The Poor

You may think I'm crazy - just tell me if my imaginative, poetic side has gone off its rocker, but I just wrote a rap song. Actually, I've been working on it for the past few days. I decided that most of Christian music (99%) is about God. Which is nice, but... God was concerned about more than Himself when He was here on earth. I think that Christian artists ought to write more songs about creation, about social injustice, and about the impoverished. As this issue was rolling through my mind, I thought, "I could do better than most Christian artists." Words without deeds are nothing, so I wrote this song. I figured I'd better post it before the current events it talks about fade from everyone's memory (isn't that sad? just think that we forget these natural disasters within a month but the cleanup from the cyclone and earthquake will probably not be completed in five years).

I know that the "song" is roughshod-the lines aren't of even length, the bridge is a different size than the chorus and the verses are different lengths. The rhyme scheme is pretty random everywhere, hopefully it flows well enough. Moreover, there isn't any melody... Anyway, I thought that I should post it because it's time for another post, and I'm not sure how much more work I'll put into it. More importantly, creating a polished song was not my intention for this project; it was a foray into songwriting to check out how hard it is to talk about actual issues. The verdict: it's not impossible, and more Christian artists should do it.

"The Poor"
Verse 1: rap it out
I wake up in the morning
Four hours past the dawning
Get up, stand up, stretch,
Fetch the paper
Sing praises to my maker
Grab my joe and Quaker
Read the front page
and there's...
Civil war hardcore
Drivel ignored, there's
So much more, can't roar
Over the cries of
five million floored
By an earthquake in China
People in airliners
Fly higher, go far as stars
From scarred Myanmars
Who listens? We in the USA
glisten everyday and play
like there's no way we gonna
give our help-hey!

Chorus: 32 make up your own melody, make it sad
Who hears the cries of the poor?
Who gives all they have and more?
Who sacrifices that others might live?
I want to be the one to give

Verse 2: rap it again
Our living Bible says giving
Is a gift - pick your prize, there's
Precious renown here or
Treasured crown there.
Is it so hard to regard
the poor? They're scarred, obscure
Need a cure while
We're so secure
We gotta make sure
we're doing more
Than one five on Sunday
Many survive
on a dollar a day
We need to revive
our stray
Heart for the poor
and display it today;
obey the
Words of our Lord;

He portrayed compassion,
We can't betray his mission

Chorus again

bridge: 26
I will do what I can
Do my part in God's plan
To save the lost and dying...
Failure is not trying

Chorus (bridge silmultaneous in background)

Richard Gianforte 6/9/2008