I have hardly stopped singing (and dancing along to) this since I heard it. The uplifting beat of this song raises my spirits and makes me want to dance!
Jesca Hoop was brought up Mormon in America and has now settled in the UK.
She describes losing her family’s faith saying, “Now I feel free of it: I have faith in people”
We have all just been through a period of mourning for the Queen who many describe as the mother (or grandmother) of the nation. My own Mum died not long before the Queen, and all of this has set me thinking about what you ‘take in with your mother’s milk’.
For many of us in England much of what King Charles and his siblings took in from the Queen, through the cord almost, is also part of our communal history. The belief that we matter, that we are ‘rulers’, that we ‘know best’ and so on are (controversially perhaps) hard to get away from if we are born White and English.
“A fairy tale can tell no lie”
What, from our earliest days, is lie and what is truth?
How do we navigate the urge to become independent, while still being interdependent on so many other living things/people?
During these periods of mourning and remembrance, I have really valued thinking back through my earliest life and learning to value things I’d completely taken for granted. At the same time, I’ve valued the learning that I can let go, that nothing has to stay with me forever, that I will always have the upbringing I had but that it doesn’t need to be my whole future.
In an earlier stage of my life, there was a preacher who often said ‘I am coming more and more to believe…’ before he shared something that made us think.
I haven’t quite been snared by the ‘wild swimming’ bug like some of my friends have been. My social media feeds over the last couple of years have been increasingly peppered with images of friends in swimsuits, wetsuits, and a glamourous array of swimming hats. They are diving into plunge pools at the foot of waterfalls, or emerging from misty lakes, or walking towards a grey sea with a bunch of swimming buddies arm in arm.
Of course, I have considered succumbing to the bug. I do like swimming. I do like paddling in waves. I’ve always enjoyed building dams and striding through shallow rivers. However, I don’t like creatures swimming anywhere near me (this is the woman who ventured into Lake Galilee, took one look at all the fish, and walked straight back to the swimming pool). And I don’t like ‘deep.’ I think I am as much scared of depth as I am of heights. I once had to swim a race at Wigan International Pool (now gone) which was a 50m pool with a 5m deep end. I’d never been so fast at the beginning of a race as I was that day.
This song, however, took me to the seawater pool at Southport on the first time of hearing it. Possibly not in January as the song suggests but there were days in May and June when you couldn’t feel your hands or feet
Red bikini, running, slipping Get your stuff, we’re going swimming In January I can’t feel my feet or my hands Making me watch you do handstands Is this why you brought me?
I love it when a song conjures up nostalgic feelings where we can place our own images onto it. You don’t have to be from the north-west to understand handstands in water and shivering until the warmth of towels and clothes take effect. Of course, the rest of the song takes me further down memory lane as it’s all about Liverpool (where the band are from) – a pool where I would happily drown.
Don’t let me down If you listen, there’s a beautiful sound In a cold north western town We found a pool where we’d happily drown I wish I was there right now
One of the phrases that have crept into our vocabulary fairly recently is ‘making memories.’ I can’t say that I warm to it really. There’s something a bit too ‘consumerist’ in it for me, and it goes hand in hand with visiting a place because it looks good on Instagram. Perhaps I’m too much of a cynical Gen X-er but this phrase attributed to AA Milne (but probably not from him at all) works better for me – ‘We didn’t realise we were making memories, we were just having fun.’
I do concede, however, that it’s important to stop and savour the moment. We can be so caught up analyzing yesterday or preparing for tomorrow that we are not actually living in the present and noticing the small moments. I can’t, therefore, argue with the intentionality of ‘making memories.’ I think that great memories in our lives are of moments when all of our senses are engaged; we feel valued and loved; and we feel connected with others.
This song captures these feelings for me because my memories of living in Liverpool are full of love, laughter, new experiences, adventures and feeling liberated. It goes without saying that watching the video is no less nostalgic for me.
And because I was living in the moment so much, I can appreciate those days with lots of affection without a desperate yearning to go back to those times and places. They were special there and then; it wouldn’t be the same if I returned to try and recapture it all. After all, I am too busy living where I am right now.
Happiness Researcher (yes, it is an actual job) Meik Wiking says in his book ‘The Art of Making Memories’ – “As long as you live, keep learning how to live. And remember: one day, your life will flash before your eyes – make sure it is worth watching.”
I hope this summer is a time where you are blessed with moments of feeling connected, noticed, and loved. Go ahead and make some memories – and take time to be in the moment.
Kate Bush’s iconic “Running Up That Hill” song from 1985 is back in the UK charts thanks to ‘Stranger Things’ Series 4.
*MINOR SPOILER* The song is Max’s favourite and her friends work out that listening to it saves her from a monster.
‘Stranger Things’ is a magnificent TV series where friendship is celebrated, friendships brought together by being the weirdos, and unexpected friendships across.
I didn’t realise that the full title of this song is “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”. The chorus starts
“And if only I could
Make a deal with God
Get him to swap our places”
I don’t think God is ever likely to answer that prayer and swap people around, but the passion and the love to want what is best for our friends surely is part of the answer to the prayer.
We see Glimpses of God in the friendships on Stranger Things. A rare celebration not of Eros love but philia.
How often have we all felt like that when friends who we love are in dire straits?
The other week Deacon Jon Miller asked this on Twitter
My answer was that I saw glimpses of God when friends put together a magnificent party for another friend who turned 50. She is single and is used to providing for all her own needs and this gift of a surprise (kind of) party blew her away.
So my question for the week is, what are you and I going to do this week that if our friends were asked ‘where have you seen glimpses of God this week’, we could have been part of the answer?
Sometimes when you hear a track it, sends you off on a path of discovery around an artist. In the case of RLM, it was something on the Saturday ‘Dermot O’Leary Show’,. The old Saturday afternoon one and not in his current slot. It wasn’t “Trouble” either but a cover, although try hard as I might, I cannot now track it down.
Anyhow. What it made me do was that terribly modern thing of wander through his back catalogue – courtesy of Spotify. “You terrible woman” I hear the music purists cry, and in a way, I agree but I fear if I hadn’t done so I would not have been near this track.
It’s a simple, little repeated tune – sounding for all the world like it won’t affect anyone or anything in sharp contrast to its lyrical content. All statements and questions
Why so many people always run around
Looking for a happiness that can’t be found
For everyone resplendent in the wealth of kings
Thousands upon thousands only suffering
Why so many people only close their hearts
Turn their eyes as others’ lives are torn apart
When kindness is the greatest gift that one can share
Why choose hate to subjugate your fellow man
And the constant refrain… I don’t know, I don’t know.……
The world painted is an all too familiar one, and as we look across the global landscape with its many, many stories of tragedy and suffering, and downright greed or self-centredness, then we too may have a repeated refrain of ‘I don’t know, I don’t know’….. around what to do.
As people of faith though, I believe we do know what is right and what to do.
Oddly the answer is the same as the one RLM comes up with
Be part of the light
Try to be part of the solution. In any big or small way that you can lay your hands on.
God requires both nothing and everything from us. Most clearly we are called to love God with all our hearts, our souls, our strength and our mind AND our neighbour as ourselves. Our next-door neighbours and our global neighbours. So let’s rail against injustice. Let’s not close our eyes but open them wide, and notice in a way that makes it impossible to be passive. Let’s not become resplendent in a stack of stuff we don’t need. Let’s be as kind as we possibly can, whenever we can.
I want to be a part of the light
Please let me be a part of the light
I want to be a part of the light
I choose to be a part of the light
So take up this challenge, and choose somehow today and every day, to be part of making a world full of light.
I took the kids to see Sing 2 at the cinema and was reminded that Scarlett Johansson doesn’t just kick ass but also has a fine set of lungs on her… Trading her Black Widow leather cat suit for a porcupine-tailored rocker’s leather jacket, for me she steals the show!
As a result I jumped on Spotify and looked up what she’s done outside of films, and I stumbled across “Iguana Bird.” Further Google rabbit-hole wanderings confirmed magnificent creature pictured above doesn’t actually exist, and I have absolutely no idea what the title is in reference to. That said, the simplicity of the whole song, tune, rhythm and lyrics drew me in to hearing God’s voice speaking to me.
It’s clearly a song about what we go through post-heartbreak, that way that you might scroll through their TwInstaBook feed to check out what they’re doing, who they’re with, how happy they are without you, and then wanting to ask those questions:
Do you like how you’re spending your time? Do you like how you’re living your life away from me?
If we’re talking about a break-up then there’s inherent judging in those questions. “Look what you’ve got now… Is it really as good as it was when you were with me? Is that new partner, that new life, are those new friends REALLY as good as what we had?”
But when that voice was God speaking to me this morning that wasn’t the case. I didn’t get the sense of judgment, of guilting or shaming. Once upon a time, I would have done… Once upon a time, I’d have felt like I was letting God down, that I was an awful person living an awful life and that I needed to change everything.
That’s not to say I’m perfect now, but it is to say that my perspective has changed. God isn’t saying “Your life looks rubbish without me in it.” I get the sense that he’s saying to me as a Christian as much as he is to the rest of the human population regardless of religion or not “What do you see when you look at your life? I want you to have life in all its fullness. Is that what you’ve got?”
The God I know at the moment prefers to invite me into conversation and relationship that way, and to explore more of life. The God I know at the moment wants to remind me of his heart for me and for the world, and calls me into a fuller existence alongside him. With ALL of the “L’s” I hear God saying to me, and you, and all of us:
L-l-l-l-l-l-love you L-l-l-l-l-l-love you L-l-l-l-l-l-love you Woah, oh oh oh
But as with any invitation there is an opportunity to RSVP “no”, and that should be OK! There should always be that ability to close the door, to say “You know what, I’m doing alright just now, thanks.”
I think there are genuinely people who would look at what they have and be content with their lot in life, happy enough with how they’re spending their time and living their life without the interruption of a deity, or at least the white western God that we’ve created and could be accused of trying to impose on people.
I think there are people who once knew that God, rather than the one I know now, and quite rightly shut the door on a relationship perceived to be abusive, and manipulative, and conditional, on a system based on performance and living to a standard, rather than one based on accepting love and living fully as a response from the depth of our hearts.
He came to see her, never did meet her Close the door in his face again Time overwhelms you, let it get away The life you had imagined just slipped away.
And yet there’s something about “Life in abundance” that is worth exploring. It’s something that we should try not to let slip away. I think we should try and find safe spaces for people to re-visit God and re-frame him from the less helpful images we’ve previously had.
It’s one of those things we shouldn’t put off, or store away with the bottle of whisky that’s only for special occasions, or the best china, or the pants we save for “date night”, that might never end up being used…
I wonder, do you like how you’re spending your time? Whether you’re currently doing life with or without God, do you like how you’re living your life? Is there a way it could be fuller?
Music is a fascinating thing. Why you like it and when you connect with it. Sometimes it’s all about the lyrical content – this blog is testament to that. Other times it is about chord structure and harmony, and all that one note does when it hits you deep down in your core. It can also be about how much of your cold hard cash you’ve invested in it or, and this is more my thing, the sense of time and place it brings up from when it was first on your radar.
This track though connects with me because of a person. A dear friend and colleague who died in recent weeks. A man interested in others, and who carried an overwhelming sense of justice at the top of the list in the important things of faith. A gentle human who took the time to care and listen. A soul who was great at his job and knew his stuff. A navigator of the complexities of life, sometimes with more success than others. A funny, witty, and occasionally provocative storyteller. A guy with a lilting and rich voice who sang often and especially this song on request.
I don’t really know what happens when a person dies, but I certainly know what I’d like to think could be in store for a God-filled man like this one. Maybe the answer for me lies in a heavenward look to the stars and a listen to this song. A constant reminder that this gracious soul, full of light, made a dent in our lives, and the world was a better place for having him in it.
Here we are on that most devastating of days, Good Friday. The day when a world of hopes and dreams, of justice and liberation, came crashing down. There couldn’t be a better soundtrack to the day than this song of sheer hopelessness from Radiohead.
Today we walk the journey with Jesus as he takes his last steps towards crucifixion. We walk along the narrow Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem as
Rows of houses, all bearing down on me I can feel their blue hands touching me
We’re bemused by a system that allows an innocent man to be put to death; that continues to rule with tyranny; that prefers lies to truth; that lines its own pockets and laughs in the face of the poor and sick. We’re angry, we’re frustrated, we’re disgusted, we’re crestfallen, we’re broken.
This machine will, will not communicate These thoughts and the strain I am under Be a world child, form a circle Before we all go under And fade out again and fade out again
We watch with horror and distress as this man, who has shown us God and changed our lives completely, struggles under the weight that he is bearing on his shoulders. This is surely not what is supposed to happen. There has to be a reprieve. There has to be a change of mind.
Cracked eggs, dead birds Scream as they fight for life I can feel death, can see its beady eyes
There he hangs. Our Messiah.
All these things into position All these things we’ll one day swallow whole Fade out again Fade out again
Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.
Immerse your soul in love Immerse your soul in love
Just a ‘heads-up’ that this song contains the f*bomb a few times – a song of passion and justice sometimes does.
Max (age 17) writes:
‘Three Rivers’ is a poignant reminder of the trials and tribulations that immigrants face, not only in their home countries but also in this country – their so-called ‘refuge’. It follows the idea of 3 different groups of immigrants who have faced challenges from government and local communities in Britain – from the Windrush generation of the 60’s to the Syrian refugee crisis of the late 2010’s.
This song seems particularly relevant at this point in time with what is going on in Ukraine at the moment. The second verse strikes home particularly to me. The similarities between what Dave is saying about the conflict in former Yugoslavia seem almost eerily identical to what is happening in Ukraine. For me, this song is a masterpiece and really identifies the faults within society and our country’s immigration system. It’s a real ‘head wobbler’ and hopefully if more people hear it, more people may start looking at refugees and asylum seekers as humans running from an unspeakable evil, rather than foreigners ‘taking our jobs’.
A line that catches my attention is
We rely on migration more than ever before
They’re key workers, but they couldn’t even get in the door
It seems to me that throughout the COVID pandemic, we forgot the foreign nationals who kept our infrastructure afloat.
In conclusion, ‘Three Rivers’ is a song to make you think – which it does phenomenally well. Reflecting is the most important thing about humanity and I think with a little bit more Dave in our lives, everyone can become a little bit more human.
Look
Imagine an island where the party never ends Where it’s less about money and it’s more about friends Where the vibes can’t done It’s less about fundin’ and and more about fun Tropical sun, that’s life in the ’60s comin’ from the Caribbean You know Ian, Delroy, Vivian, Winston Who got drafted to England Windrush babies from Kingston to Brixton To say they’re the life of the party, you’re wrong My Jamaicans the entire party, you can’t see? Big Notting Hill carni, you can’t see? And the ride’s fiberglass, G, you wan’ see? Imagine a place where you raise your kids The only place you live says you ain’t a Brit They’re deportin’ our people and it makes me sick ‘Cause they were broken by the country that they came to fix It’s like
They came at the invitation of the British Government The passports were stamped indefinitely to remain But for some who were children then, that was a false promise “Thirty-seven years of paying taxes And I got a letter saying I was an illegal immigrant I came to England at the age of ten and I’ve lived here all my life”
Look, imagine a world that’s flawed and full of evil Where dictators and leaders are persecutin’ your people The bodies of the innocent are pilin’ to the steeples The ironic part is they’re preyin’ on the feeble That’s life in the 90’s, you’re Eastern European And you seein’ people dyin’ ’cause they’re fightin’ for their freedom And show you violence for havin’ a voice You move out with your kids in hope of havin’ a choice Life throws you a spanner, you can’t handle the pain So you gamble and you drink and then you gamble again You argue with your wife and then you sleep on the couch You hit your children, then start freezin’ ’em out You try and work things out, but it’s never the same All the women in your household are livin’ afraid When you look into the mirror you’re reminded again That you’ve become the dictator you were fightin’ against It’s like
We’re fightin’ for our rights, for all our mothers And then we, we We are fighting for our homes We are fighting for our own
Look, imagine a world that’s fucked and untrue Where the many pay a price for the few And every day the sun rises a little later That’s how it is when your oppressor is your liberator That’s right now livin’ in the Middle East Praise Allah for the peace Death from a sky littered with stars You run away with your kids so you can give them a chance But your asylum has got you in a different war Because the British wanna know what you’re livin’ here for We rely on migration more than ever before They’re key workers, but they couldn’t even get in the door When you’re at Heaven’s Gates, what you tellin’ the Lord? You wouldn’t even let a kid into some steadier shores That’s a life they may never afford Surely you would wanna give your people chances That were better than yours? No?
“In ten years of conflict More than twelve-thousand children have been killed or injured” “The children here are just a tiny fraction Of the estimated six-million In need of emergency humanitarian assistance It’s thought perhaps, as many of three-million No longer live in their own homes And up to two million children no longer attend school The opportunities of this generation Have been changed forever by this conflict”
“I went to silence when I need to who the, who the fuck I was, bro Like, I won’t hear anyone else, shut everyone else out So I could just hear myself, bro You know what I’m sayin’? ‘Cause we live in this world, yeah You stand still, the way the tides set up It will take you away from yourself, you feel me? So then I was like “Aight, cool” But, I had to get silent, but it’s not like mans goin’ against the tide ‘Cause goin’ against the tide still makes it about them Still makes it about the poison That you’ve internalized in your mind, you feel me? It’s like “Bro, why am I in this water? Man, this water doesn’t even like me, it’s not even for me It’s not takin’ me where I wanna go, it’s not takin’ me where I wanna go It’s who the fuck I am, bro, you know I’m sayin’? It’s like the tide will tell me that bein’ black is an obstacle See what I’m sayin’? I had to, switch rivers, bro It’s like bein’ black is an asset I am who I am because I’m black And I love everything about it, you feel me? And that’s who the fuck I am”
The Friday Fix 