Video: Young Kids Cover System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” With Rewritten, Christian Lyrics
Well, this sure is, uh… complicated.
The O’Keefe Music Foundation, which aims to “help talented young musicians record and film their performances” for free, has become known over the years for its pro-quality music videos, which have featured young music students covering metal tunes by bands such as Slipknot, Tool, Sepultura, Danzig, White Zombie, Clutch, and many more. Needless to say we’ve always been big fans here at MetalSucks… I mean, free music education for kids with a focus on metal? What’s not to like, right?
Which brings us to the foundation’s latest release: a cover of System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!”. Given the song’s lyrics about “self-righteous suicide,” this track may strike you as being inappropriate for kids of a certain age — like, say, eight-year-old singer Taylor Campbell. So Diane O’Keefe re-wrote them to be Christian.
No, really. Here’s a sample:
Wake up
I praise the lord with every breath I take up
Forgive the sins I know I gotta make up
Like stealing all the cookies on the table
I try my best to do as I am able
You wanted to
I praise the lord with every breath I take up
You wanted to
Forgive the sins I know I gotta make up
You wanted to
Like stealing all the cookies on the tableThat day on the mountain side
helpless and crucified.
Arms, wide, you took up your cross and died
JESUS CHRIST, that gives me the willies. It’s still only the second-yuckiest complete misunderstanding of SOAD’s ideology this summer, but still. Shiver.
(And don’t say “Well what did you expect them to do, have a kid sing about suicide?”. Of course not. But there are maybe eighteen-trillion other songs they could have done where they wouldn’t have had to change the lyrics. This was a very conscious choice.)
But other than that, yeah, this is great. The kids are super-talented. I don’t blame them for bringing religion into it. I look forward to their next cover, where, hopefully, the lyrics will have been left alone.
In the meantime…
[via Kerrang!]
