Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes, the continuing epilogue to remember the greatest music of our time guided by the greatest story of all time! The adventure awaits as we rediscover the narrative of our past with a soundtrack of melodies that are played and sung causing synapses of memory to cascade across the space between our ears. Welcome, and thanks for reading what we hope you'll find is a blog with a drumbeat that makes a difference.
1985. That was 34 years ago. Seems like a long time to those who aren't that age yet. For me, it really doesn't seem that long. I suppose what I've heard from the previous generation about life going by quickly has before I realized it, become true in my life. I find myself in periods of reflection more often now. Especially about the days of the '80s. Great car, college life, beautiful girlfriend, and a legacy of parents who loved me and would do anything for me. There were days however in this idyllic existence where I wondered..."What you gonna do when things go wrong? What you gonna do when it all cracks up? What you gonna do when the love burns down? What you gonna do when the flames go up?" 34 years later, I still ask some of those questions, but I find myself...
The band Simple Minds has been touring and making music since 1977. Their biggest hit came in the form of a soundtrack single, which they initially had refused to record. After it became a mega-hit, Simple Minds still relegated the single to a greatest hits package that came out in 1992. That song was the #1 smash Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from the 1985 soundtrack to the movie The Breakfast Club.
The success of "Don't You (Forget About Me) jettisoned the band into instant stardom and catapulted their 8th studio album all the way to #10 where it hung out for 5 weeks and spent 16 weeks in the top 20. Once Upon a Time was buoyed by the strength of today's feature song "Alive and Kicking".
"Alive and Kicking" peaked at #3 and substantially positioned Simple Minds to be an 80's staple on radio and in concert.
Simple Minds continues to record and tour with 2 of its original members, Jim Kerr (vocalist) and Charlie Burchill (keyboards, guitar). Their latest album was 2018's Walk Between Worlds, and lead vocalist Jim Kerr has stated that their next studio recording will be released in 2021.
Today's feature song raises some questions worth pondering. "What you gonna do when things go wrong? What you gonna do when it all cracks up? What you gonna do when the love burns down? What you gonna do when the flames go up?" I don't know about you, but I have asked these questions at points in my life. Those times may even resemble something like this:
The above painting by the Italian artist Masaccio is called The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It is a graphic example of a time when two people were asking themselves "what are we going to do now that things have gone wrong?" and it is inspired by Genesis 3:20-24 New American Standard Version of the Bible, The Message paraphrase of the Bible, King James Version of the Bible
Let's be very plain. From the moment God called light into existence in Genesis 1, He knew what was going to happen. He knew that redemption for creation was going to be necessary. Adam and Eve's disobedience did not catch God by surprise and neither does the difficulty you may be experiencing at this point in your life. No one in heaven was wringing their hands wondering, "what we gonna do when it all cracks up?". God knew "Who's got the touch to calm the storm inside? Who's gonna save you?"
Adam and Eve disobeyed their one rule. For that disobedience, they were disciplined by not being allowed to enjoy the perfection of creation any longer. Because of that disobedience, they were removed from a life of beauty and plenty to a reality of burden and pain. By their disobedience, they inflicted upon the world and existence that was never God's intent. They had a taste of Eden, but the taste of the world was too strong a temptation for them to resist.
I think to a certain extent that taste of Eden still exists in the makeup of humans. Some have described it as a hole in our hearts. Others as an unexplainable longing for something more. Sadly, So much of our time is spent savoring the fare of the world's disobedience that the pining for Eden is crowded out in our hearts and minds.
Jesus came to remedy that. He was the plan from "Let there be light". He came to provide a way back to Eden. He came to redeem us from the burdens and pain of our disobedience. He is the One who's gonna save you!.
We all have times in this fallen, imperfect world, where we implore God to provide answers to our troublesome times. He already has through Jesus. If we believe that Jesus was who He said He was and did what the Bible said He did, the fire of our "taste of Eden" will be fanned in ways that we can only imagine, and we can soon realize that all of our questions are answered in Jesus. At that point, we can boldly proclaim that we are "Alive and Kicking"!!!
"Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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