Yeah, you think that sounds weird. But it’s actually weirder. And very cool.

HT: Vincent Baker

I’m working and listening to Cordelia’s Dad, when I came across this song, from their “Spine” album. According to their liner notes, it was originally penned by Samuel Stennett, an English Baptist.

Pilgrim

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
and cast a wishful eye,
to Canaan’s fair and happy land
where my possessions lie.
Oh, the transporting, rapturous scene
that rises to my sight!
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
and rivers of delight.
There generous fruits, that never fail,
on trees immortal, grow.
There rocks and hills and brooks and vales
with milk and honey flow.
O’er all those wide extended plains
shines one eternal day.
There God, the sun, forever reigns,
and scatters night away.
No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath,
can reach that healthful shore.
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
are felt and feared no more.
When shall I reach that happy place,
and be forever blessed?
When shall I see my Father’s face,
and in his bosom rest?
Filled with delight, my raptured soul
can here no longer stay.
Though Jordan’s waves around me roll,
fearless, I launch away.

Tune: Idumea
Author: Charles Wesley
Source: Here

Click here or here to hear a portion sung

1 AND am I born to die? To lay this body down? And must my trembling spirit fly Into a world unknown-A land of deepest shade, Unpierced by human thought, The dreary regions of the dead, Where all things are forgot?

2 Soon as from earth I go, What will become of me? Eternal happiness or woe Must then my portion be; Waked by the trumpet’s sound, I from my grave shall rise, And see the Judge with glory crowned, And see the flaming skies.

3 How shall I leave my tomb? With triumph or regret? A fearful or a joyful doom, A curse or blessing meet? Will angel-bands convey Their brother to the bar? Or devils drag my soul away, To meet its sentence there?

4 Who can resolve the doubt That tears my anxious breast? Shall I be with the damned cast out, Or numbered with the blest? I must from God be driven, Or with my Saviour dwell; Must come at his command to heaven, Or else-depart to hell.

5 O thou that wouldst not have One wretched sinner die, Who died’st thyself; my soul to save From endless misery! Show me the way to shun Thy dreadful wrath severe, That when thou comest on thy throne I may with joy appear.

6 Thou art thyself the Way; Thyself in me reveal; So shall I spend my life’s short day Obedient to thy will; So shall I love my God, Because he first loved me, And praise thee in thy bright abode, To all eternity.

A comedian rants about Pachelbel. Funny!

(A couple instances of King James cussing. FYI.)

Pachelbel’s Canon, done hip-hop style by Koreans.

With breakdancing.

Come on. You know that you want to click now….

Dedicated to Jason Pittenger. Keep your head down, and come home soon.

“I Wish The Wars Were All Over” by Tim Eriksen

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
what desolations he hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;
he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder;
he burneth the chariot in the fire.

Psalm 46:8-9

Tim Eriksen sings Amazing Grace.

I think that I’m beginning to appreciate the banjo.

My copy of American IV showed up! I am now listening to Johnny Cash, singing about love and life and death. It’s amazing how even a sappy love song can be transformed by an aged man singing it. Gives more weight to it somehow. When some young person is singing about love, there’s this feeling like “You don’t know what you’re talking about”. But when a 70-year old man sings about love, you figure that maybe he’s seen enough life for it to count.

Plus, there’s the song “Hung my Head”, which is a cover of a Sting song. I might need to check out Sting now. Someone said that Sting is rock music for thinking people. Maybe I need to find out if he’s right.

Discovery can be fun.

So, I happen to be really late to this party. Sue me.

Just recently, while playing Dogs in the Vineyard, I discovered the music of Johnny Cash. First was “When the Man Comes Around”, which is about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, but is also frighteningly descriptive of what happens when the Dogs come to town.

And then I discovered “Hurt“. This was originally a Nine Inch Nails song that Cash covered. Yeah, I remember thinking it was weird when I heard about it. But the power of the song….

See, I expect Trent Reznor to whine about drug abuse. That’s probably not fair to him, but he hasn’t exactly established himself as a pillar of the community.

But when Cash sings it, it’s different:

what have I become?
my sweetest friend
everyone I know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I know only a little of Cash’s story, but I hear in this the painful regret for the times in his life when his addiction to drugs inflicted so much pain. Reznor seems to be singing to someone; Cash is singing to his wife and to Jesus.

Powerfully moving.

But, um, not like you think.

This is really funny.

From the same article:

The first [issue] has to do with the difference between musical quality and musical relevance. If someone does not like, say, Western art music, this may not signal the absence of refined taste or the presence of bad taste. If this same person prefers progressive jazz, Islamic maqam, and the music of the gamelan, we can only say that his or her taste is contained within or limited to these musics. The same thing must be said about the person who prefers Western music from 1400 to 1750, John Philip Sousa marches, and bluegrass. It is therefore unwise to say that musical diversity in our present culture is legitimate only if it includes Western art music. Given today”s cultural mixes and options it is entirely possible for a body of great music to be irrelevant for a body of people who otherwise have high aesthetic sensitivities. In other words, there is nothing wrong with someone putting Western art music in a less-than-primary position as long as the entirety of his or her choices is dominated by a quest for quality and perceptual growth.

Emphasis mine.

I haven’t finished the article, but I’m sympathetic to this idea:

And whether we like it or not, all music–good, bad, old, new, simple, complex, loud, soft–is contextually friendly, seemingly bent on soaking up whatever is around it, easily shifting from foreground to background. It takes a special effort of the aesthetic will to keep it in the foreground–to encounter it on its own terms and for its inherent worth–even when we consciously devote ourselves to this task. In this respect and with the possible exception of the visual arts, music is unlike any other form of propositional communication. Everyone except the most stubbornly absolutist thinkers understands this. And if this present culture survives long enough for its history to repeat itself, the musics created for today’s Stratford Malls may well make their way into tomorrow’s quieted and tuxedoed concert halls, just as the Tafelmusik of the past has. Musicologists will pore over their various minutiae, showing how this newly absolutized material should be studied and canonized. Mannerisms and protocols will gradually make their way into performance practices; coughing will be frowned on during performances and, by all means, there will be no waterfalls and the sounds of little children will be unwelcome. Meanwhile, some other kind of new music will be piped into tomorrow’s Stratfords and tomorrow’s music critics may well continue the lament over the ongoing denigration of the art form.

Plus he then goes on to discuss “high” culture vs. “low” culture…or rather how there isn’t really a “versus” at all. Hopefully this will be some solid food for thought.

As I prepare to run Steal Away Jordan, I also want to point to modern-day slavery. According to this site, there are more people in slavery today than in the last four hundred years.

In other words, remember Constance.

When I first saw this video, it was strangely haunting. And then, yesterday, it made me think of Bliss Stage.

So, there. Two links for the price of one!

It’s a duet. Um. Just click here.

Seriously, you can’t make up things like this.