my careless contagion

You've probably heard this song, though maybe not for a while. If you're of a certain age, you likely know the song already. Since New Slang was released in 2001, I would peg its inception at 2000, making this song 25 years old, give or take. Feel old?  I don't know what it was about the song that made me want to write something. Let's take a look at the lyrics for clues.  *** Gold teeth and a curse for this town Were all in my mouth Only I don't know how they got out, dear Turn me back into the pet I was when we met I was happier then with no mindset And if you took to me like a Gull takes to the wind Well, I'd've jumped from my trees And I'd've danced like the king of the eyesores And the rest of our lives would've fared well New slang when you notice the stripes The dirt in your fries Hope it's right when you die, old and bony Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall Never should have called But my head's to the wall and I'm lonely...

What's this, you say? Why, it is  Michael Card's The Ancient Faith Trilogy . Blogger won't let me post a video, so this is the best I can do. All the music I listened to in my life wasn't as satisfying as music about God. I like the old hymns the best, but this is good, too.  Each song tells a story. I love stories. I love the Word. Stories about the Word? Perfect. You realize after a while the greatest people in the Bible were just the same as you. Made of the same things. The only thing that set them apart was their obedience. That allowed God to do amazing things in their lives and the lives of others.  My life was hard. Harder than it should have been. I fought so many battles I lost count. The devil hates me, as he does all believers, but he seems to attack me relentlessly. There will be more battles. They will get worse. Eventually the enemy will kill me, but not before I get some good licks in. I'm not fighting my own battles. I do what God tells me. Though f...

Social Distortion's album White Light, White Heat, White Trash was released in 1996. I wrote previously about a track (I was wrong), which I recall seeing on MTV's 120 Minutes in probably late 1996 when I was home from college some weekend. I didn't know I'd later see the band play many times or that they would become a major influence in my life.  Crown of Thorns was released 25 years ago on the same album and remains relevant. Though it didn't mean anything to me for years, today it does. It's clear the singer/songwriter, Mike Ness, went through "the program," meaning some sort of mind-control protocols. The marks are all over his music, his life, and his body. (Once you know what to look for, you spot it right away.) Mass media, in turn, uses these programmed individuals to program the rest of us. I was thinking about a song on the radio the other day (Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar, who I also saw perform) and how it was blatant programming, ...

Bad Religion's album No Substance was released about this time in 1998. The album was followed by a tour similar to how the band started: small venues with lots of young kids packed in. They said they wanted a more intimate experience like the old days. I saw Bad Religion that year at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I recall the band hanging out in the bar afterward, watching hockey and talking to fans. I'd say the band got the intimacy they desired. And I got to see a show I still remember even at the hoary age of 43.  I also recall feeling strangely old, wistful, and, frankly, sad before and after watching the band. Okay, watching isn't exactly the right word. You have to be an active participant at a Bad Religion show. You don't simply watch them play. You sing along. You mosh if you want (I was, perhaps, one body away from the band at this show). But you don't idly watch a punk rock show. You get thrown around. It's youthful fun.  Living in Bowling Gre...

Go walking down there by Chris Isaak is a song about losing the one you love. But it's more than that. It's an angry punch at society, or at least an idea of society. It's an anger about losing the one you love and seeing those perfect people (whoever they are) having the time of their lives.  After the heartbreak of infidelity brought me to my knees, I looked with jealousy at those I thought had done things right and who had perfect lives. Anger boiled up in me. The video, using an exaggerated (and perhaps maniacal) 1960s beach movie motif, hammers this idea home. Like so many of Isaak's videos, there are pretty girls and plenty of flesh. Sometimes I wonder who is prettier, the girls or Isaak. It's hard to imagine Isaak as a pugilist, but he was indeed. Imagine his pretty face getting beaten up and nose broken seven times. It reminds me of another rocker — Social Distortion's Mike Ness — who insists on punching his way through life.  Regardless of the...

There are some songs I avoid. When I hear one on the radio it's no big deal, as I just flip to the next station. When I'm in a store and hear it come on, then I have to grit my teeth and wait it out. Some associations are hardwired into me. I have a relationship with music that is hard to explain. For Chris Isaak's Forever Blue, it's even more complicated. This album defines how I felt when I was cheated on the first time by my ex. In fact, after everything went down, I wrapped myself up in this music, and for all intents and purposes, died. As the years went on and her behavior remained the same, I found myself changing in ways I never imagined. I was murdering myself just to stay with her.  Baby did a bad bad thing by Chris Isaak will forever remind me of my then girlfriend and now ex-wife's dirty deeds. Chris Isaak was my friend after Kate cheated on me and kicked me out of the bed and onto the floor in the next room. I sat in my green thrift store chair a...

Radio Nowhere from Bruce Springsteen's 2007 album, Magic, is a song I keep coming back to. I can't believe it's been that long since this album came out. It feels timeless. So, too, is my timeless struggle with solitude.  I have a brief respite from the solitude, but I'll be thrust out into it once again. I'm like a lone rocketeer being catapulted into space or a wilderness wanderer on a mission that's never completed. I keep sending my signals back to home, wherever that is, but I never hear anything. Just silence.  One of the strangest fates mankind can succumb to is sensory deprivation. Radio Nowhere  makes it clear that we all need noise. We all need to home in on something. In my being spat out into the darkness and cold of solitude, I've tried to stay warm with thoughts of the woman I love. I've continued to broadcast my beacon for all who will hear. My thoughts and feelings have turned to stories and my stories into a book of sorts. In my...

Lyrics: Somewhere high in the desert near a curtain of blue Saint Ann's skirts are billowing But down here in the city of limelights The fans of Santa Ana are withering And you can't deny the living is easy If you never look behind the scenery It's showtime for dry climes And Bedlam is dreaming of rain When the hills of Los Angeles are burning Palm trees are candles in the murder wind So many lives are on the breeze Even the stars are ill at ease And Los Angeles is burning This is not a test Of the emergency broadcast system When Malibu fires and radio towers Conspire to dance again And I cannot believe the media Mecca They're only trying to peddle reality, catch it on Primetime, story at nine The whole world is going insane When the hills of Los Angeles are burning Palm trees are candles in the murder wind So many lives are on the breeze Even the stars are ill at ease And Los Angeles is burning A placard reads the end of days Jacaranda bough...