We Are Young – Fun.

The other day, I realized that I had not written a review for February yet. I think the main reason for this is because I had not found a good song. Well, I finally decided to buckle-down and pick one. The way that I picked this song came from an idea I had when I first thought about doing this blog. The thought was that it might be cool/interesting to review the iTunes top 10 songs. So, today we are going to do just that. As of writing this, the song that is on the top of the (U.S.) iTunes charts is We Are Young by Fun. I thought this might be a good place to start, so I looked up the lyrics. After a read-through of the lyrics, I didn’t think that I’d ever heard the song before – this lead to a search on Youtube. I found the song, and hit play, and switched back to the tab I had the lyrics open in. I usually try to just listen to the song before I watch the music video. I do this so that I can formulate my own opinion of what the song is about. Music videos are the directors interpretation of the song, so I try an avoid mixing his ideas with my own. As I was listening to the song, I realized that I have heard it before. The chorus of the song is very distinct, and irritatingly catchy. I think it was used in a trailer for some movie recently…I don’t know. At any rate, let’s get into the review.

Here are the lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/fun/weareyoung.html

You may not want to listen to this one, as its chorus is a bit of an earworm.

From what I can tell, this whole song takes place in a bar. The guy (who is the central character) is talking to his girlfriend and trying to give an explanation for the bad choices he makes. These choices include: having friends who do drugs, a lover (besides the girlfriend it seems), and drinking so much that he feels like falling over at the end of the night. There also seems to be something that he did/gave to her, that she wants to forget, and he regrets. I thought about this for awhile, and I kept circling back around to the same thing – sex. If I had to guess (and I do), I would probably say that he slept with his girlfriend. Whether or not it was forced is unclear, it could have been a mutual thing when they did it, but later they realized what they had done was wrong. My other thought was that he served her divorce papers. This seems less likely since he say he apologizes and that he wants to take it back. If he wanted to divorce her, why would he do these things? If you have a better idea, let me know in the comments. Regardless, something happened that scarred her, and he wishes he could take back. And all that is just from verse 1. Oh boy…

Verse 2 is not much better. We start the second verse with the phrase “Now I know that I’m not all that you got” this could mean that she has been sleeping around, or it could mean that he thinks she should try to find love in other places, like he is with his “lover.” They seem to still be maintaining some kind of facade relationship, because when their friends come back (from getting high in the bathroom) they raise a toast and drink – because that’s the best way to deal with problems.

There are technically some bridges and tags in the song too, but there’s not much in them, so lets look at the chorus. This is the iconic part of the song. The lyrics are:

Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun

This idea here is pretty clear. We’re young, so let’s have fun, and go out with a flash. This is a nice chorus, because it sums up the whole song pretty well. I feel like the basic message of this song is: Do what feels right while you can, because you can. The most important thing in life is to show everyone how spectacular you are. Mixed in with this message are suggestions on how to fulfill it: Get high, get drunk, and sleep around. Wonderful…

Ephesians 5:18 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”

So what do we take from this? Just because we are young, and can do crazy things, does not mean that we should do them. 1 Corinthians 10:23 confirms this: “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up.” Does this mean that we shouldn’t go to bars, or drink alcohol? No, but we need to be careful not to let these actions get out of hand. Check out 1 Timothy 3, and Titus 1:5-9 sometime, and decide for yourself if what you’re doing is right or wrong.

So some of you are probably saying, “that’s great Teegan, but I’m not even old enough to go to a bar, and the idea of drinking alcohol is disgusting to me. What can I take from this?” To the non-drinkers, and under-agers, I would say, be careful about having fun for fun’s sake. I find it amusing that the name of the artist of this song is “Fun.” – the period is included in the name. So the very name of their band is “fun period.” If that’s not a clear enough statement, I don’t know what is. All I can say, is that this song lives up to their name. This song tells us that we should have fun, for the sake of having fun. Now don’t get me wrong, I love having fun! But I don’t do just anything because people tell me it’s fun. The determining factor for deciding whether something “fun” is alright to do, is if it checks out with the Bible. Obviously, the Bible is pretty clear about things like getting drunk, and sleeping around. So sometimes it’s easy to see what you should or shouldn’t do. But other things are more difficult. Should you go to the Prom with the questionable dress code and music? Should you go to that party where there might be alcohol? Should you hang out with that group of people? There are many, many decisions like this that we have to make every day. Is it possible to always make the right choice? No. We are all human after all. But that doesn’t mean we should give up either. (Romans 6:1 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?”) I will say, that it is probably best to err on the side of cation. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like you’ll become a reclusive 21 year old college student who’s never had beer, drugs, or sex, and sits on the computer playing Minecraft on the weekends…oh…wait…nope, that’s just me. 😉

Seriously though, you should remember that God is with you in every situation – the good ones, and the one’s you wish he didn’t see. It’s also true that God can get you out of any situation. All you need to do is ask, listen, and obey. 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” You should notice two things about this verse. The first that it doesn’t say that the way God provides will be easy. More often than not, it’s incredibly hard, because temptation comes from within. It’s what your flesh wants. The second is that it doesn’t say that temptation will be completely removed from out lives – it says “that you may be able to endure it.” Just because we don’t fall to our temptations does mean they aren’t there. We still live in a sinful world, so we will still live with sin until the day we die (and maybe after if you’re apart from Christ).

Well, that was a bit tangential…but that’s not always a bad thing, right?

So what should be do with this song? I say trash it. It’s seriously a terrible song. The base message is counter-Christ, the story is revolting, and the only catchy part is the chorus, which isn’t that good in the first place. And to top it off, it encourages worldly and foolish behavior.

Still young, but growing in the wisdom of Christ,
Teegan

Songs You Should Listen To & V-Day

V-Day, the (in)famous day of chocolates, flowers, and heart-shaped-everythings has arrived. Valentines day is either the most meaningless, infuriating, sweetest, or misunderstood holiday we have as a society. I did a little research (and by “research” I mean that I read this article) and found that there are a few different stories about how valentines day came to be. They are all rather interesting, but ultimately share the same problem – that of being extremely vague when it comes to the veracity of the account.

If we ignore the matter of why (card companies) we have this holiday, and the question of if we should (card companies would go bankrupt). Then, what V-Day is about – that is to say – the main premiss and meaning of this holiday becomes the most interesting question. I think most people would agree with me when I say that the most basic message/point of V-Day is the giving, receiving, and general celebration of Love. Unfortunately, most of the time this means, that people go buy flowers, chocolates, and other misc. lovey dovey items to give to their significant other (Fun Fact: ~1 Billion Valentines cards are sold each year, and Women buy 85% of them).

One of the biggest problems with this holiday is that it can become very shallow. i.e. I buy you flowers and chocolate, and you give me a card (with a scribbled sentence if I’m lucky). Yeah, I’m a cultural cynic (I wouldn’t have started this blog if I wasn’t). Still, you get the point. This holiday (like Christmas) can quickly devolve into the mindless giving of gifts in order to fulfill a social norm. Why do we only do these things of V-Day? There are 364 other days in the year. I think it’s mainly because our culture tells us to.

The other thing that bothers me about V-Day is the fact that couples have completely taken it over (or maybe they just excluded single-people from the beginning). Yeah, I said it, V-Day is a couples-only holiday. It’s the day that the third wheel is broken off, the single left alone, and the lonely left single. What happened to the main premiss of V-Day? Is it about the giving, receiving and celebration of Love? Or is it about the exclusion of others, and fulfillment of self?

Well, I know that was a bit ranty, but I think it is nonetheless important. And don’t think that the first part doesn’t tie in with the second part which is this month’s Songs You Should Listen To.

This month I decided to do two songs. Mostly because I couldn’t pick between these two, and partly because they both fit well with my above thoughts. The songs this month are: Beautiful by MercyMe and My Own Little World by Matthew West.

Beautiful is a message to all the people who think they are worthless, failures, or unloveable. Often, as we go through life, we make mistakes, we have problems, and we have things that we hate about ourselves. These things lead us to believe that we can never be loved by anyone. The Good News is that this is a lie. Jesus Christ sees and knows all things about you. He sees your failures, your problems, your imperfections, and even then, He has given up His life for you. He sees you for who you are, His beautiful creation.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. -1 John 4:9-11

Spotify: MercyMe – Beautiful

My Own Little World is a bit of a story song. It’s about a man who is comfortable and successful, but ultimately, living for himself. But one day, he becomes convicted by what he sees, and realizes that this world is not just about him. He decides that he is not going to just live for himself anymore, that he wants to serve God by serving others. We should feel this way too. Does that mean that I have to go out and look for homeless people to give money to? Maybe, but not necessarily. Not everyone is going to be called to serve in the same area. However, if your not helping anyone, if all you do it think about how certain actions will benefit you, then you need to wake up. Jesus didn’t come earth to help people just so the would invite him over for free dinner, He came as a servant (Philippians 2:7). He came to give us His love, and to serve and save us, so that we might know what Love truly is.

Spotify: Matthew West – My Own Little World

So what is Valentines day about? I say, that it should be a day of thanksgiving for the work of Christ. We should celebrate the Love that God as show us by sending His Son to take our place. This love is not exclusive, everyone can receive His free gift of love. I pray that where ever you are, and whatever your relationship status may be (on Facebook or otherwise), that you would experience the Love of Christ this Valentines day more than anything else.

Still not convinced…umm…well, I guess you better run over to Fannie May before all the Chocolates are gone. Make sure to get an extra big and expensive box, because I hear it’s how much the gift costs that counts.

With the Love of Christ and a smile,

Teegan