I?ll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence [Hardcover]

Bill Friskics-Warren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2005

The urge to connect with that which transcends our experience, be it a higher power, another person or some artistic ideal or aspect of nature, is one of the things that makes us human. People view the object of this quest, as well as what it means to achieve it, differently. Yet regardless of how it is understood, the urge to participate in or belong to something greater and more lasting than ourselves—a feeling born of an awareness of our mortality—is what defines us as spiritual beings. Though often dismissed as ephemeral or, worse, demonic, popular music has given voice to this quest for transcendence since its beginnings. Pop singers are rarely as outwardly spiritual as, say, their gospel counterparts; they’re forever pointing beyond themselves, though, be it to some better future, some higher ideal, or to some vision of deliverance. Fontella Bass’s “Rescue Me,” the Four Tops’s “Reach Out (I’ll Be There),” Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross,” Afrika Bambaataa’s “Looking for the Perfect Beat,” and U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” are but a handful of popular recordings from the past few decades that express a longing for something more. What, other than transcendence, is Jimi Hendrix talking about in “Purple Haze” when he shouts, “’scuse me, while I kiss the sky”? Or Van Morrison, in “Caravan,” when he implores us to crank our radios and sail away with him into the mystic? Heard in the right light, secular and even carnal records have the power to speak to transcendental concerns, galvanizing their historical and cultural moments. Regardless of their spiritual leanings, all of the subjects discussed in this book (including Public Enemy, Madonna, Sleater-Kinney, Tricky, Johnny Cash, Nine Inch Nails, Moby, Marvin Gaye, Eminem, Polly Harvey, Bruce Springsteen and Sly & the Family Stone) make music that expresses a basic striving for transcendence. Artists’ stories and personalities inform these discussions, but only in as much as they illuminate the struggles and concerns that run through their music. I’ll Take You There is a beautifully written, wide-ranging and illuminating examination of some of the most potent popular music ever recorded.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Though readers may not always agree with Friskics-Warren's conclusions, the depth of his song interpretations and his skillful use of historical context are admirable. The extremely current bibliography features citations for seminal religious figures and cultural critics of the past five decades in addition to the requisite music-related sources. Recommended for popular music collections and those addressing the tug of war between traditional and alternative spiritualities." -- Library Journal, September 2005 (Library Journal )

"Friskics-Warren offers an infectious appreciation of Van Morrison, New Order, Johnny Cash, Sly & The Family Stone, and Sleater-Kinney, explicating their gifts as performers and returning, inevitably, to what they have to say for themselves...I'll Take You There is like a sublime literary mixtape, designed to get snatches of 'Caravan' and 'Family Affair' hopelessly stuck in readers' heads, until they're transfixed anew by their deep spiritual promise." (The Onion's A.V. Club )

"Considering how fractured popular music has become, it's a wonder to find a talented writer exploring how vastly different artists can share a romantic yearning for something more. In his well-received book I'll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence, Nashville Scene music editor Bill Friskics-Warren explores a spiritual bond that links U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' to Fontella Bass' 'Rescue Me' to Al Green's 'Tired of Being Alone.' Friskics-Warren's writing is equal to the music he covers, as it creates a fresh and attractive backdrop for each song it evokes." (Dallas Observer )

"Friskics-Warren explores the transcendental music of recording artists throughout their careers and goes beyond the song texts to examine melodies, uses of rhythm, how songs are sung or rapped, and how arrangements amplify mystical, negative, or prophetic transcendence. His coverage is diverse... This is a book for those interested in humanist perspectives on music, notably those coming from philosophy and religious studies. Summing up: Recommended."
- Choice, March 2006

(Choice )

"In his examination of pop music and transcendence, Bill Frisks-Warren is less interested in the gospel singer communicating with God through song of the Ecstasy-chomping club kid in a deep, hypnotic trance than can happen just by listening to the words and music of Springsteen, Cash or Public Enemy- artists who pluck your innermost chords and never let them stop reverberating.
"A section devoted to "nay-saying" bands such as Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails and the Sex Pistols is unexpected, and it's fascinating to see how their agitated restlessness is itself a route out of the madness." - Harp Magazine.com

(Harpmagazine.com )

"An elegant writer whose turn of phrase are as illuminating as their content, Friskics-Warren's approach to popular music has been shaped as much by his early ecstatic encounter with the Beatles as by his Vanderbilt divinity degree. Ill Take You There, Friskics-Warren proposes that 'pop music has for decades possessed the power, much as liturgies and sacred music have for centuries, to transport the human spirit and to serve as a vehicle for the transcendence we seek.

"With a startling intuition for what even the musicians themselves may not have known, Friskics-Warren shows his subjects to be the mystics, naysayers, and prophets of today, grounded on this earth with a hunger for heaven.Too often mainstream reviewers dichotomize the sacred and the secular. Not only does Friskics-Warren explicitly denounce such categories, he declares that the eternal is inseparable from the everyday. For him, transcendence is no clichéd, out-of-body experience. In fact, it shares more in common with the bawdy ecstasy of Teresa of Avila than the prim austerity usually associated with spiritual enlightenment."-

"Friskics-Warren has written a definitive popular culture study for the

new millennium..."

Sojourners Magazine, March 2006

(Sojourners )

"Mr. Friskics-Warren is a metaphysical guy. And to murder a charming phrase attributed to Will Rogers, I never met a metaphysical guy I didn't like. The author tells us how moving to Nashville in the 1980s provoked an understanding of his lifelong quest to document "the urge for some sort of transcendence" in pop music. For those grounded in rhythm and chords, this may be a little ephemeral to grasp, but the author makes a game go at explaining his thoughts in eight well-written chapters."- Tim Fabrizio, ARSC Journal, Spring 2007 Vol. 38 No. 1

(Arsc Journal )

“Friskics-Warren offers an infectious appreciation of Van Morrison, New Order, Johnny Cash, Sly & The Family Stone, and Sleater-Kinney, explicating their gifts as performers and returning, inevitably, to what they have to say for themselves…I’ll Take You There is like a sublime literary mixtape, designed to get snatches of 'Caravan’ and 'Family Affair’ hopelessly stuck in readers’ heads, until they’re transfixed anew by their deep spiritual promise.” (, )

“Considering how fractured popular music has become, it’s a wonder to find a talented writer exploring how vastly different artists can share a romantic yearning for something more. In his well-received book I’ll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence, Nashville Scene music editor Bill Friskics-Warren explores a spiritual bond that links U2’s 'I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ to Fontella Bass’ 'Rescue Me’ to Al Green’s 'Tired of Being Alone.’ Friskics-Warren’s writing is equal to the music he covers, as it creates a fresh and attractive backdrop for each song it evokes.” (, )

“Friskics-Warren explores the transcendental music of recording artists throughout their careers and goes beyond the song texts to examine melodies, uses of rhythm, how songs are sung or rapped, and how arrangements amplify mystical, negative, or prophetic transcendence. His coverage is diverse… This is a book for those interested in humanist perspectives on music, notably those coming from philosophy and religious studies. Summing up: Recommended.”
 - Choice, March 2006

(Choice )

“In his examination of pop music and transcendence, Bill Frisks-Warren is less interested in the gospel singer communicating with God through song of the Ecstasy-chomping club kid in a deep, hypnotic trance than can happen just by listening to the words and music of Springsteen, Cash or Public Enemy- artists who pluck your innermost chords and never let them stop reverberating.
“A section devoted to “nay-saying” bands such as Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails and the Sex Pistols is unexpected, and it’s fascinating to see how their agitated restlessness is itself a route out of the madness.” - Harp Magazine.com

(, )

“An elegant writer whose turn of phrase are as illuminating as their content, Friskics-Warren’s approach to popular music has been shaped as much by his early ecstatic encounter with the Beatles as by his Vanderbilt divinity degree. Ill Take You There, Friskics-Warren proposes that 'pop music has for decades possessed the power, much as liturgies and sacred music have for centuries, to transport the human spirit and to serve as a vehicle for the transcendence we seek.

“With a startling intuition for what even the musicians themselves may not have known, Friskics-Warren shows his subjects to be the mystics, naysayers, and prophets of today, grounded on this earth with a hunger for heaven.Too often mainstream reviewers dichotomize the sacred and the secular. Not only does Friskics-Warren explicitly denounce such categories, he declares that the eternal is inseparable from the everyday. For him, transcendence is no clichéd, out-of-body experience. In fact, it shares more in common with the bawdy ecstasy of Teresa of Avila than the prim austerity usually associated with spiritual enlightenment.”-

"Friskics-Warren has written a definitive popular culture study for the

new millennium..."

Sojourners Magazine, March 2006

(Sojourners )

“Mr. Friskics-Warren is a metaphysical guy. And to murder a charming phrase attributed to Will Rogers, I never met a metaphysical guy I didn’t like. The author tells us how moving to Nashville in the 1980s provoked an understanding of his lifelong quest to document “the urge for some sort of transcendence” in pop music. For those grounded in rhythm and chords, this may be a little ephemeral to grasp, but the author makes a game go at explaining his thoughts in eight well-written chapters.”- Tim Fabrizio, ARSC Journal, Spring 2007 Vol. 38 No. 1

(, )

About the Author

Bill Friskics-Warren has written about popular music for the New York Times, Newsday, the Village Voice, the Washington Post, No Depression, the Oxford American and Rock &Rap Confidential, among other publications. He currently is music editor for the Nashville Scene and previously was a lecturer at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He also is the coauthor of Heartaches by the Number, a well-received volume of critical essays about country music's 500 greatest singles that was published by Vanderbilt University Press and the Country Music Foundation Press in 2003.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (September 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826417000
• ISBN-13: 978-0826417008
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,492,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Good Book about Pop Music and Spirituality, October 19, 2005

By 

Mark G. Cichra (South Bend, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I?ll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence (Hardcover)

I've read several books about pop music and spirituality, and all of them have one or both of two basic flaws: (1) an unsophisticated understanding of pop music/culture, and (2) an unsophisticated understanding of spirituality.

This is the first book I've read which has neither flaw. Friskics-Warren, a Nashville music reviewer, is clearly steeped in pop music and culture and can discuss it and analyze it with subtlety and intelligence. He also holds a masters degree in theology and can bring his knowledge about religion and spirituality to his discussion of pop music.

Thus, Friskics-Warren is able to see spirituality where others might not. Trent Reznor's angst and anger express a craving for something beyond this world. The Sex Pistols' calls for anarchy are actually calls against false forms of transcendence. Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" is not a call for thoughtless sex, but for true connections with other people and maybe even with the divine.

The best part about Friskics-Warren's analysis is that he is so skilled at arguing his points and so familiar with the artists he discusses that none of his claims seems far-fetched. Also excellent is that he does something most analysts of pop music forget to do: talk about the MUSIC instead of just the lyrics. Thus Van Morrison doesn't just sing about spiritual things; his music actually SOUNDS spiritual.

Once again, this is the best book available on the subject. It should be read by lovers of pop culture and religion, lovers of pop music who are suspicious of religion (so they can see the implicit religion in pop music), and lovers of religion who are suspicious of pop music (so they can see that age-old religious traditions and contemporary pop music are in many ways after the same things).