Hi there! How have you been? Welcome to your weekly adventure combining the history of popular music with the history (past, present, and future) of mankind! It's Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! The blog that causes you to rediscover pondering as an insightful and creative act buoyed by the soundtrack of some of the best music every imagined. Thanks for coming! We think you'll like it here! So let's get started. Welcome to Tuesday and this week's Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!
and just because we love this band SO much:
Written by singer Steve Winwood (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "While You See A Chance" and Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Higher Love") and producer Jimmy Miller, "I'm a Man" was the last single as well as the last Top Ten hit by The Spencer Davis Group. Brothers Steve and Muff (you read that right folks, "Muff") Winwood made up half the group. When they decided to leave to pursue other interests, (Steve would form the band Traffic and be a part of the supergroup Blind Faith with Eric Clapton. Muff began producing other artists, including Dire Straits (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "So Far Away", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Walk of Life") eponymous debut album) Following the departure of the brothers Winwood, Spencer Davis and remaining band member Pete York reformed The Spencer Davis group. They recorded four additional albums through 1974. These albums never saw the success of the mid-60s incarnation of the band.
"I'm a Man" has been most famously covered by the band Chicago (for all of Tuesday's Musical Notes that feature a Chicago song, click here: Tuesday's Musical Notes - Notes from music by the band Chicago.) The song got as high as #49 on Billboard's Hot 100 as the b-side to Chicago's rerelease of the edited for radio "Questions 67 & 68" which peaked at #24. Chicago continues to perform the percussion led number in most of their concerts as it gives their horn players a break for their chops as well as the opportunity for said horn players to show off their diversity by accompanying on percussion instruments.
The above feature video of Chicago's cover of "I'm a Man" comes in at 7:40 and appears on Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago at Carnegie Hall and Chicago Live in Japan. The video showcases the original lineup from Chicago, which has not been in existence since the death of lead guitarist Terry Kath in 1978.
Before reading, please understand one thing. Tuesday's Musical Notes loves people. It is sometimes difficult to separate the actions of those people from the people themselves, however, God does just that. The actions that are contrary to God's will are called sin. The Bible says that there is no one who is perfect. Romans 3:10 - New American Standard Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible, King James Version of the Bible parallel That means that we all struggle with our actions that are in rebellion to God. Every one of us! Our desire is to love God, Love Everyone else, and let Jesus do His job of judging when that day arrives.
Today's Notes is a conversation regarding a particular sin. We are in no way judging people, for if we do, we are judged ourselves. Please attempt to understand the separation that we draw between people and their actions. And now back to The Notes!!!
"I'm a man, yes I am and I can't help but love ya so..."
There has been much made about gender identity in the last decade. "Well, my daddy sent this message, got these whiskers on my chin..." This questioning of basic psychology, chemistry, and biology goes against everything that was put into place in the Genesis account of history. For if we, by faith, except the fact that God created us, would it not stand to reason that He knows what He is doing when He puts our physical components in place? The scientific disciplines listed above, some of which have adherents that are at odds with a Biblical worldview, support the notion that it is ok to question your identity as a man or woman. Much to the detriment of mankind. "You think that I'm not human, and my heart is made of stone..."
According to Genesis 2:5-7 NASB/The Message/KJV, God made man before any of the grounds needed tending and before the rain began falling to water those grounds. He breathed into Adam "the breath of life". Can you imagine, having God breathe into you? What must those first moments of life have been like for Adam? Also, would it not stand to reason that God's intention was for Adam to be eternal, having given Adam His own perfect breath? But I digress...
Adam had no difficulty with his identity as He was created in the image of a perfect God and placed in a perfect environment. Adam got his identity from his Creator. He knew he was a man because that is what God told him he was.
The rebellion of mankind, as we will see in future Musical Notes, is the instigator of the conversations and confusion regarding identity. Because you see..."Well if I had my choice of druthers, I'd rather be content Bein' closer to the devil, from where my mind is at..."
That rebellion can be overcome. Repentance, turning away, from the things that are contrary to God, and turning to a life of faith in God can help us overcome. We can be secure in who we are because of whose we are.
We will read later that men were created first, then women were created by God from man. There is no confusion between which one was Adam and which one was Eve. There are beautiful differences between the man and woman. These differences allow us such great freedom in expressing who we are within those boundaries. The difficulty lies when we think we know better than God (again, tune back into the Notes, we're gonna cover that one!). This self-centeredness is a trap by the enemy that results in the relinquishment of our freedom.
This is not how the Creator planned for man to live in Genesis 2. He gave man the freedom to do anything inside the boundaries He had placed. It is only in this freedom, which many claim that they desire, that we live the lives our Creator intended. It is only in this freedom that we can adequately express love towards one another. And it is Only in this freedom that the men of our generation can stand up and boldly proclaim...
"I'm a man, yes I am and I can't help but love You so..." (note the capitalization of "You", emphasis mine). Love is the critical word here...
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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