“Men and Angels Say”

About a week ago I downloaded Ashley Cleveland’s Men and Angels Say, a collection of hymns. Cleveland is not a well-known name in Christian music; nevertheless, she’s incredibly talented, winning the Grammy for Best Rock Gospel Album in both 1996 and 1999. More to the point for this blog, she’s one of my favorite artists, and this CD has been about the only thing I’ve listened to over the past week.

I’m not a big fan of hymn projects; too often the hymns become something that I can’t recognize once the artist adapts them. Cleveland brings her style–rock, blues, and folk music–to hymns and preserves the integrity of the songs while making them fresh. I think that’s what I find most appealing about this album. I grew up singing hymns and I have fond memories of many of them, but most of them lost their meaning for me simply from over-exposure. Hearing Cleveland sing “It Is Well with My Soul,” for instance, I hear the lyrics in a new way, as if the for first time, and I consider the words in a way I haven’t in a long time–or perhaps ever.

The first two tracks were new to me: “Come Ye Sinners” and “Surely, Goodness and Mercy.” “Come Ye Sinners” was written in 1759; the verses are good, but the refrain is what is memorable:

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

“Ten thousand charms”: this is worth contemplating. What was the writer thinking when he wrote this? What was his experience of God that led him to see God’s blessings as so great?

“Surely, Goodness and Mercy” is from 1954, an adaptation of Psalm 23; though its lyrics are not particularly remarkable, the song–at least as Cleveland sings it–is a powerful reminder that God’s goodness and mercy will follow me “all the days of my life.” Again, this song has taken something that had become somewhat empty of meaning for me–Psalm 23–and brought it to life.

You can read a complete review of the CD and an interview with Cleveland about the project.

Tagged as: Ashley Cleveland, Christian music, hymns, worship