M10 show, week #26

 

So this week officially begins M10 Songs of Summer '22, and we have one debut to help us out. I...

Elvis:  Boy, no enthusiasm here... 

Been a bit of a bad week, and my eyes are way too blurry trying to type this.  Plus, I have to put together a quick feature, and..

An' get food coming!

Yeah, that part's done... so here, whilst I do my research, put up our new debut!

Sure, this is a Scottish band- no kilts, sorry- that has been on a long lay-off, since 2013 (after the death of a band member in 2015, and then that COVID junk), but this is new stuff from a band called Camera Obscura, at #9...

 

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So this feature is gonna be shorter and sweeter than I thought!  I decided that I would find out what songs Cashbox had at #1 on the lists that came out EXACTLY on Memorial Day.  So I busily (and stupidly, as it turns) began looking for the #1s that hit on May 31st- only to think, "Wait a minute, I should be looking for the last Monday in May!" And when I did that, I realized that THAT wasn't always the case, either!  In fact, during the Martin Era 2.0, the years 1956-1970 had Memorial Day on May 30th, NOT the 31st! And even in the years 1971-7, Memorial Day only landed on the 31st twice, so I would have been almost completely incorrect- two right out of the whole bunch!

 

On the other hand, the way it shakes down, I only found TWO songs that actually did land on Memorial Day!  So I will be sharing with you the two that did- and also, the only two that would have had I stupidly done the 31st like I started out to! In between, my Big Buddy over there scarfing his calzone will give us the M10... Right?

Umph mffpth...

All right, so the two that were actually on the 31st were... 

...the Jackson Five's Never Can Say Goodbye, which hit on MD 1971- and I woulda missed, since CB released on the 29th...

 ...and...

 

...Wings and Silly Love Songs from 1976- which of course, I also would have missed since they release on Friday.

Now further review shows that in the ME2.0, there were but three times that a song did hit #1 exactly on May 31st.  Which means the incorrect list I WOULD have given you would be...

The Everly Brothers with All I Have To Do Is Dream in 1958...

The Beatles and Get Back with Billy Preston in 1968...

Malfsh tadbbbum Bffles...

(If his mouth hadn't been full, that would have been, "Always the dadgummed Beatles...")

And...

 

...Ace with How Long in 1976!

Now, is your mouth empty enough to do the M10?

Yeah, but mah belly sure ain't!  Anyways...

 10 was Melody's Echo Chamber, with Alma on the way down.  She's also got #7, up 3 for Personal Message...

8 an' finally dropping, April March an' Rolla Rolla down 4...

Joy Downer an' Beck up one to 6 with Chain Reaction...

Kinda surprised here, Brooke Annibale's What If You falls 3 to #5...

Up 4, the Knocks an' the Cannons an' Real Life at #4...

The Four Tops edge up one to #3 with One Chain Don't Make No Prison...

In Flight by Sunflower Bean flies up 4 to #2...

An' still at the top is...

 ...the Jayhawks an' I'd Run Away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Okay boss, so what ARE the only two songs to hit #1 on Memorial Day?

I'm glad you asked! The only 2 times it happened were...

...in 1959, with Johnny Horton's Battle Of New Orleans- its first week of 9 at the top...

And...

...in 1964, with Mary Wells and My Guy for its only week on top!

All of you have a great weekend, and remember what they gave for you!

Wednesday Bible Study: What Jesus Asked, part 18

 

This week, I heard a message from Pastor Jack Hibbs in which he noted that Satan tries to project his greatest desire on everyone else- he believes that deep down everyone wants to "be as the Most High".  You see it in everything he did, from Adam and Eve...

Gen 3:4  But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
Gen 3:5  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 

...to Jesus Himself...

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
Mat 4:9  And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
Mat 4:10  Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" 

And one way or another, it's how he tempts us.  Every little bit of pride is, boiled down, exactly this. Satan is unimaginative; it never changes.

The best way to recognize Satan's trap is to recognize God AS God.  That is what the Disciples teach us in the next 2 questions.  Jesus had just took the 'Big Three'- Peter, James, and John- up on the mountain and revealed Himself as God in the Transfiguration.  They could no longer doubt He was God.  The other nine, however...

Mat 17:14  And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him,
Mat 17:15  said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.
Mat 17:16  And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him."
Mat 17:17  And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." 

Not a very kind and complimentary way to address them, right?  But you see, the other nine didn't yet have the special revelation that the Big 3 did.  Jesus sums up their problem quite clearly...

Mat 17:19  Then the disciples came to Jesus apart, and said, Why could we not cast him out?
Mat 17:20  And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there. And it shall move. And nothing shall be impossible to you.
Mat 17:21  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. 

Two factors- faith and prayer.  Faith? It was weak because, like Peter earlier when he was ordered to "get behind Me", they just hadn't gotten to the point that Jesus=God. Prayer?  Because of the first thing, they assumed, "Anyone can cast it out, if they have the right attitude/words/tone", and it don't work that way.  They thought that they could be 'Jesus'- in effect, God- just by believing it so.

And the contrast comes with the next question, when Jesus treats another Disciple a whole different way...

Mat 17:24  When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the tax?"
Mat 17:25  He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?"
Mat 17:26  And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.
Mat 17:27  However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself." 

 

Now there's the kind, compassionate Jesus we expected!  Why the change?  Because Peter's error did NOT involve himself thinking he was God, or equal to Jesus- it was just an error of being put on the spot, of not thinking through the answer. And where the miracle was too hard for the 'old-minded' Disciples, Jesus gave Peter- the 'new minded' Peter- a chance to participate IN the miracle, because Jesus had 'leveled him up.'

In a way, that is prayer in a nutshell. Once you recognize God for who He is, He allows you through prayer to participate in His Works. But if you put yourself up on the pedestal and deem to COMMAND God- or even Satan, as we see- it ain't gonna happen.

Animals are goofy

 Saturday morning, Misty got me up for her "break of day" bathroom trip (saw a bunny in her "poop spot") at about 7 AM, and we go back to bed.  About 8:30 we get woke up by rain.  Looking out, our entertainment started out with a bunny sitting just outside our gate (Our bedroom overlooks the back porch and yard).  With all the trees around, it was relatively dry, and bunny just sat there occasionally munching something in the rain.  After a few minutes, bunny began to move off towards the woods behind us.  About this time, bunny #2 comes running up from the "poop spot" (along the woods and off to the right of our line of sight).  He stops some ten feet or so from bunny #1.  I could just imagine the conversation:

Bunny #2 "Hey! (pant, pant) It's raining!"

Bunny #1 "Yeah, I know."

They stood staring at each other for a couple more minutes; then bunny #2 gets wet, shakes his ears, and returns whence he came.  For the next few minutes, bunny #1 hops in circles, edging closer and closer to the woods.  Finally, he has to shake his ears off, heads for the PS, make one last circle, and heads into the woods.

Sometime during all this, Misty gets bored, hops off the bed and sits by the door.  I tell her that we aren't getting up yet, she comes back up and lays down, symbolically turning her back to the window.

Mr Squirrel now runs up the tree to our right that hangs branches over the porch.  He goes out onto the lowest branch, just enough to remain under the thicker branch above him (presumably to get out of the diminishing rain), sits and practices parting his hair.

Just then, His Eminence (male cardinal) shows up on the fence, picks a feeder seed from the ledge (we put seed everywhere so as to give everyone a fair shot), looks around as if to say, "I declare the day begun," and takes off.  Within moments, a couple members of the Sparrow Mafia come staggering in, seeming to say, "Well, as long as the rain woke us up, let's have at it." As more of them show up, most of them choosing the seed on the patio, I see Chipmunk #1 come running along the fence braces from the neighbors on the left and join the party.  It wasn't long after that a second, gray chipmunk came up the same way, and they briefly jousted over the same spot, running under the gate after each other.  Finally they both returned, #1 under the feeder where he started, the other hanging near the fence.

The squirrel, I saw out the corner of my eye, had dropped to the ground as all this went on; suddenly, another squirrel appeared from the neighbors on the left.  For a moment they stared at each other, the first one (whose has a chewed-up tail) about halfway up the fence looking up, the new one at the top of the fence looking down. Then #2 charged down, they chased each other for a moment (scattering everyone else and briefly renewing Misty's interest), and soon settling down much as the chips did.  Chew-tail went back up the tree, and soon disappeared; #2 joined the gang on the porch, kinda trailing one of the sparrows.  Just then, our regular chipmunk (and 3rd of the morning) came charging over from the right corner, heading for his little entrance to the shed... when he stopped, sniffed, snuck around the corner and face timed with Chip #1.

While they ran each other around, the visiting Sparrow Mafia ascended to the fence where the late squirrel battle occurred, one of them ascending to get a few bites off the 'compressed fake corn ear' on the tractor-feeder on the right side of the shed.  About this time, Misty got bored again and went to lay down on the floor.

Next thing I knew, the Mafia were back on the ground, the chips were getting along, and squirrel #2 was on the tractor munching greedily.  Then Mrs Cowbird showed up, alighting to join the Mafia.  The sparrows, however, decided they were too good to be seen with her, and got up on the left side of the fence.  She didn't bother the chips, though, and soon enough the Mafia dropped their airs and joined her.

It was now about 5 till 9, and I was beginning to note that my back wasn't all that happy with my positioning.  His Eminence returned, landing on the porch table (after several intermediate landing places), grabbed a couple more seeds, looked out as if to say, "I find it good" and left again.  And then we got up, telling Laurie, "Animals are goofy."

Just for perspective here are some later in the day pics of the members of our cast:

M10 Show, week 25

 

Hey, Elvis! 3 debuts this week!

Man, your gonna make my button-pushin' finger hurt...

And in honor of the new #1, I put together a feature for us!

Oboy, give the man a prize...

Wow, you're a bit mopey...

Well, it's like this, man... you celebrated your 60th birthday last week! 6-0! I only ever got to 42 of 'em before... you know...

Yeah, but you're done getting old... done hurting... you get to hang out once a week and play music! Not to mention all the people whose lives you made better, and the impersonators you made rich...

Ah know, I know... I just wonder what I'da done if I was 60...

It would stagger the mind, bud...

Ya think?

You had six songs chart in the United States AFTER you died... 9 on the country chart... and 16 in the UK, including hitting #1 in five countries with A Little More Action!  Think if you'd have been putting out new stuff all that time!

Hmmm.... How many hits did the Beatles have after they split up?

It's always about the Beatles, isn't it?

Oh, c'mon... please?

Sigh... 7 here, 8 in the UK... and a #1 in Canada.

WHEE-WHOOO!  I feel better now!

You might even say, "I Feel Fine..."

Ya hadda do that did ya?

Sure, to settle you down for our first new debut!

All right, then...at #10 here's some more Melody's Echo Chamber...

 

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Was that... tree sex?

Let's go with, "no", and move on.  So I was looking up, because our new #1 becomes the 22nd  #1- out of a total of 182- in M10 history to be at least 5 years old when it first hit here.  A variety of reasons for this- some were released after the fact, some I went digging for, or stumbled onto in looking for other things.  So I got wondering if and how these songs did on the charts besides mine. A lot of them never did get released, at least here- Sweet's cover of Peppermint Twist was only released in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, for instance.  Some were released, but never charted- like Flo and Eddie's Keep It Warm, like two of Melody's Echo Chamber's 3 #1s- I Follow You and Crystallized- or ELO's Buildings Have Eyes. One, at least, was released in a different version- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Walls #3.

 

However, at least 3 hit the UK charts, one was a big hit in Denmark (Agnes Obel's Riverside, big surprise there) 3 hit the lesser US chart categories, and 2- and only 2- actually hit the Billboard pop charts. And I'll tell you all about them- after the next debut...

Yessir, an' we're at #8 with an act that has a buncha M10 hits- just none in a while, though. With vocal helps from a band called Cannons, here's electronic production duo The Knocks- 

 

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So anyway, the very first M10 #1 was Status Quo's In The Army Now, which was a #2 UK hit in 1986.  Tom Jones's version of Till from 1971 hit #2 as well there. And the other UK charter was the Jayhawks and Bad Time from 1995, which peaked- or peeked- at #70.

 Weezer had a #11 hit on the Alt chart with Island In The Sun from 2001; Phoenix took Lisztomania to #5 on the Rock Chart in 2009; and Puddle Of Mudd's cover of Gimme Shelter made #26 on Mainstream Rock.

 

That reminds me- I ain't heard ya say if any of our songs're on the latest chart in a while...

Nope, just Elton and Dua's Cold Heart, still drifting along at #30 in week #36... So why don't we play the last of the 3 debuts, and then I'll let you in on which of the already-mentioned tunes actually made the Billboard Pop charts...

 

Okay dokay- at #6, here's more Sunflower Bean...

 

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See, now that's what I like inna video!

Yep, cool stuff!  So those two songs ar... what?

Don' ya wanna drum up the drama by havin' me do the M10 first?

I'm not sure it's all that much drama... but why not?

Okay! So...

9- Tears For Fears and The Tipping Point slides from 6...

7- Joy Downer an' Beck up one with Chain Reaction...

5- Again with Melody's Echo Chamber, down 2 with Alma...

4- up 6 for the Four Tops, from 1974 with One Chain Don't Make No Prison...

3- This song onna chart's making me seasick! Back up again from 4 is April March with Rolla Rolla... 

2- Last week's top doggie was Brooke Annibale's What If You, now down to #2...

 

And the reason that this week's feature came up, with another #1 from 1995's Tomorrow The Green Grass...

 

 ...the Jayhawks and I'd Run Away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And the two that charted on the Billboard Pops? Island In The Sun got to #111, and TJ and Till made #41!  Lord willing, next week!

Wednesday Bible Study: What Jesus asked, part 17

 

I am always amazed at the myriad ways God frames what He wants me to share, so I can understand.  Today, I am going to start with that framing, before I ever get to our passage.

Abortion has become the hot button topic of late, with the leak of the draft opinion.  I won't go into the chicanery that I think is going on here; the deceptions and trickery of the LEADERS of the pro-abortion crowd are many and well documented to the thinking person.  I am just going to share one small part of one 'conversation' I had with a pair of pro-abortion people.  One tried to tell me that if I READ my Bible, I would realize 'life doesn't begin until breath starts', using as her 'proof' Gen 2:7...

Gen 2:7  then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Not bothering to remember that this was ADAM, and he was not birthed in the now-natural way, but built from the dust by God- it does NOT apply to today's babies.  The other was a 'shared tweet' which basically said that JEWS believe abortion is acceptable, and by connection, if they believe it, so should Christians.  Those of you here last week remember Jesus warning, "Beware of the leaven of the scribes and pharisees."  All I need to say there.

But now, the reason that helped me to understand our passage today.  Which is:

Mat 16:24  Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Mat 16:26  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Mat 16:27  For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 

Two questions that ask the same thing.  To understand, we must look at how we got here.  

Mat 16:21  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
Mat 16:22  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you."
Mat 16:23  But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." 

 

You see, our pro-abortion friends look at a Bible, the Word of a God they generally don't believe in and certainly don't know, with a hardened, blinded heart. They frame it all as a political battle, or as I was told, "I'm not a religious person, so arguments from the Bible carry no weight with me."  And yet, they try to use it as a weapon.  And Peter, while his heart is BEING softened, he hasn't got there yet.  Listening from the 'things of man', he is not hearing what Jesus is saying.  He hears what Jesus says in v21 above like we would hear, "Since Joey Logano is on the pole this race, I bet he wins."  As an educated guess, instead of PROPHECY.

 

You see, you cannot read the Bible as a book of literature, and you can't use it as a score card of what's right and wrong.  To truly know the Bible, you have to know it for what it is- a love letter from Jesus to those who trust Him as savior.  To use it any other way (such as the examples above) are a hindrance to Him.  And now you see what He is really telling them with His questions: If all you are getting out of it is a nice, peaceful, affirming read, what good is it?

When I was 60... it was a very (-) year...

 Yep, I turned 60 sometime in the last 2 hours. I can never remember if it was 4:59 PM or 5:49 PM. And back then, well...

I had a friend tell me today that gas was going up to a point 17 times that price... that new house, at least in Indiana, would be is about 11.3 times as expensive, that new car 16 times, that movie ticket (not to mention my rent) 9.5 times, and that Ivy League tuition 35.5 times for a much lesser education.

What about me?  Well, the oldest picture I will admit to (i.e. easily put on the blog) is this one from just about 15 years ago...

 

Apparently I had a little color to my hair then!  I think I lost it that night, as we were trapped in the High School by a tornado (no joke)! Now, if you just hafta know, I might be able to dig just a tad deeper...

 

 Yep, that was me voting 'aye' on something some 58 years ago, with my 5-months-younger niece not so convinced.

Being honest here, this is the first age I've hit that I keep saying to myself, "Dear Lord, HOW old?" Despite all prognostications, I've outlived my Mom by some 6 years, and trail my Dad by about 7.  I've split the difference.  And while generally I don't feel much different, there are a few things I did just a few short years ago I wouldn't attempt now, such as...

 

August of 2010- Scrappy and I walking clear to State Street... or...

 

                                                                                                                                      

...the previous October, when the two of us made it to the usually inaccessible promontory we called "the End of the Earth".  I've thought, fleetingly, of trying it with Misty, but as it about killed us 13 years ago, I am happy to say I have the will power to reject such notions.

(And I don't think Misty minds... she has Scrappy's 'Black fur wilts quick' syndrome and barely made it back from a decent sized walk today as bright as it was!)

No, nowadays I'm happy getting through to the last part of the workday having put the "I don't know if I can do this anymore"s behind me.  And as I embark on this 60th year, I'm fairly confident I'll be okay... but I am worried about you all.  I don't think I have ever prayed over so many relationship disasters, world crises, and serious illnesses as I have the last few months. So if you all would kindly fall back in love, be healed, get out of Ukraine, and/or receive Jesus as your saviour, I would be much obliged.  And if not, well, I'll still be here for you.