“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 Born: 1989--Died: 2004 After 15 wonderful years of trouble-making and laughter, the beloved song about cartoons has finally been laid to rest. Well, actually just retired from live performances. Fans are celebrating in the streets with dances of jubilee. But some are inciting mild riots and skirmishes after concerts and questioning the songwriter’s love for God. Radio stations continue to play it, although sometimes reluctantly. Callers keep requesting it. Time Magazine’s cover story reads: “Finally, Something More Divisive Than George Bush!” (That’s tongue-in-cheek.) How can one song bring so much turmoil and jublilation? Trouble-making and laughter? From beginning to end, a biography of sorts, both memoir and eulogy, a mesh of the criticism and praise the song has received during its tumultuous history, here’s the story: THE BIRTH I “wrote” it about 15 years ago, as a joke. I threw it together in about 10 minutes and only intended it to be heard by a few people. It was a skit for a junior high youth group in a small church in Tennessee. Before singing it, I explained to them, in a light-hearted manner, that it's weird how Christians try to make Christian versions of everything. Then I said, "I'm sure someone will try to do that with popular cartoons one day. Here's what I mean..." I then launched into the cartoon song for the first time. The kids laughed really hard. The youth minister, Robin, asked me to sing it for the whole church, so I sang it again. They laughed really hard too. So the next week, I sang it for another group of students. Yeah, they laughed too. And before I knew it, I was singing “Cartoons” at a lot of camps. About 8 years later, after hearing me sing the song for a group of college students, my record label insisted that I record the song on my 2nd CD. I resisted strongly, having never intended for such a silly song to be made popular. THE COMPROMISE I reluctantly agreed to record the song only if it could be a hidden track, and it would not be acknowledged in print on the CD booklet. My hope was that it would go unnoticed. I was naïve. MET WITH OPPOSITION The song was immediately met with a sudden uproar by fans who disagreed with the song and its “theology.” Hundreds approached me and wrote to me to voice their opposition to the song. Some of their reasons were: 1) “Hallelujah” is a Hebrew word that means “Praise the Lord”, so I was misusing the Lord’s name by changing the phrase, and using it in such a flippant and silly way. 2) By not letting Beavis and “that other guy” get saved, I was giving the wrong message to people, that God only loved certain types of people. 3) I should not refer to Beavis and "that other guy" in a Christian song, for "obvious reasons." 4) I should not refer to the Smurfs in a Christian song, because they do magic, and are therefore demonic. ALSO MET WITH POPULARITY In spite of all these objections to the Cartoon song, many others were embracing it. Radio stations all over began to play it, fueling the love for the song, and the disdain for it as well. To this day, as I visit station after station, numerous radio DJ’s inform me that, unofficially, (because it would embarrass the stations if it were ‘official’) “Cartoons” is their #1 requested song. All over the country. One station, to appease some of its listeners, advertised "No Cartoons Tuesday" so their listeners would get a break from the song. They were hoping to stop requests for the song for at least one day! In early 2005, over 6 years after the song was recorded, “Cartoons” was somehow still in the top 40 songs on the Billboard Christian music chart! I’m frequently stopped by people who say, “I heard you are a writer of children’s songs.” 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. I wrote the skit to bring attention to the silliness of the typical Christian over-reaction to Beavis and Butthead during their popularity. By calling Butthead 'the other guy' I was satirizing many who were 'offended' by that name. I was also trying to point out the snobbery of those who would limit Christianity to only a certain type of person. Many fans misinterpreted my satire of THEM as if I were making a statement of my own beliefs. You can see why I have no desire to perpetuate the life of this song. Night after night, while singing this song in concerts, I spot people with their arms folded across their chests, making it clear they do not approve of the song. Right next to them there are fans singing along with their eyes closed and their hands raised, as if we were singing “How Great Thou Art.” Neither was my intended reaction. It has left me baffled and amused...we humans are funny! TAKING BACK THE REMOTE Then in a bold move in November 2004, after hinting at it for several years to my live audiences, the day of retirement finally came. Little by little, fans have been discovering that I no longer perform the song live. I am met with many “Thank you’s” as well as many (believe it or not) angry fans who demand that I (and my band) keep performing it. After every show, as I sit to sign autographs and talk to people, I hear one fan explain in a very ‘spiritual’ tone why the Cartoon song is so important, and only seconds later another fan corrects my theology and suggests that I stop performing the song. Both cite 'Biblical' reasons. That’s the nature of public work. It’s really true--you can’t please everybody! I want to do excellent work. I want my work, my REAL work, to reach a wide range of people. This song purposely has no excellence--it was intended as a joke. I never meant for it to be popular, or to be taken seriously. I have heard all sides of the reasoning for and against the Cartoon song--literally thousands of times--and it is a song not worthy of this much attention. Well, when you can’t please everybody, you just have to check your own motives for purity, and then follow your own heart, and hope people will try to understand. I have CD's full of so many other songs I would much rather perform and talk about. Songs I actually like! Can't waste any more time on Cartoons. So, I have laid the song to rest. You can still hear it on the radio quite a bit, just not in live concerts anymore. POWER OFF I can think of two individuals who will be most disappointed. So here’s a personal message to them: Dear Beavis and “Other Guy”, I never intended for you to become such a huge part of my life, but I’m actually starting to like you. Nevertheless, I won’t be singing about you anymore...and no, I won't reconsider...But I do hope you get saved soon! Love, Chris