The Name John

[ebacon]

As music lovers we empathize with the artistic gyrations that lyricists and engineers experience as they practice their crafts in search of the truth.

Tonight I listened to Keith Urban's "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16" and wondered what passion he draws from to sing that song. What caught my ear tonight was that I never considered that John Cougar and the founder of John Deere may have a lifetime cause, a political attraction if you will, to John 3:16.

Unfortunately my biblical knowledge is next to nil so I have no understanding of John 3:16 or John the ... as the religions have split the hairs over the millennia. What I do have however is a deep respect for how Louis Black tries to contrast the Old and New Testaments.

Those were my thoughts into a few verses of the song and then the contrast hit me. I wonder if Keith Urban sings that song from a point of appreciating the Old Testament and being faithful to his wife and perhaps the entire song is an expression of being frustrated with the splitting of hairs that followed, e.g. the New Testament. I do not know when the testaments, old or new, were written. Just having fun with trying to learn how art, theology, and politics get commingled.

If you feel like going through a thinking exercise I would appreciate reading your opinion on the song.