Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Give A Little Bit" (Supertramp)

 

It's Tuesday!!!  It's December!!!   It's time for the 1st 2013 Christmas Edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  Only 29 more shopping days until the last Tuesday's Musical Note of the year!!!  Plans are being made now for a very special, year end edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes that you will not want to miss.  But for right now, welcome to the season where the temps are colder and the tunes are cooler...but first a word from our sponsor....

A Christmas Message

But wait....it's just the beginning!!!  This clip is from the 1947 classic The Bishop's Wife.  I can heartily recommend this seasonal classic as an entertaining as well as thought provoking film.  It focuses on a Bishop's (David Niven) distractions during the Christmas season and the difficulties those are causing for his wife (Loretta Young) and his family.  With a celestial intervention from Dudley the angel (Cary Grant), the bishop soon finds himself and returns back to the true meaning of the season.  Yes that one stocking does seem to be empty, but it doesn't have to be.  Everyone of us has the potential to...."give a little bit"

"Give A Little Bit" - Roger Hodgson of Supertramp

Penned by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, "Give A Little Bit" is one of a string of singles that made the band Supertramp a daily mention on radios around the globe during the late 70's and into the decade of the 80's.  Supertramp has been making records and touring since 1969.  Roger Hodgson left the band in 1988, but has had a successful series of touring dates and critically acclaimed solo albums.  Rick Davies reformed Supertramp in 1996 with a group of former members as well as  new additions and has been touring ever since.  

Surprisingly, many of Supertramp's albums would be more successful than the singles that were released from those album's.  "Give A Little Bit" would be their first US hit, reaching as high as #15 on the charts in 1977, but the full length album, Even In The Quietest Moments... would eclipse the sales of the single and become the foundation for the next 15 years of success by the band.  Their next album Breakfast In America is the quintessential album owned by most fans of 80's music.  It would also sell more than the singles it produced, "The Logical Song", "Goodbye Stanger", "Breakfast IN America", and "Take The Long Way Home".  But it would be the single about giving to others from '77 that would propel a decade plus worth of successful tours and record sales.

If you ever take the opportunity to watch people, you begin to pick up on trends.  Over the last few years, it seems that the season on which we are about to embark causes extremes in people and their attitudes.  You find folks are either extremely nice and giving, or stressed out and hateful.  There seems to be little room for an in between.  These attitudes appear to get amplified the closer to Christmas we get.  The challenge lies in transitioning the stressed out and hateful crowd to become nice and giving....well at least nicer.  Jesus' teaching regarding "The Golden Rule" would fit nicely at this point in our discourse as He speaks about the way we are to treat those we consider enemies:  Luke 6:27-36  In other words, we are to give a little bit of our lives to them.  By so doing, we show Jesus to them.  Regardless of their reaction, our interaction with people is to be one that is God honoring, so as to point them to the reason for the season.

As we get ready for Christmas, musicals are being rehearsed, lists are being updated, menus are being planned, and gifts are being purchased.  The strategy with which each of these efforts are being enacted should be commended.  But what if we put as much strategy into our efforts to give to others.  Not just the "tangible" gifts that are exchanged at Christmas, but those small things that are never noticed by anyone but God that happen every day.  That really is how the first Christmas took place.  A young woman gave birth to a child.  An occurrence that even 2000 years ago, happened every day.  But this was no ordinary birth.  This was the ultimate gift, seen by only a few people, but the impact through the ages has been and will continue to be life altering.

As each year passes, the more I realize that it really is the little things in life that make the biggest impacts. A paid for meal for a stranger in the drive through, or a listening ear (and closed mouth) for a friend who is going through a tumultuous time in their lives, may seem minor in the eyes of the giver, however they are mountainous in the eyes of the receiver.  So take a moment this Christmas season and strategize with your family or as a solo act as to who you can....give a little bit, give a little bit of your life... "See the man with the lonely eyes, take his hand, you'll be surprised".  

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy