Welcome to Tuesday and thank ya, thank ya very much for checking in on the music and musings that is Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! This is the place where new songs are found, old songs are rediscovered and the iconic is revered and treasured. Sometimes the song of the day is "new" (new as in it comes from this millennia or we've never heard it before), and sometimes the song of the day is "seasoned" (oh yeah, that means exactly what you think it means, it has nothing to do with spices...). But all of the time, it is a song worth discovering or replaying. 
Perhaps you have visited The Notes and discovered an artist that hasn't quite reached the heights of "icon" status, but you really like their music. We hope that is the case as with each passing week, we realize that our favorite back catalog of artists and songs may be music that you have never heard of before. Our challenge is finding just the right song to bring to you every week. Sometimes that becomes a treasure hunt all of its own. Certainly, one we enjoy as we have found out information about new and favorite bands all along the way as we bring you their music. That information can be very positive, but on some rare occasions, we find our favorite musicians have created their songs as a result of coming right out of the pokey. Could that be the definition of "Jailhouse Rock?"
and as a Tuesday's Musical Notes extra, another film version of the song...
Some of the greatest songs of all time have been written explicitly for motion pictures ("AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs" article from Wikipedia). Today's song is a fine example of one of those songs. (It came in at #21 on the AFI list.) "Jailhouse Rock" was the title track and first single from the five-song motion picture soundtrack EP. Sung by Elvis Presley (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Suspicious Minds" (Elvis Presley)) and written by Grammy Award-winning songwriting duo, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song would go all the way to #1 on 6 Billboard charts, including #1 on the Hot 100. It became Elvis' eighth #1 single. The song continues its legacy as it has appeared in several "greatest hits" lists including #67 on the original version (2003) of Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016.
"Jailhouse Rock" was the title of Elvis' third feature film. The song solidified a film career that would span 31 features for the Rock and Roll legend. ("Elvis Presley on film and television" article from Wikipedia) We'll let you be the judge of the quality of said films. Ok, some are just kind of fun to see how our culture, and filmmaking for that matter has changed. And you may note, that none were nominated for ANY kind of film award. They do tend to show up on Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Classics on occasion.
The characters of the song were provided by actual people and groups. "Shifty Henry" was a well-known Los Angeles bass player. "The Purple Gang" was an actual mobster organization. and "Sad Sack" was a World War II nickname for those down on their luck who served in the military as well as a Comic Strip that debuted in 1942. This caused the song to have even more appeal as its use of familiar names engaged the listening audience. This is not the first time, however, that familiar names have been associated with prison life...
Over the last couple of weeks, we have witnessed in the Bible the events that occurred after the first Easter. The disciples had regrouped, been imbued by Holy Spirit, and began doing what Jesus had instructed them to do; tell the Gospel, encourage folks to repent and be baptized, and make more disciples. The apostle's actions, specifically Peter and John, roiled the ire of the chief priests and the scribes, the religious rulers also associated with the Pharisees, who had perpetrated the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The interactions between the priests and the apostles at the temple became so contentious that the priests had the apostles arrested. After not finding anything of which to convict them, they chastised the apostles and prohibited them from their preaching.
This imprisonment and release served to heighten the awareness of Peter and John's preaching. They had no need for provisions as the community that was developing around them provided for its own by having donations given by the new disciples. More attention came to the burgeoning Jesus movement as the story of Ananias and Sephira's deceit and immediate death became known.
Emboldened by these events and the crowds that were coming to salvation, the apostles' continued preaching the message of Jesus' love and redemption despite the warnings given by the high priest. Seeing this as insurrection, the high priest had them thrown into a public prison. What happens next can only be described as a miraculous jailhouse rock...
An angel of the Lord lets the apostles out of prison and tells them to go back to the temple and resume preaching. I don't know about you, but if someone just let me out of prison without the aid of keys or explosives, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do what they say. Which the apostles did. At daybreak, they are back at the temple beginning to preach.
The priests weren't aware of this latest activity. They called a council meeting of all of the religious rulers and summoned the prisoners to be brought before them. When the jailers went to the cells, they were astonished. The doors were locked, and guards were in place, but the prisoners were nowhere to be found. The captain of the guards and the rulers were "perplexed" as 3 of the 4 above passages read. While wondering what to do next, the report comes that the prisoners are back at it again at the temple. Fearing that the people might revolt (the apostles were popular and friendly to the common folk) the guards brought them peaceably back into the council's presence. "Didn't we tell you to stop it? And what's worse, you are bringing this man's blood on us!" shouted the council members. The last portion of their statement reveals much. Perhaps they are far more worried about the perception of the illegal trial and crucifixion of Jesus than they are of the apostle's message of Jesus' love and redemption.
Peter's reply should serve as a rallying cry for every believer that comes under persecution. "We must obey God rather than men..." He then doubles down on the account of their treachery about Jesus and his victory over their efforts to silence Him.
This incited the council to become as furious with the apostles as they had been with Jesus. But just before they decided to execute them as well, calmer heads prevailed in the form of Gamaliel, a pharisee who was respected by all people. Seeing that the apostles had gained favor with the people, Gamaliel's advice is to be patient and wait to see what happens to this movement. He relays the stories of previous leaders who had attracted folks to themselves and how those groups disintegrated at the leader's demise. His suggestion was that this circumstance was no different. Furthermore, in the event it was different, chances were it was from the God they served and they need only read their nation's history to see what happened to those who opposed God.
This seemed appropriate and wise to the council. They still flogged the apostles and commanded that they not continue speaking in the name of Jesus. Yeah, that ought to do it...
The apostles had been thrown in prison, released and commanded to go back to teaching by an angel, called back before the council, sent out during deliberations, called back in, beaten, and told to no longer speak in Jesus' name. After all this, what did they do? Everybody in that whole cell block was dancin' to the jailhouse rock... They rejoiced that they could have suffered shame because they obeyed Jesus' commands to tell the Gospel and speak in His name. The Bible says that they did this at the "...temple and from house to house..." every day.
What were the apostles teaching and preaching that so offended the religious rulers? Luke sums it up beautifully as this chapter comes to a close.
"And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and preaching the good news of Jesus as the Christ." (verse 42)
Jesus as the Christ was the message. The Jews of that day understood this as Jesus being the long-awaited and prophesied Messiah.
So friend, how have you responded to Jesus as the Christ? Have you believed what the entirety of the Bible proclaims about Him? That message is that Jesus provides the way to freedom from the jailhouse of sin to which we are born. Jesus provides the sacrifice necessary for the perfect relationship between God and man that was broken in Eden to be restored forever. Jesus provides you and me individually the opportunity to come to Him and receive forgiveness, parole if you will, as well as an eternity future in the perfect presence of God. Jesus is the Messiah that the Jews were waiting for and the Gentiles (that's you and me) didn't know they needed. Through Holy Spirit, Jesus is now calling to you to take up your cross (yup that means you may have to suffer as Jesus did) and follow Him. Doing this ensures that you will someday be dancin', dancin', dancin' to the jailhouse rock...
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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