It seems this time of year always brings about a sense of pondering. I love that word. Its meaning goes deeper than just thinking about or considering things. Pondering evokes richness and a deeper understanding of a topic or decision bordering on the meditative. My Aunt Bee (her real name was Vera) used to call it "studying" on a particular aspect of life. It is an exercise in and of itself, that is not practiced enough I think in our current world. 
During the season between Christmas Day and New Year's Day, I find myself pondering more with each passing year. Considerations and lessons of the past year become valuable as the considerations and plan-making for a coming year come into focus. All of this analysis seems to come in a brief 7 day time period. I confess that sometimes it can be a mind-boggling, yet cathartic endeavor, this "lessons learned, plans made" moment in time. Yet, somehow, it always seems to help close the door to the past and open another to the future, whatever that may be.
There are many constants, however, that make for a foundation, a steadying factor if you will, regardless of the fluctuation of events of the past year, and the plans for the future one. These bedrock things in our life, are the institutions that continue to mold who we are becoming.
Even our pondering moments at the end of each year is a footing on which we can stand firmly upon. Just like the New Year's tradition of singing that Same Auld Lang Syne...
In 1980, Dan Fogelberg penned an autobiographical song that would instantly become a seasonal classic, due to its setting, its tag ending, and the relatable poignancy felt by which many around the world. "Same Old Lang Syne" peaked at #9 on Billboard's Hot 100 that year.
It wasn't until after Fogelberg's death from prostate cancer in 2007 that the lady from the song came forward to verify the authenticity of the story. Jill Anderson was a High School sweetheart whom Fogelberg had encountered one Christmas evening. "Same Old Lang Syne" is the song that came from that encounter.
The melody line is based on the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky and features 15 time Grammy Award winner saxophonist Michael Brecker on Soprano sax for the ending ode to the New Year's anthem. (Michael Brecker discography - wikipedia.org)
One line that continually ingratiates itself in my mind in "Same Old Lang Syne" is part of the chorus. "...We tried to reach beyond the emptiness, but neither one knew how..." How sad. But it is a truth for many all over the world. They buy into the hopelessness that even the wise King Solomon experienced as he sagely wrote "there is nothing new under the sun" Ecclesiastes 1:9 New American Standard Bible/The Amplified Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel
The one thing we try to do in this simple little blog is to eradicate the hopelessness and emptiness that is evident in our world. We do this each week by telling a simple story that is difficult to believe but necessary for eternity future. We do it with the aid of music from the generations. It is always our prayer that through the vehicle of music, the message of Messiah will cause pondering at the least, and an end to hopelessness and emptiness at the most.
With that, we'd like to introduce you to the 10 most read Tuesday's Musical Notes that were written this year.
Psalm 77 NASB/AMP/KJV - "...I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my heart, and my spirit ponders:..."
We wrote 'em, You read 'em, Google tabulated 'em and now we're coutin' 'em down. Welcome to the 2021 version of Tuesday's Musical Notes Year End Countdown!!! (insert your favorite noisemaker noise here!)
We've taken the 10 most popular Tuesday's Musical Notes from blogs written between December 2020 through the end of November 2021 and made you this list of the year's best-read Notes. So sit back and join us as we revisit these songs, artists, and moments from the year that was Tuesday's Musical Notes 2021!
"...I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that You have done; I ponder the work of Your hands. ..." Psalm 143:5 NASB/AMP/KJV
At #10 we have the first of 3 ties in this year's tabulation of tunes. Three of popular music's greatest stars' songs are featured as we see Daniel go All Along the Watchtower!
This year's countdown features a variety of musical acts. From Rock -N- Roll royalty to Folk Music favs, to Country Crooners. 2021's Tuesday's Musical Notes featured a little bit of something for everyone's musical tastes. A case in point is our 2nd tie coming in at #9 featuring a Beatle at Christmastime and a former member of the band of the beginning...
Many of the tunes we use as feature songs come from the formative years of the 80s. Our track at #8 is one such tune by a band that defined the 80s in their own way. It continues our current theme of telling the Bible's greatest stories with a soundtrack of the music's greatest songs...
"...The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. ..." Proverbs 15:28 NASB/AMP/KJV
The hits get bigger as the number gets smaller!
Our next Note comes from the band that has seen its own set of natural disasters in recent years. The classic lineup always seems to come together, make a great album, and then boom! A landslide brings them down... Currently, Christine is back and Lindsay's out. It seems that there is always something going on with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie's band, Fleetwood Mac.
Almost half of this year's countdown occurred during the first third of the year. We've already witnessed artists from classic bands in our countdown, but coming in at #6 is a band that continues to tour on the strength of songs just like the one featured in the January 26th post. The youngest member of the band comes in at age 74. With that, you've probably guessed that our band at #6 is made up of founding members Mick Jagger, a spry 78, and Keith Richards, also a youthful 78, as well as Ronnie Wood, the youngster of the bunch at 74 who didn't join the band The Rolling Stones until 1975 when he was 28. Here's The Rolling Stones with "You Can't Always Get What You Want". #6 on the 2021 Tuesday's Musical Notes Year-End Countdown.
And now, time for a TMN extra.
You may have noticed an omission in the line-up of The Rolling Stones. 2021 saw its share of musicians pass. One of the most notable is The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. The oldest of The Rolling Stones (80), Watts joined The Rolling Stones a year after Jagger and Richards formed the band with Brian Jones and Bill Wyman.
Watts was one of a multitude of musical artists that died in 2021. Others include Michael Nesmith (The Monkees), Rapper DMX, Broadway Musical Composer Stephen Sondheim (Into The Woods), Don Everly (The Everly Brothers), Country crooner/songwriter Tom T. Hall, Dusty Hill (ZZ Top), Hip Hop artist Biz Markee, Television star and recording artist Andy Williams, BJ Thomas, Jim Steinman (Meatloaf's principal collaborator), Bunny Wailer (Bob Marley and The Wailers), Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music), Jazz great Chick Corea, Actor, and Country singer Ed Bruce, Music Producer Phil Spector, "Father of Country Music" Jimmie Rodges, Mary Wilson (The Supremes) and one of our favorite Christian artists, Carman. These musicians contributed a myriad of ways to our soundtrack of life by their notes and lyrics.
Billboard has a complete listing of these and the other musicians whose final encores came in 2021. "Gone But Not Forgotten: Musicians We Lost in 2021" December 20, 2021, billboard.com
The final of our 3 ties in this year's listing of lyrics and melody comes to us in the form of 2 different kinds of Queens. The first can well be considered the Queen of 70s light pop and the other is a group who have been giving us rhapsodies and songs since 1970. Here at #5 is our tie highlighting a top 20 hit from 1971 and the longest song ever recorded by the band Queen.
Coming it at the 4th spot in popularity of this year's Most Read Tuesday's Musical Notes is the band Rush. Their 1977 pondering on hypocrisy never peaked on the Hot 100 (A growing trend for many a Musical Note!), but it comes to you at #4 on our end of the year list. While not overtly recognizing his passing, "A Farewell to Kings" served as the Notes tribute to Rush lyricist and drummer Neal Peart, who died in 2020.
Before we move on to the 3 most read Musical Notes of 2021, we thought we'd take a moment and recap some of the best of the best in some other charts.
First, let's recap your most read Tuesday's Musical Notes from last year:
2021 saw a return to the box office coffers as audiences desired a little more than the ability to stream the latest tentpoles. Let's face it...even the best microwaveable popcorn isn't the same! Can anyone say "Marvel Comics?" Coming to us from looper.com is this list of the top 3 Highest Grossing films of 2021.
Did anyone NOT shop at Amazon.com this year? I highly doubt it. They have continued to be one of the biggest sellers of EVERYTHING...especially books of all kinds. Their best sellers of the year from #3 to #1 are:
#3 - The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz
#2 - American Marxism by Mark R. Levin
#1 - Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
The artistic endeavor is greatly enhanced with music wouldn't you say? The movie soundtrack provides a modern "classical" offering as well as sing-a-long favorites that we embrace. Tuesday's Musical Notes has featured songs from several such soundtracks. According to Billboard's Soundtrack listing for 2021, the best selling soundtracks (none of which were released this year) are:
#3 - The Greatest Showman (we featured the entire soundtrack in the first 9 Notes of 2018)
#2 - Frozen II (personally, we prefer the first one)
#1 - Moana (ok, so who knew The Rock could sing?)
If you've read Tuesday's Musical Notes once, we hope you get the overwhelming opinion that this is a blog that wishes to introduce you to an encounter with Jesus. Yup, that whole Christmas thing celebrates His coming to earth as a baby! God as a man. Experiencing everything we experience...except our proclivity to do wrong almost all of the time. Anyway, as we celebrate Jesus this season we also want to take the opportunity, as we have in several of this year's blogs, to invite you to a local church. New friends are wanting to meet with you and continue to show you more about The Way.
Music also plays an important part in these gatherings of local bodies of believers. They report the songs they use to a Copyright Licensing company called CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International). They compile a list each year of the most used songs in the church. The years top 3 are:
That was a look at some of the other end-of-the-year charts that we hope you found interesting. And now back to the countdown.
At #3 we have last year's cavalcade of the best Notes from 2020 as brought to us by the other Beatle in our countdown, George Harrison. Here's one-fourth of the Fab Four with the opener to last year's best of 2020 Musical Notes AND his seasonal offering "Ding, Dong, Ding Dong".
We won't stop 'til we've hit the top!
Our country offering of the year comes to us from singer/songwriter Mac Davis. His #10 Country ode to humility was adopted and rearranged a bit by the University of Arkansas Razorback Hogwild Band in the 80s and continues to be a part of any postgame celebration when the Hogs win...hopefully we'll hear this "modest" postgame serenade this Saturday as our alma mater takes on the Penn State Nittany Lions. I can hear it now..."OOOOOOOOO..."
Before we take a look at #1 on this year's countdown, we'd like to take a moment and express our gratitude to those who have been reading The Musical Notes from all over the world in countries like Germany (Vielen Dank!!!), France (Merci!!!), and Russia (Спасибо!!!). We'd also like to welcome new listeners from the country of Moldova (Vă mulțumim pentru lectură!!!).
Finally, we want to thank those of the American military forces who are stationed at posts all around the world. Your absence is noticed, your presence is appreciated!!!
And now, on with the countdown...
"...But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. ..." The Gospel of Jesus according to Dr. Luke, Chapter 2, verses 1-20 NASB/AMP/KJV
At #1 is a soundtrack single that strutted out of the 80s and into the top spot of 2021's Tuesday's Musical Notes. It is by the artist that has the distinction of being the first artist ever featured at the blog you've come to know and love as Tuesday's Musical Notes.
That artist? Kenny Loggins. And that first blog came from another soundtrack of his that you can check out in the archives at the left of the screen under May of 2012.
But for now, let's get on to this year's #1. It was 2021s first blog and its 2021s most-read blog, here's Kenny Loggins and Footloose!
Mary had been witness to the unimaginable. Yet, she wasn't afraid. She pondered. I wonder what were the conclusions to which she came? Could her pondering imagined the miracles? Could her pondering take her to a hill called calvary? Could her pondering have her at the mouth of an empty tomb? Could her pondering have left her at the feet of her Savior on her passing?
Have you tried to reach beyond the emptiness that occurs in life and don't know how? The passage in Luke above tells of a filling that each person in the narrative received as they encountered Jesus. Even as a baby He was making a difference in people's lives. And Mary pondered all of this life change (hers and others) happening all around her in her heart.
Where will your pondering take you in 2022? Will it take you to a cross on a hill far away where a Savior waits to restore your relationship with God? We sure hope so.
We hope some of your ponderings will take you right back here to Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!
And there you have it, the most read blogs of the year 2021 at Tuesday's Musical Notes. We hope you've enjoyed revisiting these blogs and even more we pray that we have given you through these blogs many things to ponder. We're always here at rawacr@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Tuesday's Musical Notes returns to our regular format as we continue our way through the Bible with stories that you may or may not know, or perhaps need to ponder a bit more. Until next Tuesday when we rejoin Daniel, this is Randy wanting you to know that regardless of your circumstances you are loved by the God of all eternity and by this writer of a little blog called Tuesday's Musical Notes!
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by loving You,
randy
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