Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" (Elton John)

Welcome to Tuesday and The Notes!!!   It's the first Tuesday of 2014 and we are so excited to bring you the first in another year  of Tuesday's Musical Notes.  As we come into this new year we must take just a moment and thank you for coming back each week to this blog.  December was a record setting readership month.  THANK YOU!!!   We continue to add countries to our online readers and say "terima kasih" to our new friends from Malaysia.  Thank you to all the Musical Note readers!!!  We are in the key of concert Bb, so get your warm up routines completed and get ready to sight read through today's chart.  Here we go!!!

For many people the holidays bring about some feelings of sadness.  Perhaps the loss of a loved one or just the stress of trying to make everything happen at the holidays causes feelings of dire straits.  Even after the holidays, many report a mild depression setting in as the exuberance of the season, the constant interaction with family and friends, and the pace of the day seems to slow.  I am told this is something akin to a very mild post partum depression that new mothers go through.  Some times, music can be the salve to cure the blues.....or maybe it's the blues that cures the sadness....before this get's any more convoluted or annoying let's get started with a classic hit from 1984 that relates the influence that sad songs have on our psyches....here is Elton John with:

Sad Songs (Say So Much)

With this #5 hit, Elton John continued a musical legacy that began in the 60's.  For 31 consecutive years, he has had a song on the Billboard Hot 100.  His 1970 self titled second album went to #4 on the Billboard Album chart, something that was quite unusual for a new artist.  He co-wrote the songs for Disney's The Lion King resulting in  an Academy Award for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight".  The soundtrack for The Lion King would remain on the charts for 9 weeks.  His greatest success however, came as a rewrite to one of his previous hit singles.  On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana of Wales was killed in an automobile wreck.  Elton John was close friends with Diana as they had worked on several charities together.  He commissioned Bernie Taupin, his musical cowriter since the '60s, to rewrite his classic hit "Candle In the Wind" as a tribute to Diana.  He sang this new version at Diana's funeral.  The single became known as "Candle In The Wind 1997" and has sold a record 33 million copies worldwide.  It is the only single to ever achieve a "diamond" sales achievement in the United States.  He sang at Rush Limbaugh's wedding (a $1,000,000 paying gig) and in September of last year released The Diving Board, which debuted at #4 on the Billboard album chart.  It is very difficult to go for a long period of time without seeing an Elton John influenced song.  He has written for many artists and continues to collaborate with up coming musicians who search for his kind of fame.

The Bible has its share of sad stories.  Many of these stories are expressed in the form of poetry.   These poetical books were songs that were used to express sorrow and grief as well as in worshiping God for His great love and mercy.  Perhaps you are familiar with the Bible book called  Psalms.  You can find a link to it here: Psalms - NIV.   In these poems and songs, there is a wide range of emotions that are expressed,  from the depths of despair through loss to the euphoria of restoration.   Regardless of the circumstances, it seems that you can find a passage that will fit for your particular frame of mind and be encouraged.  

However, their is a lesser known book of Bible poetry that rarely gets read.  "Guess there are times when we all need to share a little pain and ironing out the rough spots is the hardest part when memories remain".  This lyric from our song of the day is reflective of the entire book of poetry in the Bible dedicated to sadness.  That book is called Lamentations.  Many theologians attribute this lament to Jeremiah as it is reminiscent of the writings in the book that bears his name.  It is poetry based on an unquenchable sadness as the prophet saw the warnings he had delivered to the people coming true before his eyes.  He suffers along with the people of Israel as Jerusalem is conquered by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer and completely destroyed.  The Israelites were in shock.  They didn't see the onslaught coming despite the fact that Jeremiah and other prophets had been telling them of the devastation that would be suffered if they continued on the path of paganism they had gone down. However, the book of Lamentations is not an "I told you so" from Jeremiah, but more a definer of the sad song that says so much.  It expresses the sorrow at seeing the consequences of civil irreverence.  You can read the short book here: Lamentations - The Message.   Jeremiah wrote about the national sadness that had come upon witnessing the  ravaged landscape of the holy city, which included the temple of the most high God.  Even though he was a prophet, Jeremiah did not escape the suffering, but wept at the sight of the once proud city of Jerusalem which lay in rubble.  However, even in this time of turmoil, Jeremiah is not dissuaded from his faith in God.  He writes in chapter 3: 

 

 

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.  - Lamentations 3:22-26 - NIV

Jeremiah writes this at the depths of his and his countryman's despair.  He doesn't know at this point what the future holds nor do any of his kinsman.  All he can see is the obliteration of what was one the mightiest kingdoms on the planet.  Yet, he still finds hope.  There is nothing but desolation all around him and Jeremiah writes about patience and the hope found in God.  

"Those who cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it." - George Santayana   

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."  Edmund Burke

There is much we can learn from this sad song.  Our world seems to be headed down many of the same tributary pathways that the Israelites traveled on their destination to destruction.  These pathways that the United States and most countries in the world are on are not considered righteous by the One who  defines righteousness.   After being conquered by the Babylonians,  Israel would not reclaim their nationhood until 1948.  This would be 2,371 years after the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem that is the basis for the book of Lamentations.  The United States is not immune to seeing the potential destruction that Israel faced.  While our Babylonians look completely different than those the nation of Israel faced, they do exist.  We must heed the words of Edmund Burke and George Santayana and learn from the book of Lamentations and the example of ancient Israel.  We must turn from those sins that so easily beset us as a country and look to the One who has allowed us 237 years of freedom for our identity.  

While the bulk of the book of Lamentations is reflectively sad,  there is much hope and encouragement to be gained.  Even at the height of his desperation, Jeremiah wrote,  "The Lord is our portion" and "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed".   Our hope is in the One who created all things...including a home with Him for those who have had their relationship to God restored through Jesus.  Friend, how is your relationship with God.  Have you had a moment where your relationship with the Creator has been restored through your encounter with Jesus?  Today could be the day of renewal for you.  Today could be the day for your eternity to be changed.  Your relationship with God can have an Eden like restoration if you will believe that Jesus died for that relationship to be restored.  He sacrificed a heavenly life to be a sacrifice of an earthly life, so we can have eternal life with God in heaven.  The Bible has all of the answers to what to do next.  Learn from the mistakes that caused the sorrow that Lamentations describes, and live the life that Paul talks about in his letters.  Mistakes will be made.  But "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him."  

Our challenge today is to pray for each other, christian and pre-christian alike.  We should also pray for the leaders of our communities, states, and nations.  We should also, however hold them to a righteous accountability.  We don't want to be caught blind sided when the evidence is all around us like the Israelites of Jeremiah's time. 

Lamentations is a book of sorrow and sadness.  So much so, that many choose to not study it.  Let me encourage you to study and learn from this book by an ancient Israeli prophet.  Encourage others to read, study and learn from its poetry so we don't wind up singing a sad song that says so much.   "So turn them on...turn them on...turn on those sad songs...when all hope is gone....why don't you tune in and turn them on..."

The gifted musician Chris Rice set out one day to write a sad song.  Here is his result:

So Much For My Sad Song

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy