Doxologist ContentSong Stories: Why I had to let “I’ll Fly Away” … umm … fly away
By guest blogger Brian “E-pop” Eichelberger
This last year, my band E-pop had the opportunity to record one of the strongest songs in our repertoire “I’ll Fly Away” for the Rain City Hymnal compilation record. Over the three years we’ve played the song, it has become a signature piece for us. At it’s inception, I awkwardly strummed an acoustic guitar in triplet rhythm against a robotic drum beat. As we developed the song, our friend and ex-multi-instrumentalist Zach Hodges threw down an unbelievably catchy piano line (to which we jokingly sing the lyric “this is a hook, an obvious hook, this is a hook…” during rehearsal) and Jordan and Thadd tightened down the groove to produce a really polished pop song.
A problem for me arose last summer as I was doing some rough mixes of the song for the record, and I began to listen to the lyrics in a new light. I was floored when recognizing that several aspects of the song explicitly promoted idolatry in place of right worship of God. I had to face the fact that I could never use the song in the setting of corporate worship again!
While the song poetically and wonderfully communicates some “groans in anticipation” (Romans 8) of reaching the end of our worldly lives, the glories it describes on the other end are consistently and emphatically sensual gratifications that will, in my estimation, absolutely pale when we are amazingly, mysteriously, and completely identified in Christ, which will allow us a direct worship relationship with God the Father. Hallelujah!! I can’t in any way imagine that I’ll be thinking about the “celestial shore” that I’ll be cruising over on approach to the landing strip in the “land where joy shall never end” when compared with the moment of experiencing the greatest glory of facing our Lord Jesus.
Even more troubling than the misplaced attribution of glory is the direction of glory attributed. The song repeats over and over what “I” will get when “I” die. In fact, now that “I” think about it, my voice whiiiiiiiiiines on that word “I” far more than any other word in the song. I’ll count it up. Yes, it’s official, the word “I” is held over 54 beats of the song. Every other word combined only adds up to 100 beats. Here. I’ll make it easy and break it down visually.
As far as I’m able to discern at this point, the purpose of singing songs in a corporate worship setting is to magnify every participant’s affections for our God, Jesus Christ and humbly admit our reliance on Him. Unfortunately, “I’ll Fly Away” subtly and subversively shifts our affections away from God to mythical sensual gratifications of heaven, and how it’s reward is intended for our benefit.
When we’re choosing material to lead an entire congregation of Christ followers with, how diligent we must be to ceaselessly and explicitly acknowledge that our only Benefit and Glory is relationship with, and enjoyment of, God, our Father, through Jesus Christ, which we are impotent to pursue except by empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We must be vigilant to protect our repertoire from becoming a collection strong with really catchy and hooky pop songs at the expense of content that properly ascribes glory to God and humbles us.
Our band had to relearn the song for our cd release show, and it was fun to play. When Candice led the song off with the piano hook, the crowd actually let out a cheer! I was embarrassed that we had played the song Sunday after Sunday in worship services for years. The music was good, and the lyrics are imaginative and not entirely awful, but when you hear E-pop leading Mars Hill Ballard in corporate worship, you will not hear us play “I’ll Fly Away”.
I red the article and I want to learn more about the subject, not only about this song, but how to know that we are not failing in worshiping God with the music. I was told that the dvil was the one leading worship in heaven, and now his job is to distortionate what we sing toy our God, making us think that we are doing right and that it is ok. so I know that the holly spirit will give us the dicerniment in order to know right and wrong, but how can we prevent this to happen? how can I make my worship to God pure as he want me to be? how can I glorify his name and me die to myself so he can be magnify? I want to give glory to God and not loose my position as an aprentice of God servent. if you know where to look please let me know I want to learn more, and as the bible say I want to be a person that worhip God in spirit and in thruth.
I think that it great that you take the time to consider the words in the songs that you lead.
Its recently been interesting/concerning to me that historically the church has song, in part, as a way to teach or remind us of theology… today though it seems like a lot of songs we sing are heavy on overly romantic-sounding lyrics. I sometimes worry about what this is teaching.
thanks for posting this and having the integrity to remove the song from your repertoire. I had been seeing the same problems with it. You guys are doing a really good job!
Thanks for posting this reflection. I always thought it was a bit of a strange song to sing in worship but then did not spend the time thinking it through. I appreciate your points & the reminder of how AWEsome it will be just to be in the presence of our Savior!
I am curious as to why some of the bands continue to play this song but not others. It seems like it is played almost every week by BET at west seattle!
I so appreciate this, guys! As a worship leader, my heart is on the same beat… to worship God in song instead of focusing on “I” phrases. Often times, I’ve become frustrated with songs because they’re so focused on my response to God, instead of thanking Him for the saving grace that even enables me to make such a response! Thank you so much for reminding me of how important it is to keep my worship focused on the One worthy of it… and how easily I can get distracted and dismiss it saying something like, “at least my heart is in the right place when I sing it.”
Thank you Jesus for worshipers who are willing to scrutinize the norm and face the changes needed with humble hearts!
While I appreciate the thought here and confess that I also have concerns about many “old hymns”, I’m not sure that “I’ll Fly Away” was ever intended as a “worship” song. It’s a celebration song. Some of your statements here paint the song in a very bad light. Just because a song doesn’t work for worship doesn’t mean it’s an inherently “unGodly” song. I think celebration of what God has done and what He is going to do is often more appropriate than we admit, just not in a “worship” context, even though celebration can be worship.
Just my thoughts, no offense intended :)
I am in 100% total agreement that, as worship leaders and liturgists, we must be extremely careful and intentional in our choice of corporate worship material. Thank you for your sensitivity to that!
With regards to this song, specifically, I have some thoughts:
1. One reason the word “I” is held for 54 beats of the song is because of the arrangement and use of the melody, no? I’m trying to sing through the traditional, Southern gospel version (on which I was raised) to see if the same emphasis is given… But I do believe that there are ways to sing this song so that the overt emphasis is not on the word “I”.
2. Like yourself, I believe (because the Bible tells me so) that the all-encompassing delight of eternal life will be uninhibited enjoyment and communion with the one, true and living God, our Savior. It also seems very clear that the Bible tells us that the new earth will be glorious. It is God himself who makes a point of describing the heavenly city and why it will amaze us so much (by it’s beauty, security, majesty, etc.). It is God himself who emphasizes to us the benefits of heaven—no more suffering, no more pain, no more fear. Those are “tangible”, real, “sensual” things. Therefore, there seem to be grounds (because the Bible tells me so) to celebrate and sing in anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promises to us regarding heaven and the beauty of His creation restored.
But, again, as you say, our work as worship leaders is to “ceaselessly and explicitly” point to the gospel and our Savior God. I don’t believe that this song is inherently wrong for corporate worship. In fact, it can be a joint celebration of the wonder of the hope we have in Christ! But you are right that it should be used carefully, and should be couched in words and the Word to point to the God behind the promises.
I once wrote a short story where the main character added a line to this song that said, “When I’m dead, God will rub my little head,” to illustrate how me-centered we can be sometimes.
I can see Brian’s points, as well as why some Mars Hill bands might continue to do “I’ll Fly Away.” I think that if this song is part of a liturgy that includes good readings, a biblical sermon and some theologically deep songs, it can be a fine celebratory piece within that larger context.
Great article — I grew up singing this song and have never appraised the lyrics as critically as I would my own songs or rough drafts of songs by writers who wanted to know what I thought of their lyrics. But this is what worship leaders should be doing with EVERY song.
dude. your visual aid. and you counted the amount of Beats…
that song made me feel like a rockstar.
[…] A worship leader decides to drop a song because it’s too much “I” in it… […]
So is it okay to sing if we change “I” to “we” and corporately celebrate the song?
“Weeeee’ll fly away, oh glory; weeeeeee’ll fly away, in the morning…”
Don’t get hung up on the “I” thing here folks! Chart = funny!! This blog is an encouragement to think and prayerfully consider … Ready, set, go!
I whole-heartedly agree that as worship leaders we must be very aware of what we sing and LEAD OTHERS to sing in the corporate worship setting. The power of confession is not something to be taken lightly. We should know if what we are asking a congregation to declare is Bible truth or merely humanistic fodder.
However, I think that we must also recognize that the corporate setting is multi-directional. Are we to present offerings of thanksgiving and adoration to our great KING JESUS? ABSOLUTELY!!! Are we to encourage and remind each other of his faithfulness in our lives past, present, future? MOST DEFINITELY!!! The problem is that too often it can be easy to get imbalanced. If it’s just about “me and Jesus” than who needs everyone else…I will just worship with my guitar in my bedroom all the time. However, if all we do is sit around and talk about ourselves then we’ve missed it as well and become a glorified town hall meeting.
If worship is our response to God’s grace then there is some validity in singing “I” for much of a song. Man centered worship is a danger, however singing our joy in God’s future grace is not something to fear.
hello, thanks for the post.
i’ve heard your band’s rendition of the song, it is really beautiful. i can’t say that i fully agree with your analysis of the song, and it’s impact. from my understanding, the song’s roots come out of slavery/civil.rights movement. it is a spiritual sang to express the a longing and hope for change, for people of color, and mostly african americans living in a racist + oppressive society.
it expresses the thought of heaven being a place longed for, where there is no more suffering, and an acknowledgement , in faith, that things will+are changing, despite the hardships that people go through : here and now.
cultural context has a lot to do with the expression of this song. thanks.
-benjamin