Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Religion? Say What?! (Updated)

I guess that title could be misleading, but just hear me out.

I'm very excited about the recent release of the documentary Religulous. I'm Netflixing it as we speak.

So yesterday morning I woke up with the notion of a blogpost of my "religion", "faith", what-have-you as told through music videos.

These songs may in fact be as close as I'll ever get to pinning it down anyway.

Sit back and enjoy these lovely songs. And with them, my understandings of the world. At the moment.

Careful there.

Okay, let's start at the very beginning. In high school it's not surprising that this first song was constantly stuck in my head.

Losing my Religion by R.E.M.
(Please enjoy the dancing that starts happening around 2:40.)

Well, at least it's not surprising from where I'm standing now.

Now that I've had a lot of time to think about things and talk to people I trust and some that I don't, I'm more along the lines of these songs.

Love Love Love by The Mountain Goats
(I'd like to apologize in advance for this girl's wack video of the rain from her window. The only other videos were of live concerts and very... pubby.)


The Origin of Love from the soundtrack of Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Also... where can I find lipstick like that?

The Minnow and the Trout by A Fine Frenzy

I saw Alison Sudol here, in Maine, for free. I would have paid quite a lot. She's magical. I tried to find a live clip that was not operated by a cameraperson with a crucial tremor, but I failed. Look them up yourself; I just can't post them in good conscience.

Let It Be by The Beatles

Paul's beard, though? Totally ill-advised. I'm embarrassed for him.

That should be enough to get you started.

I've now gotten myself completely distracted with music videos on YouTube, so you all will just have to entertain yourselves.

Update: I just can't let sleeping dogs lie, so here are some more songs that I would feel remiss leaving out.

Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum

Please forgive the jaundice-y tinge. This video is significantly older than I am. And... he's got a friend in Jesus.

Closer to Fine by The Indigo Girls

I <3 torn jeans. Am I too old to wear them convincingly?

Alright, I'm walking away. Again.

3 comments:

Evan said...

Couldn't this be considered an exploration of faith through *music*? The video for "Losing My Religion" is one of the cornerstones of my music video-watching life, but the rest of the videos are pretty epic fail. Elsewhere, the idea of addressing complex and difficult issues through songs is fantastic. The song of my religious life: Pedro the Lion's "Rapture." Is it a little creepy to admit that my favorite religious song is about having sex with God?

Amanda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amanda said...

hahaha... You're so right. The original idea was to find the beautiful music videos that I was sure had to exist for these beautiful songs.

Sadly, those videos don't exist.

I should probably take the word "video" out of the prompt, yeah?

However, I would really only call Love Love Love and The Minnow and the Trout epic fails video-wise. The Beatles are quite nice and say a lot just by the way they sit. And Hedwig? Come on. That's poetry.