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Category Archives: Hymns and Songs

Emails to God – “Leader of the Band” by Dan Fogelberg

25 Feb

I was riding my bike this week and this classic song came on my ipod (yes, I’m probably the only person in the world who works out to Dan Fogelberg). I listened carefully to the lyrics and they are beautiful. So in the spirit of some of the posts I have done on this blog about different hymns and songs and the depth of their meaning, here are some thoughts on “Leader of the Band”.

Dan Fogelberg wrote this song for his dad, Lawrence Fogelberg. The song released in 1981 and Lawrence passed away in 1982 meaning that he got to hear one of the sweetest tributes a dad could receive from his son or daughter (incidentally, I poked around the Internet and found a cover that Lucie Arnaz did of this song for her dad, Desi).

Here are the lyrics (and here’s a link to a youtube video complete with lyrics)

“Leader of the Band” – By Dan Fogelberg

A lonely child alone and wild
A cabinet maker’s son
His hands were meant for different work
And his heart was known to none
He left his home and went his lone
And solitary way
And he gave to me a gift I know
I never can repay

A quiet man of music
Denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once
But his music wouldn’t wait
He earned his love through discipline
A thundering velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls
Took me years to understand

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy
To the leader of the band

My brothers’ lives were different
For they heard another call
One went to Chicago
And the other to St. Paul
And I’m in Colorado
When I’m not in some hotel
Living out this life I’ve chosen
And come to know so well

I thank you for the music
And your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom
When it came my time to go
I thank you for your kindness
And the times when you got tough
And Papa, I don’t think I’ve said,
“I love you,” near enough

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy
To the leader of the band
I am the living legacy
To the leader of the band

I saw a 2003 video of Dan performing this song and he said that if he had only been allowed to write one song in his life it would be this one. Before I go any further, here’s a link to an interview done in March 1982 with Dan’s dad, Lawrence Fogelberg, the Leader of the Band. (You’ll probably want to copy and paste it into a word processor because the font is hard to read with the background.)

So let’s look at this song and see what it tells us

  • Verse 1a: It seems that Lawrence communicated to Dan at some point that he felt like he (Lawrence) didn’t fit in as a child. He felt different from his family and Dan says at the end of this stanza that he got a gift from his dad that he can’t repay. I wonder if that gift is the peace of knowing that it is okay to be himself, even if that made him different from his brothers.
  • Verse 1b: Lawrence was a high school and college band director. In the 1982 interview he says that the thundering velvet hand was his perfectionism with his students, but he was careful to add that he never belittled a student in front of the rest of the band. It seems that Dan came to appreciate how lawrence molded his students’ lives.
  • Verse 2a: It’s interesting that Dan moves from talking about his dad’s students to talking about himself and his brothers. It is apparent that he felt the difference in how they were pursuing their lives. I think there’s something in all of us that tries to figure out our place in our families and how we fit in. I figure that Dan probably got some of his peace about who he was from his knowledge that the musical part of him came from his dad.
  • Verse 2b: First, as a dad, I can’t wait for the day when my children thank me for being tough. Frankly, it’s hard to imagine. But the big thing I get from this verse is that Dan felt his father’s blessing. My dad has blessed me to live my own life, and it is his greatest gift to me. I hope I am able to give it to my children.
  • Chorus: The interview I linked to above was done in March 1982. I don’t know what caused it, but Lawrence died later that year. Perhaps he was terminally ill and that is what Dan meant when he said that his dad was tired. It feels like he had a bond with his dad by the time he died that was beautiful. I am sure there was pain in their past together. I am sure there were scars. But somehow love, forgiveness, and acceptance took over.

I am a sucker for father/son stories. I am blessed with two parents who are loving and supportive of me beyond reason, and the tribute that Dan pays to his father here is beautiful. It’s hard to imagine the joy Lawrence must have felt when he heard “Leader of the Band” for the first time.

 
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Posted by on February 25, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Emails to God – Two Songs, a Wedding, and a Funeral

07 Feb

I went to a Mass of Resurrection (funeral) yesterday for a woman who was beautiful in every sense of the word, Cynthia Pedregon. The two highlights for me were two of her granddaughters singing and the eulogy given by a local pastor. The eulogy was a collection of quotes from her friends and family about her. It was a tribute unlike any I have ever heard. Every word spoken about her was consistent with the woman I knew in only a small way. It was remarkable.

There was one other thing I noticed about the program for the Mass. The last song they played before the service began was “How Beautiful” by Twila Paris (music only). The recessional was “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore You.” Both of these songs were in our wedding nearly twenty years ago. My wife’s aunt say “How Beautiful” during the service, and we picked “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” as our recessional as well. So here are the lyrics for both songs. I wonder what each one has to sang about the birth of a marriage and the end of a life well-lived.

“How Beautiful” By Twila Paris

How beautiful the hands that served
the wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful the feet that walked
the long dusty roads and the hills to  the cross.
How beautiful, how beautiful,
how beautiful is the body of Christ.

How beautiful the heart that bled
that took all my sin and bore it instead.
How beautiful the tender eyes
that chose to forgiveand never despise.
How beautiful,how beautiful
how beautiful is the body of Christ.

And  as He laid down His life we offer this sacrifice
that we will live just as he died willing to pay the  price,willing to pay the  price.

How beautiful the radiant Bride
who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes.
How beautiful when humble hearts give
the fruit of pure lives so that others may live.
How beautiful, how beautiful
how beautiful is the body of Christ.

How beautiful the feet that bring
the sound of good news and the love of  the King.
How beautiful the hands that serve
the wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful,how beautiful
how beautiful is the body of Christ.

When I read this song and imagine what Mrs. Paris must have been thinking as she wrote it, I think that she was just struck by the beauty of God and what He brings to life. First verse: That Jesus came and lived like us was beautiful. Second verse: Jesus’ death and sacrifice for us was a different kind of beautiful. Third verse: The life submitted to God is beautiful. Fourth verse: The life lived out in submission to God is beautiful. Well, those four verses really do speak to the life that begins with to people joining in marriage, and, in Cynthia’s case, they are descriptive of the life she lived.

“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” Lyrics by Henry van Dyke
Set to “Ode to Joy” from Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, all who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us Sunward in the triumph song of life.

Count this one as my favorite hymn. Here is a quote from Mr. van Dyke (according to Wikipedia–so it must be true) about his intentions for this song:

These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings and desires in this present time—hymns of today that may be sung together by people who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that any truth of science will destroy religion, or any revolution on earth overthrow the kingdom of heaven. Therefore this is a hymn of trust and joy and hope.

While I didn’t know of this quote when I chose this (yes, I picked this one for the wedding ceremony) as our recessional, and I doubt Cynthia knew of it when she chose it as the recessional for her funeral, I think we both chose it because the song accomplishes exactly what Mr. van Dyke intended: “…this is a hymn of trust and joy and hope.” For me, the beginning of my married life in God was about trust, joy, and hope. I’m sure Cynthia felt like the end of her earthy life in God was about trust, joy, and hope. Finally, I think for her family, the beginning of their lives without her in God will be about trust, joy, and hope.

 
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Posted by on February 7, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Emails to God – Exploring–and Understanding–Domestic Violence (“Love the Way You Lie”)

24 Jan

Okay, we’re going to go a little edgier with this one. I heard this song as I drove home from a meeting tonight. I’ve heard it several times before, but thought I would share it with you tonight. It’s pretty powerful.

Domestic violence is something that is scary and can happen in every socioeconomic background. It isn’t just something that happens to the poor. One time I was having lunch with a donor to our Center. She was elderly and widowed. Her husband had been a prominent member of the community. During lunch she told me about the years of physical and emotional abuse. She was not very sad when he died.

On the other side, we had a patient at our clinic who shot her husband this summer because she couldn’t take the violence anymore. Why didn’t she leave before she did this? That’s a complicated answer.

This duet between Rihanna and Eminem explains a little of what women and men experience when they find themselves in the cycle of domestic violence–especially if they grew up in it. Did you know that women have to leave their husband/boyfriend an average of seven times before they finally leave?

Since you can’t really appreciate this song without hearing the song, here is a link to a youtube version that gives you the lyrics along with the audio. Maybe it will help you understand the friend who won’t leave her husband. Maybe it will give you the courage to break this type of a cycle in your own life. Anyway, here’s “Love the Way You Lie Part 2“.

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Emails to God – The Hope and Despair of Poverty (“Fast Car”)

21 Jan

I was out on a bike ride tonight and one of the songs that came on my play list was Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car”. You may have heard it, but have you ever really listened to the words. I used to work for a nonprofit near a government housing project and I can see a lot of the pain and the cycle of multigenerational poverty in this song. So let’s take a look at what it says:

“Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman

You got a fast car And I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal Maybe together we can get somewhere
Anyplace is better Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we’ll make something But me myself I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won’t have to drive too far Just ‘cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs And finally see what it means to be living

You see my old man’s got a problem He live with the bottle that’s the way it is
He says his body’s too old for working I say his body’s too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody’s got to take care of him So I quit school and that’s what I did

You got a fast car But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision We leave tonight or live and die this way

I remember we were driving driving in your car The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped ’round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still ain’t got a job And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better You’ll find work and I’ll get promoted
We’ll move out of the shelter Buy a big house and live in the suburbs

You got a fast car And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I’d always hoped for better Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain’t going nowhere So take your fast car and keep on driving

You got a fast car But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision You leave tonight or live and die this way

See what I mean? Cool song. I see people like this every day in my job. Some of them dream. Some of them work hard and hope for better, but then something happens. I think my biggest fear as the father of a girl is that she will find a man who turns out to be like the man or the father in the song.

I’ll close with giving you Wikipedia’s description of the song and what it means.

The song is a narrative tale of genrational poverty. The song’s narrator tells the story of her hard life, which begins when her mother divorces her jobless, alcoholic father, forcing the narrator to quit school in order to care for him. Eventually, she leaves her hometown with her partner in hopes of making a better life. Despite her employment at a grocery store she falls victim to the cycle of poverty, as her life begins to mirror her mother’s: her partner remains largely unemployed and becomes an alcoholic. She is left alone with her children while her partner spends time drinking with friends. Finally, after getting a job that will support her family, she comes to accept her life as the way it is and to give up chasing empty dreams. She tells her partner to leave her; to take “your fast car and keep on driving.” The final refrain is sung in variation, changing from “We gotta make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way” to “You gotta make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way.”

 
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Posted by on January 21, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Emails to God – “It is Well with My Soul”

08 Jan

We are going to work with “It is Well with My Soul” tonight. But before you read the lyrics you need to start with what the writer was experiencing in his life at the time he wrote it. Here is the tale as told by our friends at Wikipedia (so it must be true):

“It Is Well with My Soul” is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss.

This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone . . .”. Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

Bliss called his tune Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.

The Spaffords later had three more children, one of whom (a son) died in infancy. In 1881 the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Israel. The Spaffords moved to Jerusalem and helped found a group called the American Colony; its mission was to serve the poor. The colony later became the subject of the Nobel prize winning Jerusalem, by Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf.

Amazing story. It reminds me that I don’t know what it means to suffer. The heart of a man capable of writing the following lyrics in the midst of so much pain explains why he was later able to start a ministry in Jerusalem in the 1800’s.

When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know, (remember what the story said about “say” and “know” here)

“It is well, It is well with my soul”

 

Though Satan should buffet, tho’ trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

 

My sin–O, the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin–not in part but in whole,

Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

 

And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,

The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,

“Even so”–it is well with my soul.

Wow. Here is my summary of the verses.

  1.  Straight up confessing his sorrow and telling God that he trusts Him through it.
  2. He knows that Satan attacks him, but recognizes Jesus’ provision for the attacks.
  3. He recognizes his sin and claims his freedom from it through Jesus.
  4. He looks to the day when the faith he is proclaiming, and sometimes doubts, becomes sight.

Knowing the background of this hymn, it has to be in anyone’s top-five.

 
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Posted by on January 8, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Emails to God – “What Wondrous Love is This”

06 Jan

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul!

What wondrous love is this

That caused the Lord of bliss

To bear the dreadful curse

For my soul, for my soul,

To bear the dreadful curse

For my soul.

When I was sinking down,

Sinking down, sinking down,

When I was sinking down,

Sinking down,

When I was sinking down

Beneath God’s righteous frown,

Christ laid aside His crown

For my soul, for my soul

Christ laid aside His crown

For my soul.

To God and to the Lamb

I will sing, I will sing,

To God and to the Lamb

I will sing,

To God and to the Lamb

Who is the great “I Am,”

While millions join the theme,

I will sing, I will sing,

While millions join the theme,

I will sing

And when from death I’m free,

I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,

And when from death I’m free,

I’ll sing on,

And when from death I’m free,

I’ll sing and joyful be,

And thro’ eternity

I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on

And thro’ eternity

I’ll sing on.

I thought I would pick another hymn to get into tonight. I rolled through about 170 of them in the hymnal and landed on this one. I’ve always liked the somber tone of the tune. The music really makes this song work.

It’s almost as if the writer (hymnal doesn’t list a writer, but just says, “American Folk Hymn”) is getting a revelation of what their sin cost Jesus and God, but the first question focuses on Jesus and not the write: “What wondrous love is this…?” The writer apparently already realizes the depths of their sin before the song is written and starts the song with the marveling at Jesus’ love.

The second verse then goes back and picks up the writer’s knowledge of their own sin: “While I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown…” and then picks up Jesus’ sacrifice again: “…Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.”

Now, the third verse shows us that the write knows it’s time to worship while they are still living: “To God and to the Lamb, I will sing…While millions join the theme, I will sing.”

And the fourth verse takes us to heaven. Jesus’ sacrifice from the first verse saved us from God’s righteous frown, and now we will sing for eternity. I used to get a little freaked out about the idea of heaven and being joyful forever. My imperfect human heart doesn’t quite grasp that concept and it scares me, but I take comfort from those who have seen heaven in near-death experiences and talk about the pure joy they felt while they were there.

Let me know if you see anything in this song that you think I missed.

 
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Posted by on January 6, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Emails to God – “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

06 Jan

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (Text by Robert Robinson; adapted by Margaret Clarkson)

Come Thou Fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing thy grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Praise his name—I’m fixed upon it—

Name of God’s redeeming love

 

Hither to Thy love has blest me;

Thou hast brought me to this place

And I know Thy hand will bring me

Safely home by Thy good grace

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Bought me with His precious blood.

 

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;

Seal it for Thy courts above

Amen

I am at a retreat tonight and the rest of the weekend out at Laity Lodge. We aren’t suppose to have Internet access, but I am staying in a place that accidentally provided it (of course, I helped it along by finding a modem and getting it plugged in so that the Internet could start working). So I feel like this is a great power I have, to access the Internet, and I should use it for good and not for evil. I will do my best to stay away from ESPN3 and try to stay focused on God. To that end, I thought I might use my Emails to God blog to share some of what I experience here.

At the retreat tonight we were singing this song. It is one of my two favorite hymns. My favorite is “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” The place where I am staying has the old Word Hymnal that I used to sell in my days of working for Word, and would you know that my two favorite hymns are hymns numbers 1 and 2 in the hymnal—and in the right order at that. What are the odds?

But I digress. Sometimes when I am singing a song and I feel like it isn’t hitting me like it should I stop and try to put myself in the mindset of the write while they wrote the lyric. They sat there with nothing and looked for words that expressed how they felt. What then can I tell about how they felt at the time by the words they chose?

I did this with this song tonight, and it really opened it up to me even more. The last verse is too easy to relate to, so I won’t even deal with that except to say that I heard once that the writer of this song, Robert Robinson, struggled with his faith throughout his life. Here is a quote from Wikipedia (so it must be true): “An unverifiable story is widely told of Robinson that one day while riding in a stagecoach a lady asked him what he thought of the hymn she was humming, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. He responded, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”

But I digress again. I want to think about the first verse. There is a lot here:

  • “Come Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace” – Again, thinking about his mindset when he was writing this, I got the image of someone who so badly wanted for his worship of God to be adequate. Do I have that feeling as I worship before God?
  • “Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise” – Because God has given me so much love and mercy He deserves for me to get this right.
  • “Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above” – I know that angels know how to sing to God. Teach me how to sing like the angels.
  • “Praise His name—I’m fixed upon it—Name of God’s redeeming love” – My worship is to focus on Him and His Name—really focus.

 

This is good stuff. If you are so inclined, do your own for the other two verses. Find something in here from God that you’ve never seen before.

 
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Posted by on January 6, 2012 in Hymns and Songs

 

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