masterpiece of lyrical lament. Smith imagines Rimbaud walking to church with his siblings on Easter Sunday, trying to convey to them his own awakening into a dark, yet hopeful destiny. When Smith tells Isabella, in Rimbaud’s voice, that ‘we are dying,’ she pronounces the girl’s name with heroic indignation, as if only poets can straddle the space between the living and the dead. But this messianic temptation gives way to the ringing of liturgical bells as Smith turns ancient seer, chanting a heated frenzy of Christian images. ‘I am the sword, the wound, the stain, scorned transfigured child of Cain.’ And then she intones, ‘Isabella, we are rising,’ with such simplicity that the resurrection takes shape in sound.”

If you like ‘Easter,’ then also check out also ‘Constantine’s Dream’ on ‘Banga’ which is a ‘theological epic’. As Stephen Webb writes, ‘These songs are modern monuments of religious art.’

Lastly, how would I use these songs in a church setting? I could see myself preaching about ‘Window in the Skies’ or ‘Blinded by your Grace Pt.2’ and I could develop meditations – reflections and prayer plus music - based on any or all of these songs.

Rev. Jonathan Evens is Associate Vicar for HeartEdge at St Martin-in-the-Fields and co-author of ‘The Secret Chord,’ an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief. To know more about Jonathan’s work, visit his blog and article about Taylor Swift’s Epiphany