WHAT HAPPENED TO "USED TO BE?"

Many of you have written to us to register some dissatisfaction with our decision to remove the song "Used To Be" from the new printing of Speedwood Three. I have this one thing to say: it is still on Sikkibahm. No, no, no, that's not what I want to say; that's just a very small joke. Nearly everyone who has sent us an email on the subject recently has written something like, "that is a very powerful song," or, "...one of my favorites." And, honestly, I agree with you. It is one of our favorites, too. That's why we have included it in our concerts for so long.

The fellows who wrote that song around 1980 to be sung by Stevie Wonder in a movie soundtrack did a great job. What is particularly poignant, indeed disturbing, about the song is it's timeliness-now as well as when it was written twenty years ago. Each time we sing the song the thought runs through my mind that folks must think it is a song just recently written. And one of the reasons we continued to sing it is that we think it helps to illustrate this truth: sin has not gone out of fashion with our world. Consequently, ours is a world still in grave need of a Savior. Fortunately, we have one in Jesus, God's word of love and boundless grace, who has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. This song has long helped us set up the message of God's grace in concert settings. And we've enjoyed singing it (especially the part where it modulates and gets faster).

A few people have written to say that we have "sold out," by giving in to outside pressure from those who find the song offensive. I suppose it was these notes that made me decide to add this small comment for the purpose of clarification to this month's newsletter. Indeed, there was exactly one person who wrote to tell us he was glad about and agreed with our decision to remove the song. One could argue that to remove the song was possibly even a perilous decision, if the purpose was to stoke the band's popularity. However, that's not the reason we removed the song.

I'll try to explain, briefly, the three most important considerations that went into our decision to remove the song from the CD. First, we do not want really young children to memorize the "offensive" lyrics. We have heard about and met hundreds of children under the age of five who honestly like our CD's. (Go figure. At least we may have a future!) Perhaps they like the repetitiveness of the songs; perhaps they like the nasal kind of drilling sound our voices make which is easily received by young ears not yet attuned to subtleties. Perhaps they've not yet heard that "real bands" and "real CD's" have drums, strings, background vocals and choruses that are held back until at least one verse has been sung. Or, perhaps they see their youthful parents, who are in many cases our personal friends, enjoying the songs, proclamation, and concert experience of LOST AND FOUND. For whatever reason, lots of children listen to our CD's. And as they are wont to do, with aplomb and merriment they memorize every single word of every single song. Parents tell us all the time that their kids want to hear our CD in the car, or at bedtime and that the kids run around the house singing the lyrics. That makes us quite pleased when the words go, "Be not afraid," or, "Since Jesus loves you and Jesus loves me we can be free to be what we were meant to be." We are not interested, however, in creating circumstances where kids have to say, "Mom? What's 'give a damn?'" Or, "...but LOST AND FOUND says it!"

We do very much want parents with children to come to concerts and to bring the kids and enjoy the concerts together. We think our music has some considerable appeal among those who are or soon will be of the age to have young children who memorize song lyrics. We want them and their kids to feel welcome at our concerts and feel comfortable playing the CD's at home. We are not interested in fighting the battle of forcing listeners to test the boundaries of their personal "comfort zones," as the trendy therapist might say.

This brings me to the second reason we decided to remove the song. We do not want our "work," or, "ministry," to get bogged down in a controversy we are not interested in, namely whether or not it is acceptable for a Christian band to use the Biblical and religious words "hell" and "damn" in a recording on a CD. We just don't care. It's not important to us to try to prove it one way or another. We have different interests with LOST AND FOUND. So we are quite happy to remove the song in order to avoid getting distracted from our work. Another way to look at it is this: we do not want to be known as "the band that says 'hell' and 'damn.'" This might be an interesting controversy and perhaps it will be one debated in the public forums associated with Christian music one of these days, but it is just not all that interesting to us. Other bands might one day take this issue on, enlarging the dialogue and helping to create all kinds of new opportunities for future Christian singers; but not us.

Perhaps it is more to the point to tell you this: we are interested in other questions, in particular whether or not it is possible for a Christian band to remain independent of the major Christian labels in Nashville, TN and still have a presence, even an impact, in Christian music. We want to see if it is possible for a band to spend entire weekends at youth gatherings, playing some sing-along tunes, leading workshops, having a concert, playing music at worship, letting their guard down and making friends with kids, parents and leaders, and having honest conversations-building a reputation that way, through relationships and not through magazine ads and radio promotions. We'd like to see if it is possible to have a band's songs played on the radio because people want the radio stations to play them, not just because of the limitless promotional budget of the band's record company. We'd like to see if a band's CD's can sell on the basis of factors other than production budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, or life-size cardboard displays in the stores and other record-company promotion methods.

Basically, we'd like to see if there is room in the Christian music industry for a grass-roots band. And if so, can the band stay that way and can the band have an impact? We think LOST AND FOUND is trying to put this question to the test. And we don't want to ruin it by being labeled, "the band that swears." And we don't want people to dismiss us with comments like, "Oh, of course they are not with a label-they sing the words 'damn' and 'hell.'"

Please don't get me wrong here. We are certainly not trying to reproach the major labels or the bands they represent. They are simply working with equally important albeit altogether different questions such as, "Can a band proclaim the love of God in Christ and put together a show, a production quality and a promotional campaign that is equal to or better than those the world has witnessed for years from bands with a message quite contrary to the Gospel of God in Christ?" Now, I realize that's a long question, but those bands have their hands full. And lots of them are dong a great job. We are glad to work and be friends with many of them. In fact, our occasional partnership on the road and at particular gigs is part of what helps us explore and evaluate what God is allowing us to do with LOST AND FOUND.

Perhaps an important reason, other than the obvious mercy of God, that any of this is possible for LOST AND FOUND is that you are reading this letter and lots of people, like you, who have supported us over the years are too. And we've written this letter for you to read. In the same way that those of you who wrote to us needed to let us know how you felt about our decision, it is important to us that you know how we feel too.

Finally, the third reason, and then this novel will be through: we did not even write the song "Used To Be." Maybe if we had written the song we would cling to it like Nixon to Checkers. Perhaps if we had written it, the very writing of the song might indicate that we were in fact interested, even sub-consciously, in the question of whether or not a Christian band could use those words on a CD. Consequently, having written it, we'd very likely be loyal to it for the very reasons that might have prompted the writing of it. However, we did not write it and we do not want to spend valuable time and energy dealing further with it's repercussions.

So, I hope these comments shed a bit of light on our decision to remove the song from the new edition of Speedwood Three. As always, we will welcome your comments in return and though it may take some time, we will write back to you. Even better, save the electricity, and come see us at a concert this spring and tell us what you think. Check the schedule section of the site for the dates. And bring the kids—the Kingdom belongs to such as these.