(Tim, w/thanks to Craig) So Derek's trying to say something about something, and he's feeling quite self-righteous about what it is, precisely, he's trying to say. Thing is, when Dylan had his Christian phase, you didn't need a degree in jive talk to get it. His words were clear.
To get Derek's message, though, you might have to do peyote or sniff glue.
On the other hand, we could try just assuming that what Derek's trying to get across is the same kind of crowd-pleasing rhetoric daily featured on the oped pages of the New York Times. Derek is tired of going against the grain and has decided to turn and go with the flow, instead.
My friend Craig says Derek's video is "self-involved," bearing a message of "sexual sedition." I think he's right and that's how Combat Queer Online took it. Reporting on what they saw as Derek's new direction, Christianity Today said...
"Webb's exodus to hip-hop isn't merely a matter of preference. A folk artist at heart, he says hip-hop is the new folk—the only genre speaking to the needs of the people or protesting the status quo. In Webb's case, the status quo represents—at least to him—staunch right-wing conservatives and intolerant evangelicals with little compassion for those disenfranchised by the faith community."
If any more evidence were needed, Brian McLaren loves Derek's latest stuff. He tells us Derek's finally saying what he's been saying himself all along.
* * *
WHAT MATTERS MORE TO YOU?
You say you always treat people like you'd like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
About what you believe, make you sound like a freak
'Cause if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak
Wouldn't silence your concern when the liars speak
Denying all the dying or the remedy
Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?
If I can tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straights is all it's all about
Yeah, it looks like being hated for all the wrong things
And chasing the wind while the pendulum swings
We can talk and debate it till we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that He's coming to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit
About fifty-thousand people who are dying today
Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?
Brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?
Tell me, what matters more to you?
Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
