Evangelical Expatriate (thanks, McCartys, for the link) wrote about and linked to Friday's Diane Rehm Show where she interviewed Emily Saliers (do I need to tell you she is 1/2 of The Indigo Girls?) and her father (I probably do need to tell you he is a professor of sacred music at Emory) about their new book Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. The book talks about the spirituality of all music and how music both sacred and secular communicates a shared experience (at least that's what Amazon and npr say).
The archived link to the show is here. I am going to say some stuff in the rest of this entry, but if you leave me to listen to this, you will be better off than if you just read to the end of this post. Promise.
If you are not moved by the extended version of Hammer and a Nail around 24:00 then you are dead inside. Please go to your black mountain and drink from a skull.
Hammer and A Nail has always been one of my favorite Indigo Girls songs. Nomads, Indians and Saints was the first IG album I bought back in...umm...92? I love the way the song speaks to the human (or at least Educat-esque) tendency to think and think and stew on stuff and never take action. This morning, I wept, oh yes I did, as I listened to the version on Diane Rhem. Emily sings the last verse and chorus and then the ending goes directly into "Let Us Break Bread Together". Hammer and A Nail never gives a solution, it just says "take action". This medley seemed to put a finer point on it.
"Let us break bread together on our knees.
Let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
Oh Lord, have mercy on me." Wouldn't it be easy to end this with "...and so I decided to find a church, next Sunday. No! Wednesday night! No! Tonight!! Tonight I shall go to prayer meeting and it will be easy!"? Sorry, internet. I can't find that easy an ending. I have started mulling solutions, though. We shall speak of this again.
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2 comments:
Please do! I will return the favor! :)
I heard this show and thought of you and thought of you and thought of you, and then, silly me, I 1)went to take a shower in the middle of the show and 2)plum forgot to mention it to you. Thank goodness you have good blog karma that things like this get back to you without me. Yeah, that was some powerful radio there.
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