Category Archives: Music

Rockin’ with the Pops

I guess I’m not an orchestra fan. This afternoon, as part of the United Brethren Headquarters Christmas party, I attended the annual performance of the “Holiday Pops” at Huntington University. This was done by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. They were good, if you like that kind of music, which lots of people do. But give me a lead guitar with some distortion, a bass, a drummer, and someone who can half-way sing, and I’m happier.

I’m not criticizing this type of music. It’s just not my thing. I’m a rock & roll guy. I like blues. I like most of country. I even enjoy the Gaither reunion specials which I stumble across on TV and which magnetically capture my interest for some reason known but to God. I don’t like rap (with a few songs exception, usually by Eminem), and I don’t care for jazz, which always surprises people, since I’m a piano player. I like some New Age music, which gets into orchestration, though I’m usually attracted by the use of piano. I don’t like punk, I’m indifferent toward disco. Don’t even think about taking me to a classical concert.

There are occasions when I like orchestra music. Like in Sheryl Crow’s version of “Sweet Child of Mine,” where they use an orchestra in place of Slash’s superb guitar solo–a compliment to Slash, a way of saying “it takes a whole orchestra to replace you.” I love the strings in Verve Pipe’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” and can’t imagine the song without it. Coolio’s “Gangster Paradise” is superb with the strings in the background. But in both cases, the orchestration is a complement to more traditional rock.

It’s not that I disliked the Holiday Pops. I just wasn’t all that crazy about it (plus, I had to miss the Colts vs. Jacksonville game). Give me the MercyMe Christmas album (which I highly recommend, especially their incredible version of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”). Or the Lynyrd Skynyrd Christmas album (which has the prettiest version of Greensleeves I’ve heard–Skynyrd’s keyboard player is outstanding). Or my favorite, the Tractors Christmas album (with “Santa Claus is coming in a Boogie Woogie Choo-choo Train”). That’s my style. Call me uncultured, if you want. I can live with it.

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Musings on Sunbeams

Last Thursday at music practice, we did Todd Agnew’s “Grace Like Rain.” We then played it on Sunday as the offertory, just to introduce it to the congregation. It’s a great song, and we’ll be making it part of our regular reportoire.

I struggled to find the right sound to use on the keyboard. For kicks, I finally tried a French Accordion sound from my QSR sound module. I’ve used it on “Shout to the North” and a few other songs, but it’s not something I use much. Just doesn’t fit a band’s sound. But in this case, it worked. Nothing in Agnew’s recording even hints at an accordion, but we liked the sound. It gave the song an Anchor twist.

Our backup drummer, who graduated from high school last May, was there. He wasn’t playing that week, but was at practice just to hang around. He got a kick out of the French Accordion sound. I told him it reminded me of Nirvana’s “Jesus Don’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” song from the MTV Unplugged album. (The bass player also plays accordion. Who knew?) First of all, he was impressed that an Old Guy knew anything about Nirvana. Then we wracked our brains trying to remember how the accordion part went. It wouldn’t come to us.

When I got home, I called up the song on my iTunes, and then hacked out the accordion part on the piano. It was quite easy. Maybe someday I’ll play that part as the intro to some other worship song. We’ve done the Doobie Brothers “China Grove” opening to the Maranatha version of “Rock of Ages,” and the “Smoke on the Water” opening to lead into “The Name of the Lord.” That’s always fun. We’re trying to figure out how to use the Free Bird intro–the guitarists have the part down, and have messed around with using it with “Power of Your Love,” but it’s still in the experimental stage. I’m sure if I did a Nirvana intro to a worship song, it would freak out our college students.

Anyway, all of this prompted me to wonder more about the lyrics. The lyrics were actually written by The Vaselines, a group I’m not familiar with. The writer obviously knew the song “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,” which indicates he had some kind of church background of the Bible-believing variety. The song itself speaks of some kind of inner spiritual battle which was definitely headed in the wrong direction. There is what appears to be an allusion to dying to self, and in singing it, Kurt Cobain is basically saying he’s not interested in doing that.

Anyway, here are the lyrics:

Jesus don’t want me for a sunbeam
Sunbeams are never made like me

Don’t expect me to cry,
For all the reasons you had to die
Don’t ever ask your love of me

Don’t expect me to cry
Don’t expect me to lie
Don’t expect me to die for me

I find all of this fascinating. Why did Cobain choose to perform this song? What resonated with him? Was there some kind of spiritual battle being waged–and lost–in Kurt Cobain? The fact that he committed suicide not all that long after the Unplugged concert speaks of something happening internally.

Anyway, just some musings on a guy I’ve come to appreciate as a truly ground-breaking musical artist who, on the inside, most definitely didn’t have things together.

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Phantom, Newsboys, and the Tsunami

Phantom of the Opera. The movie “Phantom of the Opera” was very good, but could have been outstanding except for two things:

  • The lip-synching was off, and it was very distracting. I’m glad that the actors did their own singing, rather than having other person’s voices dubbed over them. But they just did a poor job of dubbing in their own voices after the acting was done.
  • I wasn’t all that crazy about the guy who played the Phantom. His voice was nothing special. Or maybe I just had Michael Crawford’s voice too firmly in my head.

Newsboys. Pam got me the Newsboys “Adoration” worship CD for Christmas. I love it. The song “Presence” is especially outstanding. It’s been playing on the local Christian radio stations for quite a while now. The Newsboys may just be my favorite Christian group at this point, narrowly edging out Third Day (whose last album was very poor). Our worship team does “He Reigns,” and the congregation loves it. I’m hoping we can do “It is You” and “Presence” in the months ahead. The Newsboys are putting out some really great stuff.

Tsunami. ABC and CNN had superb specials last night on the tsunami, which is probably the worst natural disaster of my lifetime. Amazing stuff. I’m fascinated by some of the video which is coming now of the waves actually approaching. I always assumed a tsunami featured a tidal wave. I guess it can include a tidal wave, but not necessarily. In this case, it looked like a regular wave breaking on the beach…except that it didn’t break and recede, but just kept going inland, pushed by masses of water behind it.

At work today, I sent out two emails to our church constituency reporting on the tsunami. Our missionary couple in India live in a town back from the coast, so they are fine. But about 5000 people from coastal villages, which were struck hard, descended on their town, and they were able to provide help.

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