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Tweedy on religion


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Just curious what you think of JT's views on religion. I'm sitting here listening to Blood of the Lamb (I know a Guthrie song) and wondering if JT has ever stated whether he's agnostic, atheist, Buddhist, or whatever. UT covered some old traditional religious songs (Satan is an old standard, I think) and I've also been listening quite a bit to the new Loose Fur, which has been covered here, but the ridicule and disdain for Christianity seems pretty strong. I must say that that cd has grown on me tremendously....

 

Later Wilco releases also have more ambiguous references to religion--Theologians, Hell is Chrome, Jesus, Etc.--are a few that come to mind.

 

:w00t

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You should listen to some of the banter from the small Christian college solo shows he played last year. Messiah College is one that comes to mind.

 

I was at the show the next night in Northampton, MA. I got to meet Jeff after the show. Yaaaah. Right before he played "The Ruling Class" he announced how "last night I played this next song at a Christian college. They liked it." He goes on to sing about Jesus smoking crack. I'm pretty sure a few folks were caught off guard. I'm not a "Christian" and even I was a little surprised.

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Honestly, I'm not sure that his views on religion have been made known very clearly. The Loose Fur album definately shows a disdain for religious dogma, but that's not the same as religion itself.

 

hmm, apart from the george bush rants on those late 2004 shows, i'd take anything the man says between songs with a grain of salt.... we've been had

 

oh, and the "talkers" rants seem legit :lol

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I haven't seen a disdain for Christianity in a lot of his lyrics. I actually see a lot of Christian thought in some of them.

 

Lines like "Theologians, dont know nothin about my soul" Never rung cynical to me. The way I interpreted it was that he saw theologians as people who always talk about religion, but when it comes down to individuals souls, they "don't know nothin". I thought he was talking about a God that did know individuals souls. A disdain for theologians, is not the same as a disdain for God.

 

In Theologians, he talks about the "illiterate light" which he has defined as something that does not communicate with language(I couldnt find the inteview on my computer, so if someone wants to correct that . . .) I think that is really beautiful imagery to describe a God who is "with us in the night"

 

I am a Christian, so maybe my thoughts made it sway the way that I tend to think about things, but I was very surprised to hear that people think that Jeff is an Agnostic. I have always seen a lot of spiritual imagery in his words. Maybe that is the beauty of art, or maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I thought I should throw out a counter point.

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I am a Christian, so maybe my thoughts made it sway the way that I tend to think about things, but I was very surprised to hear that people think that Jeff is an Agnostic. I have always seen a lot of spiritual imagery in his words. Maybe that is the beauty of art, or maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I thought I should throw out a counter point.

 

It is possible to be a spiritual, deep, good-hearted person without being a Christian, you know. I was raised Catholic, went to church every Sunday of my life until I was 16 and had 13 years of Catholic school. I do not consider myself a Christian any longer, but I did not throw out the baby with the bathwater. There is plenty to love about the teachings of Christ. I just don't happen to buy into the idea of "God" in the Christian sense.

 

I have no idea whether Jeff identifies as an agnostic, but I was at that Messiah College show and it definitely seemed that he didn't identify as a Christian.

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I think Tweedy has a disdain for common day organized religion--the way it's presented, preached, and feed to the masses, but I don't think he has anything against the spiritual side of life.

 

I think too many people take an artist's observations about the ills of religion as them being non-religious when in fact that's most likely not the case. Tweedy's being critical of relgion presented as a right-wing, upper middle class, political toy. He's being critical of the brimstone, the negative messages, and the hate that radicals are breeding inside many religions. There need to be more voices such as this, especially since the negative ones get all the airtime and attention.

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I think Tweedy has a disdain for common day organized religion--the way it's presented, preached, and feed to the masses, but I don't think he has anything against the spiritual side of life.

 

I think too many people take an artist's observations about the ills of religion as them being non-religious when in fact that's most likely not the case. Tweedy's being critical of relgion presented as a right-wing, upper middle class, political toy. He's being critical of the brimstone, the negative messages, and the hate that radicals are breeding inside many religions. There need to be more voices such as this, especially since the negative ones get all the airtime and attention.

 

I think you gave a head on interpretation of his views. At least this is what I take away from him.

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In the liner notes to the re-release of the UT March album on "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down" he says something about liking the song and not thinking of a traditional satan, but general evil like kids that threw pizza on him in JR. High.

 

My impression is that Tweedy is generally pro-spirituality and anti-zealotry. Not a real denominational type but maybe enjoys gabbin about God on a real long tour bus ride, maybe looking more towards the cosmic and a little less to the punitive God.

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Jesus don't cry

You can rely on me honey

 

I think he lays out his entire cosmology in 'jesus etc'

 

I'm just not sure I'm smart enough to figure it out (and I have a master's degree in poetry, of all things)

 

I don't find "Jesus, etc" to have any religious meaning at all.

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Illuminating comments, much more stimulating than hearing undergraduates talk about religion and pop culture. Most of you are old and wise, yes? I'd highly recommend grad school in religion for you folks. Who needs to study Christianity or Islam, Buddhism or Judaism, when the real religious cosmologies and relevant spiritualities can be found in rock, or film, or art, etc. Someone should write a book....

 

Thanks for the banter. I don't think Jeff is a church-goer but do hear profound religious themes throughout his music, not all negative about religion.

 

Amen from the choir in the church of rock and roll.

 

Music is my savior, too.

 

:cheers

 

ps--don't you folks work? How can there be so much traffic here during the day?

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