Walk This Way - cover by Worship Team

I apologize for the offense this post may have caused - it was never my intent. I love this forum and value the friends I've made here. I hope I haven't harmed that...dale.

Great playing, as always, Dale. But, man, it pains me to hear that song played in a worship setting...

I think some secular songs have become so ingrained in popular culture, that they don't really transfer well to a church setting, even if you go so far as to change the lyrics. Folks know the songs so well, that they're still hearing/singing the original lyrics in their heads... Sexual Healing, Tush, La Grange, Super Freak, Billie Jean are some examples. I wonder, as the worship band was playing, how many folks were singing the original lyrics to that song in their heads? And how do you follow that up with a sermon???


backstroke lover always hidin' 'neath the covers
till I talked to your daddy, he say
he said "you ain't seen nothin' till you're down on a muffin
then you're sure to be a-changin' your ways"
I met a cheerleader, was a real young bleeder
oh, the times I could reminisce
'cause the best things of lovin' with her sister and her cousin
only started with a little kiss
like this!

seesaw swingin' with the boys in the school
and your feet flyin' up in the air
singin' "hey diddle diddle"
with your kitty in the middle of the swing
like you didn't care
so I took a big chance at the high school dance
with a missy who was ready to play
wasn't me she was foolin'
'cause she knew what she was doin'
and I knowed love was here to stay
when she told me to

walk this way, walk this way
walk this way, walk this way
walk this way, walk this way
walk this way, walk this way
just gimme a kiss
like this!

schoolgirl sweetie with a classy kinda sassy
little skirt's climbin' way up the knee
there was three young ladies in the school gym locker
when I noticed they was lookin' at me
I was a high school loser, never made it with a lady
till the boys told me somethin' I missed
then my next door neighbor with a daughter had a favor
so I gave her just a little kiss
like this!

seesaw swingin' with the boys in the school
and your feet flyin' up in the air
singin' "hey diddle diddle"
with your kitty in the middle of the swing
like you didn't care
so I took a big chance at the high school dance
with a missy who was ready to play
wasn't me she was foolin'
'cause she knew what she was doin'
when she told me how to walk this way, she told me to

walk this way, talk this way
walk this way, walk this way
walk this way, walk this way
walk this way, talk this way
just gimme a kiss
like this!

I gotta agree with Nub. This doesn't work for me.

Peace, Mike.

+1 on the great playing, but I know the whole lyrics, too :oops:

You didn't change the lyrics, but I find it even dodgier in the cases when people completely change or merely bowdlerize lyrics, because I wonder if the result is subconsciously pulling in the original lyrics to compare them to what is just heard. In other words, Hot For Teacher just ain't a worship song.

No way, you guys played this IN SERVICE!?
This is just my opinion...but I really don't believe that song belongs in church. I'm just saying...
It was played great, but wow.

I don't play church songs in secular arenas...and I don't play secular songs in church.
Kinda like the separation between church and state that our deomcracy (for the time being) upholds.

I appreciate everyone's posts....I did not pick this tune, but was just on the worship team this particular week. I think everything that has been posted is very valid & thought provoking & healthy to discuss. I certainly don't have it all figured out myself. I've litterally been in church my entire life & like many of you i've seen a whole lot of change in methods. I find it hard to know where the line is sometimes, and my honest feeling is it can vary a great deal between believers. Maybe a discussion like this one can help others as well.

I did not pick this tune, but was just on the worship team this particular week.

My team loves to rock, but they would string me up & hold me accountable if I tried to have them do a song like that... and then they'd turn me over to the pastor! It scares me to even think about it! :shock:

Honestly, I would seriously question a worship leader AND a pastor who would think a song like that is appropriate for church, in any context... and seriously question a worship team who doesn't have a problem with playing it.

Ummm, this is a no-brainer. How on earth is this a worship song? I'd think hard about considering if the church/music ministry you are at is a place that is really genuine.

btw, it is hard to discuss this particular topic without breaking the forum rules...but if there weren't those rules I'd have a lot more advice to share.

I appreciate everyone's posts....I did not pick this tune, but was just on the worship team this particular week. I think everything that has been posted is very valid & thought provoking & healthy to discuss. I certainly don't have it all figured out myself. I've litterally been in church my entire life & like many of you i've seen a whole lot of change in methods. I find it hard to know where the line is sometimes, and my honest feeling is it can vary a great deal between believers. Maybe a discussion like this one can help others as well.

I completely understand you brother. A lot of times I used to get flak for playing with a lot of distortion and overdrive in church. Then "Brandon Camphor" came out and since his group was the hottest thing in Gospel at the moment, everyone wanted guitars in their music. :roll:

THEN...it was okay for me to play guitar in the church and with dirt/od...

Times change and people change too. Try not to ever let it get you down...things can swing the other way pretty quickly because society, as a whole, is as impressionable as wet clay.
:smile:

I completely understand you brother. A lot of times I used to get flak for playing with a lot of distortion and overdrive in church. Then "Brandon Camphor" came out and since his group was the hottest thing in Gospel at the moment, everyone wanted guitars in their music. :roll:

THEN...it was okay for me to play guitar in the church and with dirt/od...


Sorry, Thigh, but it ain't the same thing. Folks in your church may or may not like you paying with distortion, but that's different than playing a well-known secular song about sex as a lead-in to the sermon. One's a gray area & one isn't.


Times change and people change too. Try not to ever let it get you down...things can swing the other way pretty quickly because society, as a whole, is as impressionable as wet clay.
:smile:

Which is why it's NEVER a good idea to go by society's definition of holiness. :wink:

Sorry, Thigh, but it ain't the same thing. Folks in your church may or may not like you paying with distortion, but that's different than playing a well-known secular song about sex as a lead-in to the sermon. One's a gray area & one isn't.


Which is why it's NEVER a good idea to go by society's definition of holiness. :wink:

Oh I understand what you mean about the song being completely secular and inappropriate for church brother. :wink:

I have learned that the only source for "Holiness" that I can trust is my bible. Of course, that means I can't be lazy and not "look it up" when the need arises :razz:

Oh I understand what you mean about the song being completely secular and inappropriate for church brother. :wink:


You know, the :twisted: side of me really wants to start a thread about "inappropriate song titles for church" :shock:... but I think I'll try to be good today, and stay out of this forum until the feeling passes. :mrgreen:

And how do you follow that up with a sermon???

I can see where this would be kind of odd to play in a church type setting.....i would follow it up with "Living on the Edge" just kidding of course.

I thought it was tastefully done, as long as you take it for what it is.....an intro to a sermon series Great playing!

I thought it was tastefully done, as long as you take it for what it is.....an intro to a sermon series Great playing!

Where is it to listen to?

Where is it to listen to?

I just went to youtube and typed in tonedr and then clicked on the "walk this way" video. I couldn't find it here either and was as confused as you were.

Where is it to listen to?

He originally posted the link, but people got offended so he edited his original post

I found it on YouTube. The guitar playing is great, both by Dale and the other player, but it seems fairly self-indulgent for a worship setting. I wonder if new words about walking in the way of Christ would have helped. The whole production aura with the lights and all reminds me more of a concert than a church service. I love Dale and his playing, and I hope he continues to use his gifts to benefit others.

Seriously? Dale all props to ya man, nice playing, but that ain't right.
I would usually site some references, but.... forum rules.

...I guess I'd probably get killed if I confessed to using the "ooooh woooo-ooh ooooh wooo-ooo-ooooh" part of KOL "sex on fire" as an intro to a worship set?.....oops guess I just let the cat out of the bag

(disclaimer, I was too late to see the video & couldn't find it on youtube)

I would like to say great playing, it made me forget that I was looking at a church... Wait is that bad?

I could understand how ppl could be offended, but at least your pastor didn't catch you in the chapel in jr. high youth group playing "master of puppets" by metallica like me... Haha.

It all comes down to the "artist's intention" as they say, was the general public/audience able to see what you guys were trying to relay to them.

But imho, although the band sounded good, I would never want to hear secular songs in worship, it's not offensive but it ain't holy.

Sometimes I feel like a huge hypocrite playing rock music in church. I start thinking, well, where did this style come from? From rock and roll. And what is a LOT of rock and roll about? Sex, drinking, drugs, etc. etc. We all cut our teeth on this music. It's where we got a lot of our licks. But, you could say that about any musical style so I try not to think about it too much. I do not like incorporating such blatant songs into church settings but some people think it's okay and I will be lenient and say different strokes for different folks. Heck, the pastor used an IPad last Sunday and that's not a totally, 100% "Christian-approved, church-only" appliance.

I sat in at another church recently and we did "Free Ride" but a Christian band had covered it on their CD so that was supposed to make it okay I guess. However....I've played the lick from "Honky Tonk Women" on church songs and I sometimes play the entire solo from "Who's Cryin' Now?" by Journey when we play "Oh How He Loves Us".......it works though you're going from a 4 feel to 6. My son is the only one who has ever noticed. Notes are notes and most people never know where a lick comes from. But, at least for now I draw a distinction between notes and actual songs. There are a finite number of notes and only so many ways to combine them to make pleasing sounds. I guess we all have to decide where our line will be drawn.

I apologize for the offense this post may have caused - it was never my intent. I love this forum and value the friends I've made here. I hope I haven't harmed that...dale.

do you play at southland in Lexington?? I played the 608 service when they covered Walk This Way...they always seem to schedule me for gimmick songs.

Hey guys watch "I sold my soul for rock and roll"

Very interesting stuff straight from the "stars".

I sat in at another church recently and we did "Free Ride" but a Christian band had covered it on their CD so that was supposed to make it okay I guess. However....I've played the lick from "Honky Tonk Women" on church songs.

Changing lyrics is usually pretty weak. A few weeks ago I was at a church where the band played a cringe-worthy adaptation of "Some Kinda Wonderful". They sounded good and looked like they were having a good time, but the congregation sat there wondering what they were doing and when the worship service was going to start.

I first used a Honky Tonk Women-feel on Larry Norman's "Sweet Sweet Song of Salvation" about 30 years ago. My friends got the reference, but most people just thought it was a cool arrangement.

do you play at southland in Lexington?? I played the 608 service when they covered Walk This Way...they always seem to schedule me for gimmick songs.

"Gimmick songs" - now I know what to call them. Thanks.

I didn't get to see the video, so I am not directly referencing the OP. Here's my challenge though...

Why do we, as the church want to use the worlds leftovers. To me, being "the head and not the tail" means that we should be setting the standard. We should be pioneering the fresh sounds that the world wants to copy, not the other way around. Do I have a problem with "secular" sounds, licks, riffs etc in church, well no. But I ask, do we really want to just settle for a watered down B side of the worlds creativity? I think if we take that approach, it puts our response to "what should and shouldn't be played in a church setting" onto a different context...

Just my opinion. :)

Double post.... :)

I didn't get to see the video, so I am not directly referencing the OP. Here's my challenge though...

Why do we, as the church want to use the worlds leftovers. To me, being "the head and not the tail" means that we should be setting the standard. We should be pioneering the fresh sounds that the world wants to copy, not the other way around. Do I have a problem with "secular" sounds, licks, riffs etc in church, well no. But I ask, do we really want to just settle for a watered down B side of the worlds creativity? I think if we take that approach, it puts our response to "what should and shouldn't be played in a church setting" onto a different context...

Just my opinion. :)

When I first joined my church Lincoln Brewster's "Another Hallelujah" was on rotation. Basically a reworded take on Leonard Cohen's classic, taking something subtle, artistic and crafted and replacing it with a total non-originality and cheese. Kraft. Pre-sliced and plastic wrapped. Just because it had the word "Hallelujah?". Gimme a break. :roll:

Thankfully it didn't last on rotation, but to me is at the height of all that is cringeworthy of modern P&W music. I'm embarrassed the secular world has to hear it - hopefully not to many do. What an indictment. Till this day the though of this song induces a physical reaction from me.

When I first joined my church Lincoln Brewster's "Another Hallelujah" was on rotation. Basically a reworded take on Leonard Cohen's classic, taking something subtle, artistic and crafted and replacing it with a total non-originality and cheese. Kraft. Pre-sliced and plastic wrapped. Just because it had the word "Hallelujah?". Gimme a break. :roll:


I think that that's one of the big problems with so many churches these days trying to stay "current." They do what's popular on Christian radio, or on the CCLI charts, with little regard to the content of the song... it's enough for them that it's labeled a "Christian" song, and actual content is largely immaterial. I dig Lincoln Brewster's guitar playing a lot, and we do a few of his songs, but the majority of his stuff is mostly "fluff" that says very little, like a lot of Christian Radio fodder.



Thankfully it didn't last on rotation, but to me is at the height of all that is cringeworthy of modern P&W music. I'm embarrassed the secular world has to hear it - hopefully not to many do. What an indictment. Till this day the though of this song induces a physical reaction from me.

This gets back to the point I raised earlier in this thread... at what point do you question the leadership about their song choices & acceptance of questionable content? At what point do you refuse to play it? Song content is something our WT talks about, and I discuss with my pastor, frequently... and there have been some current songs that I would love to do because they sound great, but I pass on them because they don't really say anything (or worse, they say something that's theologically incorrect).

If it was played at the church I went to as a kid, it would have been sung in Latin and no one would have understood it anyway.

I think that that's one of the big problems with so many churches these days trying to stay "current." They do what's popular on Christian radio, or on the CCLI charts, with little regard to the content of the song... it's enough for them that it's labeled a "Christian" song, and actual content is largely immaterial. I dig Lincoln Brewster's guitar playing a lot, and we do a few of his songs, but the majority of his stuff is mostly "fluff" that says very little, like a lot of Christian Radio fodder.

Those who insist on being current are only one bad day from being irrelevant.

Top 40 music - whether done on the radio or in a worship service - tends to be fluffy. It's about emotions and butt-shakin' rather than thoughts and ideas. Worship services claim to be about deep things, and I often wonder whether our rock-ish medium is appropriate for that. Springsteen may have learned more from a three minute record than he ever learned in school but logic, clarity of thought, weight, and discernment take time and effort I don't usually find in modern worship. Some new things are wonderful, of course, and many old things were useless, but spend five minutes with a hymnal and you'll know that Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley were great theologians as well as great poets.

This gets back to the point I raised earlier in this thread... at what point do you question the leadership about their song choices & acceptance of questionable content? At what point do you refuse to play it? Song content is something our WT talks about, and I discuss with my pastor, frequently...

I'm not on a team right now but I think the leadership should have an open-door policy on that and a good answer for every song they pick. When I was in ministry I was very purposeful about our choices, and left out a lot of popular music and empty lyrics. The congregation should learn to question without attacking, and the worship leader should be able to defend without being defensive.

If it was played at the church I went to as a kid, it would have been sung in Latin and no one would have understood it anyway.

So... learn Latin! :mrgreen:

Basically a reworded take ... taking something subtle, artistic and crafted and replacing it with a total non-originality and cheese. Kraft. Pre-sliced and plastic wrapped.

That description gave me my best smile of the day.

I'm probably sounding like ol' grumpy guts - grammatical and spelling errors aren't helping my cause either. But if you're going to crossover into reworking pop tunes for the sake of being current or relevant IMO you've got to bring something to the table that really surpasses the original pop song and is truly fresh and creative. If you can't, doing so anyway is a poor reflection on you and why you do it. In fact, I can't think of any good examples.

I'm not saying 'no secular influence in worship music' - but IMO there's another way of looking at it. Instead of "hey, bands today sound like this - we gotta get hip to some of that", rather "what is the principle behind this sound that makes it powerfully engaging to the casual listener. People in todays environment are tuned into that, and since they're already on that page, how do we incorporate this into the music we play at a service".

The fact that secular bands have applied these principles first - be it a strong driving rhythm, or certain syncopation, or ambient sonic textures etc - it doesn't mean they invented it. Pursuing this line of thought further probably starts pushing the limits of this forums rules, however. So I'll leave it by likening it to a photographer taking a snapshot of someone elses painting. Instead, they should look to than the object itself and decide how to represent that with their art, tools and skillset.

The fact that it's not an original song for the band or they didn't creatively modify it, doesn't bother me a bit. I mean, most of us in this forum are playing covers, aren't we? Many of us play them using similar arrangements to the recordings. What I keep asking myself is what did this performance do for the church service? Did it bring people closer to God? Did it worship God? Did it help the congregation reflect on God's word or provide a mood for prayer? I don't think it did any of these things. I think it provided some non-spiritual entertainment and a means for the musicians to show off.

Dale, I think you are a phenomenal guitar player and I don't doubt that you have a good heart, just giving some (unsolicited!) feedback to my brother. And I don't think you have to worry about losing any friendships here.

The reason most of these reworked songs are allowed to happen and the reason the world's music is allowed to creep in to our church worship services is because many music teams forget that their purpose is to draw the congregation into worship of the Almighty, not to make them feel good, not to entertain them, not to get them worked up, but to draw them intimately into the presence of the holy. If we all would remember that that is our number one priority we would quit playing a lot of the garbage that is being passed off as "Christian" music. Surely no one can read the lyrics to "Walk this Way" and honestly say that it draws you into the presence of the Holy One and makes you bow before the Blessed Trinity with awe and reverence. Thus, why would anyone even consider playing it in church? It is beyond me.

Those who insist on being current are only one bad day from being irrelevant.

Top 40 music - whether done on the radio or in a worship service - tends to be fluffy. It's about emotions and butt-shakin' rather than thoughts and ideas. Worship services claim to be about deep things, and I often wonder whether our rock-ish medium is appropriate for that. Springsteen may have learned more from a three minute record than he ever learned in school but logic, clarity of thought, weight, and discernment take time and effort I don't usually find in modern worship. Some new things are wonderful, of course, and many old things were useless, but spend five minutes with a hymnal and you'll know that Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley were great theologians as well as great poets.

I agree with you, Dave, especially about Watts & Wesley. But five minutes with a hymnal (heck, I grew up with them!) also shows me that things aren't so different today... for every "gem," there are a lot of "clunkers." :wink: A lot of hymns are mediocre, and some are flat-out bad lyrically, musically, or both)... which is why so many churches sing the same 20 or 30 hymns out of a 300 song hymnal.



I'm not on a team right now but I think the leadership should have an open-door policy on that and a good answer for every song they pick. When I was in ministry I was very purposeful about our choices, and left out a lot of popular music and empty lyrics. The congregation should learn to question without attacking, and the worship leader should be able to defend without being defensive.


Again, I agree. As leaders, we have a huge responsibility, and we need to be accountable to our WTs, our pastors, and the congregation. When I check out potential new songs, I spend time reading & digesting the lyrics w/o listening to the music... the lyrics have to be able to stand on their own. Then I check out the music. That way, if it ends up being a butt-shakin' song, at least I know it's a theologically correct butt-shakin' song! :mrgreen:

I agree with you, Dave, especially about Watts & Wesley. But five minutes with a hymnal (heck, I grew up with them!) also shows me that things aren't so different today... for every "gem," there are a lot of "clunkers." :wink: A lot of hymns are mediocre, and some are flat-out bad lyrically, musically, or both)... which is why so many churches sing the same 20 or 30 hymns out of a 300 song hymnal.:

I think I pointed out that some old songs are lousy, too. The Top 20 out of 300 are easy to sing, comforting, sometimes theologically astute, often just familiar. There are hymns I never want to hear again (let alone sing!). We'll never know how many lousy hymns have (rightfully) died in the last 500 years. Old songs, though, at least have the stamp of approval from the generations of worshippers which have passed them along. New songs (by their nature) don't.

if it ends up being a butt-shakin' song, at least I know it's a theologically correct butt-shakin' song! :mrgreen:

I'm pro-theologically correct butt-shakin'. :lol: