Every now and then a song hits me and speaks into my soul. It happened most recently with a new Jars of Clay song that came on Air1 while I was making my daily commute home from Beaverton. It's called - Dead Man (Carry Me) from their upcoming album "Good Monsters" which is set for a September 5th release. It has a rollicking, foot-tapping beat with a lyric that brings Terry Taylor and Daniel Amos to mind. This takes me back to my late 70s early 80s days when I was being heavily influenced by key Jesus music artists like Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, and Keith Green. Jars has hit it - I am just a dead man; I want to be a new man. I need someone to carry me. I need someone to make me breathe. The song is sung in present tense first person. The big deal (in case you're snidely wondering) is that it's what I need now, every day. I can't do it on my own.I hit on Peter Gabriel's I Grieve from his album "Up" when I caught a segment of Smallville one night. It is a haunting foray into the embrace of grief after loss. I found it incredibly healing after the recent death of my dad. My best friend from my hometown had also just had his dad die when I discovered the song. How well I remember cruising the by-ways of West Michigan listening to the latest Chicago, REO Speedwagon, and Pat Benatar. Gabriel gently leads me into the permission to feel the agony of what has been ripped from my heart, and in the pain begin to discover the undying memories that live in that hidden place. (It's in first person, too, in case you didn't get that from the title.)
It's funny that much of the time the songs I listen to merely provide a background sound to life at the moment. Then come the ones that stop me, look me in the eyes, and reveal reality staring out of the mirror at me. I'm never the same afterward.
1 comment:
When certain songs come on the radio, Lisa and I can both tell you exactly what memories we share with those songs. It's like a bend in time and a sense of what has made into who we are.
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