Both Sides of the Song
Image from U2.com
The other day I visited U2’s website and read an article that Bono had just written as an op-ed guest columnist for The New York Times (January 11, 2009 post). A lot of stream-of-consciousness stuff, but I was intrigued by the title of the column, “Both Sides of the Song.” He reminisced about a visit with Frank Sinatra and their discussion about jazz. Sinatra observed: “Jazz is about the moment you’re in. Being modern’s not about the future, it’s about the present.” As 2008 was ending and 2009 beginning, Bono was thinking about Sinatra’s comment that music’s all about the moment, “a fresh canvas and never overworking the paint.”
And then the Irish singer reflects on how people’s voices often improve with age. He considered two versions of Sinatra singing “My Way.” The first version was recorded in 1969 and the 54 year old Sinatra (who had Paul Anka write the song for him) sang the song because he was quitting the music business because he was sick of it. Bono observes: “In this reading, the song is a boast—more kiss-off than send-off—embodying all the machismo a man can muster about the mistakes he’s made on the way from here to everywhere.”
Jump ahead to the recording that Sinatra made when he was 78. The arrangement is the same, the words and melody are exactly the same, but “this time the song has become a heart-stopping, heartbreaking song of defeat. The singer’s hubris is out the door. The song has become an apology.” Bono asks and answers: “To what end? Duality, complexity. I was lucky to duet with a man who understood duality, who had the talent to hear two opposing ideas in a single song, and the wisdom to know which side to reveal at which moment.” He concludes with the observation as he was celebrating the new year in an Irish pub as the people sang in a deafening chorus—“I did it my way”—I and this full house of Irish rabble-rousers hear in this table of the American songbook both sides of the singer and the song, hubris and humility, blue eyes and red.”
Now here is what caught my attention: We need to learn to hear the opposing ideas in the same song. And, you guessed it, I thought of the songs in Revelation (4:8; 4:11; 5:9-10; 5:12; 5:13-14; 6:10; 7:10; 7:12; 11:15; 11:17-18; 12:10-12; 15:3-4; 19:1-4; 19:6-7). I have read these songs as a Christian, and I take comfort in them and am challenged by them. But . . . I wonder what a non-Christian would think if he were to hear the songs sung? Would he understand? Would he shake his head in disbelief and smile with cynicism? Would he become angry? Would he ridicule the lyrics? Would he be tempted to look into this thing we call Christianity? Would he be drawn to the God who creates and redeems and judges. Or would he continue living life his way?
Related posts:
Me thinks you have been in the Revelation too long.
Just kidding. Great stuff.