Soul music for the Black Dog
I am picking myself up by the bootstraps lately. As the comedian said, if it's not one thing it's your mother. Good in Parts, as so often, comes to the rescue with words from an unlikely source. Much though I respect his ideas, I never think of Luther as a cheery chap. But he said this:
"I
have no use for cranks who despise music, because it is a gift of God.
Music drives away the Devil and makes people gay; they forget thereby
all wrath, unchastity, arrogance, and the like. Next after theology, I
give to music the highest place and the greatest honor."
Music for the Black Dog: sometimes extreme beauty, like Elgar or Bach or Allegri or Mozart. And sometimes in-your-face, fighting back music, like Paul Simon, Tina Turner (whatever Ed Tomlinson may think), or Gloria Gaynor. I met Gloria once. Fantastic woman. I will survive.
6 Responses to “Soul music for the Black Dog”
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
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This post is eerily relevant at the moment for a reason that I cannot divulge in public, but it is so true! (Except the Barth quote is I think an urban legend – but it does sum Barth up well!).
I have certainly encountered the attitude that if the students understand you, then you are not a proper scholar! This is often coupled with the idea that if you publish popular stuff aimed at helping the church at grassroots level, this is not worth anything because only peer-reviewed rarification counts!
While I would be the first to defend, advocate and promote the ‘traditional’ academic research (and have done some of it myself), in ministerial training colleges and courses we need the popular stuff too. And we certainly need lecturers who are subject specialists who can teach clearly and with enthusiasm – and so inspire students.
In my current post, I am responsible for quality control of teaching – so I am on my hobby horse here!
A fair point, with which I entirely agree. I was attempting a little irony in my ending – but obviously misfired
I so agree. G K Chesterton spoke of those who are comforted by long words (or, might I add, by objective/unemotional-sounding prose, or by writing under a high-status, beautifully-produced imprint) being shocked when precisely the same content is delivered in one-syllable words.
There’s no merit in simply sounding clever (or impenetrable): quite the reverse.
I like your description of ‘in your face, fighting music’. Like you I either go for moody stuff, or music with energy and passion – my favourite is ‘Zoo Station’ by U2. Strangely, Coldplay gets me dancing with joy much more readily than worship CDs.
And for me in solitude when driving it’s David Gray, I find some of his songs/music allow me to reflect and that’s no bad thing. I should add I also own a substanstial amount of Worship CDs but as David has implied sometimes they are not what you need.
When I’m feeling low, I listen to old time Gospel – Dixie Hummingbirds, Mahalia Jackson, Swan Silvertones, Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Never fails to cheer me up and reminds where all those fantastic soul singers like Gloria Gayner came from