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troperville

And so we sat and read various things like 'He Will Hold Me Fast...In Bed', 'Lord and Master of Us All...In Bed', 'When He Cometh...In Bed', 'Trust and Obey...In Bed', 'Come and Dine...In Bed' and giggled our heads off until

Me: * reads* 'Christ, You Are My Fullness'

Me: ...

Me: * closes book*

—This

LiveJournal entry

These are songs that, at first hearing, seem to be ordinary love songs, but are actually allegories about the singer's relationship with God, often by artists who are trying to gain or keep a mainstream secular audience and feel that talking about God will put people off and exclude them*. Can sometimes lead to Unfortunate Implications when a praise song sounds dirty to people who aren't familiar with the context.

Can sometimes be a subtrope of What Do You Mean, It's Not Didactic??. Sometimes this is Lampshaded by having the singer change "baby" to "Jesus" or vice versa to appeal to a different audience.

On the flipside of the same coin, any song about a Crisis of Faith is liable to sound like a Breakup Song; see Religion Rant Song.

Also compare and contrast Not Christian Rock.

Sometimes referred to as 'Jesus is My Boyfriend' songs.

Examples:

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Film

The movie Sister Act inverts this by taking 1960s love songs and turning them into hymns. Oddly, because of the tamer (relatively) lyrics of such songs at the time, as well as that it's brides of Christ singing them, it actually works better than modern Christian rock.
Thoroughly invoked and parodied in Hamlet 2. Imagine the cast of Glee putting on a performance of The Producers, and you're more or less there. It features a song called "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus". Though the director (played by Steve Coogan) insists it's a metaphor in movie, it's pretty obviously a song about wanting to bone Jesus.
"Immaculate conception really makes my day/ but the dudes got lats that make me feel gay/ Turn the other cheek is really showing class/ But I really think it's sexy when he kicks Satans ass"
In Highway 61, the main character (who's possibly a Christ figure) has sex with his girlfriend in the graveyard outside a church, which is intercut with a choir inside the church belting "Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus".

Fan Works

In an inversion of the trope, Justin Briner sang the traditional hymn "Be Thou My Vision" in character as Eridan from Homestuck, to Eridan's moirail^* Feferi. Surprisingly few words are changed, and the central theme that "you make me a better person" is fully intact.

Folklore / Mythology

The Persian/Arabic folklore Layli And Majnun (The Madman and Layli) is a story of Courtly Love; however, many Sufi poets write about it and interpret it as an allegory of the believer's relationship with God. (Of course, that's a typical Sufi thing.)
The Bible's Song of Songs: Some scholars say that this erotic poetry about a bride and groom on their wedding night is meant to be understood as a metaphor God's relationship with his people. Of course, other scholars say that the book is simply celebrating erotic love in a marital context. Or possibly both.
Actually a lot of music from the High Medieval period is a version of this. At various periods and cultures, straightforward songs about romantic love were being frowned on by Moral Guardians of the day, so a lot of lovesongs have at least a veneer of being addressed to the Virgin Mary, an acceptable way for the writers to be writing about loving a woman.

Live Action TV

The "Let My Love Open The Door"/"Still" inversion is parodied by "You, You, You" from A Bit of Fry and Laurie, with Stephen as God and Hugh as a (female) backup singer.
Parodied in True Blood with the song "Jesus Asked Me Out Today," performed at a camp held by the Fellowship of the Sun and attended by Jason.

Music

A lot of the music of 1980s Christian band Stryper, though this was not surprising.
"Long Long Long" by The Beatles, as admitted by George Harrison. Actually, most of his songs fit this trope.
- Given how that song ends, though, it may actually qualify for God Is Evil...
"I Know you Love Me" by the Smoking Popes. Josh wrote it before he discovered Christianity and became a preacher, but after listening to it more than once it becomes painfully obvious that it's about God.
Word Of God (ha!) has it that Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door" is sung from the point of view of God to humanity, making this an inversion.
- Fittingly, Christian Rock band Audio Adrenaline covered this song.
- Likewise, Alanis Morrisette's "Still", but since this was the End Credits Song of Dogma, in which she played God, it's not so much of a surprise.
- Another example, Prince's "I Would Die 4 U".
"Bargain" by The Who is actually about the search for God/spiritual enlightenment. Similarly, the "you" in "See Me, Feel Me" and "Who Are You" is stated to be God.
Angela Aki had one or two of these on her one American album, which was very heavily religious.
"I want to walk hand-in-hand with Jesus on a private beach for two./I want him to nibble on my ear and say, 'I'm here for you.'"
This applies to about half of everything U2 ever recorded.
Depending on which version you listen to, definitely a part of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".
- ...Leonard Cohen in general, to be honest.
Prog rock band Twelfth Night had for a time a singer named Geoff Mann, who just happened to be an ordained priest. Not surprisingly there's a lot of Christian values in his lyrics, but he made them as metaphorical as possible because he didn't want the band to be pigeonholed as "Christian rock". The song "The Ceiling Speaks" is a prime example: the line "Christ, I love you" takes on a slightly different meaning when you realise it's meant literally.
Type O Negative's "Christian Woman" parodies this kind of song by bringing out the above mentioned Unfortunate Implications in the open: the song is about a woman harbouring Perverse Sexual Lust for Jesus Christ.
Apparently, "I Need You" by LeAnn Rimes falls into this category. Not surprisingly, it's been included on an album called Jesus: Music From And Inspired by the Epic Mini Series.
"Only Hope" by Switchfoot, especially as it was used in the movie A Walk to Remember.
- Borderline, as the original version is somewhat less ambiguous. It's the more well known Mandy Moore version that causes the confusion.
"Donnie Davies" with "The Bible Says".
The aforementioned "You Light Up My Life".
Johnny Flynn's "The Wrote and the Writ".
Brooke Fraser does this a lot.
- Justified in Brooke Fraser's case. She also serves as one of the worship leaders for Hillsong Church Australia in Sydney and writes many well-known worship anthems like "Hosanna" and "None But Jesus."
Parodied in The Magnetic Fields' song "Kiss Me Like You Mean It":
He is my lord, He is my savior,
And He rewards my good behavior.
My secret soul, I know He's seen it.
He says, come here, baby, and kiss me like you mean it.
Parodied by Christian satirist the Reverend Gerald Ambulance:
Jesus is my boyfriend!
Jesus is my boyfriend!
Jesus is my boyfriend!
...but obviously not in that way.
Much of the output of British Christian Rock band Delirious? is overtly religious, but they managed to have several top-20 hits in the mid-90s with God Is Love Songs like See The Star, Promise and Deeper.
Have I Told You Lately by Van Morrison. The Rod Stewart cover, however, is meant as a regular love song.
"Some Kind of Wonderful" was later re-recorded by one of the singers who had originally performed it (I forget which one) as a religious song with some of the words changed... he probably should have changed more of them...
"Taking Over Me" by Evanescence.
Amy Grant has been popular both in the Christian music and mainstream music scene since the 1980s, and has recorded both God Is Love Songs and Silly Love Songs of the more romantic variety - as well as even a few "I love my child" songs. As such, it's not surprising for many to confuse just who the love songs were written for.
"Not Alone" by All That Remains is implicitly one of these, despite being expressed with traditional heavy rock/metal themes.
I'm not alone
With the touch of your hand
I am whole again
In at least one interview, Peter Gabriel said that this was partly true of his "In Your Eyes".
Many songs by Not Christian Rock band Flyleaf, including "All Around Me", "Sorrow", and "Missing", are not explicity about religion, but can easily be interpreted that way.
"Love Song For A Savior" by Jars Of Clay, surprisingly.
Although they might actually be romantic lyrics played straight, quite a few lines in songs by Killswitch Engage seem to imply this, what with how closely they mesh with the heavy spiritual (Christian?) themes.
"Wedding Day" by Casting Crowns is about getting married to Jesus.
David Bowie's "Word on a Wing", which he wrote during his Creator Breakdown in the mid-'70s.
Several of Lifehouse's songs could be read that way, especially Everything and Storm.
- In fact, in an interview Lifehouse member Jason Wade once said that he was surprised that so many people took their first big hit Hanging by a Moment as a love song, because to him it was a very spiritual song.
Arguably Relient K's "Must Have Done Something Right" is supposed to be this.
"The King Of Carrot Flowers, Part Two" by Neutral Milk Hotel opens with the singer proclaiming "I love you Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, I love you". Considering it's from an album which frequently alludes to Anne Frank and Reincarnation (as well as mountains covered in semen and lesbian prostitutes) it's either a very overt - and incongruous - example of this trope or an amusingly subtle subversion.
- At least one Christian rock band has covered it straight however, seemingly without catching the double meaning of the phrase Jesus Christ.
Jamie Grace's "Hold Me" sounds more like a typical Silly Love Song (and could easily work as one with no lyrical revision whatsoever), but is intended to be about the singer's relationship to God and is often played on Christian stations.
Swans' "The Final Sacrifice" is a rather bizarre inversion of this trope, being as it is either a comparison of a sadistic lover to Jesus or about a sadomasochistic relationship with Jesus.
"Greece (Just By The Book)" by the arty Icelandic Post Punk band Kukl (fronted by a then-unknown Bj�rk) is a relentless and thoroughly creepy parody of this trope.
Inverted by Sam Cooke, among many others, when singers from the 'gospel trail' started adapting their music to commercial pop in the late 50s.

Poetry

Older than You Think, given some of the imagery in John Donne's Holy Sonnets, particularly #14 ("Batter my heart, three-person'd God;"):
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy:
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
- Of course, unlike most of the above examples, he was doing this intentionally, and was probably inspired by the "church as the Bride of Christ" imagery from The Bible. And of course a lot of Donne's poetry was just straight up Intercourse with You stuff. (See "The Flea")
- And yes, "Batter my heart" does contain strong undertones of Loving Force.
- Even older than these is the Song of Songs of Solomon, whose subject matter has long been a subject of debate. In spite of its lack of explicitly religious content, it is often interpreted as a parable of God's relationship with Israel, or of Christ's relationship with his fellowship:
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth�
for your love is more delightful than wine.:
Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the young women love you!
Take me away with you�let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.
St. John of the Cross should probably go down in history for writing the only NSFW religious poetry in Christendom.
- Not really. His style of writing is not that uncommon among Christian mystics. He's just one of the more famous ones.
This is very common in Sufi poetry.

Standup Comedy

Demitri Martin parodied this.
As did Mike Birbiglia. In this YouTube clip he discusses how he's sometimes fooled by Christian rock songs that start off secular then quickly get religious.

Theatre

The musical Altar Boyz is made of this trope.

Western Animation

The Simpsons did a joke on this: First Ned hears a Christian folk singer announce "a love song about a dude I met in a sleazy motel" and then being surprised when she sings about God. Later she reveals that her band dumped her to sing pop rock, which they achieved by just changing the word "Jesus" to "baby", with the implication that the reverse would be true as well.
Homer (hearing Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life"): I bet the guy she was singing that about was real happy.
Marge: Well, actually, she was singing about God.
Homer: Oh, well, He's always happy. No, wait, He's always mad...
South Park parodied this ruthlessly in the episode, "Christian Rock Hard", where Cartman creates a Christian rock group and achieves massive success replacing the word "baby" in popular songs with the word "Jesus". Unfortunate Implications abound as the songs he picks to adapt get more and more explicit.
"You Raise Me Up", popularized by Josh Groban, is actually a cover. The original song by christian group Selah even has a third verse that makes the spiritual elements much more explicit.

Other

This Christian parody of the song "OMG" by Usher, which is unambiguously about sex/lust, practically just takes the original song and changes "baby" to "Jesus". And it's serious.
This parody of Rebecca Black's infamous song, "Friday" converts it into a song about going to Church on "Sunday". Some people believe it to be better than the original. This is not high praise.
Chris Rosebrough, of Pirate Christian Radio fame bashes this trope for all its worth. Other than the typical TGWTG-esque critique of such horrible music, he goes into an unstoppable rage when said songs end up failing to correctly represent his version of the Christian faith. Case in point, his commentary on this entry