"Just a slob like one of us / Just a stranger on the bus... tryin' to make his way home"
In March of 1995, few people on this planet were more controversial than Kentucky-born singer/songwriter Joan Osborne. See, in addition to playing Lilith Fair and serving as an outspoken advocate for the ever-polarizing folks at Planned Parenthood, Miss Osborne had the nerve -- nay, the audacity! -- to flip the pop music world on its head with these seven little words:
"What if God was one of us?"Needless to say, this kinda' talk was practically blasphemous to conventionally religious folks like William A. Donohue of The Catholic League (whose sole mission in life, it seems, is simply to exist for the sake of being offended whenever a mainstream entertainer dares to broach the subject of organized religion). Isn't that right, Bill?
The Catholic League's Bill Donohue: "Get behind me, Satan."
Anyhow --
Being a devout Catholic and a firm believer that Jesus was indeed fully divine AND fully human for a good thirty-some-odd years or so way back in the day, Donohue took offense to Osborne's lyrics (though in Joan's defense, the song was actually written by Eric Bazilian -- formerly of "The Hooters," and probably best known for the awesomely-melodica-heavy 1986 single, "And We Danced").
(side note: Melodicas? Freakin' amazing).
But regardless of who actually wrote the song --
Donohue got bent out of shape at Joan Osborne's idea of a radio-ready pop ballad that presented a God who was incarnate in such a flawed way that it might cause people's faith to be shaken. After all, the Almighty is essentially perfect, right? So how could He *ever* possibly be reduced to anything along the lines of a "slob like one of us" or a mere "stranger on the bus?"
Definitely a tough question. And to that end, "One Of Us" managed to provide many a soul-searching pilgrim with a beautiful mystery and one killer headache all at once.
But if Joan Osborne's God talk makes you reach for the Bible (or worse, the Aspirin), then perhaps I should go ahead and caution you outright against ever picking up The Sound and The Fury by this man:
William Faulkner (1897-1962): Nobel Prize-winning Author, genius.
Because for as frustrating as it may well indeed be, at least Joan Osborne's question ("What if God was one of us?") was simple.
But in Faulkner's master work? Not so much.
In The Sound and The Fury, readers are presented with the story of Benjamin ("Benjy") Compson -- a moaning, speechless, 33-year-old manchild with severe mental retardation. In Shakespeare's words (from which the novel's title finds its origins)? Benjy's story is little else besides "a tale... [t]old by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing."
As Joan Osborne might say: Benjy's "just a slob like one of us."
Far from being glorious or redemptive, Faulkner's protagonist becomes a total inversion of the Christ figure and thus morphs into something of an ironic commentary on the fallen state of man. Here, the author challenges his readers to ponder how the modern world might receive The Almighty were He to somehow find Himself utterly helpless to (in Osborne's words) "make his way home."
To wit: The Sound and The Fury's question is right along the same lines as "One Of Us," but Faulkner's is clearly more nuanced and complex. His "God" isn't just a slob on public transit -- he's a full-blown "idiot" on the proverbial short-bus of life.
(Guess that means the Faulkner Estate should probably be expecting the a nice deluge of hate mail from Bill Donahue in 3...2...)
