I'm not that fond of fancy strings myself, or things like CL's LOOP macro. I prefer real code with composable abstractions. The problem in my mind is that they're not integrated into the host language, and therefore don't compose well with the rest.
But that being said, using a simple embedded glue/scripting language that's fully integrated into the host environment makes a lot of sense to me. Emacs Lisp, Autocad, any game engine etc. It's a tried and proven strategy.
I started writing my own glue language [0] for C++ since I couldn't find anything simple and integrated enough for my taste.