I stopped watching music award shows a few years back. I see the Grammys, Billboard and American Music Association award shows appear in my television listings with a passing nod. But on Monday night, after the NBC Nightly newscast ended and Entertainment Tonight came on, I watched the first five minutes, to see what made news in their world over the weekend. It’s a refreshing contrast to the politics of Nightly.
And there it was. A Praise and Worship chorus from the past. “As the Deer” by Martin [Marty] Nystrom from 1984 is based on Psalm 42. It is a “scripture song” type of worship composition with the original lyrics borrowed from the King James. The Psalmist is speaking to God, but the song came out before it was de rigeur that all the songs we sing in church be “vertical” in their lyrical orientation.
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longs after You
You alone are my hearts desire
And I long to worship You.
Singing the song was Katy Perry. This didn’t come entirely as a surprise. Born Katy Hudson, she is the daughter of a husband and wife pastoral team, and made a Christian music album under that name. I have two copies of the CD in their original shrink-wrap that I’m waiting for the right time to sell, but alas, I digress.
The song was used as an introduction to the song “Only Love.” (What’s the opposite of a coda?) It’s from her new album Smile and you can hear the original at this link.
Eighty-six thousand, four hundred seconds in a day
I swear lately most of ’em have been a waste
I feel ’em come and go, bury my mistakes
But time just goes on and on in a way
It’s a song of lament, to be sure. The chorus is:
Oh, I’d call my mother and tell her I’m sorry
I never call her back
I’d pour my heart and soul out into a letter
And send it to my dad
Like, oh my God, the time I’ve wasted
Lost in my head
Let me leave this world with the hate behind me
And take the love instead
The song continues. The second verse contains the s-word, but make no mistake, she’s christened this song to be sung at youth group on Friday night, assuming the group is still meeting in person. You can read the full lyrics here.
The song ends,
…Yeah, give me
Only love, only love
Let me leave this world with the hate behind me
And take the love instead.
In a Facebook group for Praise and Worship leaders to which I belong, Marty Nystrom himself chimed in on Monday:
As I watched the American Music Awards I was baffled that a scripture song would be on the same platform as the other performances. My hope is that this is a small indication that Katy Perry is growing dry in her pursuit of this world’s accolades and thirsting for the refreshing she knew in her youth. Let it be Lord! And let her lead millions to Jesus!
…Lots of today’s top musicians got their musical start in church. I follow a band on YouTube called Pomplamoose. It’s fronted by Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte, the latter known for creating a fundraising platform for artists called Patreon. Nataly recently mentioned getting her start in church music.
About an hour east of where I live is a town called Napanee, where a young Avril Lavigne attended the Christian school. There, she would have been surrounded by Contemporary Christian Music and Modern Worship.
There are many more examples like this in the world of R&B music.
I don’t know what prompted Katy Perry to expose her musical roots on the AMA awards show, but can’t help observe that she’s now a mom, and parenthood does cause a lot of people to think about things they hadn’t considered since childhood. On that, I’ll leave the last word to Marty Nystrom’s interpretation of Psalm 42:
I want You more than gold or silver
Only You can satisfy
You alone are the real joy giver
And the apple of my eye