Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Pop Goes The Cliché


I know that many people reading this probably didn’t even watch last night’s American Idol performance finale. But I can’t take it anymore, so I have to say something.

THAT was the winning song of the song writing contest? Really?

Lyrically it sounded like the type of poem a 5th grader would write. Perhaps I shouldn’t cast stones since I did not enter, but I am confident I could’ve written better lyrics, even if I can’t compose music. It was like someone opened a bag of clichés, grabbed a handful and threw it at the wall.

Apparently it was written by Jeff Peabody a church pastor and his fellow congregation member Scott Krippayne:


There was a time I packed my dreams away.
Living in a shell, hiding from myself.

There was a time when I was so afraid.
I thought I’d reached the end,
Baby that was then
I am made of more than my yesterdays.

This is my now, and I am breathing in the moment.
As I look around I can’t believe the love I see.
My fears behind me, gone are the shadows and doubts
That was then, this is my now.

Had to decide was I going to play it safe
or look somewhere deep in inside try to turn the tide
and find the strength to take that step of faith

This is my now, and I am breathing in the moment.
I look around I can’t believe the love I see.
My fears behind me, gone are the shadows and doubts.
That was then, this is my now.

And I have the courage like never before, yeah.
I’ve settled for less but I’m ready for more,
Ready for more.
This is my now

I’m living in the moment
As I look around I can’t believe the love I see.
My fears behind me, gone are the shadows and doubts.
That was then, this is my now.

I am breathing in the moment.
As I look around
Can’t believe the love I see
My fears behind me, gone are the shadows and doubts
That was then.
This is my now.
This is my now.

If you’re really dying to hear the finalists each sing it, here’s Blake and here’s Jordin. But honestly, I don’t recommend wasting your time.

I don’t know what I expect. It is American Idol, it is cheesy and it is supposed to be a pop song. And like all the other “finale” songs, it won’t do well. But I’m very sensitive about lyrics and it just really, really bothered me. Thanks for letting me vent.

2 comments:

Eileen said...

Apparently my first response to this got lost in Internet purgatory, so I will summarize my thoughts, though much less eloquently:

1) That is horribly full of cliches. (Where's the "All you need are smiley smiles" part?) I'm not knocking the songwriters for trying, I'm knocking American Idol for picking it.

2) Even without mentioning it was a pastor who wrote this, I immediately thought that "Christian rock" was written all over this. It's no "Place in This World," that's for sure.

3) The "that was then, this is my now" reminds me of the 80s Monkees song "That Was Then, This is Now." Of course, that song was much better than this one.

James said...

I'm not a fan of the show at all, so to me it seems fitting that a mediocre song ends up being sung by mediocre artists.

I think the decline in the quality of popular songs all points to the dumbing down of society. Unfortunately the artists who write poignant material very rarely rise to the top.

Maybe i'm in an overly pessimistic mood today.