It's kind of surprising how many pop and rock songs about abortion have managed to slide in under the radar ... some of them even receiving radio play.

The best example is probably the one hit by the Ben Folds Five, "Brick". In 1998 it was almost impossible to turn on the radio without hearing this delicate piano ballad. According to Wikipedia, Ben Folds has said that he had a difficult time writing the song because the lyrics spoke so literally about the pregnancy that he and his girlfriend aborted in high school.

Of course, once they'd aborted their child, the couple's relationship was changed forever. The lyrics are frank:

"Driving home to her apartment,
For a moment we're alone.
She's alone.
And I'm alone.
And now I know it."

For whatever reason, embedding is forbidden for the YouTube music video, but if you click the still below the video will open in a separate tab or window.

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Del Amitri's 1995 album Twisted featured an awful hit called "Roll To Me" and eleven other pop-rock songs, at least eight of which were brilliant. The best track on the album is "Driving With The Brakes On" a song that appears (to some of us, anyway) to be about the helplessness of a man who's significant other has decided to abort their child. The lyrics seem to speak volumes, including lines like

"Driving through the long night,
Trying to figure whos right and whos wrong.
Now the kid has gone.
I sit belted up tight,
She sucks on a match light, glowing bronze,
Steering on.
And I might be more of a man if I'd stopped this in its tracks
And said, 'Come on, lets go home.'
But shes got the wheel,
And Ive got nothing except what I have on."

The YouTube video is rough, it seems to have been uploaded by someone who took the time to aim her video camera at the TV screen. But, then again, if it weren't for this, I'd never even have known that there was a video for this song:

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A thrash-metal song that condems abortion in no uncertain terms? Sure, and only the awesome Slayer would have the balls to pull it off. I'd probably heard "Silent Scream" fifty times in my life before I actually listened to the lyrics and realized that the song castigated abortion with extreme prejudice. Of course, with brutal music, shocking imagery and horrific lyrics as their bread and butter, Slayer had no reason to pull any punches when they sang about abortion:

"Silent scream,
Bury the unwanted child.
Beaten and torn,
Sacrifice the unborn...
Scattered, remnants of life,
Murder, a time to die."

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It's a damn shame that so few people know about the awesome rock band King's X from Texas. They've been around for ages, they've turned out one solid album after another, and it seems like there are ten or twelve of us who know who they are.

If I had to put King's X in a pigeon-hole, I'd call them "Beatles-inspired hard rock," although they really defy classification. They do all kinds of music, and they do it all well. Plus, they're one of the few bands that's unashamed to explore spiritual themes in their lyrics. They're not a "Christian rock" band, they're a rock band made up of guys who happen to be into Jesus. My favorite King's X album by far is Faith Hope Love, and not just for it's reflective, spiritual lyrics. I have to admit, though, that the album's last track, an open and honest song about abortion called "Legal Kill", is a big favorite of mine for it's moving lyrics:

"I know your side so very well,
It makes no sense that I can tell.
The smell of hell is what I smell,
and you hand it out with handshakes everyday.
I have trouble with the persons with the signs,
but i feel the need to make my own...
I can feel
The fight for life is always real."

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Janet recently mentioned the song "The Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe, and it brought back memories for me. This song was very popular the year my son was born, and the way it rages and laments an abortion really effects me. My son came along at a time and under circumstances that wouldn't fit any one's definition of "ideal," but from the minute I first saw him I knew I'd belong to him forever. I'm blessed that I have never had to live through the kind of post-abortion regret that "The Freshmen" admits to:

"When I was young I knew everything,
And she a punk who rarely ever took advice.
Now I'm guilt stricken, sobbing with my head on the floor,
Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice..."

Labels: Entertainment, Music, Personal, You Tube