I discovered the band Butterflyfish about a year ago after stumbling upon a post at Ben Myers theology blog. I was immediately captivated by the theological depth in these simple songs. Too often, it seems to me, some children’s music tends to not give children enough credit in terms of how they can relate to and understand some of life’s many difficulties such as grief and loss, or redemption. When this happens, music becomes a venue for stunting creative and ongoing engagement with life’s big questions rather than an outlet for ongoing growth. So, recently when I received an email informing me that a new album had been released, it didn’t take long before it was imported into my Itunes playlist.
I highly recommend this newest album titled Great and Small. All of the songs are enjoyable, but my favorites are Great and Small, The Gospel Story, and Let It Go Down. Great and Small is a wonderful expression of what it means to be human creatures created in the image of God: we are both Great but undeniably Small as well and neither of these two aspects of ourselves must be forgotten or diminished by the other.
Deep down here inside my pocket there’s a little piece of paper
I take it out and read it when I’m feeling out of shaper
To keep my fears at bay
It says you are great
Deep down in my other pocket there’s another piece of paper
I take it out and read it when I’m getting into shaper
When I’m walking tall, it says you are small
Dust to dust we shall return
The whole wide world was made for us to learn
That we are great and small
We are tiny and tall
Remember through it all
We are great and small
As anyone who listens to Butterflyfish will find right away, they have an old time Gospel like sound, but a radically different approach to some of the Old Gospel songs. The Gospel Story is one such example of this with its classic I’ll fly away like Gaither band sound, just with the reverse lyrics:
I ain’t going up to heaven in the sky
I ain’t flying with the angels when I die
I ain’t gonna rise up in the clear, cause I do believe my dear
that heaven is coming down here
That’s the Gospel Story, that’s the Gospel plan
Kingdom of glory, is right here again
So don’t you worry, women and men
That’s the Gospel story, that’s the Gospel plan
John 8:3-11 is story used for Let it Go Down – its a familiar story, the woman caught in adultery. Yet the way that the song is structured is simply beautiful:
Where’s that Jesus now, were gonna show him how
show him how this world is really run,
bring that woman along, the one that did something wrong
now she’s gonna pay for what she’s done
but Jesus said, hold on, think this through
cause you and I know it might as well be you standing there in her shoes
so go ahead and pick up a stone, hold it in your hand
and feel the weight of wisdom it demands
then you gotta let love show, then you gotta let it flow
then you gotta take that stone and let it go down, down, down
as the song transitions to the climax where all the stones are dropped and the woman is approached by Jesus, the song becomes even more profound as it describes Jesus’ response to the woman:
that woman did not know just what to say
her heart still filled with fears, her eyes filled up with tears but Jesus smiled and said go on your way then Jesus said, hold on, think this through cause you and I, know it might as well be you standing tall in your shoes
If this recommendation is not enough to convince you to buy it, make sure you head over to their website to preview the songs.
Recent Comments