2005 Westlife: You Raise Me Up

"You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains, you raise me up, to walk on stormy seas. I am strong, when I am on your shoulders, you raise me up... to more than I can be"; less a song and more a corporate motivational tape delivered as mantra and overlaid with a religious fervour, 'You Raise Me Up' is not a 'pop' song by any definition other than that of it being 'popular'. Sure there's a tune that's hummable (based as it on a traditional Irish folk song), but to experience it is like sitting through a self help class delivered by a clutch of trendy vicars doling out enlightenment with one hand while collecting payment for services rendered with the other. Because with its secular/humanist, humanist/secular lyric of thanks to a lover/friend/parent/deity,'You Raise Me Up' is money in the bank for Westlife delivered over five minutes of solemnity that virtually dares you to question its integrity. So is there any point in my doing so? Not really - fans of this kind of thing will be immune to my brickbats and, as Westlife are doing nobody any harm here, throwing them in the first place would leave me with the same cheap and grubby feeling I'd get if I'd been caught haranguing little old ladies with a Richard Dawkins rant as they leave church on a Sunday evening; there are more deserving things to hate after all. So suffice it to say 'You Raise Me Up' does not speak to me on any level save one that kick-starts a subliminal voice deep in my head that whispers 'For God's sake turn it off' into my ear. And though I don't tend to respond well to being told what to do, on this occasion I'm happy to oblige.