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Open letter to a rock star

Hi Jason Mraz,

Love your hats.

Anyway, congratulations on your great success with the new single, I’m Yours. It is a fun little song, light-hearted with a slight bouncy reggae vibe.

I’d like it a lot more if it didn’t have one of the most quizzical and misguided lyrical lines in musical history:

And it’s our God-forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved...

Forsaken means renounced, forgotten, abandoned.

Jason, I present things which are God-forsaken:

A venomous spider under a certain rock in the most desolate part of the Gobi desert, Old West ghost town outhouses, haunted cars, Hitler’s bones, plaque, all tumbleweeds, the bottom dirty circa-1977 Pampers in a landfill, Corn Nuts breath, and the turkeys which were slaughtered behind Sarah Palin’s shoulder, which was entirely her fault.

I think the phrase you were searching for was Godgiven? Maybe?

I can’t imagine God renouncing love, abandoning love, forgetting love. I base that on my experience and beliefs, which are obviously different than yours.

I hope you’ve never been made to feel that God is unloving, forgetful, or hates anybody. I know plenty of people have, and for that I am sorry.

Your fan,

Gretchen

12 comments to Open letter to a rock star

  • Found your blog via a link on Minnesota Mom. What fun! I am absolutely loving your header too. (Your child is such talented artist!) I’ll have to check back to see what you will have up your sleeve for next month. Your ability to rotate the image is something I haven’t seen before. Are you responsible for this bit of HTML genius? I would love to understand how it all works.

    Your open letter to a rock star post was great….cornut breath. LOL! There is nothing more true.

    Thanks for making me laugh, while keeping a great balance with the serious side.

    Three Bay B Chicks’s last blog post..My Milkshake Brings All the Boys

  • It’s funny, I have that song on my ipod and do like the tune of it. I questioned that same thing. Just couldn’t figure out what exactly he was trying to say.

    But when I went and looked up some of his other songs I was surprised at the explicit lyrics.

    Joanne’s last blog post..Thunk Thursday on Friday

  • Your open letters are some of my favorite Gretchen posts.

    Heth’s last blog post..Shattered Expectations

  • I’m still stuck on his song “Lucky.” There’s some faulty theological underpinnings in that song as well. But I’m too caught up with the bouncy melody to pick them out.

    Kelly @ Love Well’s last blog post..7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 1)

  • That is too funny. God-forsaken right!!!

    Mary-LUE’s last blog post..Oh for a Way Back Machine

  • Kimberly

    Oh my gosh, I died laughing when I read this. Just this morning my husband heard the song and commented that that part made no sense. I guess he’s not the only one who’s picked up on it!

  • Ann

    Oh funny! Now I’m curious, I’ll have to google Jason Mraz, I haven’t heard of him.

    Ann’s last blog post..Paper Route

  • I’m not totally who Jason Mraz is but that is a fine example of bad writing gone . . . badder.

    Megan@SortaCrunchy’s last blog post..Memory Monday

  • You won’t believe this but I wondered the same thing–I’m one who listens to the lyrics or the words of a commercial and then wonders “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”

    Michelle at Scribbit’s last blog post..How to Escape from Duct Tape and Other Valuable Tidbits

  • Ha! My kids and I were just laughing about this song the other day!

    Found your blog through Oh, Be Careful – I’ll be back!

  • Hey! I thought of you today. We checked out Kidz Bop 15 from the library (yes.) and I’m Yours is one of the songs on there. It sounds a little different, sung by a bunch of precocious tweens. And I wanted to let you know, in the Kidz Bop version, they sing, “It’s our God-intended right to be loved, loved, loved, loved, looooooved…”

    Laura’s last blog post..I love my house! But…

  • Audrey

    Thanks for that post. I found your blog by doing a web search for “god forsaken” and “god given.” I like Mraz’s catchy song, but that lyric is such an odd malapropism. It makes me cringe each time he gets to that part in the song. Being loved is our right because God has forsaken us? Huh?

    But I’m someone who also cringes every time someone uses the word “notoriety” to mean “fame” in a strongly positive sense.

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