It has become fashionable to rewrite the words to songs so that they are gender inclusive or otherwise politically correct. Sometimes this has a fairly neutral effect. Sometimes it destroys a song’s theological meaning; and sometimes it is quite powerful. As a songwriter and a minister, and also as a person who is a member of two groups affected by this practice (women and people who are blind), I offer a bit of commentary as food for thought.
Gender inclusiveness is generally an important practice. However, there are certain places where changing a word can destroy an underlying meaning. For instance, a line in one song said, “Open the door and let your brother in.” In order to make this gender inclusive, the line was changed to read, “let my children in.”
The song, a communion piece emphasizing reconciliation, depended on the concept of sibling rivalry and reconciliation, to make a point. When the lyric was changed, the concept was lost. The only way it could effectively be retained would be to use “your sister” or “your sibling.” In this case, I as a woman would never have been offended by the retention of the original wording. At some point we will gender-include all of the wonder out of our language if we are not careful.
Other word alterations, on the other hand, can open the meaning of pieces in new ways. My church choir will be singing an arrangement of “Mary, Did You Know” this Sunday morning. One section of this song says:
The blind will see, the deaf will hear.
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb.
The word “dumb” has been changed in our version to “mute.” As I have gone about my daily tasks during the past couple of weeks, I have not been able to get these phrases out of my mind:
The blind will see, the deaf will hear.
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the mute will speak
The praises of the Lamb.
Who is it who is mute? Historically, “dumb” is a word that has been used to refer to people whose inability to speak accompanies deafness. But “muteness” can have numerous causes: inability to speak due to traumatic events, even a willing refusal to speak. I think especially of verses that tell us that one day everyone will acknowledge Jesus… The mute will speak the praises of the Lamb. What an amazing revelation of the coming power and glory of God. Even the baby’s birth, Jesus’ time on earth, is only a shadow of that!
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