For those of you holding your breaths for news of a possible upcoming Christmas show- PLEASE, breathe! This week, I didn't even get the countdown done until when I usually type the show- I flat forgot on Wednesday! I've delayed, cancelled, been sick, etc, but never just forgot before. And since 0430 AM is not the time to get going about it, it got moved up... but at least it won't affect you, since I'm still typing ahead, albeit much later than usual, and with a Sun King Wee-Mac in hand...
At any rate, I finally got through combing a playlist of 31 songs to trim it roughly in half, and then present you the top ten- although, if I shared the top 15 here, you'd be hearing 5 brand new songs (to me)! As it is, you will be getting one new top ten- with attached story- and the bizarre story of how Australia BOMBED my top three songs I wouldn't turn off from this week in 1976!
Okay, so let's start with the "attached story". Some of my blog friends still play "Battle Of The Bands once or twice a month- where they put competing non-hit versions (usually) of the same song (again, usually) up for a fan vote. And last trip around or so, one of them introed me to this cover- and M10 history was made- From 2020, this is Dark Side Of Light at #10...
Just to finish fouling up Elvis's maniacal plans for the possible Christmas party, I forgot that once we returned to the other end of the M10 2.0 we'd be doing 1976 rather than 1977 (the cutoff being the last week of September, so now the 100th would fall the week we hit... 1969... and in a blow against my counting ability, it would be THANKSGIVING week, not Christmas! And so a Christmas party would actually hit on week 104 or 105, which would put us in 1965 or 64... Ooh, right in the thick of Beatlemania! I sense big conflict here, so don't anyone say anything to Elvis quite yet... I think I'll just have legal send him a note tomorrow...
...and HOPE I counted right this time!
Speaking of counting right, I counted 10 songs for my list of Songs I Wouldn't Turn Off this week, and neither this week in 1976's Canadian #1 (Chicago's If You Leave Me Now, which missed by the narrowest of margins) nor the Australian #1 (ABBA's Dancing Queen- a song I've never really grasped the worldwide appeal of- in its 5th of an 8-week run on top) made my list. (And neither did Cashbox's #1 here this week- Steve Miller's Rockin' Me!) And that seems appropriate in part because NONE of the three songs I picked to top my list even made the top 50 in Australia!
Now mind you, my friends down under made it up to me by charting a couple of songs on my list HIGHER than they ever got here, to wit:
ELO's Living Thing (#10 here, #2 in Australia)
Burton Cummings' Stand Tall ( #10 on Billboard, but #5 on Cashbox and in Australia).
Anyway, my three picks-
#3 was this week's #16 on Cashbox- it would peak at #5 here, 6 in Canada, but #71 in Australia- Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin Jr with Nadia's Theme (The Young And The Restless . (Linked up so Jo-Anne can hear what she missed!)
#2 was this week's CB #6- where it peaked- and topped out at 11 in Canada, but #52 in Australia- Daryl Hall and John Oates with She's Gone .
And my top song I wouldn't turn off this week- CB has it at #30 on its way to #1, Canada peaked it at #6, but Australia stiff-armed it to #94....
...Boz Scaggs with Lowdown !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And now, the rest of that top ten, so I can get a shower before morning....
9- Up one for Hozier and Carlile and Damage Gets Done...
8- This week, 8 last week, and 8 weeks on for Whitney with Kansas...
7- Down 2 for Buck Meek and Didn't Know You Then...
6- And holding for Duran Duran and Black Moonlight...
5- Up 4 for a-ha's unplugged Take On Me...
4- And holding from here on out: Amira Elfeky's Coming Down here...
3- Aiden Bissett's Ultraviolet here...
2- Jason Isbell's Save The World here...
And at the top for a third week...
....Talk and Wasteland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I certainly hope next week will be on time and less stressful... oh, wait, no chance of that, I have to get legal to send that letter to you-know-who....
Today I want to start on the passage that brought me to this- finding Father God as Knowledge, Jesus as Understanding, the Spirit as Wisdom. And here is where you cannot be lazy with your Bible. Because, if you read a lot of translations, you get something like this:
Pro 8:22 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.
And from that you might deduce that the creation of Wisdom was Father God's first act- and thus, how could Spirit = Wisdom? But now, look at the Young's Literal translation- which gives you what it says without bothering to put it in a "readable order":
Pro 8:22 Jehovah possessed me--the beginning of His way, Before His works since then.
The beginning of His Way- when it was God Alone. What about Jesus/Understanding? Well, remember from last week:
Pro 8:14 Mine is counsel and substance, I am understanding, I have might.
Now, this next line might make you question again:
Pro 8:23 I was anointed from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth ever was.
Pro 8:24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no springs heavy with water.
"Brought forth"? Again, to us it sounds like creation. But let's see where that "brought forth" comes from:
A primitive root; properly to twist or whirl (in a circular or spiral manner), that is, (specifically) to dance...
Which makes me consider Jesus' description of the Spirit...
Joh 3:8 The Spirit breathes where He desires, and you hear His voice, but you do not know from where He comes, and where He goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
So how do we get to the Spirit being a "dancer"? Let me sneak ahead just a little bit to make the point:
Pro 8:30 even I was a workman at His side; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him;
Pro 8:31 rejoicing in the world, His earth; and my delight was with the sons of men.
Let me build from here the analogy. Father God/Knowledge/the Mind conceives the plan, Jesus/Understanding/ the Body accomplishes it...
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
...but, do you work out a plan unless you are INSPIRED by it, by the Promise that it brings? Spirit/Wisdom/Inspiration is what delights you to finish- what delighted God to finish! Look a little deeper into "rejoicing" and "delight": The first denotes happiness to the point of laughter; the second gave me "to look upon (with complacency)"- which I thought didn't fit. Till I sourced the definition of complacency and found at the core " uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements."
This is how God feels about us! And the Spirit wants to draw us into this delight- but there IS a catch:
Pro 8:32 And now listen to me, O sons, for blessed are those who keep my ways.
Pro 8:33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it.
Pro 8:34 Blessed is the man listening to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
Pro 8:35 For whoever finds me finds life, and he shall obtain favor from Jehovah.
Pro 8:36 But he who sins against me does violence to his own soul; all who hate me love death.
Once again, that choice- will you value His instruction? So now, you have seen 'behind the curtain, so to speak- and God has a few closing thoughts on this revelation of Wisdom:
Pro 9:1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.
The Spirit has done His works...
Pro 9:2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
The rewards are ready and waiting for YOU....
Pro 9:3 She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town,
The message has been preached; the choice is pointed out....
Pro 9:4 "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" To him who lacks sense she says,
Pro 9:5 "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Pro 9:6 Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight."
And this translation, the word "insight" is the UNDERSTANDING we link with Jesus.
A lone man looking for means of expression in a tsunami of information. Seeking truth justice and the American way in the perspective of a Nixon conservative. And the Commissioner of the free world's smallest and best fantasy football league.
Posts
