Play It Again, Jean II – Part 3

I guess if my favorite songs share any commonalities it’s their proven ability to move me, thrill me, and empathize with what I’m feeling at the moment. The ability to do these things is usually the mark of a great songwriter and performer and I have little patience for songs that don’t get the job done. Here are the last of my 69 favorite songs from the past year. Enjoy- and have a great summer!

Rickie Lee Jones

01. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem – “Mountain Dew (Live)” (1961) from Kiss Me I’m Irish II – Part 2

This song always puts me in a good mood and reminds me of enjoying homemade rakia (plum brandy) with locals in towns and villages across Bulgaria. Love the whistling at the beginning- so does my baby boy. Still hope to make it to Ireland one of these days.

02. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – “American Girl” (1976) from Pet Rocks! – Part 3

We had so many amazing women in our Peace Corps group in Bulgaria twenty years ago including a retired teacher who was honoring a promise she had made decades earlier after President Kennedy’s murder to one day join the Peace Corps and serve in his honor. Well, she did it.

03. Rickie Lee Jones – “On Saturday Afternoons in 1963” (1979)  from Blue Jean Rock Poets IV

I like songs that for whatever reason remind me of a high school musical. This one has just the right amounts of wistfulness, sweetness, and nostalgia and might fit nicely right after the intermission.

Scott Walker

04. Scott Walker – “Joanna” (1968) from The World of Scott Walker II

This song carries me away on tufts of fluffy golden clouds and makes me feel like I’m falling asleep in a barber’s chair.

05. U2 – “Ultra Violet (Light My Way)” (1991) from Four Guys from Dublin – Part 1

Achtung Baby is one of the most under-appreciated albums of the past 30 years and used to sound great late at night in my college bedroom- sounds even better in Europe. The album also had the misfortune of being released just two months after Nirvana’s Nevermind and while the ‘90s Seattle grunge explosion may have derailed U2’s plans to reconquer North America at least the Dublin quartet still had Europe and Australia- and the Jean.

06. Sheryl Crow feat. Sting – “Always on Your Side” (2005) from Gordon Sumner – Part 2

Just a sweet union of two pop music icons. I miss duets like these. 

07. Warren Zevon – “Desperados Under the Eaves” (1976) from Blue Jean Rock Poets III

Not everyone views the end of the world as such a bad thing. I still have never been to the City of Angels but when I finally get there I would like to attempt a Warren Zevon inspired tour of the city. That’s Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys on backup vocals. BTW- does a song about California sliding into the ocean featuring a melody based on “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” count as nautical themed? 

Dan Fogelberg

08. Dan Fogelberg – “Same Old Lang Syne” (1981) from Christmas Faves II – Part 1

Everybody’s favorite downbeat Christmas song- still going strong after all these years (and only gets better with age).

09. The Mamas and the Papas – “Safe in My Garden” (1968) from Oldies: Pass the Fritos IV – Part 2

Rich L.A. hippies in their fancy homes bemoan and contemplate the rioting in the streets. One of M&Ps’ last great songs before breaking up, it’s no “California Dreamin’”  or “Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)” but I find this to be a satisfying deep cut.

10. Gordon Lightfoot – “Same Old Loverman” (1971) from Summertime Dream – Part 3

Lightfoot you old cad, you heartbreaker. Leave the poor lady alone. (She doesn't stand a chance.)

11. U2 – “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” (1991) from Four Guys from Dublin – Part 1

So much going on in this song- not the least of which is the ‘60s girl group inspired intro.

Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral)

12. Joan Baez – “God Is God (Live)” (2016) from Joanie from Staten Island

True, we are not God but mainstream Christianity holds God is one of us: the Word made flesh- Jesus Christ- the one infinite and eternal spirit God incarnate- both fully human and fully divine and through whose sacrifice on the cross we are redeemed.

After Jesus rose from the dead and then returned in his risen and glorified body to his Father, the Spirit came upon the apostles. These weak and cowardly men were changed into enthusiastic witnesses to the kingdom Jesus had preached. But there was more to the coming of the Holy Spirit than an infusion of courage. The apostles not only began to behave differently; they also began to see things differently. 

As the apostles reflected on the few brief and eventful years that they had spent in Jesus’ company, they realized with increasing intensity that Jesus had been more than he seemed. They reflected on his miracles, on his forgiveness of people’s sins, on his teaching that a person’s final and eternal value would be judged by how that person had related to him, to Jesus. They reflected on the special meaning that he seemed to give to the phrase he liked to use in describing himself: “the Son of Man.” He was often called “Lord,” a word used to address God. Sometimes he allowed himself to be called “Son of God” and to be referred to as “the Christ,” the promised savior. 

Healing of the Blind Man by Duccio di Buoninsegna

Jesus’ relationship with God seemed different from other people’s. He seemed more familiar with God. Jesus referred to God as “Abba” (“Dad”), which seemed to indicate that he enjoyed a relationship with God that others did not. Then came the Resurrection and glorification of Jesus. Was it merely a sign of approval from God for what Jesus had done and said during his public life, or was it a sign of something more? 

As the apostles and other followers of Jesus reflected on him under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they became aware that Jesus was indeed more than he seemed. Jesus, full and complete human being, was at the same time no one less than God. 

Jesus’ followers taught about the story of his life, death, and resurrection. They began to express, as best they could, the astounding truth of which they had become aware: that Jesus was God who had lived in their midst. Soon these accounts were written down by those who had heard the apostles, accounts that ultimately became the Gospels in the New Testament. 

Christ at the Sea of Galilee by Jacopo Tintoretto

Some people today refuse to believe that Jesus was divine. For them, he may be a great teacher or a splendid model of human behavior, but that’s all. Others refuse to accept that Jesus was human. They think of his life as effortless, without the real pain and frustration that every human experiences. Both approaches are wrong; both are incomplete because neither accounts for the full reality of Christ. 

If the Christ we reverence is not fully divine, if the Christ we worship is not fully human, if his humanity and divinity are not united in a single subject, then the Christ we are dealing with is not the Christ of the apostles nor the Christ of the Christian faith, but a figment of our imagination. 

But what difference does it make? Granted that Jesus was a real human being, what does it add to say that he was God? Granted that he was God, why bother about whether he was really human? The Christian answer is crucial when it comes to considering our relationship to God in redemption and grace and glory, when it comes to considering the community of believers in the church, when it comes to figuring out what our own individual human existence ultimately means. 

To say that Jesus is one being, both human and divine, is to say that in him God became a human actor on the stage of the world’s history, that God became a human participant in the love story that had begun with creation. With God as a human participant, the story takes a whole new turn, and so does our part in it.

Resurrection by Matthias Grünewald 

  

Thanks to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, divine and human, our world is no longer merely the creation of God, good as that is. It is now the place where God’s human and divine activity in Jesus continues to unfold. It is God’s world in a way in which it was not before God became a human participant in it. It has been given a new direction and a new significance. 

All that is what we mean when we say Jesus saved and redeemed us.

Now perhaps we can see how fitting it is that Jesus was both human and divine. If Jesus had been merely a human being, his life would have been, at best, an example. On the other hand, if God had chosen to restore the world without the collaboration of humanity, the restoration of the world would have been an acknowledgement that things had gotten so bad that they could only be dealt with through an interruption from outside. By redeeming and saving the world through humanity, the humanity of Jesus, God indicates that the original plan was a good plan. God acknowledges the inherent worth of the human creature by using humanity to save and redeem humanity from ultimate failure. We have been saved and redeemed through the power of God, but we have also been saved and redeemed by a human being like ourselves. God has an ingenious way of doing things. 1

Madonna and Child blessing by Giovanni Bellini

Owing to the sin of the first man, the race had lost its union with God; a breach lay between. Where God and man had been at one, they were now at two: till at-one-ment, atonement, was made, heaven was closed to the race’s members. 

God could, of course, have simply written off the race as a failure. He could, as simply, have forgiven the sin. He did neither. He chose that in human nature the sin committed in human nature should be expiated. 

For the act by which Christ redeemed us was a wholly human act. The life He offered as sacrifice was His human life; an offering of the divine life would have been meaningless. The suffering was in His soul and body; the death was the separation of His soul and body. 

In Him, humanity gave its all, holding back nothing. Here was a total obedience against the disobedience of man’s sin, a total acceptance and self-surrender as against the thrust and self-assertion of man’s sin. And all this was wholly in human nature.

Christ carrying the cross by Andrea Solario

But He who performed the act was God: actions, we have seen, are always in the nature, but the person does them: and the Person whose human nature this was, in whose human nature all this was done, was, is, God the Son. Because He was truly man, His sacrifice was truly human, so that it could be set against the sin of the race. But because He was God, His act had an infinite value, by which it compensated, outweighed, not only all the sin men ever had committed but all they ever could. That, in essence, is why it is redemptive. 

Every act of Christ was infinite in value because He who performed it was God. 2  

13. U2 – “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Live)” (2005) from Adults Only II

Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee. – St. Augustine of Hippo

U2 attempts- and pulls off- distilling each person’s lifetime journey of faith into a timeless song which surprisingly (or not) went to #1 in the U.S. in the summer of ’87. This version was recorded in Milan.

14. Arlo Guthrie – “Victor Jara” (1976) from Folkies V

Besides the history lesson, I also dig the audio production on this song- recorded in 1976 but sounds like it was recorded just yesterday.

Victor Jara

15. Jerry Jeff Walker – “L.A. Freeway (Live)” (1984) from Country Grab Bag II – Part 2

Proof not all ‘80s country was garbage. Born Ronald Clyde Crosby in Oneonta, New York (I’m not crazy about the stage name either), Walker tears it up and burns it down with a take no prisoners backing band on this live Guy Clark cover (yeah, another song about Los Angeles.)

16. Elvis Costello and the Confederates – “Brilliant Mistake” (1986) from Declan MacManus – Part 1

One of my favorite Elvis Costello songs. I always enjoy hearing foreigners sing about America.

17. The Human Beinz – “Nobody But Me” (1967) from Garage Freaks!

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall not have other gods beside me (Exodus 20:2-3).

18. Jackson Browne – “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” (2012) from Bob’s Birthday Bash – Part 2

One of my favorite ‘60s Dylan songs. I like Browne’s laid back interpretation as if he’s recalling a long forgotten childhood nursery rhyme one line at a time.

19. Adele – “Make You Feel My Love (Live)” (2011) from Pop Faves II

Words and music by Bob Dylan. Like all great love songs, this one is also probably about Jesus. 

The Human Beinz (what’s with the broom?)

____________________________

1 Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk, Being Catholic: How We Believe, Practice, and Think (Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media, 2006)

2 Frank Sheed, Theology for Beginners (Brooklyn, NY : Angelico Press, reprint edition 2011)

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Play It Again, Jean II – Part 2

Growing up on Long Island there was definitely a ’60s spirit of peace, love, and service flowing through our Catholic family’s home and so it came as a surprise to no one when 20 years ago this week I went off to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria. While music does not inform my beliefs, I tend to prefer songs that conform to or at least do not conflict with those beliefs. Here are some more of my favorites from the past year. Enjoy!

Jackson Browne

01. The Byrds – “Wild Mountain Thyme” (1966) from Byrds of a Feather II – Part 1

The Byrds were so experimental, so adventurous, and not afraid to push the boundaries of ‘60s popular music. This album includes far out, groundbreaking songs like “Eight Miles High”, “5D (Fifth Dimension)”, and “Mr. Spaceman” as well as this sweet, psychedelicized Celtic folk ballad. 

02. Jackson Browne – “Song for Adam” (1972) from Browne’s Blues – Part 1

Songs about suicide can be tough to pull off but Browne does his song justice by relying on honesty, simplicity, and compassion on this- his debut album- which brought him critical and commercial success (though I never heard this song until last year).

03. The Turtles – “Earth Anthem” (1968) from Turtle Week – Part 4

Is this a love song to Earth, or a call to eco-terrorism? This album had the Turtles performing each song as a different fictional band (à la the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band). Attributed to All, this one was reportedly recorded at 3 A.M. by candlelight in order to achieve just the right mood.

04. George Jones – “These Days (I Barely Get By)” (1974) from Country Grab Bag II – Part 2

I started exploring country- and George Jones- in the mid ‘00s after a painful break up. It was only then that I could truly appreciate the depths of sadness and loneliness in so many of Jones’ songs. I would listen to his music while making dinner (for one) and chuckle to myself; such is the healing power of music. In giving advice to aspiring writers, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. said: “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.” I love the way life just keeps getting worse for the protagonist in this song and there is no trace of a happy ending (yet country music fans in the ‘70s ate this stuff up). 

Willie Nelson

05. Jackson Browne – “The Birds of St. Mark’s (Live)” (2004) from Blue Jean Rock Poets II – Part 1

“I’m weary of the nights I’ve seen inside these empty halls.” Written when Browne was just 18 and returning to California from New York City (JB always thought of it as a Byrds tune), I like the song’s imagery and I’m always a sucker for love songs featuring queens and castles. 

06. Looking Glass – “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” (1972) from Classic Rock: Choice Cuts IV

While not the sharpest tool in the shed, Brandy is kind, loving, and loyal. This classic rock staple will still sound good a hundred years from now, and I’m always interested in nautical themed ‘70s songs that take place on the West Coast. Hmm. That might be a good theme for a future blog entry.

07. Dar Williams – “Fm Radio” (2015) from Rock Grab Bag VI

Ok, we get it, Dar. You came of age during a time when FM radio was popular, today’s kids don’t have that same experience, and you want to make sure everyone knows how cool and magical it was back then. But I was there- it wasn’t- and there is nothing cheaper or easier than nostalgia. But I agree- this Internet Age is overrated. 

08. Paul Simon – “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” (1972) from Paul from Queens – Part 2

Still sounds good after all these years. Favorite line: “And when the radical preacher come and get me released, we was all on the cover of Newsweek.” As Peace Corps Volunteers in Bulgaria we all received free subscriptions to Newsweek.

The Wallflowers

09. Willie Nelson and Calexico – “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)” (2007) from Bob’s Birthday Bash – Part 2

Nelson takes this Bob Dylan song to a whole new level of darkness, terror, desolation, and doom. Scary stuff, indeed- and it is not easy to scare the Jean. Hats off, Willie.

10. The Gaslight Anthem – “The ‘59 Sound” (2008) from Kiss Me I’m Irish II – Part 1

I first heard this song in the car on my way to a Redskins game in 2008 (at first I thought it was Bruce Springsteen) and then I went and purchased the album. A few months later the unthinkable happened when my ex returned to me. She was fleeing domestic violence at the time and I helped her out of a jam but she soon returned to her abuser. This song takes me back to that brief, intense period when The ‘59 Sound was the only music I had in my car- and Barack Obama had just been sworn in as president. 

11. The Wallflowers – “Lawyers, Guns and Money” (2004) from Adults Only II

When the creative juices just aren’t flowing, nothing invigorates a band more than a cover song and the Wallflowers go all out on this Warren Zevon cover (although I’m not crazy about the replacing of “dad” with “Warren”. Maybe Jakob just wasn’t comfortable singing about his famous father).  

12. The Monkees – “Shades of Gray” (1967) from Cheer Up, Sleepy Jean II – Part 1

As a young Monkees fan in the ‘80s, this song really struck me and sent my imagination reeling (right down to the French horn). From all the TV shows and movies I had seen I imagined the ‘60s to be the most dramatic, exciting American decade ever. I eventually outgrew it but when I return to this song now I still enjoy its childish wisdom and innocence.

Indigo Girls

13. Paul Simon – “Duncan” (1972) from Paul from Queens – Part 2

While not one of Simon’s better known songs, I like its strangeness. 

14. Jackson Browne – “I Am a Patriot” (1989) from Browne’s Blues – Part 1

Words and music by Little Steven Van Zandt. For the record, the Jean is a registered independent voter.

15. Indigo Girls – “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (Live)” (2008) from Rock Grab Bag VI

There are many cover versions of this Dylan song but this may be my new favorite. It’s so joyful!

16. Craig Finn – “Maggie I’ve Been Searching for Our Son” (2015) from Rock Grab Bag III

Perhaps it’s because- like Craig Finn- I am a Catholic from the Northeast that the Mountain States and so-called American-born prophets have always scared me.“There were handcuffed girls with barely any clothes.” Are singer-songwriters making a comeback? 

Earth, Wind & Fire

17. Old 97’s – “Salome” (1997) from Country Grab Bag II – Part 3

Right from the start the song evokes a sad, desolate atmosphere somewhere in the Southwest and you can almost see the dusty highway bar and neon sign as the weary protagonist sings a song well known to every man whose ever had a lady break his heart and learns the hard way- sooner or later- everyone leaves and lets you down. “I’m tired of making friends.” 

18. Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack – “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” (1983) from Soul by the Dozen V

If you were born in the early ‘80s, then you may have quiet storm music to thank for your existence. 

19. Earth, Wind & Fire – “September” (1978) from Soul by the Dozen V

This song is sure to get any dance floor moving- any time of the year!

20. Screeching Weasel – “99” (1994) from Alternative Grab Bag IV – Part 3

Having already tackled Happy Days and The Brady Bunch, Screeching Weasel’s tribute to the ‘60s spy TV show Get Smart (reruns of which I used to enjoy watching as a little boy with my bologna sandwich and milk) is packed with Get Smart references and appears on the band’s last good album (which runs less than 30 minutes and the 13 songs run you over like a freight train as if the band wants to hurry and finish so they can use the bathroom). 99 was played by actress and former model Barbara Feldon. 

“99”

21. Dr. Hook – “When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman” (1978) from Rock Me Softly II

This song makes being in love with a beautiful woman sound like a real drag but also oozes with late ‘70s charm. For what it’s worth, these guys were from New Jersey.

22. Johnny Rivers – “Positively 4th Street” (1968) from Bob’s Birthday Bash – Part 1

One of the great kiss off songs of all time- so many powerful lines aimed at fair-weather fans and critics alike. The original Dylan version is good but rough and I prefer this version which is smoother but still carries the same edge, power, and drama. I heard Dylan likes this version, too.

23. U2 – “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own (Live)” (2005) from Alternative Grab Bag IV – Part 5

Bono has it out with his dad (or God) live on stage in Milan (my dad loves opera, too.) It’s always a thrill to hear whether or not Bono will be able to hit that high note near the end of the song. (He does.)

24. Adele – “Someone Like You” (2011) from Pop Faves II

It took me some years to come around but now I like this song. Timeless, universal pop.

25. Sarah McLachlan – “Answer (Live)” (2003) from Rock Grab Bag VI

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

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