I use to listen to Crash test Dummies and enjoy their songs… but then I listened carfully to the lyrics and I think they are being quite anti-Christian / anti-religious…
What do you think?
Well, Peter Pumpkinhead is a cover. It was originally by XTC, who wrote the pretty blatant anti-God song, “Dear God”.
I think you’re wrong.
Disclaimer: I only have their first two albums, but that seems to be where most of your examples come from.
One at a time.
God Shuffled his Feet: One of my favorites and I don’t see anything anti-religion about it. God is faces with a bunch of questions from the humans he created and he can’t answer them. How could he? They wouldn’t understand as they are not God. And even if they could, God doesn’t answer questions like this. So how does God react when faced with questions he can’t answer? He gets embaressed.
The song portrayes God in a manner that is both humerous and human. Very clever and unique.
I’ll Pass on How Does a Duck Know - I’ve never understood that song.
The line from Swimming in Your Ocean sounds like a typical philosophical question to me. Is God to blame for random acts of nature? Does God interven directly? Important and interesting questions. Fairly typical questions too. But asking philosophical questions does not make one anti-religion.
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead: Hey, wait a second. This is an XTC song. Written by Andy Partridge. When did CTD cover it? It’s not on the albums I own and not listed as being on the albums in Amazon.com? Could the lyricsdomain info just be wrong? Is it a hidden track on something?
In any event, I’m not sure that covering a song has the same weight as writing it yourself. CTD could just have said “Cool song, let’s do that.” It might appeal to their previously mentioned philosophical nature without them agreeing with it 100%. Now if you want to argue that XTC has a problem with organized religion (see “Dear God”) then you may be on to something.
*Is God so powerful he can make a rock so big that he can’t lift it? *
Lots of people question God all the time. Some of us :eek: don’t even believe in a superhuman being of any kind.
There’s nothing wrong with putting down in a song the thoughts that everyday people think every time something horrible-- or just plain mean-- happens.
Thanks for showing me another perspective Trion. Yes, CTD did cover Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead[sub]which I didn’t know wasn’t written by them[/sub]
It is on the Dumb and Dumber Soundtrack.
Before this thread is miraculously changed into GD, I will say that XTC’s “Dear God” and “Peter Pumpkinhead” are not anti-God.
“Dear God” is more of an evocation of human tendency to blame bad things on someone else (in this case, a superior being), as well as the bifurcated nature of human existence.
Besides, think about it: who is the song addressed to? The singer is professing not to believe in God, yet is singing to God. Andy Partridge is just exploring the inherent contradictions of human belief/disbelief. (You could also think of this song as the musical version of Jim Kirk telling Nomad that it is imperfect.)
Besides, earlier on the same album, a song called “Seasons’ Cycle” makes a case for God: “Darlin’ don’t you ever stop to wonder/ About the building of the hills a-yonder?/ About the baby and his umbilical? / Who’s pushing the pedals on the seasons’ cycle?”
(Props to Partridge for using the original pronounciation/stress to rhyme “umbilical” with “cycle.”)
As for Peter Pumpkinhead, it is a retelling of the Jesus story, really: young idealist preaches love and redistribution of wealth, is hassled by the man for causing trouble. As for the line about the Vatican, well, that’s fair comment; the Catholic Church is very wealthy, in contrast to the man who founded the religion.
And how is saying “hanging there, he looked looked a lot like you, and an awful lot like me!” anti-Christian? I’m agnostic myself, but isn’t one of the central points of Christianity that Jesus was fully a human, able to suffer, and therefore “just like us?”
I always thought “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” was about JFK.