My wife and daughter bought me an rather obscure (in 2011) CD for Christmas. It is the reissue of The Byrds, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo," from 1968. I remember one brother having an 8-track tape of it and I remember listening to it/seeing it while riding in his white 1968 GTO which he didn't have very long at all.
I've been listening to it on my Sansa Fuze (not an iPod) out in the shop. (I've got powered speakers.)
I got the song, "I love the Christian Life," stuck in my head. Not all of the song, just fragments of verses.
It is keeping me awake...
There are several directions I could go with this but perhaps just a short post will let me go to sleep.
It is a good album. Poetic lyrics, tight good sounding playing, Gram Parsons was perhaps a little to intense. I understand he didn't burn very well...
I think it is funny I like it 40 years later, but wouldn't listen to it as a kid.
I Love the Christian Life was written by the Louvin Brothers and covered by the Byrds.
(I see the copyright Nazi's have limited the musical selections on YouTube. Of course this only makes it harder to find music you WANT TO BUY! Which cuts revenue-smart!)
I suppose that now I don't really give a rip if people like the music I'm playing as I listen to it to enjoy it not to promote some sort of image.
I'm surprised at what followers we all are. I had a young person tell me the attributes of the singer Kesha while kind of attempting to dress like her. I really like the aforementioned girl but don't know her well enough to tell her a story about how stupid I looked pretending to be Johnny Rotten. Not that she would have actually listened...
At a certain age we are putting our beliefs and thoughts together and we seem to borrow heavily from other sources. Those who claim to be different are the most conformist. But that is the way it goes.
I have several embarrassing memories that I would like to spare my child from having.
I am amazed at the influence the entertainment industry has on young lives. We had a discussion about Lady GaGa's pathetic cry for attention and how it worked. She now is rich. A freak who I hope laughs all the way to the bank.
I think music should be experienced and not watched. (Unfortunately I have no talent.) Kind of like food should be grown and not shipped in a container from China to your grocery store. Or processed beyond recognition. Or grown in a 1,000 acre lettuce patch by hired labor.
Live should be lived. You should make it happen and not let it happen to you.
And that is my speech for the evening.
(which will be posted in the morning)
I Like The Christian Life
My buddies tell me that I should have waited
They say I'm missing a whole world of fun
But I am happy and I sing with pride
I like the christian life
I won't lose a friends by heeding God's call
For what is a friend who'd want me to fall
Otheres find pleasure in things I despise
I like the christian life
My buddies shun me since I turned to Jesus
But I am happy though it burdens my soul
And I'll try to lead them to walk in the night
I like the christian life
Posts
Interesting, although I never heard of this song, had to look it up on youtube. This one was much more stuck in my mind back then.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIBu2p8FR3o
Its kind of the anthem of the 60s in my mind.
And the entertainers certainly had power over the younger generation back then too. I recall the girls screaming when those long haired British upstarts called the Beatles hit North America. Same deal with Elvis Presley a decade earlier.
The more things change.... etc.
When I was in school back in the slightly post Ordovician Woodstock/Khe Sanh era, my long haired substance abusing friends shared equally with ROTC enlistee friends in capacity for close mindedness and intolerance.
ReplyDeleteIt is too bad that fools are made larger than life by the media, and that youth (and the rest of us) succumb to a drive to emulate in order to belong. Critical thinking can be taught young. I remember watching tv with a young family during a commercial for some current toy fad when a six year old turned to his father and stated "They want us to spend our money, but we're too smart for them aren't we."
Ralph, our herd instincts are pretty strong. Or should I say our lemming instincts. The Byrds also covered that song. I'm trying to encourage my child to be a bit cynical about her heroes.
ReplyDeleteCollieguy, Very good point. I noticed that same sort of thing when i was in and just out of college. I had some friends in both camps and I found I didn't care for the extremes.
The pressure to pick a group and then conform is really strong. I guess you just need to pick the right group?
Hmmm....I didn't conform very well back then and even less so now. Does that mean I can blame not having any friends on my honorable independence?
ReplyDeletelet us remember also, it is the fooishness of our youth that allows us to realize the value of widom with age and it is the arrogance of youth that allows us to realize the value of humility in time.
ReplyDeleteI thought that my parental desire to mold my children into my particular set of values was going well when I overheard my young daughter tell her sister that a dress worn by a famous icon was "ugly because it isn't modest." Of course, pride goeth before a fall, and not long after, I found my 5 year old daughter jumping on the bed and singing Brittany Spear's "I'm not that Innocent." You can bet that it created some parental consternation! I actively teach my children to worry about pleasing the Lord rather than following fads and false heroes, but the siren call to conform sung by mass media is so hard to resist. And some level of conforming allows us to not be completely friendless. In the end, I try to teach them correct principles and hope they gradually learn to govern themselves. I agree with The Griper, and I don't know anyone who can look back without blushing a bit at the foolishness of their youth.
ReplyDeleteBudd E, I listened to the song--great lyrics!The following song captures the concepts I hope my children, and especially my daughters, will grasp when they worry about meeting the media's definition of beauty. It's called "Beautiful to Him".
ReplyDeletewww.youtube.com/watch?v=BE5KBtePL90
Housewife, I think that once the basic values are installed early in life, when the kid still cares, it should hold steady though life. Unless the college indoctrination is particularly effective...
ReplyDelete