After a hiatus of well over a year I am back here on my original blog with a brand new post about praise and worship music. I want to start out by saying that I love contemporary Christian and worship music just as much as the next person, in fact it’s one of my favorite music genres. These songs are usually beautiful and inspiring and can be uplifting during hard times because they are a great reminder of God’s love for us. I could write this whole post about all my favorite Christian songs and why I like them. But today I thought I would do something a little different. A few days ago I came across an article online that someone wrote about worship songs they would “be fine with never singing again” and I just thought I would do my own list of Christian songs I would be okay with not singing again. Now this isn’t going be some anti God post as these aren’t songs I necessarily consider bad. They just wouldn’t be my first choice of worship songs to listen to. I’m also going to put my own twist on this idea and suggest an alternative song to every song on this list. So enough with my rambling, let’s get this show on the road….
8 Worship Songs I Could Do Without
8. “How Can I Keep From Singing” (Chris Tomlin)- Sometimes praise and worship music can be a little over the top on the praise end and may come across as unrealistic and this is certainly a good example of that. It’s not very hard to keep from singing God’s praise and shouting his name and I don’t think any of us are going to sing during all the times listed in the bridge, especially on our “last breath.” It’s just an over the top and entirely unrealistic worship song.
A Good Alternative Song: “Behold Our God” by Brandon Heath.
7. “Everyday” (Hillsong Worship)- Another good example of an unrealistic worship song. I mean I don’t think any Christian can perfectly walk with God and follow in his word every single day of their lives. What a commitment that is! My gosh, if I were able to commit to following God as much as it says in this song, I would be happy and confident all the time and would always have a good day and that’s just not practical. We all have bad days and we all sin at times, which doesn’t always make us “a light unto the world.” This song just comes off to me as someone trying to be a perfectionist in their following of God and I just don’t agree with that. My other problem with it is the verses sound like someone is talking on the phone to God or trying to leave him a voicemail, “What to say Lord? It’s you who gave me life and I can’t explain just how much you mean to me…” Maybe you just need to give the song a listen to see where I’m going with that. It’s just an odd and somewhat lazy tone for a worship song and comes across as awkward to me. Just my opinion.
Alternative Song: “See You” by Josh Wilson (a much more realistic depiction of the life of a Christian)
6. “Above All” (Michael W Smith)- My main problem with this song is it’s so darn depressing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about songs about the resurrection of Christ and think it is one of the most important stories in the Bible. But there are much better songs about that subject matter than this one out there. It’s just too sad to hear about Jesus being crucified behind a stone and“rejected and alone.” It makes you feel guilty because he did that for us. It’s just a really sad depiction of the resurrection. The other problem is the song is very repetitive. You are basically singing the same two verses and chorus over and over again. That can make it come off as boring. I definitely think another verse could have been added and maybe a bridge in there. That would certainly make the song more interesting to sing.
Alternative Song: “Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)” by Casting Crowns
5. “Live the Difference” (Aquire the Fire)- Yet another overly confident Christian song about sacrificing yourself for God. There’s not too much to say about this one. But it is very repetitive and that high note in the echo part in the verses is like nails on a chalkboard. It’s comes across as showing off how high you can sing and doesn’t fit the song. I guess other than that the song isn’t bad but there are better songs out there about sacrificing one’s self
Alternative Song: “Lead Me to the Cross” by Hillsong United
4. “Holiness is What I Long For” (Jesus Army)- This song is the king of repetitive Christian songs. It basically repeats the same lyrics over and over again but the word holiness is switched out each time for righteous, faithfulness etc. It’s just too long and boring and the whole time you are listening to it you are just waiting for it to end. Also Christian comedian Tim Hawkins kind of ruined this song for me in his video of corporate worship songs where he made classic praise and worship songs into ads for things just as cars and in this case Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. “Krispy Kreme, Krispy Kreme is what I long for, Krispy Kreme is what I need. Krispy Kreme is what I want to eat!” And of course my favorite line, “chew it up, transform it.” Now every time I hear that song I just think of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and the message of the song doesn’t register with me anymore.
Alternative Song: “Christ Be Magnified” by Cody Carnes
3. “One Drop of Your Blood Lord Jesus” (???)- I have no idea who sings this song but it was always one of my least favorite songs to sing at church as a kid because it was just so eerie. I mean the song came off as very slow and serious and was in a minor key. Take all those aspects and put them into a song about blood and you have a very creepy, unsettling song. I remember always thinking of hospitals whenever I heard that song because of the blood reference and that on its own was unsettling to me because I have so much PTSD surrounding hospitals and getting blood drawn. So any creepy, slow song about blood is not something I want to sing in church or anywhere for that matter!
Alternative Song: “Nothin but the Blood of Jesus” by HeartCry Worship (Another song about blood but much less unsettling and more fun and upbeat.)
2. “Come, Now is the Time to Worship” (Brian Doerkson)- Yet another boring, slow and repetitive song. But this one is more about the fact that we are doing the art of worshipping God and not as much about him. That is until the chorus hits, “One day every tongue with confess you are God…” It’s kind of random and doesn’t fit the rest of the song. I think this song would be great to use to calm down a group of preschoolers in order to read to them. “Come, now is the time for reading. Come give me your listening ears…” It’s calming nature would work great for that but as a worship song…maybe not.
Alternative Song: “How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin (a great song that is actually about God!)
1. “Every Move I Make” (David Crowder Band)- The main reason I have this song at number 1 is because of the PTSD I have surrounding it. A long time ago we sang this song in Vacation Bible School and I have bad memories of getting braces on my teeth that week and being in so much pain that it was hard for me to sing. So hearing this song just brings back unwanted memories of that time. It’s also quite cheesy, especially the version we sang in VBS. It had this annoying “na na na na na” part at the beginning and electric guitars in the background which were completely unnecessary. The other problem with this song is it only has two verses and a chorus and just repeats over and over. It definitely could have used more lyrics. Plus the “everywhere I look I see your face” part can come off as creepy. Overall, it’s just a cheesy, repetitive song and I would rather not sing it in church.
Alternative Song: “Love Take Me Over” by Steven Curtis Chapman
