We hope that you are enjoying our Lent Friday Fixes from children and young people.
We’re still in need of one more Friday Fix for Lent so if you know anyone under 18 who loves music and would like to share why they like a particular song, please encourage them to send it in.
A grown-up could write it on their behalf, or forward it to us. A voice note would work too if they would prefer to record and send it. The email to send it to is thomasg@methodistchurch.org.uk.
Thank You!
Ayla (age 7) writes:
Just open up your heart, let the music take control …
Feel a good, good creepin’ up on you
So just dance, dance, dance, come on.’
When I dance;
It makes me feel good.
It makes me feel free.
It makes me want to sing.
It makes me want to dance more.
Find out what Justin Timberlake is up to these days at https://justintimberlake.com/
We’re thinking about something different for Lent 2022.
We wondered if there are children and young people aged 18 and under who would like to share what they like about a song – it can be from the charts, from a musical, from someone older’s record/CD/playlist collection.
So – if you’re a grown-up who knows a child or young person who might like to send us a ‘Fix,’ please encourage them to do so. They can write it or send a voice note to Gill – it doesn’t have to be very long or finely tuned as we can shape it into a blog post. Gill’s email address is thomasg@methodistchurch.org.uk.
It’ll be three years in May when our first Friday Fix dropped on the blog. Since then, our following has slowly grown, more comments have been shared and contributors to the blog have come from further afield.
If you’ve been following for a while and have a popular song that you could share a reflection about, we’d love to hear from you. Is there a song from a special moment? A tune that pulls at your heart strings? A vibe that captured a particular feeling? Just jot down how that song makes you feel or what it reminds you of – and send it to Gill at thomasg@methodistchurch.org.uk. She’ll do what’s needed to turn it into a Friday Fix.
In the meantime, here’s a little infogram for those of you who like statistics…
Gill writes:
The first time that I heard Luke Sital Singh was from quite a distance. In fact, his set started just as we began walking our son (aged 9 at the time) back to our tent at Greenbelt (being conscientious parents, we’d opted for a late-night the next night as Sinead O’Connor was headlining then).
Luke’s music echoed through the trees and across the camping fields, and I remember thinking “I need to listen to this guy’s music when I get home.” Of course, I got home and didn’t really think much more about Luke Sital Singh and his music. That’s until Spotify decided a couple of years ago that I needed to hear his music again. Algorithms are a blessing sometimes I guess!
I’ve been playing this song a lot lately. It helps me to feel grounded. It reminds me that you’re meant to feel life. We can’t know for sure but the first few weeks of human life must be an incredibly painful and shocking time really. Coming from a cocooned, warm world into a bright, cold, noisy place. That’s where the opening lines take me – to that moment of birth; that moment when we gasp our first breath –
I can taste it in my mouth
I am hanging upside down
All the faces gathered round
To wait and see, to breath relief
To call my name for the first time
It feels like life is rather surreal at the moment. We had COP26 and it’s looking like it was all ‘blah, blah, blah.’ after all. We’ve had a year without Trump in the White House but US politics still seems to be on fragile ground. Lies, deceit, corruption, abuse of power and trust seem to be our daily diet in the UK, all wrapped up in relentless reporting of Covid statistics and stories.
I really connect with the visceral sense of both the music and lyrics of this song. It reminds us what life is all about. We hurt, we lie, we bleed, we breathe. We’re organic beings, not mechanical systems. We’re unpredictable, creative, envious, empathic, disgusted, in love, furious, entranced and so on, and so on.
I can face it just about
I’d rather hurt than live without
But I will rage and scream and shout
A love, a life, it’s dark and bright
It’s beautiful and it’s alright
And there is something within us that keeps us going and pulls us through. A belief and knowledge that nothing lasts forever. That tomorrow is a new day bringing hope, and with it is the potential for us to change. That’s not to say that we should gloss things over because hope is on the horizon, but because hope is on the horizon, we can own up to and handle our very human thoughts and feelings.
Everyone is yearning for a reason for a cause
Somewhere deep inside we’re holding on for dear life
So whatever you are feeling on this Friday in January, you are an amazing human creation that was born to live and to feel life. And you are loved. So cry your eyes out, fill your lungs up. We all lie, we all hurt and nothing stays the same.
Find out more about Luke and his music at https://www.lukesitalsingh.com/
You can find most of the Friday Fix songs from last year on this Spotify playlist – https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1CgqJuCtOFFPOOMioYXHQn?si=714cfce4ce02457b
Streaming royalties aren’t huge amounts so if you enjoy any songs in particular, we’d recommend you buy the album (or singles) of the musicians whose work you are enjoying.
Jules writes:
I have been imbibing the Friday Fix for a year or more now, but I’ve never been able to pinpoint a song that I could share. There are sooooo many! However, I remembered a song that always inexplicably renders my soul.
Specifically Nina Simone’s recording of ‘Feeling Good.’ Nina recorded the song in 1965 and it’s subsequently been covered by Muse, Michael Bublé, and many others.
“Feelin’ Good” is a song written by English composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd. It was first performed on stage in 1964 by Cy Grant on the UK tour and you can hear a rare recording here:
I first ‘really’ heard it played on a record player as a student in Crewe in the 1990s. I will never forget it filling the house – everything stopped! I think it’s the ‘massive’ background musical composition (it’s simple, but just so BIG!), together with Nina Simone’s performance that is quite phenomenal.
If I may, I would like to suggest listening to music outside of our world’s clutter, and a way that I have found to do this is through BBC Radio 3 in the morning.
Combine music such as Feeling Good with a sunrise, a river, wildlife, a friendly ‘good morning!’ fresh air, cardiovascular exercise, and you have a hint towards life in all its fullness.
Breeze driftin’ on by,
you know how I feel
It’s a new dawn,
it’s a new day…
In years past, I would never have predicted that I might habitually listen to Radio 3! But, I have to admit, over recent years, my morning routine has seen me listening to (fellow Cornishman) Petroc Trelawny’s selections on ‘Breakfast‘ on BBC Radio 3.
During my morning commute, just as the day starts, it occasionally (and surprisingly often) seems possible to glimpse something ‘true’, before the business of the day kicks in; before the popular noise takes over.
River running free…
Blossom on the tree…
As I cycle my 45 mins to work, occasionally, endorphins cause the abstract combination of musical compositions accompanying the fresh air, wildlife, seasons, and the things and people I meet, to become more than the sum of their parts.
You know how I feel…
I know very little about the history of music, composers, or the political or social relevance of specific music creations. I can imagine for the creators, there is a lot of loaded significance behind, underneath, and inside many compositions. Perhaps I might dig deeper at some point. But it’s the raw essence of some music that I find wonderfully powerful.
I have heard it suggested that a definition of ‘classical’ music… is that it transcends cultural, as well as generational barriers… music that’s created through sincere devotion, not through selfish desire, but rather by something greater, which exists beyond time, history or culture. Golly gosh! When you hear a musicologist say “it’s a ravishingly beautiful piece of music … and we can’t quite understand why…” that’s the kind of thing that makes music special.
What has struck me over the last few years is the power of music to affect us.
This old world, is a new world, and a bold world…
Freedom is mine… (and yours)
I truly hope you can occasionally find a way to truly feel good.
Nina’s music and work lives on, and you can find out more at https://www.ninasimone.com/
Jane writes:
It’s a hard thing to face up to sometimes – life.
It doesn’t go as planned. It seems ok and then something comes out of left-field to get you and disrupt everything. People you love die, and those you care about who remain are struggling still. I suppose it’s been like that forever but recently we’ve seen a global version of what we already know to be true.
Here she is then – Janis Ian – one of my favorite go-to artists, stating the obvious about life.
She wrote it at a time when her own life was in chaos, having lost all the key things that mattered to her. Her financial security. Her marriage. Her health. And on top then she was aware that her whole life seemed to have been like living through a drought. Add in a pandemic for good measure and the song resonates more than ever.
The sense of loss is apparent and the thinking that “even God may have turned his back” sums up how hard it feels. No hope in sight.
Yet as people of faith we might have a way to see it differently. Endurance is a feature in lots of biblical stories. Throughout the Old and New testaments, people have had to live with courage, persistence, and hope in the toughest of times. Walking in wildernesses. Living in exile. Coping with disease and illness. War. Famine. Rejection. Loss. The themes mirror the way of the human condition, and yet the stories that go with them – finding the promised land. Restoration. Healing. Peace. Unconditional acceptance. Resurrection. All play a part too and God is in it all.
I love the simplicity of this version of this song. No fuss. No embellishment. Just a simple spare sound and the realization that we can make it. We have endured before and we can endure again now. Our resilience is built on the human experience and the knowledge that endurance is part of the fully-rounded life we all lead. Life in all its measure. Every element in abundance. Joy and Pain. Our ability to cope (or not). Our onward journey accompanied by the God of love we know to be ever at our side.
And we endure
Though the road only gets longer, we endure
And I swear it makes us stronger
Even when the wolves are howling at the door
We endure
You can find out more about Janis Ian here https://janisian.com/
We’ve had some fabulous contributions this year from new faces to the blog, and now we’re in need of some crackers to start rounding the year off with.
As Madonna rightly sings ‘music can be such a revelation‘ so if you have a song that you would like to reveal to us, we’d love to hear from you.
Just send (thomasg@methodistchurch.org.uk) us your thoughts on a popular song (300-600 words is usual) and we’ll do the rest.
The Friday Fix 