Music Review: Derek Webb "Mockingbird"

I have wanted to do this review for awhile, but it is probably better now that this album has had some time to settle. After having owned if for three months, my reaction when I listen to it is still a moving "Wow!" The only thing I don't like about the album is it is only about 40 minutes long, but if it was any longer, it may distract from or water down the message. There are a few lines in this album that made me laugh out loud as I was listening to it for the first time, but more so there were some lines that punched me in the gut. It offended me, honestly. But it was the offense of truth and things that are easier to not think about. I don't believe I have ever had as strong a reaction to any album as I did to this one.

Musically, Derek's third studio album is very simple. It is mostly acoustic guitar and piano with soft percussion, and even an unrefined small horn section on a few of the songs. In fact, the music is a little raw and might seem underproduced, except that this music is exactly what the songs need, because this album is all about the message. The only other music review I have done thus far is his previous album, "I See Things Upside Down." His church culture commentary was tame on that one compared "Mockingbird."

Derek Webb is a modern day prophet cutting through our culture and presuppositions to give us God's truth that we do not want to hear, but is so prevelent in Scripture. This album is likely directed at the suburban middle class church that subconsciously believes patriatism is next to godliness and morality is found in the laws of the elected. Yet Jesus spends more time speaking against self-righteousness and greed more than any other topic, especially in Luke. And it is these two sins that seem to be the most prevasively accepted or ignored in our church culture. I looked at a few reviews, mostly on Amazon, to see what others had to say. I was not surprised that a few of the reviews were rather harsh and defensive, one even calling the album unbiblical, which I found rather odd, since much of the material is taken straight from Jesus' words or the voices of the Old Testament prophets, particularly Amos. Apparently, Derek is being recieved like a prophet.

So here is my review, and then I will make a few more comments about the ideas brought up in the this album.

Track Listing:

1) Mockingbird
2) A New Law
3) A King & and Kingdom
4) I Hate Everything (But You)
5) Rich Young Ruler
6) A Consistent Ethic of Human Life
7) My Enemies Are Men Like Me
8) Zeros & Ones
9) In God We Trust
10) Please, Before I Go
11) Love Is Not Against the Law

"Mockingbird" is an introduction to the whole album. It is a nice upbeat, acoustic guitar driven song. It is Derek acknowledging that he is telling some hard truths that he cannot live up to. It is saying,"Here is the truth, I'm speaking to myself as much as I am speaking to you." Perhaps it's best summed up in the line "Because I can’t afford to pay/For most of what I say/So it’s a lucky thing/That the truth’s public domain"

"A New Law" is a song about how we often times take our freedom in Christ and reduce it to a law, and then we bind this law on everybody. It is a tongue-in-cheek song about blindly accepting the truth without investigating it ourselves and making simple petty black and white laws so that we do not have to deal with the gray of living or spend some time actually really thinking and praying about things. It is best summed up in the first few lines of the song: "Don’t teach me about politics and government/Just tell me who to vote for/Don’t teach me about truth and beauty/Just label my music/Don’t teach me how to live like a free man/Just give me a new law." and at the end with "What’s the use in trading a law you can never keep/For one you can that cannot get you anything/Do not be afraid"

The next song "A King & a Kingdom" really sets the tone for the rest of the album. It is a piano based song that reorients us as to where our allegence should lie, "My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man/My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood/It's to a King & a kingdom."

Most of the other songs on this album follow the same thought with the exceptions of "I Hate Everything (But You)" and "Please, Before I Go" which are simple love songs to his wife. "A Consistent Ethic of Human Life" is a 23 secong instrumental that is likely the reaction that most people have to the previous song, which is a modern day retelling (and a song that initially offended me, but it is straight from Christ's mouth) "Rich Young Ruler" and that is, pretend it's not there and walk away whistling yourself into indifference. Luckily, Derek hits even harder with "My Enemies Are Men Like Me" which is the most offensive song on the album, and one that I'm not sure I entirely agree with (Only a couple lines, most of it is right on). That is followed up with "Zeros & Ones" which I don't entirely get but probably has a lot to do with how the church tries to blend in with the culture, and "In God We Trust" which is a musically uncomfortable song with a more uncomfortable prayer. But it reorients us to the fact that God has a chosen people called the church, not a chosen nation called the USA. He then ends the album with a beautiful call to love both our friends and enemies, those like us and different, and mostly, all human life, guilty and innocent in "Love Is Not Against the Law."

One more note, I find it interesting that some people think this is a political album. Derek does have some things to say about politics, but it is that we pay too much attention to them and not enough to the call of the church. Or worse we try to work out the call of the church through our nation's government. I think it is something of an anti-political album carrying that idea. Because if we truly are going to call ourselves a Christian nation, we better change the way that we treat others, both within and out of our borders. Tony Compolo once said on The Colbert Report that mixing religion and politics "is like mixing ice cream and horse manure--it doesn't hurt the manure." This album speaks against the the idolatry of patriotism and democracy (because those things will save the world, right?) and asks us to put them back in their proper place, under the Lordship of Christ.

Here are the lyrics to "Rich Young Ruler" and "In God We Trust" for your reading pleasure.

Rich Young Ruler
Poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your TV and twenty miles across town
Where we’re all living so good
That we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
Where He’s hungry and not feeling so good
From going through our trash
He says, "More than just your cash and coin
I want your time, I want your voice
I want the things you just can’t give me."

So what must we do?
Here in the West we want to follow You
We speak the language and we keep all the rules
Even a few we made up
"Come on and follow Me
But sell your house, sell your SUV
Sell your stocks, sell your security
And give it to the poor."
What is this, hey what’s the deal
I don’t sleep around and I don’t steal
I want the things You just can’t give me

"Because what you do to the least of these
My brothers, you have done it to Me
Because I want the things you just can’t give me."

In God We Trust
In God we trust
And the government is on His shoulders
In God we trust
Through democracy and tyranny alike
In God we trust
He uses both good and evil men

In God we trust
So we fight for peace and He fights for us
In God we trust
Even when He fights us for someone else
In God we trust
Even when He looks like the enemy

In God we trust
Even though our hearts are bankrupt
In God we trust
For more than just the value of our dollar bills
In God we trust
But there's no gold behind these notes of reserve

In God we trust
Even through our great presumption
In God we trust
Even though He favors no nation-state
In God we trust
Even when the blessing is a curse

Brilliant, thought provoking, and hard-hitting truth. Thanks INO records for letting your artists be themselves and not censoring them so they "don't offend the Christian crowd." Derek, keep it up. No one is doing in Christian music what you are and with all the musical talent that you have. You have challenged me to think much deeper about my impact on the world, and you have reoriented me back to what Christ has said about how we treat others.

Derek Webb-"Mockingbird"
10.25 out of 10 Canaries (yes, it is better than great, this is a one of a kind album.) I have several great albums that I have identified with. This is one that actually challenged my beliefs on some things. This is the only album that I know have has done that.

(I tryed to upload an image of the album cover, but it wouldn't work, oh well.)

-Written in part to silence and the other part Smashing Pumpkins-"Machina/The Machines of God" which I give a 6.