Cartoons
"Cartoons",[1] sometimes spelled "Cartoons (Live)",[2] is a satirical contemporary Christian song written by Chris Rice. It is a hidden track on his third album, Past the Edges, released on September 15, 1998. It plays after the song "Missin' You", after about two minutes of silence. It is a tongue-in-cheek song about if cartoon characters had eternal salvation, and was also about modern Christians' tendency to add Christian themes into everything.
Despite being a hidden track, "Cartoons" quickly became popular and was frequently played on Christian radio stations. It was included on WOW 2000, as the 15th track on the silver disc (Disc 2), and on Rice's compilation album, Short-Term Memories, which was released in 2004. The printed music for "Cartoons" is in the vocal folio books, "A Night in Rocketown" and "WOW 2000 Songbook."
History
| “ | No, I've never written a children’s song, just a satirical song about the modern Christian tendency to 'Christianize' everything. I was hoping everyone would get the satire, but they missed the satire, and embraced the song as legit. ― Chris Rice. |
” |
"Cartoons" was written sometime in the mid-1990s, when Rice made it as a skit for a junior high youth group in a local church in Tennessee. The song was well received, and Rice would eventually perform the song for more camps and churches.
Years later, Rice's record label caught notice of the "Cartoons" song and insisted that he put it on his next album. Rice strongly objected, as his intention was never for the song to become a popular hit. As a compromise, Rice included it as a hidden track on his Past the Edges album and would not mention it in the album booklet, so he thought it would go unnoticed. Fans immediately caught notice of the song, which was met with both uproar and praise; regardless, most people did not realize the satirical intent of "Cartoons." Reasons for the uproar included: misuse of the word "hallelujah," referencing The Smurfs because they use magic, mentioning Beavis and "that other guy" and claiming that they would not go to Heaven, suggesting that God prefers some individuals over others.
"Cartoons" became popular and was among the most requested songs, so many Christian radio stations would play the song throughout the early and mid-2000s. One station appeased some of its listeners by advertising "No Cartoons Tuesday," so both the listeners and the station would get a break from the song.
For some years, Rice would frequently perform "Cartoons" at his concerts. Even at concerts, the song's mixed response could be seen from the crowd: some had their arms folded across their chests while others would sing along with their hands raised. Throughout the years, Rice hinted that he would eventually stop performing the song live. In November 2004, Chris Rice stopped performing the song live; some people were pleased about it while others were angry and demanded that he continue performing the song.
Even after Rice stopped performing "Cartoons", the song continued to play on radios for a while longer. In early 2005, "Cartoons" remained in the top 40 songs on Billboard's Christian music chart.[3]
Lyrics
The premise of the song describes what might happen if Christians succeeded in incorporating Christianity into cartoons. According to the song, cartoon characters would sing their own pun of "Hallelujah".
In order, the cartoon characters mentioned in the song are: Fred and Wilma Flintstone (The Flintstones), Scooby-Doo and Shaggy (Scooby-Doo), Astro (The Jetsons), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kermit the Frog (The Muppets), Elmer Fudd (Looney Tunes), Yogi Bear (The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Yogi Bear Show), Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Smurfs (referred to as "all those little blue guys"), and Beavis and Butt-head (referred to as Beavis and "that other guy"). The word "Animaniac" is used near the end ("I'm not an Anamaniac"). The song references nine cartoons, with five of them being a Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
I was thinkin' the other day,
"What if cartoons got saved?
They'd start singing praise
In a whole new way..."
Yeah, I was thinkin' the other day,
"What if cartoons got saved?
They'd start singing praise
In a whole new way..."
Fred and Wilma Flintstone
Sing "Yabba-dabba-do-lu-yah"
Scooby-doo and Shaggy:
"Scooby-dooby-doo-loo-yah"
And the Jetsons' dog named Astro:
"Rough-ray-roo-loo-yah"
Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles:
"Cowabunga-loo-yah, Dude!"
Then there's, "Kermit the Frog here, singing,
High-ho-le-loo-yah"
And that little bald guy, Elmer Fudd:
"How-ay-woo-yah"
Oh that big old moose and his friend Rocky,
"Bullwinkle-loo-yah"
And our favourite bear named Yogi,
"Hey, Boo-Boo-loo-ya"
Then there's all those little blue guys
And they'd sing, "Hah-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lay-loo-yah"
How about Beavis and that other guy?
"Nah!!"
Now, there's a point to this looney-tune
I'm not an Anamaniac
But there's a lot of praisin' to do
And cartoons weren't made for that
It's our job
So, let's sing hallelujah
Behind the scenes
- In the article "Eulogy For A Song About Cartoons", Rice mentioned twice that he wrote "Cartoons" about 15 years ago. The song was said to "born" in 1989 (likely a misspelling of 1998, when Rice's album Past the Edges was released and made the song popular).[3] The article was published on January 4, 2006, so fifteen years before that would have been 1991. The song was written a few years after 1991 because it references Animaniacs and Beavis and Butt-head, both of which premiered on television in 1993.
- In response to one of the song's criticisms, Chris Rice jokingly wrote a personal apology to Beavis and "that other guy" on his website.[3]
- KJ-52, a Christian rapper, also made a song about cartoons, titled "Cartoon Network".
Critical reception
Overall, "Cartoons" was met with mixed reception. Most of the criticism came from conservative Christians, who took the song seriously and thought Chris Rice was serious about his message that salvation also applied to cartoons.[3]
