The Sunday Service: The LEONARDiction

Thanks to Phil's recent blog post over at Philip's Tree House regarding my CAVEspers I've been spurred on to come up with a new Sunday Service. So here it is - The LEONARDiction.

My long-held view is that the title of most inspired song-writers belongs to the holy trinity of Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen. Having compiled a DYLitANy and CAVEspers already, I felt it was time to give the honour to Mr Cohen. (Incidently I've been very fortunate to see all three leading worship in London during the last 18 months.)

Why 'The LEONARDiction' - well being a traditionalist I had to come up with some kind of religious pun, however paltry. Also, the Benediction - or blessing - that usually accompanies the end of a church service or prayer time is somewhat appropriate for Cohen. For some reason a benediction is always 'prounounced' - and in my experience that means the minister or priest delivers it with a sombre yet uplifting tone. And surely if such contradictory adjectives were ever to be attributed to a singer's voice - it has to be Cohen's. So here's the 'setlist'...

Processional Hymn: Hallelujah (Various Positions, 1985)

Praise and Worship:
Love Calls You by Your Name (Songs of Love and Hate, 1971)
Dance Me to the End of Love (Various Positions, 1985)
That Don't Make It Junk (Ten New Songs, 2001)

Intercessionary Prayers: The Future (The Future, 1992)

Confession:
Everybody Knows (I'm Your Man, 1988)
Tower of Song (I'm Your Man, 1988)

Bible reading: The Story of Isaac (Songs From a Room, 1969)

Sermon: Anthem (The Future, 1992)

Response: If it be Your Will (Various Positions, 1985)

Recessional hymn: Here It Is (Ten New Songs, 2001)

Jim Reeves>Bimbo

The summer's gone and my holidays are finished. On the whole August was a fabulous month - time spent with the family, lazing on the beach, watching the breakers roll in on the Cornish clffs, good food and of course England winning the Ashes. But amongst all the frivolity was the tragedy of Bimbo.

He was our guinea pig - my 6 year old daughter's pride and joy. Travelling through Cornwall we sang his song in the car, remembering him back home. Happy campers could hear the strains of 'Bimbo, Bimbo where ya gonna go ya' through the thin walls of their tents as we sang along to Jim Reeves. And now, our furry friend has gone - a sad end to a lovely pet and a beautiful summer.

And so, in his memory here's his song - he's gone but not forgotten.

The Duckworth Lewis Method

I have relatively few passions in this world but when two of them come together in such a great combination it certainly adds to life's rich tapestry. I've already confessed to my penchant for The Divine Comedy in an earlier post, so imagine my delight when I heard that songwriter Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy had just released an album inspired by my favourite sport - cricket. And just in time for the Ashes!

When I was a child I spent many an hour watching cricket - initially England getting ground into the dust by a rampant West Indian side and then as I grew older I got used to Australia consistently hammering England. Over the last couple of weeks my ear's been glued to the radio (can't afford SKY for live TV coverage)as I've kept abreast of England's heroics on their way to regaining the Ashes (I hope).

But I've listened to the streaming version of The Duckworth Lewis Method's album online and I've got to say it's great. Somehow it evokes the feeling of a lazy summer's afternoon at the cricket - a far cry I must say from the gut-wrenching agony of being an England supporter during any Ashes series. I never thought that an album on cricket would ever be written but the Divine Comedy have lived up to their name and produced a classic! There must be a God after all.

Here they are performing on Grafton Street, Dublin. Did you see them Cosmo?

U2>Miss Sarajevo

On the whole I've given U2 short thrift on this blog - I'm not really sure why because I've always been a big fan. I suspect it's because for the last couple of years I've found Bono's earnestness just a little too much. However, prompted today by my wife's departure for 8 days to Bosnia on an interfaith trip I checked out a song I've loved for a long time - Miss Sarajevo (The Passengers, 1995).

As I watched the video of the song - as below - it all came back to me. I remember being glued to the TV news during the war watching with grim fascination the pictures of the ordinary people of Sarajevo literally having to sprint for cover on the way to work to avoid the bullets around them. It was the weirdest of things seeing normality and war going on side by side. And U2 capture the sense of this paradox in the song magnificently (read about the song here). And as the beauty contestants hold up the sign saying 'don't let them kill us' the futility and pointlessness of it all becomes so stark.

I love the lyrics, too with their echo of Ecclesiastes. Until today I hadn't seen a translation of Pavarotti's part. Here it is:

You say that the river
finds the way to the sea
and like the river
you will come to me
beyond the borders
and the dry lands
You say that like a river
like a river...
the love will come
the love...
And i don't know how to pray anymore
and in love i don't know how to hope anymore
and for that love i don't know how to wait anymore

Powerful stuff, eh? And so, perhaps you'd like to spare a prayer for the people of Bosnia who have with such dignity begun to rebuild their country and my own 'Miss Sarajevo' who is there today.

Radiohead>No Surprises

There was a time when I was convinced that Radiohead was the greatest band on earth. Now I would review that considerably - they're good, but short of a truly inspired critique, I will simply state that I find them a bit depressing! However, I find very little to criticize about my favourite song of theirs - 'No Surprises' (OK Computer, 1997). It's a masterpiece.

Let me tell you why this song is so great! Firstly, it's got one of the most sublime guitar riffs in rock. Secondly, Thom Yorke's voice is so sullen and tired that it captures the mood magnificently. Thirdly and most importantly, it's a song to inspire a revolution. Some songs are written with uprising in mind and they put it all out there in clear and obvious ways - think the Clash's 'London Calling' or the Sex Pistols' 'Anarchy in the UK' for example. Having listened to and enjoyed those songs on many occasions I can safely say that by the time they reach their raucous final bars the anger and angst inside me has all but dried up. I have always preferred the subtle, however. 'No Suprises' contains three minutes and forty-eight seconds of such irony and monotony that by the end you're ready to get up and go and do something rebellious to prove Radiohead wrong - that you're ready for a life that breaks the mould and really will bring down the government.

And so perhaps I'm back to Alinsky again. Recently, I've become convinced that those who seek to follow Jesus can never be satisfied with just doing good things and at the same time maintaining the status quo. That in it's own way is like embracing a world of 'no suprises'. That's a case of cheap grace. Costly grace involves a deeper work where risk and revolution have their place - where the injustices of our communities and neighbourhoods are challenged to their core. Listen to 'No Suprises' and you'll hear what I mean but don't blame me when it stirs you up.

Sufjan Stevens>The Perpetual Self or What Would Saul Alinsky Do?

Well, here's to the song with the longest title I'll probably ever attempt to write about! If you know anything about American singer-songwriter and player of pretty much every instrument you can imagine - Sufjan Stevens - you'll know that long song titles are one of his fortes. A lot could be said about Sufjan and his religious connections but no time for that right now - what I'm particularly interested in writing about is why I chose this song of his. Mainly it's because of the man mentioned in the ridiculously long title of this song - Saul Alinsky. And he's someone who I have recently become very interested in.

Saul Alinsky is known as the father of 'community organising'. The term was probably not that well known until this time last year when its most famous proponent started banging on about it on his way to the White House. Having got involved in community organising here in East London through London Citizens a couple of years back, I've read Alinsky's two short books - Reville for Radicals (1946) and Rules for Radicals (1971) and been gripped by them. They're not quite like anything I've ever read - irreverent, funny, passionate, political and ultimately empowering. If you want to do politics or social justice it's the only place to start. I'll never be the same again having read that stuff (and incidently, I've seen the principles work here in my neighbourhood!).

So what's this song about? Truthfully, I'm not sure - every version of the lyrics on the internet are different and none of them are obvious in meaning. Having listened to the song carefully a few times I would suggest that it appears to be an Alinsky anthem of sorts. You'll just have to listen to it yourself - strangely uplifting despite the opening salvo of 'Everything is lost...'. But then in an odd kind of way that is Alinsky's message - when you're down and losing, get organised, act together and you're on your way up. And make sure you have a lot of fun doing it!

Steve Earle>John Walker Blues

It feels appropriate for a post on Townes Van Zandt to be followed by one on Steve Earle given his recent TVZ covers album and general hero-worship. Also, as I write the news is on in the background and I'm being told that President Obama is currently in Saudi Arabia trying 'to reach out to the Muslim World'. Obama would do well to listen to Earle's 'John Walker Blues' (Jerusalem, 2002) as a starting point in American relations with Islam. (Actually, if my take on this song is right - he probably has!).

The song is about John Walker, an American convert to Islam, who fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan before being captured in 2001. He's currently serving a 20 year sentence in the US. Lyrics can be found here. Now I can imagine that this subject is a pretty emotive issue for lots of people - Walker is considered a traitor and his story came as a shock to many.

However, I don't think for a moment that Earle is condoning violence or fundamentalism in this song. What I think he does instead is to transfer the emotion to a different place by writing the song from Walker's point of view - a regular guy looking for meaning in life and who follows his convictions (however misguided) once he finds something that makes sense to him. I personally find the song very challenging because it cuts through so much of the hysteria surrounding Islam - it is an individual that is being sung about, not the breathtakingly overstated 'clash of civilizations' agenda. The 'blues' is not just a take on Walker's own story of being hauled back to the US as a prisoner but in America's failure to offer Walker something in the first place that touched his soul. Of course we could offer many excuses for why that may be - no doubt his family, his upbringing would be cited - but then again we in the Western world could perhaps take a hard look at ourselves and wonder why we're surprised at all.