Did you know that the first recorded music ever known was in 1857? That means recorded music has been around for 166 years! Think about how many songs have come and gone in that time. Calculating how many songs have been recorded would take far too long and probably be only an estimate. Shall we agree that it is a significant number? At least a gazillion... If you are interested in music recording history, here's an entry that you might find enjoyable... Long Live Vinyl!!!
Here at Tuesday's Musical Notes, we occasionally mention the chart peak and other listings of the songs we feature. Rolling Stone's 500, AFI's 100, Billboard's Hot 100, and other such rankings seem like they include a large number of titles until you compare that to the gazillion we mentioned before, making the song's inclusion even more special and unique. It boggles the mind when you think of songs in that construct.
Today's song is one of those unique and memorable songs that made every list imaginable. One would imagine that there have probably been lists created just so specific songs can be included. "U2’s 50 Greatest Songs" - by Christopher Weingarten, David Browne, Jon Dolan, Kory Grow, Andy Greene, Will Hermes, and Rob Sheffield - November 30, 2019 - rollingstone.com" See what I mean? No? Okay, let's give it a listen and see if that clears it up...
and we are always one to mention 1985's Live Aid
We concede that today's feature song by U2 (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Mysterious Ways" (U2), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (U2)) certainly deserves the accolades and appearances on lists that it populates.
The third single to come from the War album ("New Years Day" and "Two Hearts Beat As One" were the previous singles) "Sunday Bloody Sunday" served as the lead-off track to the #12 album. It was the album that bumped Michael Jackson's (Tuesday's Musical Notes - Michael Jackson search) Thriller out of the top spot in the United Kingdom as War went all the way to #1. The album itself appears on all kinds of lists as it has become one of the "legacy" titles for U2.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is one of only a few overtly political songs by U2. Lyrically, it is a description from an observer's point of view on the events in Northern Ireland from the 1972 civil rights protests in Derry. The conflict between demonstrators and troops led to the deaths of civilians as they were killed by British soldiers who opened fire during one of the protests. The song would soon become an anthem for peace regardless of the region of the world where conflict was happening.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" has been performed over 600 times by the band since its debut in concert in December 1982 in Glasgow, Scotland. To not appear sectarian and overly political in many of the concerts, Bono begins the song by saying, "This song is NOT a rebel song. This song is "Sunday Bloody Sunday". As a reinforcement to the statement, a white flag became a staple for the song during concerts by the band as you can see from the Red Rocks video above.
While not a "rebel" song, it certainly has gone into the annals of "protest" music as seen by its inclusion on yet another list. "Top 10 Protest Songs" by Kayla Webley, May 3, 2010 - time.com. These songs are written as a response to and representative of times in history when one group is seen as persecuted. The songs tell the story and in many instances speak out against the aggression being experienced. This oppression manifests itself in a variety of ways but will on occasion have an unintended opposite effect.
It is the opinion of Tuesday's Musical Notes that the great stories of the Bible are fading from the collective memory of folks in our world. Regardless of the reasons, the incredible narrative of God's deliverance of mankind is being told less and less. To combat this decline, The Notes has been attempting to remind readers of these incredible descriptions of mankind's history, good and bad. Each week we have been stepping into this chronological-order retel
On this journey, we have been in the New Testament portion of the Bible for some time now. Last week we were introduced to a person who will play a major role going forward. His name is Saul and last week we met him as an approver of the stoning of the deacon Stephen. He is an up-and-coming religious leader among the Jews of his time and is a staunch persecutor of those who follow Jesus. Remember, these religious rulers were the ones who were steeped in knowledge of the Scripture. They were supposed to be the ones engaged with looking for Messiah, yet their self-interests blinded them to the realities in front of them. Perhaps some of those who had indicted Jesus were remaining providing tutelage for Saul. In today's passage, we see just how zealous Saul was in meting out continued incredible persecution to the followers of Jesus. In fact, it seems that Saul had developed his own kind of top-ten list.
Remember at this time the growing church in Jerusalem was meeting in people's homes. Later, (Acts 20:7 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV) we notice they had begun consistently meeting on Sundays for worship and prayer. Today's passage tells us that on the very day that Stephen is stoned a great persecution began for the followers of The Way. The question can be raised if the Pharisee Gamaliel was alive at the time of Saul or had any influence over him, for it seems his advice (Acts 5:33-42 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV) w
The aggression perpetrated by Saul was so bad that the disciples of Jesus began to leave Jerusalem to find sanctuary across Judea and Samaria. Scripture however indicates that the apostles stayed in Jerusalem at least during the initial onslaught of Saul's attempt to eliminate the name of Jesus from the folks' lips. They longed to "suffer" as Jesus did for the sake of His name. In light of all this, I feel a bit guilty and need to repent about complaining about the air temperature on Sundays...(insert your pet peeve about your church here...and repent of your complaining...)
This "scattering" of the other disciples of Jesus was an unexpected result for Saul and his team as their persecution led to the Gospel of Jesus being taken outside of the walls of Jerusalem and into other areas of the region. They were attempting to mute the adherents of Jesus and instead, they took the Name to the outside world. In future weeks, we will explore the outcomes of this scattering, but for now, just know that the church in Jerusalem was under siege by Saul.
It is difficult in Western culture, especially the United States to understand what religious persecution of this sort portends. All over the world, due to oppressive governments or religious cultures and climates, believers struggle to meet together as the church and proclaim the name of Jesus. They could care less whether the lyrics of the songs for the day are projected on a wall...their concern is whether they are singing so loud they can be heard by those who would drag them from their house and take them to prison for their worship through music.
I confess that I do not desire to serve the Lord under such circumstances. I appreciate and revere the freedom we have currently to worship through music, preaching, and small-group disciple opportunities.
"How long, how long must we sing this song?"
However, in the coming weeks, we will see that this very same Scripture will tell us that we will have our own challenges to our walk of faith. The pathway is not an easy one and the enemy is using every means possible, even in some instances "religious" folks, to cause us difficulty. Yet, also in the coming weeks, we will encourage each other to be bold about our faith even in the face of trials some of which could be extreme. Are you on someone's list? We will see that there is no fear for those who are secured in Jesus' hand. We will be shown ways to overcome even if we find ourselves having a Sunday Bloody Sunday...
"...The real battle just begun (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
To claim the victory Jesus won (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)..."
To claim the victory Jesus won (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)..."
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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