Hello everybody!!! Welcome to Tuesday and another edition of the most surprising blog on the internet, Tuesday's Musical Notes! It is our pleasure each week to bring you information on your all-time favorite songs and perhaps spring a bit of information on you that you had never considered before!
It is also our pleasure to welcome you if you've never been here to experience Tuesday's Musical Notes, we think you're in for a treat. A cornucopia, (is it too early for fall symbolism?) of intelligence, right at your fingertips...well at your eyelids anyway. It's all wrapped up and ready to go for you each Tuesday!!! We hope you enjoy the excursion (yup, there's a good summertime metaphor!) and learn a little something about music and maybe, just maybe about yourself as well. Welcome, oh welcome dear friend!
Have you ever had that time in your life where nothing seems to go the way you thought it should? Have you ever been afraid of changing? Ever wanted to climb a mountain and then turned around. We have one sentence for you...YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Everyone who has ever breathed has had moments of frustrations and disenchantment about their lives. The key? Don't let those emotions turn into a landslide that brings you down...
As of 2017, today's featured single by Fleetwood Mac has sold over two million copies in the United States alone. That's not too shabby considering the original 1975 single peaked at #51 upon its release, not even cracking the top 40.
It is no wonder it has sold as many copies, as Fleetwood Mac has performed the song live in virtually every concert since the song's introduction in 1975, and Stevie Nicks has serenaded audiences with "Landslide" in the bulk of her solo shows.
"Landslide" was written before Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac. The story goes, that Nicks was in the Aspen, Colorado area when the writing of the song occurred. She and Buckingham had just been dropped by their previous label, Polydor Records, and were wondering about what the musical road had in store for them going forward. They found themselves with a freshman album release, the aptly titled Buckingham Nicks, but no label for the follow-up. About that same time, Mick Fleetwood, of Fleetwood Mac (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Go Your Own Way", Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Little Lies"
Fleetwood Mac has had its ups and downs since its beginnings in 1967. 54 years is a long time to keep up with the same crew and not have some "conversations" and breakups. In fact, the current lineup does not include Lindsey Buckingham, as he was replaced by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Tuesday's Musical Notes' Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers songs) guitarist, Mike Campbell and Crowded House guitarist Neil Finn in 2018. Unfortunately, there is very little conversation about a new album or tour by the band. It seems the landslide of Buckingham's firing and the consternation the band has for each other may have very well brought them down.
"Landslide" has been covered by many groups, most famously by the Smashing Pumpkins, Miley Cyrus, and The Chicks.
For any group of people to have success and longevity whether they are rock-n-rollers or rulers, there has to be agreement, grace, and collaboration. History is replete with nations that have risen to prominence and now cease to exist (are you listening United States of America?). In fact, the nation of Israel has only been recognized as a nation in modern history since 1947. It has certainly overcome several landslides in its history, but none so devastating as the one that Israel endured when it got that for which it asked.
I don't know about you, but I tend to read linearly when I read a book. What I mean by this is that the table of contents is the first thing that happens, the story then takes place one event after another, then the ending happens and you're done. But the Bible is a different book. You can't read it as the Council of Nicea dictated its books and chapters to be lined up. The best bet is to get a chronological reading plan, app, or Bible, if you want a better idea of how the events happened. Up to this point, the narrative of Israel has been linear. At this point, however, we see that the books of Kings and Chronicles and many of the prophetic books should be read together. For example, the book of Jonah should probably come in around the point of 2 Kings 14 and Chronicles 25. Obadiah should be placed chronologically ahead of 2 Kings 1, and so on. That being said, you must remember that the prophets of the time were attempting to minister to, advise, and return Israel and her leaders back to God. Here is a good timeline that may make more sense:
As you can see, at the death of Solomon the avalanche begins as the nation is led by a series of kings who do not remember the ways of King David. The situation becomes so bad that a civil war develops resulting in the once storied nation becoming 2 kingdoms. The Northern Kingdom never had a chance as the rebel leaders who would eventually rule as kings continually bowed, worshiped, and sacrificed (sometimes even their children) to the gods of surrounding nations, including Baal and Ashtoreth. In one of the most defiant acts, the northern king Jeroboam replicated the sin committed in the wilderness by the Israelite's forefathers (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Hard Habit to Break" (Chicago)) by setting up gold calf idols in the towns of Dan and Bethel. This set the stage for a series of nothing but evil kings in the North.
The Southern Kingdom didn't fare much better as you can see in the chart. There were very few godly kings in the Southern Kingdom. In fact, many of them were either ambivalent about God or as evil as their Northern counterparts. It seems that after Israel got what they wanted by having a king, they took God's love and they took it down...
All the while God's prophets were attempting to right the direction of the sinking ship. The stories of Amos, Jonah, Isaiah, and others are littered across the devastation that becomes the nation.
We'll discuss the result of both kingdom's rebellion against God and the prophets in future Musical Notes, just understand that when Israel got its way, instead of building their life around God, the resulting landslide brought them down to depths they had not experienced since being slaves in Egypt.
So friend, don't be afraid of changing. You can build your life around Him. Time grows shorter, you're getting older, He's still waiting for you. When you see your reflection in the snow-covered hills and don't like what you see, don't wait for the landslide to take your love and take it down. Turn away from the bad things, the sin, the things you see in that reflection that God's Word says is wrong and turn towards the One who can sail through ocean tides and handle every season of your life...you see, the landslide will bring you down...the Bible, however, has much hope as it says...But God...
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by loving You,
randy
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