Welcome
to Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! This is the blog for which you have been
seeking!!! Today is the day you have discovered the place that
combines the best trivial information about some of your favorite songs
with the possibility of going on an adventure to discover more about
yourself, all neatly packaged for you on the third day of the week!
It's Tuesday and it's time, so let's go...
Today's featured song
is by one of popular music's most beloved icons. He is one of a handful
of artists that have been inducted into the Nashville Songwriter's Hall
of Fame (1977), Country Music Hall of Fame (1980), and the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame (1992). His discography on Wikipedia.com has to be
listed by decade as he wrote over 1000 songs and had a multitude of #1
singles and albums on many of the charts that Billboard has on record.
He was the only guest artist on U2's 1993 album Zooropa ("The Wanderer")
album and he is the oldest artist nominated for an MTV
Video Music Awards for his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" sealing his iconic status with a new generation. See the video here: "Hurt" - Johnny Cash from the 2002 album American IV: The Man Comes Around.
To top it all off, "The Man In Black" was born in Kingsland, Arkansas
(south central, Arkansas) and raised in Dyess. (north east Arkansas).
He was portrayed to Academy award acclaim in the 2005 movie Walk The
Line, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, Walk The Line.
He served the military as a radio operator in Germany focusing in on
Russia and was the first operator to pick up the news that Joseph Stalin
had died. In their 2004 "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list,
Rolling Stone placed him at #31. He opened up every concert with the
simple..."Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."
His 1963 hit, "Ring Of
Fire" would also make a Rolling Stones list. It came in at #87 on the
"500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list ("The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" - Rolling Stone Magazine).
"Ring Of Fire" would become one of Johnny Cash's most easily recognized
hits. The song would originally be recorded by June Carter's sister,
Anita. While receiving good reviews, her recording of the song would
not become a hit. Johnny Cash fulfilled a promise to Anita that if the
song did not become a hit, he would wait a few months before he
recording it. When he did record it, it was somewhat different than
Anita Carter's original. Johnny's re-imagined song included the now
familiar inclusion of the Spanish trumpet intro. Here's Johnny Cash
with the #1 Billboard Country and the #17 Billboard Hot 100 crossover hit from
1963:
"Ring Of Fire" by Johnny Cash from the 1963 album Ring Of Fire: The Best Of Johnny Cash
The
origin and lyrics to "Ring of Fire" have been the subject of much
debate and interpretation. June says she cowrote it for and about Johnny.
Johnny's first wife said he wrote it and gave the money to the Carter
family as a gift during a time of financial difficulty. Roseann Cash
says that it was written to express the trans-formative power of love.
Regardless of who wrote it, The Notes, wonders if "Ring Of Fire" isn't more of a euphemism for the
temptations that Johnny faced with drugs, alcohol, and his other
addictions. Perhaps this connotation with temptation is the reason
"Ring Of Fire" resonates with so many across musical genre and
generations.
Genesis 3 in the Bible is the story of the tragedy of temptation. Genesis 3 New International Version of the Bible
Adam and Eve were placed in a perfect paradise. Every need they had
was provided. They were given 1 rule. Don't eat out of this particular
tree. 1 rule... And the power of temptation was more than they could
handle. I suspect that if we do a quick evaluation of our day, we find
more than just 1 rule that we have broken. Sure, we don't live in a
perfect paradise. We live in the world that, due to the overwhelming
influence of temptation to Adam and Eve, is extremely broken. Because
of that brokenness, we are faced every minute with a temptation of some
sort.
If you study the Bible
for very long, you see a pattern of succumbing to the power of
temptation. Adam and Eve were the first in a long line through our
genealogy of those whose lives have been altered because of this tool of the evil one. However, we have a promise from the God who created us...
1 Corinthians 10:12-14 NIV/The Message parallel
Did you see the solution to our temptation turmoil? Look just a little closer. The Message paraphrase puts it like this..."Forget
about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence". This
is the only way that we can overcome temptation. We must have a confidence in the fact that God is who He says He is. Notice that Paul never
says that we won't have temptation in our lives. However, he writes
about God's grace and mercy in providing an avenue of escape from it if
we rely on God.
As
further proof that Jesus was a man just like each of us, He went toe to
toe with the evil one in the wilderness. He faced a grueling temptation for 40 days. Jesus did this to provide an
example of how we can overcome the plans of the great deceiver. Matthew 4:1-11 NIV/The Message parallel.
Notice that Jesus defeated His enemy by having a foundation in God's
Word. Jesus knew His Bible. As we daily attempt to become more like
Jesus it would seem rational that we would be in His Word. Knowing the
Word of God provides incredible benefits. It prepares us for our "Ring
Of Fire" moments and it molds us more into the likeness of Jesus.
Knowing
the Bible also shows that there is great hope for us, even if we give in
to the temptations around us. We have mentioned our love for the story
of King David previously in The Notes. He is a prime example of this great
hope. "I fell into a burning ring of fire..." He gave in to His
temptation and then had a man killed for it to cover up the sin. "I
went down, down, down, and the flames went higher..." This was a
turning point in David's life. "And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of
fire, the ring of fire..." (Cue trumpets) David had to suffer the
consequences for his choice of having an adulterous affair with Bath
Sheba. The child that was conceived from that union died at birth. But
David realized that his sin in this situation caused a fracture in his
relationship with God. David was remorseful. David more importantly
was repentant and he got right with God. He reestablished his
relationship with God and in His great mercy, God continued to use
David. The result of David's temptation and the consequences he
suffered from it resulted in the writing of Psalm 51...Psalm 51 NIV/The Message parallel
Both of these stories are incredible examples of what to do when faced with temptation. While
David gave in, Jesus was victorious. David wrote scripture as a result
of his battle with temptation. Jesus quoted scripture to be the
Victor in His battle with temptation. David suffered the consequences
of his sin. Jesus was the Conqueror. We will be faced with temptation,
our own "Ring of Fire", but we have the examples of repentance with
David and victory with Jesus as aids to face the temptation that so
easily besets us.
Speaking of temptation, here is another arrangement of "Ring Of Fire" that I couldn't resist including in today's Notes...
'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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