Down the Lyrical Highway

(Reprise)

Words of Worship, Words of Truth

 

My grandmother, who lived with us when we were growing up, owned one record album. As it sometimes is today, she relied on the technological savvy of the younger generation, my brother and me, to listen to it. We would put the vinyl LP on the turntable, position the needle and turn up the sound on the old hi-fi phonograph so Grandma could hear it in the kitchen. The record was titled The Lennon Sisters Singing the Best-Loved Catholic Hymns. For those of you who did not grow up forced to watch The Lawrence Welk Show on Saturday nights, the Lennon Sisters were four girls from a devout Roman Catholic family of eleven children who sang, quite nicely, songs on the wholesome, family-oriented variety show that seemed to be broadcast everywhere in the middle of the last century. My grandmother loved playing that record, and as one of her enablers, I heard it a lot growing up. It was the first time I remember music usually reserved for church being played at home. In my late teens, after I entered into a serious relationship with God, I, myself, often gravitated toward music with a spiritual bent.

The Christian music industry rapidly expanded in the the 1970s and 80s, providing Christian parallels to almost every secular musical genre. When our kids came along, my husband and I purged some of our more raucous rock albums and acquired some Christian music replacements. When our kids started listening to music on their own, it was often a reflection of our parental tastes, a mixture of classic rock (Eric Clapton, the Beatles), what I would call “kid Christian” (Veggie Tales, The Donut Man), and contemporary Christian artists (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith...) Eventually, I came to a place that I am somewhat hesitant to confess, but I will anyway: I really don't like contemporary Christian music...

There, I said it.

Remember, music for me is all about the lyrics, and frankly, much (not all) of the contemporary Christian music of the past quarter century sounded a bit bland and lot alike to me. Rather than pick on the genre, however, I want to instead list those songs and musicians that really draw me into a spiritual place where God's presence is more than just a nice thing to aspire to.

1) Hymns. Those Lennon Sisters did have an impact on me. There was something about songs like “Faith Of Our Fathers”, “Jesus! My Lord, My God, My All!”, “Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest”, and “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” that made me want to connect with God. In later years, when I jumped ship for a more evangelical church experience, I listened to the Protestant hymns I had missed out on in my youth. Amusingly, my first exposure to some of those songs was a cassette tape by the Christian a capella group Glad. I still hear the lyrics of such classic hymns as “Blessed Assurance” and “Rock of Ages” with the “ba, ba, ba” beatboxing in my head. But beatboxing aside, the lyrics of so many of the hymns, Catholic or Protestant, are rich with both spiritual truth and the ability to draw one into the presence of God. Favorite hymns of mine: “Amazing Grace”, “How Great Thou Art” and “This is My Father's World”. “How Deep the Father's Love for Us” and “In Christ Alone” are another two favorites from contemporary hymn writer Stuart Townend. These hymns always leave me with a true sense of worship.

This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?

The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.

This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,

For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.

No place but is holy ground.

- From “This is My Father's World”

2) The Newsboys. I shouldn't really love the Newsboys as much as I do. They have two strikes against them, fitting into the genre of contemporary Christian artists and being a music group of the 1980s. (I am of the opinion – yes, I know, some will not agree – that nothing good musically came out of the 1980s...) But love them and their music I do. Definitely a lyric thing, most likely a Spirit thing. I never tire of their clever lyrics and musical stylings. Take Me to Your Leader is a brilliantly written song on a brilliantly written CD by the same title. Going Public, Thrive and Step Up to the Microphone are also wonderful collections. The Newsboys also have two worship collections, Devotion and Adoration, both aptly named. If I want to have a good quiet time, a devotion or adoration time, I listen to one of those CDs and let the lyrics draw me into God's presence.

He raises a wrinkled hand

Through the dust and the flies

Wrapped in rags like we are

And with barely open eyes

He takes my finger

And He won't let go

And He won't let go

It's nothing like I knew before

And it's all I need to know

Come, let us adore Him

He has come down to the world we live in

And all I have to give Him

Is adoration

- From “Adoration”

Justin is adustin' to

The odor from Theodore's Evergreen Incense

But aroma therapy don't make him any younger

Than Oliver's All Liver Supplements

His late mate Marrilee merrily said immortality

Can't be bought in a jar

This just in: Justin's had enough of cure-alls,

Gonna quiz the neighbor kid with the

Fish on his car

He says,

I don't know why you care

I don't know what's up there

I don't know how it's done

Just take me to your leader, son

- From “Take Me to Your Leader”

3) Sara Groves. Another thoughtful Christian lyricist, Sara Groves writes songs of truth, about being made for a world beyond this one, hearing God, the spiritual heredity one leaves behind, and even the frustrations dealing with toy packaging. My favorite collection, Conversations, contains song after song with lyrics that at some point grip my heart. (Well, maybe not “Tent in the Center of Town”...) Like the Newsboys, she's part of the genre I'm not wild about, but her lyrics transcend that genre and always send me in a good direction, spiritually.

I've been painting pictures of Egypt

Leaving out what it lacks

The future feels so hard

And I want to go back

But the places that used to fit me

Cannot hold the things I've learned

Those roads were closed off to me

While my back was turned

- From “Painting Picture of Egypt”

And we've had every conversation in the world

About what is right and what has all gone bad

But have I mentioned to you that this is all I am

This is all that I have

And I would like to share with you

What makes me complete

I don't claim to have found the truth

But I know it has found me

- From “Conversations”

Nothing makes me lose my cool like

Toy packaging

Kids, you really need to leave the room

Mom's opening toy packaging

I'm sorry you have to see this sight

You must be brave, no, please don't cry

I promise it will be alright

I hope to have it by tonight

Never mind this dynamite

Toy packaging

- From “Toy Packaging”

4) Seekers and Truth Tellers. No, not a duel-named group or a true genre, but all those songwriters out there who search for spiritual truth, some secular musicians who profess to be Christians, those who came from a religious background and now question it, those who intelligently comment on or question spiritual themes and those who just paint with words mankind's longing for something else. They've been around a long time (The 1960s and 70s were rich with seeker songs.) and their numbers would include a wide range of artists - Sam Beam of Iron and Wine, David Bazan, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield and Poco, Bob Dylan, U2, Billy Joel, Jason Isbell, Johnny Cash – the list could go on and on. Secular group Vampire Weekend in their song “Unbelievers” raises the question is there grace for those who reject grace :

If I’m born again I know that the world will disagree

Want a little grace but who’s gonna say a little grace for me?

We know the fire awaits unbelievers

All of the sinners the same

Girl, you and I will die unbelievers

Bound to the tracks of the train

I’m not excited, but should I be?

Is this the fate that half of the world has planned for me?

Jason Isbell in “24 Frames” writes:

You thought God was an architect, now you know,

He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow

And everything you built that’s all for show goes up in flames

In twenty- four frames

His lyrics remind me both of C. S. Lewis's comment that Aslan, his Narnian Christ figure, is not a “tame lion” and of the verse from 1 Corinthians that says:

...each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done... (1:13)

These Seeker/Truthteller lyrics won't always lead me into a place of worship, but they always lead me in some way toward God, sometimes to ponder a re-expression of truth, sometimes to re-examine a long held belief at God's feet, sometimes to pray for the artist himself. (Listen to Hozier's “Take Me to Church” and hear someone who scaringly understands all too well what modern day idolatry looks like...) Some of this “genre” is hard to hear, but some is pure joy, like listening to Bono praise God in Latin - Gloria, In te domine, Gloria, Exultate, Gloria, Oh, Lord, loosen my lips – and being reminded by the Doobie Brothers that Jesus is just alright with me...

Next:

When Your Internal Musical Age is Nineteen...

Down the Lyrical Highway

(Reprise)

Blasts from the Past

It's been a while...

When I last wrote here, this past October, Bob Dylan had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. This momentous occasion inspired me to share my bittersweet musical experiences and my fondness for lyrics. I had fully intended to follow up that post with a few lists, sharing some of my favorite musical artists from a lyrical perspective. I'll do it when Bob makes his Nobel acceptance speech, I thought. He didn't. He wrote a short thank-you note to the award committee which was read at the Nobel banquet in December by the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden.* I'll do it when Bob gives the obligatory Nobel Laureate lecture, I thought. According to the Nobel Foundation statutes, the Nobel Laureates are required "to give a lecture on a subject connected with the work for which the prize has been awarded". The lecture should be given before, or no later than six months after, the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. With no sign of the lecture, and living the free spirit, non-disciplined, unscheduled life of a relatively recent retiree, I let time slip away from me. I recently read that Dylan, in his unique style, got his laureate lecture in just under the wire, recording a video lecture on June 4. Now I was the procrastinator. When I saw that June 21 would be World Music Day, I knew the time had come for my stroll down the lyrical highway...

My music awareness grew up in the 1960s. For some odd reason, my brother and I always got record albums in our Easter baskets. The Who's Tommy, Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence and Bridge Over Troubled Water, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Deja Vu all made their appearance surrounded by chocolate rabbits and jelly beans. Though I would listen to most of the classic folk and rock music of the 60s and early 70s – the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton in his many manifestations, the Byrds, Peter, Paul and Mary, Judy Collins – the five below are the ones that have stood the test of time for me, my favorites for lyrics, storytelling and what little melody I can absorb:

1. Paul Simon. Though I got every Simon and Garfunkel record that came out, Sounds of Silence, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, Wednesday Morning 3 AM, and Bridge Over Troubled Water are my favorites. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” remains my all-time favorite song. When Paul and Art went their separate ways, I continued to acquire each of their solo albums. While Art made wonderful recordings of other people's songs, Paul continued to write and record original material. His solo albums are almost all wonderful. (I could have done without Songs from the Capeman. Creepy...) Graceland, an 80s masterpiece, shows up on lists of the best record album(s) of all time. Paul Simon continues to write clever, thoughtful lyrics, still releasing albums on a regular basis. They are not always “great” albums (CDs? MP3s?), but they always have a few great songs on them.

I am just a poor boy

Though my story's seldom told

I have squandered my resistance

For a pocketful of mumbles

Such are promises

All lies and jest

Still, a man hears what he wants to hear

And disregards the rest

- From “The Boxer”

For reasons I cannot explain

There's some part of me wants to see

Graceland

And I may be obliged to defend

Every love, every ending

Or maybe there's no obligations now

Maybe I've a reason to believe

We all will be received

In Graceland

- From “Graceland”

2. Neil Young. I was a fan of the 1960s Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, two groups that reshuffled some of their musicians and songwriters. When former Buffalo Springfield singer/songwriter/musician Neil Young was added to Crosby, Stills, and Nash, I was hooked on his songs. This turned out to be a very good thing – though he denies it, I ended up marrying one of the foremost authorities on Neil Young and his music. I acquired Neil's solo music as it came along – After the Gold Rush and Harvest being two of my early favorites – but I married a man who made it unnecessary for me to acquire any more – he did the acquiring. I don't know how many Neil Young recordings are actually in this house. My husband has more versions of “Cortez the Killer” alone than I can count. (Seriously...) Neil is another prolific artist whose voice has aged well and still writes and records on a regular basis. And he isn't afraid to try something new. He's had his country period, even his techno period. (Vocoder fans, anyone?) He's also fond of rerecording his older songs, putting a new sound to them. Dreamin' Man is a great collection, unplugged recordings of previously electric songs that take on a different vibe with the acoustic sound. Rumor has it Neil has so much unreleased music that if he were to die today, his estate could continue putting out albums at a regular rate for decades to come. Interesting facts about Neil (I'm living with the foremost authority, remember?): Neil is part of a group that owns Lionel Trains. Obsessed with sound, he's responsible for the realistic train whistle on their model train locomotives. He and his (now ex-) wife are also responsible for thirty years of very successful (think Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Arcade Fire, Bob Dylan as acts...) fundraising concerts for the Bridge School, a school for special needs kids that he and his wife started for their special needs son.

Love lost, such a cost,

Give me things

that don't get lost.

Like a coin that won't get tossed

Rolling home to you.

- From “Old Man”

It ain't an honor to be on TV

And it ain't a duty either

The only good thing about TV

Is shows like 'Leave it to Beaver'

Shows with love and affection

Like mama used to say

A little Mayberry livin'

Can go a long way"

- From “Grandpa's Interview” (Greendale)

3. Bob Dylan: Though his voice has not aged as well as Paul's or Neil's (Some might say it was never very good.), he continues to record and perform on what has been called “The Never Ending Tour”, playing at venues of all sizes for much of each year – since 1988(!) Like Neil, he's not afraid to try new things. Starting out as a folk singer, then going electric, going through a Christian recording phase, writing country, blues and torch songs, he is constantly reinventing himself – well, at least, his music. I liked his early folk period, but my two favorite albums are from the mid 70s – Desire and Blood on the Tracks. His songs have been widely covered since early in his career. Some (probably the same “some” as above) might say that anyone sings a Dylan song better than Dylan himself. Chimes of Freedom, a collection of 76 songs written by Bob Dylan, but recorded by a who's who of well-known singers and musicians of the past forty years as a fundraiser celebrating fifty years of Amnesty International is worth a listen. It contains a great variety of Dylan's musical periods, and the famous artists each give their own unique styles to his lyrics.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe

"I thought you'd never say hello" she said

"You look like the silent type"

Then she opened up a book of poems

And handed it to me

Written by an Italian poet

From the fifteenth century

And every one of them words rang true

And glowed like burning coal

Pouring off of every page

Like it was written in my soul from me to you

- From “Tangled Up in Blue”

A self-ordained professor's tongue

Too serious to fool

Spouted out that liberty

Is just equality in school

"Equality," I spoke the word

As if a wedding vow

Ah, but I was so much older then

I'm younger than that now.

 

- From “My Back Pages”

4. 
   Joni Mitchell: Though I was only a moderate fan back in her heyday, I've come to appreciate Joni's vocal soprano gymnastics in the years since. Her lyrics and melodies are uniquely frenetic. Unfortunately, her voice has not aged well, and her later recordings do not sound like the early Joni. Health issues in recent years have forced her into retirement. But her collection of songs from the late 60s into the 80s are worth revisiting again and again. I don't have a favorite single album, Joni Mitchell being the only artist on this list that I search out the greatest hits collection to hear her music. She had a few great songs off of each of a dozen or so albums over a fifteen year period.

But now old friends are acting strange

They shake their heads, they say I've changed

Well something's lost, but something's gained

In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now

From win and lose and still somehow

It's life's illusions I recall

I really don't know life at all

- From “Both Sides Now

And the seasons they go round and round

And the painted ponies go up and down

We're captive on the carousel of time

We can't return we can only look

Behind from where we came

And go round and round and round

In the circle game

- From "The Circle Game"

5. Billy Joel: Yeah, I know, he's not quite in the same category as Paul, Neil, Bob and Joni, but I fell in love with his Piano Man album as a junior in college and have been a fan ever since. When I found out he was a Long Islander, like me, I liked him even better. (Besides, the cover photo on his first album, Cold Spring Harbor, reminds me of my brother, though my brother has aged more gently...) I find his lyrics Long Island-y at times, a good thing, he holds his own with Paul, Neil and Bob when it comes to storytelling, and there is something about the piano as the primary instrument that allows me to “hear” the melody better. Piano Man, The Stranger, and Turnstiles are my favorite albums. Though his voice is strong and has aged well, and he continues to tour, he hasn't really released any new music since 1993. The reason? According to Joel, he just doesn't have anything new to say. He enjoys the performing and the touring, but he feels he has said everything lyrically he had to say. Unlike Paul, Neil and Bob, who obviously feel they have more yet to say, Billy Joel knows, rightfully or wrongfully, when to stop, and has. But I really did, and still do, enjoy what he had to say.

Well we all have a face

That we hide away forever

And we take them out and show ourselves

When everyone has gone

Some are satin some are steel

Some are silk and some are leather

They're the faces of the stranger

But we love to try them on

- From The Stranger

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

Through the valley of fear

To a river so deep

And I've been searching for something

Taken out of my soul

Something I would never lose

Something somebody stole

- From River of Dreams

These are the last words I have to say

That's why this took so long to write

There will be other words some other day

But that's the story of my life

- From Famous Last Words

 

 

 

 

Next:

Words of Worship, Words of Truth

*Hear or read his acceptance note here: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2016/dylan-speech.html

**Hear or read his laureate lecture here: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2016/dylan-lecture.html