Robbie Fulks

From Philosopedia

Robbie Fulks (25 March 1963 - )

"Insurgent country" artist Robbie Fulks was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in North Carolina and Virginia. At the age of 7, he up the banjo. He dropped out of Columbia University, working as a paralegal, proofreader, and actor. In 1983 he moved to Chicago, where he eventually joined Chicago's premiere bluegrass band, Special Consensus. He also taught at Old Town School of Folk Music.

In 1993, he formed Robbie Fulks and the Trailer Trash. "Insurgent Country: Vol. 1: For a Life of Sin" came out in 1994, followed by volume II of "Insurgent Country" in 1995. Other albums include "Let's Kill Saturday Night" (1998), "Couples in Trouble" (2001) and "13 Hillbilly Giants." The singer, guitarist and songwriter tours with industry names. In an interview with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Oct. 23, 1998), Fulks said,

• Religion is one of the important questions in life, I think. Or the disposition of our mortal souls and what happens to us after we die, and whether there is or isn't a God. I definitely think about it every day of my life. Given that it's that important a topic, it just makes sense to deal with it in music. I just took my own views and slightly radicalized them for the song ["God Isn't Real"]. I'm not really a confirmed atheist. But I am kind of a reluctant disbeliever. And I thought that (type of song) hadn't been done in country music before:

God Isn't Real

A world filled with wonder, a cold, fathomless sky

A man's life so meager, he can but wonder why

He cries out to Heaven its truth to reveal

The answer: only silence, for God isn't real.

Go ask the starving millions under Stalin's cruel reign

Go ask the child with cancer who eases her pain

Then go to your churches, if that's how you feel

But don't ask me to follow, for God isn't real.

He forms in his image a weak and foolish man

Speaks to him in symbols that few understand

For a life of devotion, the death blow he deals

We'd owe Him only hatred, but God isn't real.

Go tell the executioner of the power he can't defy

Go tell his shackled victim of the mercy on high. . .

Then go to your churches, go beg, pray, and kneel,

But don't ask me to follow, for God isn't real.

No, no matter how He should be, God isn't real.