“You Have My Attention” by Copeland, Friday, September 23, 2022 (partial repost)
Last Saturday, Copeland performed a concert at The Caverns, an underground concert venue in Grundy County, Tennessee. The band was accompanied by The Sewanee Symphony Orchestra in order to promote Copeland's latest record, Revolving Doors, a sort of greatest hits project reimagining some of Copeland's standout tracks from their six studio records and one of their EPs complete with orchestration. The band livestreamed the concert and played most of the songs on Revolving Doors and a few extras. Today's song, "You Have My Attention" is the closing track on Revolving Doors. From Counting Crows and '90s rock played before their set and from their inclusion of the most tracks from their most rock record In Motion, it seems that Copeland looks back fondly on their days as a rock band. Today, I felt more in the mood for the original track, so I include it in my playlist. But I'll also post the Revolving Doors version.
JUST DO YOUR BEST TO HEAR ME. On Labeled's first season (reposted in Toby Morrell's Break It Down Podcast), Aaron Marsh talked about the history of their first album, Beneath Medicine Tree. The Copeland singer claimed that there were no Christian Copeland songs; however, songs on Copeland albums that sound like they speak about faith are inspired by his grandmother. This month we return to Copeland's second record, In Motion, an album that is perhaps Copeland's most Christian-sounding record. "You Have My Attention" is a very spiritual song. It uses Christian terminology to build the central metaphor. Whether the relationship is with God, Marsh's grandmother, or an idea who "has [his] attention like a shout through an empty sanctuary" yet "speak[s] but a whisper," "You Have My Attention" is a powerful song about a muse or a force that blesses the speaker. A holy spirit or the Holy Spirit carries this tune, grabbing the listener's attention when the hectic afternoon lets up for just a moment.
YOUR VOICE SOUNDS MILES AWAY. If you say that God talks with an audible voice, people will dismiss you as crazy. "What are the voices telling you now?" They might ask. The Quakers teach that everyone has a conscience, and it is through the conscience that believers can have a direct experience with God. Adventists teach young children that their conscience is the Holy Spirit, and that they should always listen to their conscience. If they don't listen to that still, small voice, it will go away. As we get older, we learn that if the conscience goes away, it's the unpardonable sin, or grieving the Holy Spirit. When you're little it's all about listening to your parents. When you're a teenager it's all about not doing certain things. Don't smoke, don't drink, don't play video games with lots of blood, don't watch that movie, don't listen to that music, don't look at those websites. To live one's life in prayer was the alternative. If a person was born again, he or she would receive the Holy Spirit and begin a personal relationship with God. This relationship has teenagers in their quiet times when they weren't feeling guilty about all the bad things they did, talking to God and thinking about him. It was a metaphysical friendship, like an experience with a friend you can talk to all the time, who is always there, yet who oddly has a very similar personality to you, or at least, a personality of you at your ideal state. This friend would also sound like a pastor, a Bible school teacher, and your own interpretation of what is wrong.
In Motion Version:
Acoustic:
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