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Atheists Don't Have No Songs

madurobob

Philosopher
madurobob
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This may belong more in forum community, but I think it fits here, too.

I give you Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers on Austin City Limits singing "Atheists Don't Have No Songs".



"... the he is always lower case" Hehe.

I did not know Steve Martin was an atheist sympathizer!
 
Atheists have no songs like non-stamp collectors have no stamp-trading events in hotel ballrooms ... or ... something...

;)
 
pie in the sky

madurobob said:
This may belong more in forum community, but I think it fits here, too.

I give you Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers on Austin City Limits singing "Atheists Don't Have No Songs".



"... the he is always lower case" Hehe.

I did not know Steve Martin was an atheist sympathizer!
Click to expand...

Here's one song:

Melody; In the sweet bye and bye



Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:

Chorus:
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

The starvation army they play,
They sing and they clap and they pray
'Till they get all your coin on the drum
Then they'll tell you when you're on the bum:

Holy Rollers and jumpers come out,
They holler, they jump and they shout.
Give your money to Jesus they say,
He will cure all diseases today.
If you fight hard for children and wife
Try to get something good in this life
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell,
When you die you will sure go to hell.

Workingmen of all countries, unite,
Side by side we for freedom will fight;
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain:

You will eat, bye and bye,
When you've learned how to cook and to fry.
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good,
And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye.




Joe Hill
 
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John Lennon's "Imagine" sounds like a good atheists song to me.
 
madurobob said:
This may belong more in forum community, but I think it fits here, too.

I give you Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers on Austin City Limits singing "Atheists Don't Have No Songs".



"... the he is always lower case" Hehe.

I did not know Steve Martin was an atheist sympathizer!
Click to expand...
If you go to atheist experience on youtube and listen carefully you will hear songs that have been changed to have an atheist meaning.
 
FireGarden said:
And, more generally, who owns the music written by these people:?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_atheists_(music)
Click to expand...

Um, Jesus?

But, more seriously, I hadn't really considered this before: that list is one of composers who were atheist. Does that make their music atheist?

If I flip that around, I can easily assert there is music written by Christians that is not "Christian music", and that there is (or can be) Christian music not written by Christians.

But, as hgc points out, defining atheist music gets bit tricky.

ETA: Or maybe not... maybe its just music with lyrics that deny the existence of gods? Does it have to have lyrics then?
 
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I don't think they should. I mean, atheists are not a group. We do not unite or anything, we just don't believe in something.

It's like the fact that I'm not a professional athlete. I don't feel the need to replace the lack of training with some other activity.

Or was that not the question? I'm sorry, it's late :D
 
How about "Don't Worry! Be Happy!" by Bobby MacFerrin (1988)?
 
Maybe Atheists don't, but I have a CD or two from Anton LaVey. They're terrible, but I can't rule out that being intentional.
 
How 'bout this one?

Rush - Faithless

I've got my own moral compass to steer by
A guiding star beats a spirit in the sky
And all the preaching voices -
Empty vessels ring so loud
As they move among the crowd
Fools and thieves are well disguised
In the temple and market place

Like a stone in the river
Against the floods of spring
I will quietly resist

Like the willows in the wind
Or the cliffs along the ocean
I will quietly resist

I don't have faith in faith
I don't believe in belief
You can call me faithless
I still cling to hope
And I believe in love
And that's faith enough for me

I've got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leaning up or down
And all the shouting voices
Try to throw me off my course
Some by sermon, some by force
Fools and thieves are dangerous
In the temple and market place

Like a forest bows to winter
Beneath the deep white silence
I will quietly resist

Like a flower in the desert
That only blooms at night
I will quietly resist
 
"You can't always get what you want" by The Rolling Stones seems a good one to me.

Or "It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)" by REM

There are a lot of songs about losing faith. "Mr Bojangles", "The Gambler", others like that.
 
Another by Rush:

Freewill said:
There are those who think that life has nothing left to chance take,
A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.

A planet of playthings,
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive
"The stars aren't aligned,
Or the gods are malign..."
Blame is better to give than receive.

Chorus
You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose freewill.

There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them; they weren't born in Lotusland.

All preordained
A prisoner in chains
A victim of venomous fate.
Kicked in the face,
You can't pray for a place
In heaven's unearthly estate.

Chorus

Each of us
A cell of awareness
Imperfect and incomplete.
Genetic blends
With uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.

Chorus
Click to expand...
Seems pretty clearly atheistic to me.

Though I wonder, why make atheist songs? I mean, all atheism is is not believing in god, hardly something that inspires poetry. Wouldn't atheists write music about what they find inspiring--science, mountains, sunsets, love, loss, heartache, etc? I get why some do it. When you're a hated minority (it's illegal to be an atheist and hold some political offices in the USA) it sometimes feels good to say "I'm an atheist and I'm happy", and it certainly feels good as a neophyte nonbeliever to hear it. But a whole genera? I just can't see getting that much inspiration from something you lack.
 
Mahaha said:
I don't think they should. I mean, atheists are not a group. We do not unite or anything, we just don't believe in something.

It's like the fact that I'm not a professional athlete. I don't feel the need to replace the lack of training with some other activity.

Or was that not the question? I'm sorry, it's late :D
Click to expand...


UH.......This is going to make a lot of people mad but.

We all took a vote and decided not to invite you to the meeting.
Nothing personal. We just don't like you.:D
 
madurobob said:
Um, Jesus?

But, more seriously, I hadn't really considered this before: that list is one of composers who were atheist. Does that make their music atheist?
Click to expand...
No. Look at Rimsky-Korsakov's oeuvre: he clearly composed religious (choral) music.

madurobob said:
If I flip that around, I can easily assert there is music written by Christians that is not "Christian music", and that there is (or can be) Christian music not written by Christians.
Click to expand...
Which is obvious. The simplest examples are Bach's Coffee Cantata and Peasant Cantata. They have a secular theme, but use an (until then) exclusively religious format.

madurobob said:
But, as hgc points out, defining atheist music gets bit tricky.

ETA: Or maybe not... maybe its just music with lyrics that deny the existence of gods? Does it have to have lyrics then?
Click to expand...
But that would be pretty rare. Which composer is going to write a piece about something which doesn't inspire them?
 
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