Don't worry - we won't be singing it for long!

A recent article in the Canadian magazine Faith Today, looks at the life-cycle of worship songs.

(People in the UK can read this magazine for free on tablets using the PressReader app.)

A new study suggests that they're sung today and gone tomorrow

They had a hunch that songs are coming and going in popularity faster than ever in recent decades, but there's not been a study to test that hunch until now. So they used data collected by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) to see what songs North American churches sing and why.

CCLI has amassed song data from licensed churches since its inception in 1988. Today, the number of churches who tap into CCLI-licensed songs has grown to approximately 10,000 (with well over 100,000 church licence holders worldwide). This study analysed the 64 biannual Top 100 CCLI lists of worship songs dating back to CCLI's beginning to identify trends, like how often a particular song was sung and by how many church congregations.

They found 199 songs that possessed an identifiable four-fold life-curve with a start date (point of entry onto the chart), a rise (its trajectory up the chart), an identifiable peak (length of plateau on top) and its subsequent fall (trajectory down the chart).

A definite pattern emerges. The life-curves of most songs seems to increasingly shorten over time (three times shorter between 1995--99 and 2015--2019). Collectively, newer songs have comparably steeper rises, diminished peaks and more rapid falls than older songs.

Between 1995 and 1999 they saw a five-year rise and a six-year fall of songs like "Refiner's Fire" (10 yrs, +4,6). Between 2000 and 2004, songs have a four-year rise and a five-year fall, such as "The Potter's Hand" (9 yrs, +5,-4). In 2005 to 2009, the rise of a song shortened to three years, and its fall from popularity took five. Between 2010 and 2014 the rise was typically two years and the fall was three with songs such as "You Make Me Brave" (4 yrs, +2,-2). In the 2015 to 2019 song curve they saw a two-year rise followed by a two-year fall.

What is this about?

Anecdotally, we do seem to learn a lot of new worship songs that we use in church services for a short period before they disappear off the radar.

The article asks some important questions. How have technological advances contributed to these song lifespans? Are there sociological or cultural conditions at play that might explain what we see?

Here are their conclusions...

The rise rate of change has steadily increased over the past 25 years. In other words, music comes and goes more quickly than ever. You did not imagine it!

The article says:

Songs emerging in 2000--2004 rose 22 per cent faster than those that emerged in churches between 1995--1999. The rate increase for songs entering lists between 2005-- 2009 was more moderate (15 per cent change in rise increase). A significantly larger rise rate was seen though in songs emerging in 2009--2014 (36 per cent change in rise increase over the previous period). This rise rate continued to accelerate in 2015--2019 (with an additional 23 per cent change in rise increase over the previous period).

In direct correlation to rise trends, they discovered songs are declining three times more quickly today than they did 25 years ago.

The authors of the article pose some interesting follow-on questions.

"Are songs falling and disappearing from the lists faster to make room for new songs (a displacement theory)? Or because they oversaturate the culture (a dissatisfaction theory)? Could it be neither? Could it be both?

"If so, might there be unforeseen consequences, be they positive or negative, to such a narrowing? Are there themes within the songs that come and go, that tell us something about our theology or worship practices?

"If more and more churches are singing the same songs, what does that mean? If they're singing those songs for shorter and shorter seasons, is that a good trend?"

As they say, "while there are downsides to shortening lifespans for some songs, there is an upside perhaps to the fact that more of our churches are singing the same songs at the same time."

What do I think?

I notice that churches now use more songs that are written by and for performance artists than ones specifically crafted for congregations to sing. Inevitably the complexities (and set keys) make these songs harder to learn and retain.

Many newer songs appear to have little structure in the lyrics - some don't have rhyme at all. Musically, they often seem to possess "ambiguous" melodies. Again, this all makes for more difficulty in learning. Betraying my own views, it makes for tuneless, unmemorable and sometimes unpleasant songs.

The church has always agonised over the theology expressed in their hymns and worship songs. I can think of many hymns printed in the church hymnal that was used when I was a teenager that express questionable (or even incorrect) theology. But in a world where it is mainly young Christian musicians that pen our worship songs, it comes as no surprise if the theology in them is a little shallow or even faulty. Sometimes too, in a bid to find fresh expressions of eternal truths, the phrases baked into the lyrics of songs create their own problems. For instance, it may sound fresh to call God's love "relentless", but for me that sits uncomfortably with the way I would usually understand the word.

What do you think?

Are the worship songs in your church coming and going more quickly now? Does it matter?

Have the worship-song wars ended with victory for those who like an ever-quickening flow of new songs that are here today and gone tomorrow?