Category: 2020

Jane writes:

I remember the first time I heard this song and it made me catch my breath.

It is the kind of song that stops you in your tracks. It has a beautiful simple melody, backed my careful sensitive musicianship that favours its subject matter but it is without doubt for me the lyrical content that made an impact on my soul. (I’ve popped the words down below if you need a look)

It’s the kind of song that raises all sorts of feelings and emotions that mean you might get a bit worked up.

It saddens me greatly that our society is one where we think it’s ok to treat people as “other” because they are simply not like us. In a way that makes them less worthy of care or protection or a way that seeks to prove we’re better. It almost seems in the current Post-Brexit climate that to reclaim our own identity as British or English we have to diminish the value of others who are simply not what we consider “standard white” or those who “simply don’t try hard enough”. I use the word ‘we’ not because I think like that but because we are all entangled in a thoughtstream that lumps us together unless we are willing to say NO! I use the word ‘we’ because sometimes we don’t even pay enough attention to notice we’re doing it.

This song so poignantly tells the story of some cockle pickers on Morecombe Bay – you may remember it – and reflects on why they were killed, why they were treated so badly with unsafe working conditions and what happened to their families in the aftermath. It’s a story reflected often in our current news with people paid less, kept in conditions of modern day slavery, treated as less because they need sanctuary or refuge, charged to be rescued, dismissed or vilified for being different, regarded with suspicion.

It’s a song of lament and provocation. People are treated this way – why?

I believe in a God that loves everyone. A God that says WE must too. Not just to be kind. Not just as a matter of common decency or respect. Not because it’s for show. Not because we need to be seen to be doing the right thing BUT because we are made in God’s image. Each one of us, different and unique. Each one adding to the rich tapestry that is God’s Kingdom. Each one valued as an individual – not just as “them”

If people come to us seeking protection, away from the strife, away from the struggles and hardships of life and we have no response, what does that make us as Christians? What does that make us as society?

Oh, and for good measure I fear it is not just society that might be getting it all horribly wrong. The church does too as we continue to discriminate in our church communities because of gender, race, sexuality, age, politics …. I could go on.

I wonder what God is thinking even now having taken the time to show us through scripture and the life of Jesus what his Kingdom is really all about.

It sometimes takes a song written by genuine thoughtful artists to force us to face up to who we are and who we should be.

You can find out much more about Lau here https://www.lau-music.co.uk/

We say we’re not like them

A generation ago

We came on the same ships we were hidden below

Away from the strife

Away from the struggles and the hardships of life

I’m not an incomer

My parents were ghosts

Sir I was born here

So where would I go?

There’s ghosts on the motorway

The world is on fire

There’s ghosts on the sandflats as the water gets higher and higher

There’s ghosts in the brothels

Behind thick stony walls

There’s ghosts and their children in prison food halls

I’m not an incomer

My parents were ghosts

Sir I was born here

So where would I go?

Clive writes:

Bernie Leadon left The Eagles in 1975, allegedly perturbed at the direction the band was taking – musically and ethically. Musically, he seems to have been broader in his interests and tastes than he’s been given credit for. But what he’d brought to the band during his time with them was a Gospel and bluegrass element. ‘I Wish You Peace’ was co-written with Patti Davis, and accepted by other band members with some reluctance as the final track on the truly magnificent 1975 album One of These Nights. It’s almost a prayer. It’s heading in the direction of a blessing. It’s not specifically Christian or even explicitly theistic. But that’s what makes it flexible and able to be appreciated and owned by people ‘of many faiths and none’. Musically, it’s gently upholding and calmly uplifting. As the music does its stuff, peace, hope, strength and love are encouraged. In the face of storms, low points, cold, loneliness and feverish or hard times, kind words can prove effective and embraces can supply warmth. Love can flow, and does this through practical actions. 

How The Eagles might have developed in the late 70s and beyond had Bernie Leadon not left is one of those great ‘What ifs’. But he did leave, even if he reappeared as a band-member on some of their more recent reunion performances and tours. He has not produced a huge amount of solo or other music in his own right afterwards (though check out his 1977 album Natural Progressions with Michael Georgiades, and the 1985 bluegrass initiative Ever Call Ready, a one-off Gospel album).  

My own encounter with the original was as a result of my brother’s vinyl collection. Hours spent nipping into his room (with his permission) and mining the riches of what he’d assembled meant discovering hidden gems like this beyond the ‘greatest hits’. It’s a kind of spiritual discipline: not putting up just with what the critics, or the sales results, throw in your direction, but engaging with the range of what’s out there, and with all of an artist’s/band’s recorded work. It also means looking for, and potentially responding positively to, not just what’s identifiably Christian or religious. God does stuff in and through all sorts of music…as regular readers of The Friday Fix know full well! 

Bernie Leadon doesn’t have his own website so you’ll have to make more effort to find out about him!

The Eagles have a website at https://eagles.com/.

Gill writes:

The story goes that one day Groucho Marx was getting off an elevator and he happened to meet a clergyman. The clergyman came up to him, put out his hand and said, ‘I want to thank you for all the joy you’ve put into the world.’ Groucho shook hands and replied, ‘Thank you, Reverend. I want to thank you for all the joy you’ve taken out of it.

Sometimes we can be a bit too serious about stuff. Including music and lyrics. No surprise that we get so caught up when music and lyrics move us so much. We cry; we lament; we rage; we ponder. We’re moved to act by music we listen to and lyrics that we hear.

But sometimes, we just need to have a bit of joy. Something to amuse us. Beats that help us to tap our feet. Words that you can’t help but giggle and shake your head at. That’s where Barenaked Ladies (also known as BNL) come in for me. Even their name raises eyebrows for some, I suppose.

Some of their songs are actually incredibly poignant and deep with a melody that moves you like ‘The Old Apartment’. Others raise a smile and wonder at verbal agility like ‘One Week’. The song that I have chosen to share is a BNL ‘absolute classic’ that always brings their concerts to a close. You never know quite what you will get at each concert because the banter between verses is always different but it always hangs together with established lyrics in the verses like:

If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I’d buy you a fur coat (but not a real fur coat that’s cruel)
And if I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
Well I’d buy you an exotic pet (yep, like a llama or an emu)

Perhaps the loveliest aspect of this song at their concerts is that the crowd joins in (as you will see in the video) and that feeling of oneness that you get with singing and laughing together is just the perfect end to a concert.

Sometimes we need to lighten up and enjoy ‘stuff’. As a music lover and popular ‘culture vulture’, I need to hear this. As a Christian, I need to hear this. Sometimes I need to see the human side of Christ. The Jesus who laughed and giggled.

The American Quaker Elton Trueblood wrote a book called ‘The Humor of Christ’ where he lists 30 passages from the Gospels that show how Jesus used humour.  It’s maybe because we have heard and read the stories time after time that we are unable to see that Jesus said some things with his tongue in his cheek.  Or maybe because so much time has passed since the Gospel’s were written that we fail to understand the context or irony of the time.

But I think I am with Trueblood on this – Jesus must have injected his teachings with humour otherwise so many people would not have been drawn to him.  The best public speakers are the ones who tell the truth but say it with humour.  And I think Jesus would have been very adept at this.  He knew that there is many a true word spoken in jest.

Humour is what pulls people in.  It breaks down barriers and puts us in a happy place.  Because we feel at peace momentarily, we are open to ideas and thoughts and are even open to being challenged.  It shows that we are human and that are eyes are open.  Sometimes we need to laugh together to reach a place of common ground and the beginnings of reconciliation.

BNL are touring Britain in 2020 if you fancy popping along to see them! Find out more by visiting https://www.barenakedladies.com/.