The Times They are A-Changin'

I can't think of a better way to kick off this publication but to quote Bob Dylan's 1964 anthem:

The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Forty-one years later, it's just as pointed as the day it was written. History is moving and, as they say, "Lead, follow or get out of the way."

U-571 and the Call of Duty

Joseph got me this movie for Christmas a couple of years ago. One of the things that impressed me in watching and re-watching it has to do with a pivotal scene near the end of the movie where a young crewman is ordered to swim in the bilge to shut off a leaking air valve which is endangering the whole crew.

As you will recall, young Lt. Tyler (portrayed by Matthew McConaughey) has been turned down for a promotion to skipper his own boat because his senior officer is unsure the younger officer can make life or death decisions on behalf of his subordinates when it is crunch time.

As the story develops, he is thrown into the position of skipper in the heat of battle when his own skipper is killed during their mission. In the ensuing attempt to get the boat and crew to safety, Tyler finds himself facing the demons that the older skipper warned him of. The situation with the leaky valve is one of the make-or-break decisions that "gel" him as the commander. After a failed attempt to find the valve, the young seaman complains to Lt. Tyler that he "can't do it." Tyler responds that he has to do it, that the lives of the entire crew depend on him doing what was ordered. I very well remember Tyler's order for the seaman to get back in the bilge and "do your job." The seaman obeys and his courage ends up saving the crew, though it cost him his own life in the process, drowning in the sub's bilge.

Duty has lost favor in our "do what floats your boat" world. Christians bend over backward to stress that we obey Jesus "because we love him... because we want to, not because we have to." I have heard duty talked down as a proper motivation for a follower of Jesus. In Jesus' world, love involves duty. It does not exclude it. Perhaps it is because of the absence of duty that today's "love" is so shallow.

U2: Still Humming After All These Years

I can remember hearing a young new band from Ireland years back and being intrigued by their sound. One of the intriguing things to me, as a musician, was how they effectively re-defined the guitar-bass-drums trio sound.

I had always been left a little empty by the previous heavyweights in that genre - Cream and the the Jimi Hendrix Experience, later the Band of Gypsies. Their guitar-driven sound was fronted by what was then considered "superstar" guitarists with decent chops as solo players, but the sound was thin and empty. It 's hard to have just bass and drums filling in behind a lead guitar excursion without sounding anemic. (I later had a trumpet-bass-drums bop trio named Boplicity-- even more difficult to get a "fat" sound! Ooof!)

Reading some bio material at http://www.threechordsandthetruth.net -- their beginnings were pretty rough. I even read there that they gave up trying to be a cover band because they were not good at it. So, they worked on writing their own material and, as they say, the rest is history.

The Edge's guitar work, which he described as "doing the work of two," was - to me - a major factor in their unique sound. It must be said that neither he nor any of the other members of the band are "virtuouso" musicians, but they are the typical "sum is greater than the individual parts." Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton lay down a solid bottom end while The Edge "does the work of two" on the guitar, with arpeggiated sweeps, lots of upper neck chording with inversions putting the fifth or third on top, ringing suspensions and choppy rhythm strumming with lots of effects. Plus, Bono is truly a fine front man, again, not a great singer as singers go, but just the right stuff for the band's chemistry.

Lyrically, U2 seems to have captured the spiritual yearnings of the last twenty years. I wonder if that, in part, is what has contributed to their longevity.

As U2 tours the US promoting their newest CD "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" -- in your opinion, what makes them resonate with their vast and diverse audience for twenty-some years? What has been the secret of their success? Leave a comment and let me know!

Tolerance is a Two-way Street

I read a very interesting commentary today. It was relating to the hoo-haa surrounding the supposed desecration of the Quran. Interestingly enough, it was written by a muslim from Saudi Arabia. The gist of the commentary was this: Despite all the carping about the supposed lack of tolerance shown by red-state Bible-thumpers, this muslim said he could go to any number of bookstores here in the states, buy a copy of his holy book (the Quran) and read it here, there... anywhere in this country without so much as the slightest bother. Turning the tables, he said that in his home country, no one can purchase or possess a non-muslim holy book, such as the Bible. It is a crime. He recognizes the hypocrisy.

Before we mindlessly blather about how narrow-minded the right is, we need to pause for a reality check.