Plato is credited with saying, "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” From my vantage point, that pretty well sums it up. With a few exceptions, music is important to most of the population of the world. Now don't get me wrong, we all have preferences. 
Some genres are readily embraced while other styles are relegated to their region of the world and populace. Regardless of the language we speak, music tends to communicate in a way that surpasses the linguistic boundaries that may exist. In short, we all gotta have some music in our life!
Some genres are readily embraced while other styles are relegated to their region of the world and populace. Regardless of the language we speak, music tends to communicate in a way that surpasses the linguistic boundaries that may exist. In short, we all gotta have some music in our life!
That's why Tuesday's Musical Notes exists. Every Tuesday we attempt to explore the heart of a song and discover some trivial tidbit that accentuates our musicological studies. We fuel our passion for all things note-enhanced by finding out the driving force behind the lyrics and the legato. And then we sort through the 64th note runs to discern if perhaps there might be some duality to its rhythmic or rhyming substance that has never been considered. Then voila! A Tuesday's Musical Note is birthed into the internetosphere and straight to your favorite device. We hope you enjoy our meanderings down musical highways and introspective byways as we remember finding out about you...
The name for the band Badfinger was inspired by the "bad finger boogie" line of The Beatles' (Tuesday's Musical Notes - The Beatles) 1967 single "With A Little Help From My Friends". (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "With A Little Help From My Friends" (The Beatles)) They were originally signed as The Iveys but renamed themselves after releasing their first album and signing with The Beatles label, Apple Records. Badfinger became the most successful of the acts signed by Apple Records. They produced one album under the band name The Iveys and 4 under Badfinger with Apple. 3 of the 5, all as Badfinger, made the top 100 album charts. Their success as a band and the traction they were gaining lost its luster when The Beatles broke up in 1970 and began the dissolution process of the Apple label which was finalized in 1974.
Between 1969 and 1981 Badfinger released 15 singles from 8 albums. The highest charting of these singles is today's featured song "Day After Day" which peaked at #4 on Billboard's Pop Singles chart. It was produced by George Harrison (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Light That Has Lighted The World" (George Harrison), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Got My Mind Set On You" (George Harrison)) who also played slide guitar on the track. It also features Leon Russell on piano and received its final mix from Todd Rundgren after Harrison left the Straight Up project to produce his Concert For Bangladesh album.
"Day After Day" reflects on having gotten to know someone and then missing them so much it makes you look out from a lonely room and lonely gloom. With its upbeat, pop-infused music, and sad reflective lyric, the song is the perfect example of the dichotomy that music provides so many times over history and affirms its necessity in our lives as it represents an irony that exists between the life we live and the soundtrack we sometimes choose to support it as we go about day after day. The normality, the day-after-day routines, of what we do is enhanced by the music regardless of whether it reflects how we are feeling at the time.
Needless to say, our innate desire to have music surrounding us has not always been the case. Historically, the conventional activities by which life is perpetuated were not accessorized with the blessing of tuneage. There have been times when the motivation to serve and taking the time to find out about you was all that needed to be fulfilled.
The beauty of the Gospels that tell of Jesus is that they give us what we need to know in the narrative explanation of Jesus' life. Each account takes the life of Jesus and puts it in the lens through which the writer saw the world. Some stories are amplified by a single writer, like John's account of the woman at the well, which none of the other Gospels record, and some are amplified by the fact that all 4 of the Gospel writers record, albeit again from their perspective, events that took place. As we continue our examination of Jesus' life, we will see both on display.
We must also remember that while the Gospels give us what we need to know about Jesus, John records that the world could not contain the books that could have been written about Jesus' life. John 21:25 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV
If you read too quickly, you miss one of those moments early in Jesus' ministry where the Gospels all account for what would seem to be a standard task by that of one who is considered a rabbi, or teacher. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all record a small passage that I think has great insight into Jesus' life and ministry. They all record that when reaching the region of Galilee, Jesus began to teach in their synagogues. That makes sense for a teacher, yet it was well-known that Jesus was the son of a Carpenter. His educational level alone would have precluded Him from ascending to the ranks of the priests who usually inhabited the pulpit, if you will, of the religious gathering places in the area. His credibility came from the miraculous events that occurred in His journey from Jerusalem to Galilee. Word had gotten around about this itinerant preacher who was able to heal the sick and turn water into wine. The spectacular provided credence and curiosity to Jesus being able to speak in their churches.
Why is this emphasized by all of the Gospel authors? This seminal moment in Jesus' life would have been an occurrence that was not out of the ordinary for a priest, or even a scribe of the time. My conviction is that these recorders of Jesus thought this event to be important for a couple of reasons.
First, even though Jesus was God in human form, it was a matter of great importance that the folks of Galilee knew that He wanted to know who they were. Jesus wanted a relationship with them that was more than just a "what miracle can we see Jesus perform?" surface-level affiliation. He wanted them to realize that He wanted to go "deep" with them on everything. Their lives at that moment, and their lives in the future. After teaching "repent for the kingdom of God is at hand", Jesus wanted them to understand that He cared for them far past what they had ever experienced from the religious leaders of their time.
Secondly, Jesus wanted to show them from Scripture about Himself. He taught from Isaiah and the other prophets. He spoke about darkness and light. He revealed the truth about Himself in ways that they could understand and accept, should they choose to do so. He built relationships to provide a necessary bridge for the messages He was preaching. While the Gospels don't overtly tell us what the reaction of the synagogue attendees was, one can surmise that just like people today, some accepted Jesus' message and others did not.
The big takeaway from these small passages is that Jesus went about day after day doing those 2 things, building relationships and preaching the Gospel about Himself. Sounds like a good example for the modern-day believer to follow. For the lost as well as the redeemed we should go about, as my pastor says, "Speaking the Gospel into one another's lives." Suffice it to say that both relationship building and Gospel preaching were demonstrating what Jesus was saying to the folks then and us now..."...I give my love to you..."
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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