Feed Your Ears

[Luigi]

In today's Gospel, Jesus lambasts hypocrites. This is Jimmy Clifton (from North Carolina) singing his own song, "Hypocrite." It's a reflection on his own hypocrisy. He has a really interesting sound, too. It's mostly just his voice and a gut-string guitar although a bass and backing vocals come in later on. The song structure is pretty standard, but the melody is a newer style; 'insistent' is the word that comes to mind. I don't know how sound his theology is, but he's honest, and it's an interesting song. 

 

[Luigi]

In today's first reading, St. Paul tells the Thessalonians "not to be shaken out or your minds" and "not to be alarmed." St. Teresa of Avila picked up on that idea some centuries later and wrote a short little prayer as a reminder. Some centuries later, Jacques Berthier set St. Teresa's words to music, here performed by the Paul Leddington Writing Singers. "Nada Te Turbe." 

 

[Luigi]

Today's song, "The Biblical Sky," is by Jim Sampson. I posted another of his songs about three weeks ago. I have no idea who he is or what he believes, but he does write some interesting music. The lyrics are somewhat Dylanesque, in the vein of surrealist poetry, which means that there's plenty of room in the lyrics to construct one's own meaning. One reason I like this particular song is that I take a walk every night, and I enjoy looking at the sky and whatever I happen to see in it. I find that watching waves breaking on a beach is very calming; I don't live anywhere near an ocean, but the next best thing is watching the sky. 

 

[Luigi]

"King Jesus, Send an Angel By My Way" was written by Rev. Joe Freeman about 1970 - at least that's when he released an album that included the song. It is "rockabilly Gospel." His wife and son (maybe 10 or 12 years old) are also featured on the album cover. The sound is pretty raw because of the microphones and stuff that were used at the time, but he sang it this way in churches all over western Virginia back in those days. 

 

[Luigi]

Today's Gospel is about the wise and the foolish virgins and their oil lamps. It put me in mind of a folk song called "Is Your Lamps Gone Out?'. This version was collected by Mary Wheeler from a Black woman who worked on steamboats. It's sung by a group called the Wheelhouse Rousters, which seems to have been put together by Mary Wheeler to record a lot of songs she collected. I've got a better version by a local group on a CD, but I don't know how to upload it to YouTube. The verses of this song are all common lines that show up in a lot of folk songs from the 19th century; it makes mention of 'Egypt' - "what are you gonna do in Egypt when your lamp's gone out?" That could refer to any place of exile, but it could also refer to southern Illinois where the Ohio river flows into the Mississippi; that area has towns named Cairo, Thebes, Carmi, and Karnak. 

 

[Luigi]

Ed Bruce had a solid career in country music during the 70s and 80s - he's the one who wrote "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." He has a warm baritone and  a wonderful vibrato. He got religion late in life and recorded a Gospel album. Musically, it's just his voice and a piano - not quite the sound that made him famous, but it works quite well. Here is "For My Good and to Your Glory." He didn't write it, but he delivers a heartfelt interpretation. 

 

[Luigi]

The movie "Godspell" came out in 1973. It included the song "All Good Gifts," which is sort of based on a verse in today's second reading from the Letter of St. James. 

 

[Luigi]

This is Rae Marie (Livsey, although she doesn't usually use her last name) singing "The Spirit of the Lord Is Upon Me" which I suppose she wrote but I can't prove that. I like almost everything about it - she has a strong supple alto voice, a bluesy accompaniment, and some good musical contrasts in the song (low and quiet, then higher and louder, and so forth). She does repeat the line "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" more times than I thin absolutely necessary, but I'm willing to overlook that. And I love the photo from the album cover. This was released in 2014. It ties in with today's Gospel reading.

 

[Luigi]

Today is the feast of St. Gregory the great. Among his many accomplishments in his fourteen years as pope, he is credited with devising or at least standardizing liturgical chant, now called Gregorian chant. Recent research questions that tradition, claiming that Gregorian chant didn't really emerge until four or five centuries later. All of that is above my pay grade. When I was in the choir, we call this Gregorian chant. So here is today's psalm, 145, sung in English and set to Gregorian chant, using a melody adapted from a 12th century manuscript. 

 

Edited September 4 by Luigi

[Luigi]

The last line in today's first reading from 1 Corinthians is "you are God's field, God's building." That may be the line that inspired the traditional Gospel song "Working on a Building (for my Lord). I heard it first from the original Carter family; this version is by the Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, the next generation of the Carter Family. June Carter was married to Johnny Cash, so you hear him on this recording, too. It doesn't contain a lot of theology or philosophy - it's a very practical song. 

 

[Luigi]

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells Peter, James, and John "from now on you will be catching men." I posted an a cappella song called "Fishers of Men" by Rhonda Vincent on August 1st. Today's version is by The Newsboys, from 2013. It's a very different sound. 

 

[Luigi]

"Honey in the Rock" by the Carter Family. This is a basically an evangelizing song, the singers sharing reasons to follow Jesus. It's kind of a mashup of phrases from the Bible and general Christian preaching. But it has a singable melody, good harmony, and Maybelle's simple but effective guitar. I like it. 

 

[Luigi]

Keiko Ying is a classically trained cellist; she also writes Christian music. She has a gentle voice, and this song, "Lord of the Sabbath," has a gentle melody and piano accompaniment. It's very peaceful. She wrote this song, and what I can find on YouTube and on her web page is all from 2020. 

 

[Luigi]

In today's second reading, St. James talks about not showing preference to people based on their social status. This song from the Mighty Sons of Glory picks up on that concept but takes it in a slightly different direction. There has been a long-standing tension within Black churches between two very different styles of worship - the more traditional, quiet, controlled style which the song refers to as Sophisticated Christians and the more emotional, shout-and-dance-unto-the-Lord style. The Mighty Sons of Glory are of the opinion that God has no use  for a Sophisticated Christian. 

 

[Luigi]

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells the man with the withered hand to "stretch forth your hand." This is Martha Bass singing "Father, I Stretch My Hand to Thee." The words are by the Methodist minister and hymn writer Charles Wesley, but this is an abbreviated version - it's basically just the first verse. Martha Bass' daughter Fontella is playing the piano and singing the echo lines. This was recorded probably some time in the 1960s.