Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Manic Monday" (The Bangles)

Hey there!  It's Tuesday and time for a trip down the musical highways and byways of Notesland!  This is where we find lyrical discoveries partnered with melodic memories all blended with a mix of rhythmic spices you never expect!  It is an audiophile's dream and it's all brought to you wrapped in a blog!  That's right!  We're your one-stop shop for nostalgia and insight!  We're Tuesday's Musical Notes!

Let's get started with today's sampling of a recipe from 1986!  A Prince of a guy wrote today's song and left it hanging around with the Bangles and baubles of Rock and Roll history.  Written just for you on Monday, woah woah, brought to you on Tuesday, woah woah, cause that's the best day, woah woah, I have to read this blog day, woah woah, it's just another Notes-filled Tuesday...


Ok. We appreciate the fact that you might want some explanation on the whole "3 YouTube Videos" thing.  Sure, we include one every week, maybe even two if we feel like the cover is good, but 3?  Well, today's featured song warrants the 3 vid treatment.  

Anyone who was of video-watching age in the 80s is familiar with The Bangle's (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Walk Like An Egyptian" (The Bangles)) hit single "Manic Monday".  Debuting at #86 on the charts early in the year, it went all the way to #2 on the Hot 100 after four months on the charts.  It was the lead single from their sophomore effort, Different Light, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart. How many ways can you do a sideways glance, Susanna?

Prince (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Let's Go Crazy" (Prince)) is the songwriter for "Manic Monday", hence the second video.  He is credited under the moniker "Christopher" in the liner notes. (You know those things you don't get by streaming or with digital downloads...)  "Christopher Tracy" was the name of the character that Prince played in the 1986 movie Under the Cherry Moon.  This movie's soundtrack spawned the #1 single by Prince "Kiss". What was #2 that week?  You guessed it! The Bangles' recording of Prince's "Manic Monday" peaked the same week at the #2 spot.  It is one of those rare chart instances where the #1 and #2 songs on the Hot 100 were written by the same person.    

The final video is a cover of "Manic Monday" from Green Day's (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (Green Day)) Billie Joe Armstrong with an assist from Bangle Susanna Hoffs.  Tuesday's Musical Notes could not find that this cover ever appeared on the charts. We just found it an interesting ode to the original that featured Hoffs.  It makes for an updated, more 2000s sound to the song which turns 37 this year. 

"Manic Monday" expresses what many in the world feel every week as they prepare for what lies ahead with their occupations.  Sometimes the necessity of getting paid offsets the anxiety associated with no longer getting to sleep in or relax like what we experience on our days off. Anymore, it seems we live in such a 24/7 world that there is never enough time to prepare for what lies ahead, so we just barrel on into Mondays.


As we enter into the Monday of Jesus' last week, it seems several things occur that really could cause Jesus to appear manic.  After all, we see in Mark 3:21 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV, that his own family was beginning to think he had lost it.  

Jesus wakes up hungry.  As Jesus and the disciples were making their way to Jerusalem, they come across a fig tree.  Jesus inspects the tree, finds it has no fruit, and then kills the tree with a curse from His lips.  (Hey, believing friend, did you get the metaphor?)  The disciples are amazed that Jesus has the power to immediately destroy the tree.  Jesus never lets a teachable moment go to waste and has a lesson on faith that the disciples will need as their week together progresses.  

Some theologians think that Jesus went into Jerusalem and cleared out the temple a second time on Monday.  The Bible never gives a specific date or time for the cleansing of the temple, so we leave it to your research and the conclusions that Holy Spirit provides. Remember, each of The Gospel writers pens their work from a unique perspective,  which sometimes isn't chronologically where the event took place.  Regardless, there is another lesson to be learned regarding the holiness of places of worship.  Again, allow Holy Spirit to lead you in your conclusions.  

Piling onto the "Mondayness" of Jesus' day, here come the religious leaders, the Pharisees, and Sadducees.  These leaders were already plotting their way to shut Jesus and his burgeoning ministry down.  Their intentions in interacting with Him on the day were to trap Him with His own words.  The Pharisees questioned Him regarding His authority to teach in the manner He had been doing. 
  
“By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” 
 
As Jesus does so often, He responds with a question.  Jesus promises to answer their question if they can answer His.  The question is regarding baptism and if its source.  The leaders are caught in a question they can't answer because they are far more worried about the growing crowd's reaction to what they say than what the answer to the question is  (So many lessons for us today!!!)  They shrug their shoulders and Jesus refuses to answer. I guess they wished their bed was already made...

The Sadducees, not to be outdone, begin their piling on with a question regarding the resurrection.  Luke records this encounter which leads the Sadducees to confess that what Jesus has said is good teaching.  Their motivations for saying this also is based on the crowd's reaction, not necessarily on their conclusions agreeing with Jesus.  

Jesus uses this time with the leaders to instruct them.  Jesus proceeds in several parables (Matthew and Mark have different parables) to put the religious leaders in their place.  Take a minute and read through the parable of the two sons and the parable of the landowner.  Jesus uses these story lessons to teach the crowd, and in the process, He repudiates the leader's teaching.  This doesn't sit well with the leaders and they continue down the pathway that will lead to the events later on in the week, I guess in some ways Jesus was the cause of their "Manic Monday".

Do you see yourself in any of the Scripture for today?  Did the parables cause you to pause?  Would you find yourself asking similar questions to these religious leaders? As Jesus goes through His Monday, He uses the opportunity to teach about things that matter.  There is an urgency by which He expresses Himself that qualifies what will occur in the remainder of the week.  What lessons can we learn especially about our faith?  Jesus wasn't having a manic episode He was the One person in all of this who knew exactly what was going on.  Jesus did exactly what He needed to do exactly on time. 

'Til Tuesday,

Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy  
<><

 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)