Larry Norman passed away this week, of heart failure that he knew was coming. He was 60 years old. Many consider him the "father of contemporary Christian music" and he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001. When he first started recording Christian music in 1969, he had trouble selling the albums, saying, "it was too religious for the rock and roll stores, and too rock and roll for the religious stores." Toward the latter part of his life, he suffered from some pretty severe health issues, and so quietly faded into the background of the Christian music industry, but not before he had made more than 60 recordings.
His biggest hit was, arguably, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready," which was covered and re-recorded by so many artists people have probably forgotten he wrote it. He also recorded a trilogy of albums covering the past, present and future in theological terms that still stand as a hallmark achievement in Christian music. (Look up "So Long Ago the Garden," "Only Visiting This Planet," and "In Another Land.")
I met Larry (along with Randy Stonehill, to drop names) while I was working part-time at a Christian record store in Kansas City, where I was attending college. Later that night I saw him in concert. He was funny, but he was also a little brusque with the audience. When we started clapping along to one of his hits, he stopped playing and said, "I've never needed anyone to help me keep time. Don't clap." On the surface, that comes off as rude, but what he was doing was not letting us get caught up in feelings and the emotion of the moment and stop thinking. He always wanted people to listen to his lyrics and think about them.
So today I'm going to run snatches of several of his lyrics and thoughts for your Friday post.
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LARRY NORMAN: IN MEMORIAM
And your money says "in God we trust"
But it's against the law to pray in school
You say we beat the Russians to the moon
And I say you starved your children to do it
You say all men are equal
All men are brothers
Then why are the rich more equal than others?
Don't ask me for the answers
I've only got one
That a man leaves his darkness
When he follows the Son
- from "The Great American Novel"
On "Only Visiting This Planet"
"I want to encourage other people to try to discover who they are, not to try to fit into some superficial prototype of what they think a Christian should be, but to discover who they really are."
And if there's life on other planets
Then I'm sure that He must know
And He's been there once already
And has died to save their souls
- from "U.F.O."
On "In Another Land"
"Life is God's art."
A thief fell out of Heaven with some loaded dice
But the Lamb rolled a seven back to Paradise
- from "The Sun Began to Rain"
On "In Another Land"
"Why should the devil have all the good music?"
I don't believe in Beatles, I don't believe in rock
I don't believe in the cutting edge, that's just journalist talk
I don't believe in the cover story or the Gospel chart
You can easily hit Number One with a bullet
And totally miss the heart
But I believe, oh I believe in God
- from "God Part III"
On "Stranded in Babylon"
"I feel like a prize in a box of Cracker Jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up ... I am ready to fly home."
[selected from my own album collection, Wikipedia, and a couple of lyric and discography sites devoted to Larry's life and music]
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At last, a weekend without much going on. Hurray! Let's gratefully say goodbye to a February that has seen more snow around these parts than we've had in the past fifty years. Sheesh. (Though, as I type these words, the National Weather Service has issued another snow advisory calling for two to four more inches on Friday. February just had to get one last blast of winter in before giving way to March.)
Hey, I'll see you on Monday. And remember that I usually post some blog content on the weekends.
Mark
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WEB SITE of the WEEK: "TED" bills itself as "Ideas Worth Spreading." It stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since 1984, it's been bringing together the best and brightest in those three fields every year for presentations and updates. You can view these talks and demonstrations - none of them longer than 20 minutes because these people know that's our average attention span - by some famous people and others who aren't so famous, but still have some pretty good ideas. Check out http://www.ted.com.
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Mark's Musings is available via email each weekday for free and is a Habeas-certified spam free mailer. Subscribe, view past issues in the Archives, or help me defray publishing costs - or cell phone bills - at my web site. To contact Mark, click here. To estimate the monthly cost of a new car (payment, insurance, and maintenance), double the purchase price and divide by 60. Original material and commentary © 2008 by Mark Raymond. My personal mission statement is John 3:30. There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.
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WORDS for YOUR WEEKEND: "When you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target." (George Fisher)
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