I discovered these amazing children and their incredible voices.yesterday. I've listened to their music all day today and my heart is lifted. This song is about loss, but it is all about hope as well. I wept all the way through it for I have experienced many losses in my life; in our lives for Sheila and I lost a son. We lost her parents and my father and stepfather. My dad and brother died in tragic circumstances. This music makes me sad and joyful all at the same time. And they have many more songs.
This music is like a visit to the New Earth. I imagine us all making music like this throughout eternity. Music should bubble up from the soul and increase our joy. The One Voice Children's Choir does precisely that.
This song find a place deep in my heart that is still grieving and gives me hope. This children's choir is directed by a guy who is a genius at putting together just the right voices and locations and a spare just right use of musical instruments to produce music that makes me all weepy.
In my mind I can imagine angels standing behind these kids smiling as they give us a tiny peek at what Heaven and the New Earth will have for us. I plan to spend a century or so learning to play the cello, violin and improve my other stringed instrument skills, just for those Saturday night jam sessions on the back porch with neighbors.
You'll be seeing more of my new favorite group soon.
Ever once in a while you stumble across a weird little song and it just sticks in your head. This little ditty by Louden Wainright III celebrates an experience we've all had driving down a country road late at night. this is one of those songs you sing at the top of you lungs when you're driving along alone and feeling just a bit unhappy with the state of affairs in the world and you just want to express your frustration with the things.
Here's Louden Wainright III with "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road".
My Grandpa used to play this song on his harmonica when we were
kids. He had a verse about a peanut on the railroad track, his heart was
all aflutter, and along came a train with a clickety-clack and it was
toot toot peanut butter. He could always get a laugh out of anyone ten
years old and younger.
"Polly Wolly Doodle" was my favorite one of his harmonica tunes. He could do this triple tonguing deal that I have never been able to pull off. My #2 favorite song of his was a somewhat risque ballad called "I Never Loved Her Like I
Loved Her Last Night in the Back of My Cadillac 8". I think there may
have been a story behind that, because my grandmother tended to get
flustered when he played it. As I learned later, Grandpa and Honeymama
(my grandmother's grandkid name) went out on a date one night and drove
to Itasca, found a preacher and got married. Then Grandpa took her home
and they didn't tell her father, my great grand papaw, about if for two
weeks cause they were both afraid of him. I rather suspect my Honeymama
and Grandpa did NOT drive straight home from Itasca that momentous date night. I've driven on
those back roads and there are plenty of places to park I can tell you. Grandpa always
had a little grin on his face when he played "Cadillac 8". Honeymom just
rolled her eyes and left the room.
A friend of mine hooked me on Leon
Redbone years ago and I especially loved his bluesy mellow version of
Polly Wolly Doodle. I learned to play the song on the harmonica by
playing along with a Leon Redbone tape I recorded off the original vinyl
album. It was a little scratchy, but that kind of goes with old Leon's
style..............and Grandpa's. Here's Leon Redbone with Polly Wolly
Doodle:
This little man did as much to end Apartheid as some activist groups. It's a little known fact that neither the government of South Africa, nor the African National Congress, the UN and half a dozen anti-apartheid groups wanted Paul Simon to do the Graceland Tour. But the naysayers needn't have worried. Simon's incredible musical collaboration with some of Africa's finest musicians did probably more to discredit apartheid and helped unite Africans across the continent than anything done by any two liberal advocacy groups or government agencies.
I love this amazing music. Paul Simon introduced some marvelous
musicians to the world, not the least of which included the likes of
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Hugh Masekala, and Miriam Makeba. He really
took a beating from anti-apartheid people and from the South African
government. They were all wrong as was the cultural boycott that Simon
was accused of violating. He was even accused of "exploiting African
musicians." The truth was, he paid the musicians triple and didn't take
any money for himself. Here was a case of good guys versus a good guy.
How is it that people who put on the mantle of saviors of the
downtrodden are so often selfish, power hungry, narrow-minded twits?
Here
is "Homeless", a piece that showcases the talents of the inimitable
Ladysmith Black Mambazo (who by the way started out as a church choir).
This clip includes commentary on the genesis of this particular song and the close relationship that developed between Simon and the African musicians during the tour.
Okay, I'm going to admit a secret here. I really dig Don Ho! I don't care if he's a Hawaiian lounge lizard or whatever his detractors may call him. I like his music. My daughter and I once sang a medley of Pearly Shells and Happy Trails (the Roy Rogers theme song) for a church banquet. Don's music is imminently singable and all you need in the way of an instrument is a ukelele. Don and Iz Kamakawiwoʻole are two of my favorite island music singers. Ho sings a bit like Elvis did in his movie, Blue Hawaii. Or perhaps Elvis sang like Don Ho. It's kind of a chicken or the egg thing. For some reason I like the Hukilau song. Maybe I'm an island party animal at heart. Who knows? Here's Don with the Hukilau song.
How many times can you sing "Huki!" Don got in ten of them on that last line....
This song has a special place in my heart. It was one of my son Micah's
favorite song. We played it at his memorial service. As a parent there's
probably nothing worse that can happen to you than for you to lose a
child. This song was Micah's gift to us. I can't listen to it without
weeping openly. After his death, I had to be strong for my wife who was
devastated when Micah passed away. Mom's are not equipped to outlive
their children.
I used to put the CD of this song and several
others that were his favorites on the CD player in the car and drive
around and have myself a good cry and sing this song at the top of my
lungs. I still do it, though nowadays it's with my mp3 player while I'm
out on a good long walk away from people. It has a cleansing effect - kind of like scrubbing your soul.
Here's Mercyme's "I Can Only Imagine."
I've got another one of Micah's songs for next week. Stay tuned.
