Okay back to the odd we go. There was an odd little Sci-Fi movie made in 1974 during the pre Star Wars era by John Carpenter, who later made some really disturbing horror and sci-fi movies. This low-budget gem is a quirky mess, but the opening theme song is unique. It's a C&W space sailor's lament about a love lost to the theory of relativity. He left home a few years back and left his girl behind. Now he's still a young man and back on Earth, she's an old lady and there's no going back. Meanwhile the crew of the spaceship Dark Star is going a little nuts blowing up planets and talking to their dead captain and a self-destructive bomb. I included a clip of the whole opening sequence. Best Sci-Fi Country Western song ever.
This song is by one of my new favorite singers. Zachary Levi you'll recognize if you ever watched the TV series "Chuck". He played Chuck Bartowski the amped up nerd spy. He also did the voice of Flynn Ryder in Tangled and I already posted his duet with Mandy Moore from Tangled. I think one of the reasons I like Levi is because he's openly a Christian and tends to take roles as decent people. Katherine McPhee has done some TV and Broadway musicals. She has a lovely voice and she and Zach do this song very well.
This song describes my youthful approach to romance. I was quite frankly "Terrified".
I love these kinds of duets. My Sweet Baboo used to sing duets with me just around the house. We'd just spontaneously break out in song all of a sudden. It was nice and I liked it very much. Sometimes it still happens over a sinkful of dishes. This song is very close to my "life as a musical" approach to living. This song is one of those that "get me". As a kid, I always doubted whether I was good enough for anybody else to love. I worried that even God might have trouble liking an awkward, nerdy, self-absorbed kid like me sometimes. Songs like this make me believe two people can "get" each other like that, even though they are afraid that they can't.
The first time I was ever asked to perform a song for church was the Spring of 1972 at the Weslaco, Texas SDA Church when I was at Valley Grande Academy. I had just learned a nice chord progression for All My Trials, the old spiritual and had mastered simple finger-picking. I was so terrified to perform up front that my voice was shaking. Afterward, people complimented me on my "emotional" and "heart-felt" delivery. Forty years later, I sang the last song I ever performed solo in church
at Tyler SDA Church in Tyler, Texas. Oddly enough it was the same song.
I'd just learned a new chord progression and had written some verses for
it. Over four decades, I had learned the limitations of my voice, so I
did a kind of whisper sing and encouraged the congregation to join in on
the chorus. As the song went on (my wife says I did too many verses),
the congregation gradually picked up in volume and we had a nice little
sing-along going, which helped me get through without embarrassing myself
totally.
Here is that last performance. Zaida Arante sent me the
video. All My Trials, therefore, bookended my church singing career.
I'm just glad I got through it without weeping publicly. This was just a
few weeks before we left Texas, possibly forever. Given the state of
the world right now, all our trials most likely will "...soon be over."
SS Marine Electric whose chief mate, Bob Cusick spent the night clinging to a partly deflated raft singing "The Mary Ellen Carter" in the freezing water to keep up his courage till rescued.
This wonderful song about the indomitable spirit of sailor men is one of my favorites. the brief video interview with a sailor at the beginning of the clip tells how the song literally saved his life when his own ship sank. Stan Rogers, a marvelous Canadian folksinger and songwriter, based this song on a true story about a ship whose drunken officers managed to sink her. Sailors, however, often have a powerful relationship with the ships upon which they serve. As the Mary Ellen Carter sank, they swore they'd raise her up again. Despite a profound lack of interest by the owners and insurers and as unlikely as it might have been, five of the ship's crewmembers banded together and salvaged and refloated the ship.
This song is not only inspiring to all of us to whom
"adversity has dealt the final blow", but the song is actually credited
with saving the life of one shipwrecked sailor who sang it to keep himself going a whole long night until the Coast Guard found him floating in the sea clinging to the wreckage. The sailor attended Stan's very last concert and was able to shake his hand and thank him.
The song celebrates the human spirit that overcomes adversity. Sadly, we lost Stan Rogers far too soon. On June 2, 1983, Rogers was headed home from the Kerrville Folk Festival
in Texas. A fire started in the restroom on Air Canada flight 797. It
was forced to land in the Greater Cincinatti Airport. Rogers was one of
23 people who died of smoke inhalation. He was only 33. We can only imagine what songs he might have given us had he lived on.
Here's Stan singing the Mary Ellen Carter:
Here's a version by another pair of my favorite singers, Liam Clancy, one of the last survivors of the inimitable Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. It was my privilege to hear the Clancy Brothers in one of their last performances before Tom died. I got to hear Liam in a reunion tour paired up with Tommy Makem. This is Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy singing The Mary Ellen Carter with Liam taking the lead in capturing the Irish seafaring soul.
So to you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow,
With smilin' bastards lyin' to ya' everywhere ya' go,
Turn to, and put out all your
strength of arm and heart and brain
And, like the Mary Ellen Carter,
rise again!”
Continuing along the contrasting voice theme, there's this little gem originally done by Sons of the Pioneers when Roy Rogers was with them. I love that version, but this version with Joni Mitchell teamed up with Willie Nelson is special. I don't think I've ever been disappointed with a duet by anyone with Willie Nelson. Here's the Joni Mitchell / Willie Nelson version AND the Sons of the Pioneers rather different version with the smooth Western cowboy blend that they were famous for.
First: Joni and Willie
Next: The Sons of the Pioneer
And here's a nice version by Riders in the Sky (we'll here another song by them later on)
I love the way everyone has their own take on the song. I may just come up with my own version someday. If so, I will append it here.
One of the things I like in music is really interesting duets. One of my favorites is this love song sung by two guys with very contrasting styles. Operatic tenor Placido Domingo and John Denver team up to ask what love is like. It's a lovely song and says things I believe. Love is just a resting place, a shelter from the storm, It invites you to come closer. It wants to keep you warm. And in those times of trouble when you are most alone, the memories of love will bring you home. That just takes my breath away.
Here's the country mouse and city mouse teaming up together with Perhaps Love:
The first time I ever heard this song, it was my daughter and a friend
who sang it. It made me want to get up and shout, "Hallelujah!" Instead of embarrassing my offspring, however, I instead got up to try to take a video of it with my
cell phone camera. I only got part of it since I missed the beginning. They haven't got together
since then to do the song for me, so I could get the whole thing on video. So I'll have to settle for the original.
The relentlessly happy song talks about Jesus setting our feet on solid rock. For me, the song says something about my own life. The storms of life have repeatedly threatened to sweep me away, but throughout all that experience, it has been His great love that has kept me anchored to the Rock.
The song was originally sung by Southern gospel group, The Martins. It was their first number 1 hit on the gospel charts and they do it well. Here's their version of Out of His Great Love:
