The Alternative Hymnal

because lots of christian music sucks...

How The Day Sounds by Greg Laswell

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Greg Laswell’s cd “Three Flights From Alto Nido” was on my emusic.com download list a couple of months ago, musically there’s not much that stands out or offends, it’s fairly nice, soft, easy to listen to and melodic.  It wouldn’t surprise you that this is exactly the type of music that gets picked to be played in the background of television shows like Grey’s Anatomy.  It’s exactly this type of music, something that fits in the background and doesn’t distract, (but may add to) the emotion or action within the scenes of the show, songs like his are topics of conversations on fansites with people asking things like “that song that was at the end of last night’s episode just as the couple broke up and the scene faded out, what was it and who sang it?!”.

Many artists have found themselves becoming hugely popular after a show like Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy, Buffy, The OC or Eli Stone have played them, especially if their entire cd of songs fits this type of genre and style as you may find their music being used heavily to create a particular mood, or perhaps to bring back a particular memory of an episode in the past. Greg fits in this category, his melody and lyrics are moody and non-distracting and lyrically his songs are emotional, wordy, picturesque. I can easily fall asleep to this music, but I’d definitely not use it to cheer me up or to create an energetic space, and whether or not I’d use this as a driving cd is still debatable.

I’ve been meaning to add one of his songs to the Hymnal for a while now, but I’ve never had the time up until now, granted I’ve been meaning to add his songs “What A Day” or “Comes and Goes (In Waves)”or “It’s Been a Year” but, since the guys over at Rethinking Youth Ministry have laid out the challenge I thought I’d add the song “How The Day Sounds” with a bit of a reflection.

Have you ever heard a song on the radio, or in a store that just sticks in your head?  Have you ever heard a song on a television show or movie that strikes you as remarkable and immediately makes you want to figure out who sang the song, or just to simply figure out the name of the track?  Have you ever contemplated phoning up a radio station (say for example triplej radio) and requesting a song that “I don’t remember all the words, or the name of the song but it goes something like la la la boom boom backachoo bing bing, you know the song, it was played once this morning around 8.20am, argh, it’s got a bit of a quick backbeat and reminds me of this other band that I can’t remember the name to?” (believe it or not too many people do exactly that)?  Have you ever heard a song that’s so annoyingly catchy that you find yourself humming it, walking to it’s timing, singing the lyrics when you’re alone, using lines of it in conversation accidently or, perhaps using it as your mobile phone ring tone?

Song’s do this type of thing, they capture us, they inspire us, they haunt us, and if you’re the type of person who gets hooked onto music easily there’s nothing quite as annoying as not knowing who sang that song and, what the correct lyrics are or where you can get your hands on it NOW because it’s suddenly captured you.

On the side my iphone’s got that great application Shazam just for the occasion of my hearing a new song and needing to know who sang it and what it’s name is NOW.  The program records a small section of a song using the phone’s microphone and then checks the internet to see if it can match it with anything on it’s database.  Yes, that’s scary, but extremely handy if you’re a little like me and always listening to new and old music…

These songs are sometimes infectious, you start to whistle to it and others around you start to whistle it, your humming at work or school becomes a chorus of hummers, you add it to your phone’s ringtone and others ask you to share it as well, your marching to it’s tune inspires others to walk with the same timing.  A song that is REALLY infectious can hit the top ten for a day or two, but a song that is truly great sneaks into our being, it never really leaves us, causing us to sing it at the drop of a hat in times where we may have thought that the song had been forgotten.  A really great song gets respected, it gets covered, other artists pick it up and make it their own, suddenly you find that U2, Radiohead, Jonny Cash, Coldplay, Ani Difranco, Paul Kelly, Sarah Mclachlan or The Dixie Chicks are all covering the song and artists like Moby and Fourtet find themselves remixing the song for people to dance to the same song with a different beat  and with different dance movements.

Much of the time I’ll understand my faith in similar terms, it’s a song that I once heard that is so great that it haunts me, so inspiring that it causes me to dance, so thoughtful that it makes me hum, so catchy that I whistle it wherever I go.  It’s a song I once heard my parents sing, it’s a song that I’ve heard many others cover and remix as they themselves sing, play, whistle, dance and hum. It’s a song that so many people I know sing that it’s become a part of who I am, always with it playing in the back of my head and infecting everything about me so that sometimes I burst out into complete dance and singing as I cover the song in my own way with my own voice.

And sometimes I hope it’s a song that others find infectious as well, a song that perhaps others may hear me humming and see me dancing to and suddenly find themselves asking “what the heck am I listening to” as they begin to realise just how haunting the melody is.

Sometimes I gather with a whole pile of musical tragics who, like me have been caught up in the same song and, at times like this there can be as little as 2 but as many as a million people in one place singing the same song, dancing to the same tune.

Christmas is coming, and with it is the memory of this song that starts with the words “In the beginning the Spirit of God hovered over the waters” and continues with the memory of the words “For God So Loved the World” this same song has a rip roaring chorus that includes healing the sick and bringing forth the Kingdom of God and it’s the same song that ends with us being invited to join in with the song, to become the ones that continue to cover and remix the track over and over again.

It’s a song that some people sing like a lullaby to sleeping children while others rock it out on the streets of Alice Springs, a song that some people may be singing in choirs in Berlin while others in London may be remixing it in dance clubs full of young and sweaty dancers.  This is a song that has so many different versions being sung by so many people around the world that I’m surprised sometimes when people say they’ve not heard it, especially when they are surrounded by people who I thought knew the song fairly well and should be dancing to it everywhere they go. It’s a song that I guess sometimes gets a bit old, or that sometimes we’ve forgotten the tune and need to be reminded about how great it truly is, how catchy it has always been and how we once were able to hear it and be infected by it, and sometimes we need to hear the song again from someone who may only be learning it after having heard it only a day or two ago.

It’s a song that, quite simply and very complicatedly changes the way we see the world, our neighbour, our loved ones, the stranger, the starving, the poor, the imprisoned, those devistated by war, the alcoholic, the priest, the elder, the indigenous community, the mayor, the politician, the musician, the addict, the rich and wealthy and changes the way that we see our loved ones.

It’s a song that Michael Leunig once covered in his poem “Love one another, and you will be happy. It’s as easy, and as difficult as that.”

And it’s a song that we have to learn to sing with our own voices.

And perhaps others may come to learn that they too may like the way the day sounds in this new song that you’re singing. (how’s that for a segway to the song?)

Video:

Lyrics:

How The Day Sounds
By Greg Laswell
Album: Three Flights From Alto Nido

Oh who would have ever known this?
Could be this easy
I was a long, long way off
Then just like that it was over
Everything I knew of love
I was a long, long way off

And I think I like how the day sounds
Like how the day sounds through this new song

Thank you for opening the window
The sky is clear as my mind is now
I was a long, long way off
Join me in welcoming the sun in
It’s much brighter than the night I hid in
I was a long, long way off

And I think I like how the day sounds
Like how the day sounds through this new song
And I think I like how the day sounds
Like how the day sounds through this new song

From a long way down.

Yeah, it’s well worth the time that its taken to get here now
Yeah, it’s well worth the time that its taken to get here now

Ba da dum…

So go ahead and bang a gong
Nothing can drown out the sound and the whisper of my love

And I think I like how the day sounds
Like how the day sounds through this new song
And I think I like how the day sounds
Like how the day sounds through this new song
Through this new song
Through this new song

And the lines have all been drawn
I know where I belong, where I belong,
Where I belong
And the lines have all been drawn
I know where I belong
Where I belong

And I think I like how the day sounds
Like how the day sounds through this new song
And I think I like how the day sounds
Like how the day sounds through this new song

Oh, won’t you sing along
Oh, my love won’t you sing along
Oh, won’t you sing along
Oh, my love won’t you sing along
Oh, won’t you sing along
Oh, my love won’t you sing along
Oh, won’t you sing along
Oh, my love won’t you sing along

Upward over the Mountain by Iron and Wine

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I was impressed by Ben Myers’ recent post reflecting on the relationship between grace, gift and gratitude, on the gifts that God has given and the way in which we then try and return gifts to God.

Ben used the lyrics from the song “Upward over the mountain” by the band Iron and Wine and the relationship between mother and son to explore Paul’s words “What do you have that you did not receive?” and Augustine’s insistence on the absolute priority of God’s action towards us.

As I’ve not added a song to here for a while (something I shall attempt to rectify very soon) I thought I’d add the song and Ben’s post to the hymnal, Ben writes:

The song is an achingly beautiful depiction of the relationship between a son and his mother. The son is united to his mother through the gift of life and through the history they have shared. He recalls that fragile, fleeting moment after birth, “the blink of an eye when I breathed through your body.” But while acknowledging this connection, he also reminds his mother of the painful distance which adulthood opens up between them. He has outgrown the faith she once gave him: “Mother I lost it, all of the fear of the Lord I was given.” He asks her – impossibly – to “forget me, now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to.”

And yet he remains haunted by their bond, by the fact that his entire life – with all its griefs and freedoms – remains an unfathomable gift. In one of the song’s most poignant lines, he pleads: “Mother forgive me, I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you.” This line could serve as an exquisite parable of the whole relationship between child and mother: even when he gives her a gift, there is a tragic incommensurability between what he gives her and all that he has already received from her. Any gift to the mother is at best a mere trinket, at worst a kind of theft in which the very possibility of giving is painfully wrested from her.

Read the full post here: Iron & Wine and Augustine: on grace and mothers by Ben Myers

Video

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Upward over the Mountain
by Iron and Wine
Album: The Creek Drank the Cradle

Mother don’t worry, I killed the last snake that lived in the creek bed
Mother don’t worry, I’ve got some money I saved for the weekend
Mother remember being so stern with that girl who was with me?
Mother remember the blink of an eye when I breathed through your body?

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds flying upwards over the mountain

Mother I made it up from the bruise on the floor of this prison
Mother I lost it, all of the fear of the Lord I was given
Mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to
Mother forgive me, I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons can be birds taken broken up to the mountain

Mother don’t worry, I’ve got a coat and some friends on the corner
Mother don’t worry, she’s got a garden, we’re planting it together
Mother remember the night that the dog had her pups in the pantry?
Blood on the floor and fleas on their paws, and you cried till the morning

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds flying always over the mountain

Jesus Was A Democrat by Everclear

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The US Election is looming, last time around (that seems like a long and painful time ago) I linked to Eminem’s “Mosh” which was designed to encourage young people to enroll to vote (and then to vote) in the elections. This year the band Everclear has jumped on the election bandwagon and released a free-to-download mp3 of their song “Jesus Was A Democrat.”

I love the lyrics, and the timing of this song release, I’m always happy to hear people asking who Jesus was, what he stood for, who’s side he’d take, who’d be the people he’d hang with…

But…

I can see that, in a time when there’s only two choices Democrat or Republican one can say that Jesus is not one, therefore he must have been the other. But I think that’s an incorrect assumption, and, as much as people might not like me saying this, I don’t think that Jesus was a Democrat, just as much as I’m certain that he wasn’t a Republican.

I think Jesus was more likely to be a terrorist, or at the very least be seen as someone who poses a similar threat to those who might be named (under the current regime) as a terrorist. In his time he didn’t side with either form of power and rule of the time, not the religious rule, nor the political rule.

I think Jesus was more likely to be a rebel, someone who didn’t have a constituency funding his advertising campaign, he wouldn’t have done well in fundraisers, he’d sooner spend the night in a cardboard box with the homeless than at a fundraising dinner, or a political debate.

And, as much as many may hate me for saying this. Jesus would not have been American.

And, as much as many might think they’d vote for him if he stood for presidency, I’m sure that he wouldn’t have been voted in, instead he’d have lost to a right winger calling for war and the end of terror all while spreading fear and terror.

I don’t want to wage a war here over who I’d vote for in the US elections soon, because I can’t, and because I’ve seen what happens to blogs that do just that, instead I want to say that if Jesus wasn’t a republican, or a democrat, I wonder who he’d vote for in the US election if he had the chance.

And if Homeland Security didn’t have him incarccerated at the time for speaking out against the system and being unpatriotic…

Go, please vote, please vote not because one says they’re more Christian than the other, don’t vote because one seems more patriotic than the other, don’t vote because you think one did more in the wars that the US have waged over the years…

Vote because you think whoever you’re voting for would sooner die than see the poor starve, the homeless alone, the naked without a jacket. And then hold whoever you did vote for to account for the decisions that they make.

Anyone comfortable with Jesus being a Communist?

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*Edit* With me being an Aussie I wasn’t aware that Art Alexakis of Everclear is an outspoken Democrat which doesn’t make this a bad song, but does raise a few questions for me. The major one is regarding the making of Jesus in our image and how often we try and do that, just a push here, a line crossed there, a smudge over there and there we have it, a Jesus with our own political and ethical leanings.  The Republicans do it all the time, why not the Democrats, the Evangelicals do it all the time, why not the Liberals…? The Rich do it all the time, why not the… hang on… but Jesus was poor…

The interesting thing is that I don’t think we need to edit the image of Christ at all to discover something that radically challenges all our political systems and our financial systems.

I don’t think Jesus was a Democrat, AND I’m sure he wasn’t a Republican.

And I don’t think he’d be like me at all, but I’m always tempted to edit, re-image Jesus into my own image, and, I guess we all have that temptation every now and then… There’s a title for a new song: “Jesus was a big fat old youth worker mac user coca-cola addict with long hair.”

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You may also be keen on reading this piece by Clive Davis:

And that’s what we have in America today, only one side.  Everybody’s on his own side, only speaking to himself, like-minded people.  Who’s going to change the equation?  Certainly not politicians, elected officials.  Obama’s got to say he’s for drilling to get elected, because the person paying four bucks a gallon doesn’t know that it’ll take eons for said oil to reach the pump.  We’ve got the businessmen raping and pillaging, the politicians lying, at best being expedient, and the only people we can count on to speak the truth have abdicated their power, their duty, their role.  That’s what the job of the artist is.  To question authority, challenge convention, speak the unpopular, if it’s the truth.  And that’s what Art Alexakis and Everclear have done in “Jesus Was A Democrat”.

Read more: Jesus Was A Democrat by Clive Davis

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Video: Jesus Was A Democrat (Youtube)

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Jesus Was A Democrat
by Everclear

Jesus Christ didn’t have blue eyes or blond hair
He looked just like all those people that you want to kill
Spin your hell into a heaven you can sell
Make it look like California with a bible belt
Jesus didn’t look like the boy next door
Unless you live in Palestine
I wonder what you mean by the golden rule
I think it is a scary play on words
I wonder what they taught you back in Sunday school

I bet you think of him
As a nice clean long haired Republican, nah
He would be all locked up in Guantanamo Bay
If he were alive today
He would have been a revolutionary
Wanted by the CIA

I picture him in all the wrong places
Finding diamonds in the dirt
A star of David tattoo
And a Che t-shirt
Jesus Christ was a left wing radical Jew
Murdered by people like you

If Jesus was a Democrat like the bible says he was
I don’t think he’s going to want to take the blame
For all the awful things you say and do in his name

If Jesus was alive he would be sad to see
That it is no different than it used to be
Someday he’s going to call you out
I am pretty god damned sure ……
He is going to be angry
He is going to be angry

You want to know what I think?…….

I think Jesus would have been a card carrying liberal
If he was a young man born in the USA

He would not be “fiscally conservative”
And he wouldn’t vote for John McCain
All those so called Christians that you see on TV
Maybe they scare Jesus like they scare me
Kick you the hell out of my temple too
Too many elephants in the room

If Jesus was a Democrat like the bible says he was
I don’t think he’s going to want to take the blame
For all the awful things you people do and say in his name

If Jesus was alive today he would be sad to see
That it is no different than it used to be
Someday he’s going to call you out
I am pretty god damned sure……
He is going to be….mad
He is going to be angry
He is going to be….mad
He is going to be….mad

You say Jesus loves the little children
And I say I know that’s true
I say he loves all the Muslims and the Jews
All the addicts and the porn stars too
You say Jesus died to save us all from a fiery hell
I say Jesus died to save us
Save us from ourselves
Will you save me from myself?

If Jesus was a liberal like the red letters say he was
I know he would have big love for all the killers and the racists
And the bullies in this world

If Jesus was alive today
And you had a chance to meet him face to face
I’m pretty God-damned sure that you and your friends
Would find some way to kill him all over again
You would kill him all over again
Again and again and again
Just like you always do
You do just what you always do

Link: Jesus Was A Democrat by Everclear

Linkin Park – What I’ve Done

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Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight“When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I’ve done
Help me leave behind
Some reasons to be missed”

So sings Linkin Park on their new cd, an album which is full of songs about, well… Redemption, change, forgiveness, turning around. The album’s title “Minutes to Midnight” lead me to think that it’s about the minutes leading up to a new day, and those things that we need to do, acknowledge, forget, cleanse before a new day begins. I’m reminded of the bible verse from Ephesians “Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.”

In the song “What I’ve Done” the lyrics almost take the form of a prayer for forgiveness, but then that shouldn’t be too surprising, the entire cd is full of images of cries for forgiveness and of confession, about turning away from what I/we are and towards what I’m/we’re going to become. This is why “What I’ve Done” is so important to the entire album, if anything it’s the tie track, it’s the track that encapsulates the entire cd, it’s not just their best single from the cd, it is the cd, everything else in this cd seems to have been pulled from the song.

We’ve all had that time where we’ve fallen down on the floor, completely on our face, not willing, not able to raise our heads because the realisation of our short-fallings, our actions, our motives, our “sins” has come rushing upon us, and the weight of it all is too heavy to carry, so on the floor we lay, face down, tired, weary, burdened we cry out for someone to take it all on, to cleanse us, to start things anew. Sometimes these “sins” are ours, personally we own them, other times they are a group’s and in many cases it’s the sin of the world that we bear, we carry, all the wars in our names, the people killed that we don’t care about, those suffering from aids, crime, starvation, natural disasters, drought, things that we as a world should be able to fix, but choose not to.

This is a song about that, about turning around, about starting again, about saying “this is who we were, and this is who we’d like to be,” but it stops slightly short, just who do you want to be, how do you want to live, who will you be when all is washed away, when all is forgiven, when all is changed?

Another interesting thing for me is just who’s mercy is the singer calling out for? Is it the mercy of the public, the world, a person, who’s mercy is strong enough to cleanse this stuff, is there someone with the strength and ability to truly look at the singer and say “you’re cleansed”? And, as the images of the video clip start to flash upon our screens, a the song takes on a more worldly message, is there really anyone out there who can forgive that, anyone out there who will wash that kind of dirt from our hands?

This is where faith needs to kick in somehow, we don’t have the ability to cleanse like that, not others, not our lovers and definitely not ourselves, we don’t have the ability to forgive like that, I wish that my mercy was so strong, honestly I do, but it’s not. This is where we’re reminded of a God who’s grace is much larger than any of is can understand, who’s grace can wash us lean, can help us turn around, can lift the burdens of our past faliures off of us, can love us enough to lift us off of the ground and help us walk the new path that we’ve said we want to walk.

This is where the rest of our life starts though… Now that we’ve been cleansed how do we live, where do we walk, now we’ve forgiven ourselves how do we love, what do we sing, where do we go?

Jonathan McKee and Todd Pearage have written a discussion on this song over at the source4youthministry, check it out here: Linkin Park- “What I’ve Done”

What I’ve Done
by Linkin Park
Album: Minutes to Midnight.

In this farewell,
There’s no blood,
There’s no alibi.
‘Cause I’ve drawn regret,
From the truth,
Of a thousand lies.

So let mercy come,
And wash away…

What I’ve Done.
I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become.
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done.

Put to rest,
What you thought of me.
While I clean this slate,
With the hands,
Of uncertainty.

So let mercy come,
And wash away…

What I’ve Done.
I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become.
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done.

For What I’ve Done

I’ll start again,
And whatever pain may come.
Today this ends,
I’m forgiving what I’ve done.

I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become.
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done.
What I’ve done.

Forgiving What I’ve Done.

Tom Waits – Chocolate Jesus

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mulevariations.jpgDuncan’s linked to a story about an exhibition by Cosimo Cavallaro that’s recently been withdrawn/canceled due to opposition by a number of religious people who have labeled the exhibition blasphemous.

You see, the exhibition was of a sculpture of Christ on the cross…

That was not only anatomically correct…

Without a “shame cloth” to cover his body parts…

But also made out of chocolate…

200 pounds of chocolate infact…

Whether the chocolate was dark or milk is unknown…

Neither Do we know if it was filled with raspberry filling…

Or if the sculpture was hollow…

Or where to buy a mold for our next Easter service…

Or how the Easter Bunny was going to deliver it to the art gallery…

200 pounds is a lot of chocolate, even for the Easter Bunny…

I’m just glad that he used brown chocolate…

And not white, like most portraits…

From Duncan’s post:

Cosimo Cavallaro, New York sculptor, has decided not to go ahead with the display of his chocolate sculpture, “Jesus, the 485,600 calorie Messiah”. The exhibition was to be opened on Monday April 2 at the Lab Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel. 200 pounds of chocolate, donated by the San Francisco based Theo Chocolate Company.

The exhibition is not going ahead because of the flood of complaints that the exhibition was blasphemous, organised largely by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Complaints from Christians in this case have included threats to boycott the hotel and harm those who work there.

So what’s the problem? It appears as though many Christians were offended that Jesus was being portrayed in chocolate. Not only was the body made from food products. Jesus was to be shown naked, anatomically correct. Many sculpures of the crucifixion over time have included a ’shame cloth’. But not all. Perhaps people were worried that the body of Jesus might be eaten. Hmmm.

Link: Chocolate Jesus

Made me think of another Jesus song…

Chocolate Jesus
by Tom Waits
Album: Mule Variations

Dont go to church on sunday
Dont get on my knees to pray
Dont memorize the books of the bible
I got my own special way
Bit I know jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more

I fall on my knees every sunday
At zerelda lees candy store

Well its got to be a chocolate jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate jesus
Keep me satisfied

Well I dont want no anna zabba
Dont want no almond joy
There aint nothing better
Suitable for this boy
Well its the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate jesus
Can satisfy my soul

When the weather gets rough
And its whiskey in the shade
Its best to wrap your savior
Up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy
But thats ok
Pour him over ice cream
For a nice parfait

Well its got to be a chocolate jesus
Good enough for me
Got to be a chocolate jesus
Good enough for me

Well its got to be a chocolate jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate jesus
Keep me satisfied

Christina Aguilera – Makes Me Wanna Pray

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Whats up with me? Why am I keen to listen to songs by Pink and Christina again? What is it about watching young women who used to write/sing songs about being an angsty, sexy grumpy and anti-establishment decide to grow up and throw a more “mature” album into the public? Pink’s always been a chick who I respected, many of her songs actually digging deep into the experience of teenagers, but Christina has, in my mind at least been the anti-britney spears, in that you seemed to only like one or the other, and, without a release from Britney for a while out comes a double disk by Christina screaming out the words “I’ve changed” and “I’m Growing up” something that the magazines seem to be suggesting Britney is far from doing.

Christina’s even written a song on this release called “Still Dirrty” in which she sings:

They saying I’m looking like a lady
They say that love has gone and changed me
But don’t be fooled by everything you see
Gotta let the naughty in me free

There’s a woman inside of all of us
Who never quite seems to get enough
Trying to play by the rules is rough
Cause sooner or later something’s gonna erupt us

Cause I still got that nasty in me
Still got that dirrty degree (still got it)
And if you want some more sexy
Still got that freak in me
I still got that nasty in me
Still got that dirrty degree (oh yeah)
And if you want some more sexy
Still got that freak in me

It’s almost like she wants to say “yes, I’ve changed, but I’m still the same…”

I guess it’s got to be hard for a teen actor or musician to mark their growing up, soome might have a baby, some might take a break, some might need a time in rehab in order to say “I’ve grown up” while others, like Pink and Christina seem to release a cd that’s gor a little more depth to it than their previous releases. Has she grown up? What makes one “grow up” and how do we discern maturity, especially in those who we only know through their music and the magazines?

The song I’ve added today is from the latest release Back to Basics, it’s a song of a woman who has grown up, yet finds it hard to believe, and what makes her whole, what makes her complete? “Love” It’s this “love” that she can’t believe that is changing her on the inside and out, it makes her want to celebrate, to sing, to pray. Who is she singing to? A lover? God? A family member? whatever it is it’s this love that has broken through and changed her, which, as Christians we can and should attest to, for Love afterall is God, and as much as God can change us so can the belief in, the experience of Love.

Unlike the song “LOVE” by Ashlee Simpson in which she sings about love but doesn’t seem to know it, or say anything about it Christina sings about the experience of Love and how life changing it is, how it makes one feel, one act, one grow, one complete.

Making a slight change in the words of Tom Cruise “Love Completes Me.”

And how do we react to that feeling of love, that experience of the other? We pray…

Makes Me Wanna Pray
by Christina Aguilera (feat. Steve Winwood)
Album: Back to Basics

What is this feeling coming over me?
I’m taken back in disbelief
Is this really me, ha! in the mirror I see?
Staring back at me:
Could it be? A new reflection of a woman complete

All of a sudden I’m so care-free
’cause love is doing something strange to me
Got a new flame, ha! haven’t been the same
Something in me’s changed, rearranged
And I feel that I’ve been saved

You got me feeling like you’re that something I’ve been missing
Everything’s heaven ’cause life with you has been a blessing

I got it bad in a serious way, oh yeah
Your love has brought me to a higher place, oh yeah
It’d be you to restore my faith
Everyday, I’m amazed
And it makes me wanna get down and pray
Makes me wanna get down and pray
Said it makes me wanna get down and pray
Yeah-hey

I’ve kept some company I shouldn’t have (well alright)
Made some mistakes but that’s in the past (well alright)
I’m professing here to you
Proof that I am through

I’m coming clean
Now I can breathe
and I finally believe, yeah

You got me thinking I’ll be alright, and you’re the reason
Ooh I can feel it, we’re moving in a new direction

I got it bad in a serious way, oh yeah
Your love has brought me into a higher place, oh yeah
It’d be you to restore my faith
Everyday, I’m amazed
And it makes me wanna get down and pray
Makes me wanna get down and pray
Said it makes me wanna get down and pray
Makes me wanna get down and pray
Makes me wanna get down and pray

Where would I be? Where would I be?
Without you by my side
Where would I be? Where would I be?
Without you standing by

Makes me wanna (pray)
Makes me need to (pray)
When I’m feeling low and all alone,
You’re the light in my day, yeah

I got it bad in a serious way, oh yeah
Your love has brought me into a higher place, oh yeah
It’d be you to restore my faith
Everyday, I’m amazed
’cause it makes me wanna get down and pray
’cause it makes me wanna get down and pray
Makes me wanna get down and pray

Woo, thank you father!

Wanna lift my hands up and pray
’cause everytime I’m hearing your name
Wanna reach out and rejoice
Sound of your voice, yeah

Hey yeah
Alright
That’s it

Pink – Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self

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This site’s been sitting silent for a while, not because I’ve stopped listening to music, heck no, but because sometimes I find the amount of things that I’ve got underway overwhelming, and so, while I have enough material for every day for the next couple of years I’d chosen to give it a break, but I think I’m going to try and post at least one song here a week from here on, I might even get to write up my “cd of the week” on a weekly basis too.

I’ve become a Pink fan, who’d have thunk it? I’m not sure what it is about the sometimes stuck up big mouthed, messy young lass but she’s got my attention, a little while ago I posted a piece on her song “Stupid Girls” and today I find myself pulling out yet anothersong from the same cd “I’m Not Dead.” The song is titled “Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self” an idea that I’m sure a number of us have had as we’ve grown up, perhaps we want to tell ourselves not to take drugs, to not fall in love with the girl who hurt us the most, to study more, to be more happy, to love our parents more, whatever our dream I’m sure we’ve all shared it at one point of time or other.

I wonder if this’d be a good project to run with the adults in our church community, perhaps by either video taping interviews or holding an evening dedicated to sharing with each other our deepest regrets or our biggest lesson learnt, and what we’d tell ourselves if we, were able to approach our younger self with “things i know now but wish I knew then.” I wonder what the effect of such an evening would be, I wonder what would happen if we translated these things and placed them alongside our concepts of youth ministry, of what we’d like for our young people. I wonder how many of these themes could be seen as the anxieties that drive our ministry with young people.

I’m reminded of a piece from Mark Yaconelli’s book Contemplative Youth Ministry in which he writes:

Anxiety seeks control. (How do I make kids into Christians?)
Love seeks contemplation. (How can I be present to kids and to God?)
.
Anxiety seeks professionals. (Who is the expert that can solve the youth problem?)
Love seeks processes. (What can we do together to uncover Jesus’ way of life?)
.
Anxiety wants products. (What book, video, or curriculum will teach kids about faith?)
Love desires presence. (Who will bear the life of God among teenagers?)
.
Anxiety lifts up gurus. (Who has the charisma to draw kids?)
Love relies on guides. (Who has the gifts for living alongside kids?)
.
Anxiety rests in results. (How many kids have committed to the faith?)
Love rests in relationships. (Who are the kids we’ve befriended?)
.
Anxiety seeks conformity. (Are the youth meeting our expectations?)
Love brings out creativity. (In what fresh way is God challenging us through our kids?)
.
Anxiety wants activity. (What will keep the kids busy?)
Love brings awareness. (What are the real needs of the youth?)
.
Anxiety seeks answers. (Here’s what we think. Here’s who God is.)
Love seeks questions. (What do you think? Or as Jesus said, “Who do you say that I am?)
[Contemplative Youth Ministry – Mark Yaconelli pp.79-80]

I wonder if we held an evening for adults to share with one another their lessons learnt, if we typed out all their lessons, if we video taped the conversation would we be able to piece together a statement or article or media item that could be shared with the young people in the community. I wonder how much the process could assist the adults in the community to register their anxieties, and for the young people to hear stories from those who are older and more learned than them. That could be an interesting time of sharing….

What would you tell yourself if you bumped into the 13 year old you?

Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self
by Pink
Album: I’m Not Dead

Conversations with my thirteen year old self
Conversations with my thirteen year old self

You’re angry
I know this
The world couldn’t care less
You’re lonely
I feel this
And you wish you were the best
No teachers
Or guidance
And you always walk alone
You’re crying
At night when
Nobody else is home

Come over here and let me hold your hand and hug you darling
I promise you that it won’t always feel this bad
There are so many things I want to say to you
You’re the girl I used to be
You little heartbroken thirteen year old me

You’re laughing
But you’re hiding
God I know that trick too well
You forget
That I’ve been you
And now I’m just the shell
I promise
I love you and
Everything will work out fine
Don’t try to
Grow up yet
Oh just give it some time

The pain you feel is real you’re not asleep but it’s a nightmare
But you can wake up anytime
Oh don’t lose your passion or the fighter that’s inside of you
You’re the girl I used to be
The pissed off complicated thirteen year old me

Conversations with my thirteen year old self
Conversations with my thirteen year old self

Until we meet again
Oh I wish you well oh
I wish you well
Little girl
Until we meet again
Oh
I wish you well
Little girl
I wish you well
Until we meet again
My little thirteen year old me

Ben Harper – Both Sides Of The Gun CD1

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Ben Harper - Both Sides Of The Gun
Artist: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun
CD 1

Morning Yearning

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

a fingers touch upon my lips
it’s a morning yearning
pull the curtains shut, try and keep it dark
but the sun is burning

the world awakens on the run
and will soon be earning
with hopes of better days to come
it’s a morning yearning

another day, another chance to get it right
must i still be learning
baby crying kept us up all night
with her morning yearning

like a summer rose, im a victim of the fall
but am soon returning
your love’s the warmest place the
sun ever shines
my morning yearning

——————–

Waiting for You

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

i’ve been waiting for you
never found anything else to do
but waiting for you

i’ve been calling your name
never found anything else the same
nothings the same

i keep hearing your name
nothing else sounds the same
nothings the same

ive been hoping for you
what else can i do
but keep hoping for you

you can kill a lot of time
if you really put your mind to it
or leave it all behind
and never go through with it

what else can i do

keep waiting for you

——————–

Picture in a Frame

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

you can sell your soul
but you can’t buy it back
i’ve spent my whole life
working to give you
everything you lack

i would gladly trade
all of my sympathy
for sorrow
if i could have you
here with me tomorrow

so many wasted days
the past is so hard to get out from under
so many words that i wish i could say
the future rattles my bones weak like thunder

i wish you were here
so we could walk and talk
in the soft rain
now that’s all that’s left of us
is a picture sitting in a frame

everything i wish for
is everything i see
i remember when your kisses were for me

——————–

Never Leave Lonely Alone

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

like an old man
sitting alone at a lunch counter
like a small town girl
a big city devours
some of us laugh
even in our darkest hour

never leave lonely alone

unspoken rules of solitude
wound without a trace
a lifetime of dreams roll down your face
all that we can’t say
is all we need to hear
when you close your eyes
does the world disappear

there’s something in everyone
only they know
it moves in the hidden ways
of joy and sorrow

never leave lonely alone

——————–

Sweet Nothing Serenade

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

(Instrumental)

——————–

Reason to Mourn

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

i can’t know the hell you love
but i know you’ve had enough
some baptize in water
some in flames

what has life done to you
all you ever wanted was someone to run to you
there’s more to life than what makes you cry

don’t you give me a reason to mourn
look into my eyes with all your hate and scorn
there’s more to life than what makes you cry

don’t you give me a reason to mourn
look into my eyes with all your hate and scorn
i’ll remove the crown of sorrow which you have
been adorned
but don’t you give me a reason to mourn

——————–

More than Sorry

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

goodbye
hasn’t been so good to me
stepped out into the night
back against the moon
i saw ten thousand hands with candlelight
we all think that we’re all right
it’s hard to tell
if the night is full of hope or doom

my eyes
burn with unshed tears
my body is weak
from so many silent years
too many people say goodbye
before they say hello
step into the morning
and disappear

what more than sorry can i say
what more than sorry can i say
before our love fades away
what more than sorry
do you want from me

——————–

Cryin’ Won’t Help You Now

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

sit there and call me
a liar and a cheat
i just wish you’d pin a rose on me
now you won’t even
come out and take a bow

cryin’ won’t help you now

now your poets
have all put down their pens
the only songs to sing
are those sung again
lonely just doesn’t
look good on you somehow

cryin’ won’t help you now

i just keep on staring
into the black eyes of the truth
we’ll have to learn to live apart somehow

cryin’ won’t help you now

——————–

Happy Everafter In Your Eyes

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

the morning sunrise spread her wings
while the moon hung in the sky
held the sea in your hands
and happy everafter in your eyes

couldn’t leave you to go to heaven
i carry you in my smile
for the first time my true reflection i see
happy everafter in your eyes

every star in the night
promises the dawn
i will be there if you fall
to ever so heavily rest upon

all i can give you
is forever to keep
wake up every day with a dream
and happy everafter in your eyes

happy everafter in your eyes

Ben Harper – Both Sides Of The Gun CD2

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Ben Harper - Both Sides Of The Gun
Artist: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun
CD 2

Better Way

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

i’m a living sunset
lightning in my bones
push me to the edge
but my will is stone

fools will be fools
and wise will be wise
but i will look this world
straight in the eyes

what good is a man
who won’t take a stand
what good is a cynic
with no better plan

reality is sharp
it cuts at me like a knife
everyone i know
is in the fight of their life

take your face out of your hands
and clear your eyes
you have a right to your dreams
and don’t be denied

i believe in a better way

——————–

Both Sides of The Gun

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

living these days is making me nervous
archaic doctrine no longer serve us
now we’re left as silent witnesses
we dont know quite what it is
other than a war that can’t be won

i feel like i’m crowded, i can’t get out
world keeps filling me up with doubt
when you’re trapped you got no voice
where you’re born you got no choice
other than to go and take you some

one dimensional fool
in a three dimensional world

politics, it’s a drag
they put one foot in the grave
and the other on the flag
systems rotten to the core
young and old deserve much more
than struggling every day till you’re done

tension
too much to mention
living on both sides of the gun

——————–

Engraved Invitation

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

i wish i was a thought
i’d run all through your mind
and come out being everything
you ever tried to find

life’s the longest picture
you’re ever going to take
love’s the longest promise
that you’re ever going to break

i wish that i could yell sorry
louder than i screamed
all of those other things
i said but didn’t mean

some days i’m the lords servant
some days i’m satan’s pawn
some days i just wish
the voices in my head were gone

the sun’s a moon that warms you
the moon’s a sun with no heat
the sky above is to remind you
what’s under your feet

this life’s not big enough
to fit our love inside
cause i remember you from heaven
the last time i died
it’s an engraved invitation
to leave all this time we’ve been wasting

——————–

Black Rain

Written by: Harper/Yates
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

you left them swimming for their lives
down in new orleans
can’t afford a gallon of gasoline
with your useless degrees and contrary statistics
this government business is straight up sadistic

now you don’t fight for us
but expect us to die for you
you have no sympathy for us
but still i cry for you
now you may kill the revolutionary
but the revolution you can never bury

don’t speak to us like we work for you
selling false hope like some new dope we’re addicted to
i’m not a desperate man but these are desperate times at hand
this generation is beyond your command

and it won’t be long
’til the people flood the streets
to take you down
one and all
a black rain is gonna fall

——————–

Gather ‘Round The Stone

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

you’re too young to know
that you’re too young to go
there’s no freedom to be found
lying face up in the ground

ashes from an unfinished life
are all that’s left
in a tear-drop-shaped locket
hanging from his mother’s chest

you whip the back of freedom
‘till it bleeds an oil stream
then you sail down upon it
in your killing machine

old men who send children
off to die in vain
they will hear death’s constant whisper
call remember my name

gather ’round the stone

——————–

Please Don’t Talk About Murder While I’m Eating

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

you’re the first one to get there
and always the last one to leave
you’re the first one to chuckle
but the last one to grieve
i know all to well the world takes
a daily beating

please don’t talk about murder while i’m eating

you walk into the temple
and call it a church
i try to keep things simple
but you always need the works
your life is marked by numbers and symbols
excessive drinking from out of golden thimbles
just a moment of silence i’m needing

so let’s not talk about murder while i’m eating

you get all hot and bothered
at the strangest times and places
but don’t notice the looks on all the other faces
you’re dressed for summer in the middle of december
what you’ve all but forgotten
i painfully remember
i don’t care in the least what you’re reading
please don’t talk about murder while i’m eating

——————–

Get It Like You Like It

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

throw your hands up to the sky
and scream out loud i’m free
’cause wrong is the new right
so we can cut loose tonight
it costs a lot to look this cheap

fire makes it burn and water makes it turn
we must still be here living on earth
they keep telling me jesus walked on water
he shoulda surfed

in 1918 the great bambino
kicked a piano into willis pond
but johnny damon swung a bat
grand slam that was that
an 86 year curse is gone

throw your hands up to the sky
and scream i’m not alone
is it irony or fate
don’t become what you hate
we’ve all got stardust in our bones

get it like you like it

——————–

The Way You Found Me

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

the more i smoke, the more i drink
the more i talk, the less i think
the less i think, the more i feel
folks don’t change
they just reveal

my mind is broke, my last nerve is shot
what you want from me, i ain’t got
two plus two will never be twenty-two
so please don’t tell me twice what i need to do

there’s no rules to lust
only passion, and it can be so unjust
if we don’t speak, we’ll get along just fine
don’t ask me how i’m doing
cause i don’t feel like lying

take me as i am
or leave me the way you found me

——————–

Serve Your Soul

Written by: Ben Harper
Album: Both Sides Of The Gun

battles over which direction to kneel
people reaching out to touch
but forgetting to feel
daily breath shouldn’t be a daily penance
is that what you believe
or just a life sentence

i look into the mirror
and i see someone there i used to know
they all want you to serve them
but the only one you got to serve
is your soul

so much time
and at such cost
we spend looking for what we’ve lost
now that you know
you can’t find it from him
you’re gonna have to find it within

i look into the mirror
and i see that life has taken its toll
they’ll all want you to serve them
but the only one you got to serve
is your soul

listen to the wind it won’t lie to you
if you love it let it go
and watch it fly to you
every setting sun gently weeps
you can always hear it
cause trust never sleeps

Ashlee Simpson – L.O.V.E

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ashleesimpson.jpg

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

    Love never gives up.
    Love cares more for others than for self.
    Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
    Love doesn’t strut,
    Doesn’t have a swelled head,
    Doesn’t force itself on others,
    Isn’t always “me first,”
    Doesn’t fly off the handle,
    Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
    Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
    Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
    Puts up with anything,
    Trusts God always,
    Always looks for the best,
    Never looks back,
    But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. 9We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. 0But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
– 1 Corinthians 13

Before I headed out today to a SU planning day I wanted to add a song by Ashlee Simpson titled “LOVE,” it’s had a lot of airplay lately, as has Pink’s new track mentioned below, what strikes me is that for a song that’s apparently all about love it says very little about it. Ashlee keeps singing “I’m talking about love” but it seems that she’s limiting her talk to the spelling of the word as apart from it’s meaning, and in the clip that goes with the song she’s seeming to be getting over a boyfriend and dancing with friends than expressing it.

I wonder what Ashlee knows about real love, now I’m talking about love, the sacrificial, give it all, to death, stand up for you, open arms, better or worse, i forgive you, was your feet with my hair and tears, drop my family and my fishing boat to follow you kind of love… the kind of love that man of us really can’t explain. Paul in the verses above explains what love is in this famous passage, and when i sit it alongside Ashlee’s version of love, which she sums up as “an energy, a mystery, meant to be true, a part of me, the heart of me, the best thing we do” I know which one describes it better.

This song comes from someone who sounds like they’d like to talk about love but who doesnt know it for themselves, and it’s been picked up by a generation who needs to know what love really is… and I wonder if we’re ready to not only talk about love but to live it…

Love
by Ashlee Simpson
Album: I Am Me

“L-O-V-E”

I’m talkin’ bout love
All my girls stand in a circle and clap your hands this is for you
Ups and downs highs and lows no matter what you see me through
My boyfriend he don’t answer on the telephone
I don’t even know where the hell he goes
But all my girls we’re in a circle and nobody’s gonna break through

L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
Oh did you hear me say?
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
Oh did you hear me say
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
Im talkin’ bout
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O

I’m talkin’ bout love, say you’ll be my girls for life
Girls for life
Oh hold up, I need another one
I thank you, you do too
Grab my bag, got my own money
Don’t need any man in this room
My boyfriend he’ll be calling me now anytime
I need all my girls to keep him off my mind
So hold up we need another one
What we got is all good

L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
Oh did you hear me say?
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
Oh did you hear me say?
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
I’m talking bout
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O

I’m talkin’ bout love
Love is an energy, love is a mystery
Love is meant to be true
Love is a part of me, love is the heart of me
Love is the best thing we do

I’m talking bout love
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
Oh did you hear me say?
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
Did you hear me say?
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
I’m talkin’ bout
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
I’m talkin’ bout love
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
Oh did you hear me say?
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
I’m talkin’ bout love
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
I’m talkin’ bout love
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
I’m talkin’ bout love
L-O,L-O,L-O,L-O-V-E
L-O,L-O,L-O
I’m talkin’ bout im talkin’ bout im talkin’ bout love