Here’s the thing: as the properly brilliant keyboard intro kicked in, I was suddenly struck by how much it was…
…to this worship song…
Yep, 'You can call me Al’ and ‘Lord, reign in me’: peas in a melodic pod. It’s also worth pointing out that multiple versions of ‘Lord, reign in me’ feature penny whistle solos. Obviously this got me thinking. So, here are four other times when Christian songs have sounded remarkably similar to pop songs.
GIVE THANKS / GO WEST
This is an undoubted titan of this genre. The Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Go West’ sounds so identical to Don Moen that there have genuinely been times where I’ve got them confused. Just listen to them…
Altogether now… ‘Go west, with a grateful heart. Go west, to the holy one.’
MAN OF SORROWS / HOLD BACK THE RIVER
Have you ever seen Hillsong and James Bay in the same place? I mean, it's pretty unlikely, but this is basically the same tune, twice.
LAY ME DOWN / I WILL WAIT
Obviously all worship music sounds like Mumford and Sons nowadays, but Chris Tomlin’s ‘Lay me down’ begins in such a similar way to the Mumford’s ‘I will wait’ that it’s pretty difficult to differentiate between the two.
PRAISE LIKE FIREWORKS / HOLIDAYS ARE COMING
We are unashamed Rend Collective fans at Premier Youthwork towers, but we somewhat ruined their song ‘Praise like fireworks’ for ourselves when we realised that it bore an uncanny resemblance to the Coca-Cola Christmas song: HOLIDAYS ARE COMING, HOLIDAYS ARE COMING. If we're honest, this is our favourite similarity.
