60 Christian Songs That Explain the '90s: "Window" by Out Of Eden
A talented trio that felt years ahead of their time
Few things can be as jarring as realizing a song you loved as a teenager was just a ripoff. When you find out that the artist was just crafting a rendition of an old song, it throws you. That doesn’t mean you disrespect an artist. But it feels a bit like you’ve been duped.
But really, it’s all just an issue of youth. When you’re young, you’re not privy to all the older songs that your parents listened to long before you were born. So in 1998 when this song came on the radio, I believed it was original.
“Ghetto Superstar” featuring Pras, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and of course, Mya. Straight from the Bulworth soundtrack. Great song, a so-so movie. But the song was unmistakable. Ghetto superstar, that is what you are. But sometime later, probably in my more mature and wise college years, I discovered a song decades older, but eerily similar. At least the chorus was similar. Cue Dolly and Kenny:
“Islands In The Stream” featuring the duet of legendary roasted chicken maker Kenny Rogers and the iconic, immeasurable Dolly Parton. From the year 1983 first found on Kenny Rogers’ album Eyes That See In The Dark. And let me tell you, when I finally heard this song, I did a double take. Are these old people ripping off Mya? They changed the words from ghetto superstar to islands in the stream? How weird is this? Not weird at all, young uninformed Eddie! In fact, you have it completely backward!
I’m sure at the time someone rolled their eyes at me exclaiming my shock at these songs, their similarities, but also their stark differences. Really, it’s just the choruses that are similar. 15 years apart, those two songs. And if you ask me now, I think I slightly prefer Dolly and Kenny over Mya and ODB.
But an even bigger song from the ‘90s was a lie. A fake. A fraud. Again, I should’ve known. Because the original was just as massive. It just happened to come out two decades before. But in 1996, I wouldn’t have cared even if I had known. Because nobody in 1996 was going to match this beat, this group, and these vocals.
The incomparable Lauryn Hill singing “Killing Me Softly”. It’s one of those songs that got overplayed on the radio but never felt overplayed. But imagine my shock when I found out Lauryn Hill wasn’t the first to sing it.
Roberta Flack’s version from the early ‘70s is a classic. One I discovered years after The Fugees version. The history of the song is a complicated one we don’t have time to cover here, but both of these versions are just delightful. I lean to The Fugees version if for no other reason, Lauryn Hill’s voice cannot be tamed by anyone or anything.
And then there’s this. Another song I thought was original only to discover years later that it too had been recorded decades earlier.
Out Of Eden’s version of “Lovely Day” is beautiful. From beginning to end. Every second of this song feels like a spring morning with birds and flowers and butterflies and all that stuff. It’s a song that breathes hope. Joy. It effuses everything that makes us feel good.
But I found out that Out Of Eden was not the first musical act to sing “Lovely Day”. The legendary Bill Withers did it first in 1977. His version is fine. I enjoy it. But the only real joy from this version is coming from Bill’s shirt collar.
Talented, no? Bill Withers was great. But that performance feels more like someone singing because it’s just a job at some office. “Hey Bill, mind singing that song at the pizza party this afternoon?” And Bill’s like “Fine, but if I get any grease stains on my collar, I’m going home early.”
Bill Withers passed away in 2020. He was 81 years old. But his musical legacy lives on in a million ways. His songs have been covered and re-covered by numerous artists. “Ain’t No Sunshine”, “Lean On Me”, and “Just The Two Of Us” each won Withers a Grammy. And each has been successfully covered by other musicians.
Having another artist want to take your song and sing it must feel like a true compliment. When that artist takes a song and performs it on a sitcom that features another successful artist, it’s gotta feel incredible. So shoutout to the late Bill Withers, to Out Of Eden, and to Brandy. Er…make that Moesha.
This week we’re talking about a different Out Of Eden song called “Window” from their 1999 album No Turning Back. Narrowing down Out Of Eden’s catalog to one particular song is an impossible task. Because there isn’t one chart-topping song to discuss as much as a string of albums that produced incredible tracks. And it’s worth us taking the time to go album by album and discuss what makes this group of sisters so remarkable.
Okay, the basics first. Out Of Eden is an R&B trio made up of three sisters: Lisa, Andrea, and Danielle Kimmey. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, they moved with their mother to Nashville after their parents divorced. In Nashville, their mother and stepfather worked to get the girls discovered by record labels.
Toby McKeehan, one-third of the band DC Talk and better known these days as TobyMac heard the girls and was immediately interested. In an interview with Tim Demoss, Danielle talked about the process of getting a record deal and the unique challenges the group faced as a trio of Black teenagers. She talked about going to one label meeting. They’d walk in and when the executives saw the girls were African-American, they suggested they go meet with a gospel music record label.
So they’d go meet with a gospel label. After hearing their music, those executives told them their music wasn’t gospel music and they’d need to look for a different label. And so begins the origin story of an incredibly talented group with loads of potential that couldn’t find a label to call home.
So Toby McKeehan took charge. Instead of finding a label to sign Out Of Eden, he’d just make his own. So Gotee Records was born and in 1994 released the first album for Out Of Eden and the first album for the label. Lovin’ The Day featured the group’s first hit single, the album’s first track covering Bill Wither’s “Lovely Day”.
In 1996, the group released More Than You Know, garnering them more recognition in the CCM space. The title track kicks the album off nicely. But when you get to the second track, a song called “Greater Love”, you can almost feel the group saying MOVE OVER MOESHA/BRANDY, WE’RE THE R&B CAPTAINS NOW.
True story: shortly after More Than You Know came out, I saw Out Of Eden in concert. They were performing with Big Tent Revival. An odd pairing, for sure. Imagine TLC touring with John Cougar Mellencamp.
But I remember Out Of Eden performing “Greater Love” and looking around at all the teenagers in the audience. 99% White kids who didn’t know what to do with the deep bass sound, the dancing, the harmonizing from Out Of Eden. Of course, I stood still in awe. I loved it, but you won’t catch me doing any dancing in public!
This sophomore album is full of great songs and defines what R&B really is. It’s a blending of songs that make you move and songs that move you. You’ve got the catchy title track. Then the aforementioned “Greater Love” which even found its way to the Dr. Doolittle soundtrack. There’s a song titled “You Brought The Sunshine” which feels like a song you want Stevie Wonder to get a hold of and cover. Then you get to a track called “Confused” with lines like this:
Oh if everything is peachy, why can’t anybody reach me
I’ve always said I don’t need anybody else
I’m so confused, so confused
And I’m destined to lose
Unless I follow another way
In 1999, No Turning Back came out. This is the album with more plays on Spotify than the others. It’s the one with smash hits like “River” and “Here’s My Heart”. And “Window” which, like so many Out Of Eden songs, mixes perfectly the music and the message.
God has given me a window
And I can finally see the light
And though I felt like going under
I know it’s gonna be alright
Lisa, the oldest sister, said this about the album: "I see No Turning Back as a challenge to bring something different. We're so used to seeing body images of half naked girls." Danielle added, "Because this album was vulnerably written out of life's experiences, some of the music is kind of melancholy, but there is always an answer of hope."
That’s what sets the message apart from the music. Because the sound, though unique to CCM radio, was all over mainstream stations. The message, however, wasn’t. The hope. The desire for a different path.
2002 saw the next album release for Out Of Eden called This Is Your Life. And from the moment you slip the disc into your car stereo you hear the song “Different Now” and you’re like THANKS MISSY ELLIOTT AND MARY J. BLIGE, BUT OUT OF EDEN WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE.
Out Of Eden decided to blow up your radio and move you right into the club. But not the club you’re used to going to. Check out these lyrics:
By the way that I was rockin’
You thought I was bumpin’ Biggie and Jay
But I was steady spinnin’ faith cause I could
Praise for days
And then, in what feels like a slight ode to TLC, there’s this line:
You hollered at me, I was at the light
Said I was looking fly and asked what’s up tonight
I said “I know you used to see me
At the clubs til three
But I don’t kick it like I did ‘cause
There’s a change in me”
This Is Your Life is Out Of Eden’s best-selling album. It appeared in the Billboard Top 200. The song “Meditate” won the Urban Recorded Song of the Year at the Dove Awards. The success of the album is captured in its diversity, with half of the songs sounding like a Missy Elliott jam and the others more in a slowed-down Ashanti/Aaliyah-type vibe.
There might not be a more personal song for the trio, however, than “Rolling Stone”, a track about the girls’ father. It’s heartbreaking as you’d expect any song about a father abandoning his kids would be. But again, it’s the message. The song talks about the importance of the true Father, one who won’t abandon them. A Father who will never abandon any of us.
Fast forward another few years to 2004. Here we have Out Of Eden’s final album. They’ll release an album of hymn covers and a greatest hits album, but for what the group does best, this album, Love, Peace & Happiness is the end.
After a decade in the studio and on the road playing tours with an assortment of artists (including a tour with Monica) Out Of Eden brought the energy to this album. And when I say energy, R&B energy, you might think of another group in 2004 making big hits. BUT DESTINY’S CHILD CAN STEP ASIDE BECAUSE OUT OF EDEN IS HERE TALKING ABOUT A DIFFERENT KIND OF SOLDIER.
“Soldiers” might sound like a Destiny’s Child anthem if not for the message. It’s different. But because the music is so melodic, because it hits the right R&B groove every time, the message doesn’t get diluted or come across as corny. Not at any point.
Out Of Eden touched on so many issues that secular artists were touching on. Remember the message of TLC’s “Waterfalls”? Remember that song “What Would You Do?” by City High? Out Of Eden’s song “I Know” is hitting on the same things around drug addiction, teenage pregnancy, and broken homes.
But…the message. It’s different because every song points back to the hope found only in Christ. In “Shoulda Listened”, the singer talks about a relationship with a man that others warned her about. She sings of the regrets of not listening to her mother or pastor or her sisters. And like many of us who have made bad decisions despite the warnings, she gets on the right path by the end of the song.
But I’ve learned my lesson now
I’m gonna listen now
Shoulda listened ‘cause I just
Can’t be missing
All the things God has for me
In June 2006, Out Of Eden officially called it quits. The three sisters were doing their own things, getting married, having kids, and moving to different places. They get together every now and then to sing and bless others with their music. But it appears that their days of recording new music are over.
Reflecting on what Out Of Eden meant to the CCM world, I’m more inclined to look at the impact the group didn’t have. I think about the decade-long stretch of albums from 1994-2004 and how little play they received from Christian radio.
Like their struggle to find a label in the beginning, I think Out Of Eden probably struggled to get songs on the radio as well. At least for me, as a teen living in rural South Carolina, finding an Out Of Eden song on Christian radio was near impossible. On Saturday nights, a local station would play more alternative Christian music for 4-5 hours. This is when you’d hear the rock and rap artists that daytime Christian music, for whatever reason, wouldn’t play.
But as I think back on the time, with mainstream R&B becoming so huge, Christian radio would’ve been wise to have embraced Out Of Eden. Teenagers in church youth groups are constantly being hounded by adults telling them what they need to do or not do. That includes the music they listen to. So if it’s 1999 and you love groups like TLC and artists like Brandy or Monica, who is your Christian music option that sounds similar?
There was another group right on the heels of Out Of Eden called Trin-I-Tee 5:7. They had that R&B sound as well, but didn’t get the radio play they deserved either. Even as a group labeled “The Christian Destiny’s Child”, they couldn’t achieve the attention they wanted.
I don’t want to think it’s a race thing. I don’t want to think Christian radio stations in the late ‘90s/early 2000s didn’t embrace some of these R&B groups because the majority of their listeners were White. Maybe the message Out Of Eden was displaying was too real for radio. Christian radio, like Christian art in general, has always done a great job of pointing to Christ. They’ve often done a terrible job of showing any of the darkness real people experience before coming to Christ.
There are numerous examples of this, even today, but I’d rather not get into it. I’d rather be a messenger for the music Out Of Eden so brilliantly put together. I’d rather tell you about music that moves your body and your soul. I’d rather you take time yourself to discover the hidden gems you maybe didn’t know existed.
Out Of Eden might not officially be a group anymore, but you can still catch up with them. There are delightful YouTube videos, mostly done by Danielle (the youngest sister) showcasing different events in their lives. There’s something refreshingly wholesome about it all. This group of sisters, each living their own lives, quietly relishing in the blessings God has given them.
A few nights ago, I was in the car with our teenage daughters driving home. One of them asked if she could play an Olivia Roderigo song. So what did I do? I turned on Out Of Eden. They both stared at their phones, texting, playing games, doing whatever teenage girls who aren’t allowed any social media access do on their phones.
They didn’t tell me they loved the music I was playing. But I know they at least liked it because otherwise, they would’ve said “Dad, please turn this off,” a statement I hear when I play loud rock music.
When we got home and parked the car, they got out quietly and went inside. And for me, it was just another moment of hoping, fingers crossed and prayers sent to God’s ears that they would start embracing great music.
Olivia Roderigo is fine. TLC? Destiny’s Child? Of course. Enjoyable music. Catchy. Moves the body. Gets your feet tapping and your legs dancing. But I’m excited to keep introducing them to music that can sound incredible while also nourishing the soul. And maybe I’ll eventually convince them to say HEY TAYLOR SWIFT AND OLIVIA RODERIGO, YOU CAN SIT DOWN NOW BECAUSE THIS AMAZING ARTIST SINGS JUST AS WELL AND HAS A BETTER MESSAGE.
Thanks a million for checking out this week’s 60 Christian Songs That Explain the ‘90s post. And now, I beg you if you haven’t already, check out “Window” by Out Of Eden. See you next week!
Missed last week’s post on Audio Adrenaline’s “Big House”? Check it out here.
Ghetto Superstar officially ruined 😂
In the late 90s, when a lot of these hidden covers surfaced, if we heard one on the radio while driving, my mom would swerve to the side of the road and scream: "THEY STOLE IT!!!" with sheer angst.
(Madonna sampling Abba for "Hung Up" nearly broke her...)
Haha that’s a fantastic story!