Jeff Pophistory

Best Gospel Songs By Pop Singers (Part 1): Nearer & Pressing

It has been awhile since I spent a Sunday in church, and the last time I visited, the preacher spent more time talking about politics than about faith. But I do love to hear beautiful gospel songs. You do not need to be religious to open yourself up to these songs, which at the heart, are really love songs. In this three-part series, we are discussing the Best Gospel Songs by Pop Singers. We start off with songs by Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan.

Nearer to Thee, Sam Cooke

Yes, I’m cheating. The Soul Stirrers were a gospel group. But this song is featured because their lead singer Sam Cooke, who is one of my favorite singers, went on to popular secular success on his own.

The song builds gradually with the hypnotic background vocals and Cooke’s fantastic voice. On this recording you can hear Cooke gradually working up the crowd, slowly, slowly, building . . . building . . . building . . . toward release and salvation. Beautiful.

Although Cooke recorded many great popular songs as a secular artist, few reached the intensity of “Nearer to Thee.” The one secular song that reaches a similar frenzy is his live version of “Bring It On Home to Me,” available on One Night Stand: Live at the Harlem Square Club 63.

Pressing On, Bob Dylan

I was too young to notice when Bob Dylan first became a phenomenon, but I do remember when everyone was surprised that he became a born-again Christian in the late 1970s. His music from this period includes a number of outstanding original gospel songs, including “Gotta Serve Somebody.”

One song from this period that is less well-known than some others is “Pressing On.” As Sam Cooke did in “Nearer to Thee,” Dylan effectively uses repetition. He repeats “I’m pressing on” throughout the song to provide a hypnotic quality not unlike a moving church service.

Here is the version of “Pressing On” by John Doe that was featured in the very good movie “about” Bob Dylan, I’m Not There (2007). Doe, founder of the punk bank X, does an excellent cover.

In this scene, Christian Bale does a great job of playing the singing Dylan and capturing the hypnotic nature of the song. Critic Greil Marcus wrote that the Doe-Bale combination is the place where the song found its voice. (“Themes from a Summer Place,” New West, July 28, 1980).

Another great gospel song by Bob Dylan, and perhaps his greatest, is “Every Grain of Sand.” For other great gospel songs by popular artists, check out upcoming posts in this series of Best Gospel Songs by Pop Singers. ..

What are your favorite gospel recordings by popular artists? Leave a comment.

Best Gospel Songs by Pop Stars (Part 5): Cash & Byrds

Best Gospel Songs by Pop Singers 4: Morning, Flying & Mystery

Best Gospel Songs by Pop Singers 3: Ready, Walk, Great

Best Gospel Songs by Pop Singers 2: Gold, Blessed & Sweet

One Degree of Separation Between Bob Dylan & Twilight Zone: Bonnie Beecher & “Come Wander With Me”

Sheila Atim Peforming “Tight Connection to My Heart” (Great Bob Dylan Covers)

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

MLK Shot This Morning, er. . . Evening

U2’s powerful song “Pride (In the Name of Love)” commemorates this date in 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed on a balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King was in town to support striking sanitation workers, and the day before he had given his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.

U2’s song, which was from The Unforgettable Fire (1984) album, recounts the assassination:

Early ~~morning~~, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

The shooting occurred at around 6:01 p.m. on this date, so why does “Pride (In the Name of Love)” refer to “early morning”? I have seen various explanations.

Some wondered whether at the time of the shooting, the band was in Dublin. In that city, the time is six hours later than Tennessee time, making it just after midnight and “early morning” in Ireland. But then the date for them would have been April 5, and the song still has the correct Tennessee date of April 4.

The time change could have been poetic license, but most likely it was an error. Perhaps the error occurred due to Bono’s memory of when he heard the news.

Sources note that Bono eventually recognized the mistake years later and began singing “early evening” instead of “early morning.” For example, in U2’s performance at the 2009 concert to celebrate the inauguration of Pres. Obama, Bono sang the “early evening” lyrics. Most recently, on U2’s Songs of Surrender release of new recordings of old songs including “Pride (In the Name of Love),” Bono again used the “early evening” line.

This energetic Chicago performance also uses the historically accurate time of day starting at around the 2:15 mark:

John Legend recorded a moving version of “Pride (In the Name of Love)” for King (2008), a series on the History Channel. His version, which also appears on the CD Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement, is less bombastic than the U2 version, but it is still powerful.

Legend replaces the “early morning” line with the words “late afternoon.” Thus, he gives us a third time option in the lyrics to “Pride (In the Name of Love).” Check it out, with the time of day mentioned at around the 2:20 mark.

Unfortunately, I listened repeatedly to the U2 albums The Unforgettable Fire (1984) and Rattle and Hum (1988). So,I always expect to hear “early morning” as in the original music video.

Either way, it is still a great song about a great man. And, the time of day Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed is much less important than what he accomplished in his life in the name of love.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and “We Shall Overcome”

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day News: From D.C. to Burma

Springsteen and Bono Sing “Because the Night” in Dublin

Martin Luther King Jr. on “The Merv Griffin Show”

Martin Luther King Jr.: “The Other America”

Springsteen and Martin Front U2 for World Aids Day

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Buy from Amazon

The Lincoln Lawyer (Short Review)

The Lincoln Lawyer, based on the book by Michael Connelly and starring Matthew McConaughey, is an old-fashioned legal thriller. The story follows criminal defense attorney Mickey “Mick” Haller (McConaughey), a criminal defense attorney who does much of his work out of the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car, as he takes on a big case representing a rich client accused of assaulting a woman. The movie also features Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy, and John Leguizamo.

Movies often depend on your expectations and mood. And if I were grumpier on the day I watched The Lincoln Lawyer or if I had high expectations, I might stress that there are some unbelievable points, and there might be easier ways for the lawyer to handle the legal ethics issues in the movie. Also, the movie features one of my pet peeves of portraying the bad guy as some sort of evil diabolical genius who would fit better in a James Bond movie than in a movie trying to be realistic.

But those are minor gripes if you just want some fun entertainment. The Lincoln Lawyer is one of those movies where you just have to decide to roll with it. The story is fun, and, as he did in Time to Kill, McConaughey makes an engaging lawyer with a very good supporting cast. While The Lincoln Lawyer is not in the same league as law movies like Anatomy of a Murder (1959), The Verdict (1982), or even Tomei’s My Cousin Vinny (1992), it is a fun and interesting ride, like one of the better movies based on books by John Grisham or Scott Turow. In a recent interview, McConaughey mentioned the possibility of sequels following the further exploits of Haller. I would see the sequel, assuming I’m in the right mood that day.

What did you think of The Lincoln Lawyer? What is your favorite lawyer movie? Leave a comment.

Bruce Willis Was in “The Verdict”?

The Missing Marine From the Iwo Jima Flag Photo

12 Years a Slave (Short Review)

“Gravity” Is Such a Lonely Word (Short Review)

Bernie (Short Review)

Penn State Riots, Sports, and Life

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Chimesfreedom Blog To Be Made Into a Movie!

We have been waiting to share this exciting news until the papers were finally signed. Chimesfreedom is going to be made into a major motion picture to be released in summer 2013. We cannot reveal too much about the story as the screenplay still needs to be developed further, but the movie will incorporate stories relating to several of our posts as well as the real life drama of blogging.

We are thrilled with the support and encouragement we have received so far, and the studio is currently negotiating with Aaron Sorkin for screenplay development. As you probably know, Sorkin wrote the screenplay for the recent The Social Network. The producers are still signing up the actors and director for the movie, so look for announcements soon with more details.

In the early days of this blog, we never imagined this day would arrive. To celebrate, give a listen to “April Come She Will” from Simon & Garfunkel’s famous 1981 Central Park Concert. [Update: For anyone reading this post after the day it was posted, note the date that this information was posted.]

Who should be cast in the Chimesfreedom movie? Did you know that today’s holiday supposedly has its origins in confusion that resulted from the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar? Leave a comment.

The Last Simon & Garfunkel Concert

The First #1 Hit By The Everly Brothers

Search By Smell With New Google Nose

New Gmail Tap for Cell Phones

Super Bowl Songs: The Only Living Boy in New York

Happy Anniversary Chimesfreedom!

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

All This Science I Don’t Understand: William Shatner

I enjoy William Shatner’s half-hour talk show on the Biography Channel, Raw Nerve. The show features an intimate conversation with various guests, and I like that Shatner asks each guest to bring an object from home that has some special meaning. William Shatner is not a trained inteviewer, but he is William Shatner and he brings his Shatnerness to each show. Although he interviews a wide variety of guests, a few shows have featured Star Trek alum, and one show revealed Walter Koenig, who played Chekhov on the original series, to be quite thoughtful about his career. It was also interesting to see Shatner struggle with how he has treated other cast members disrespectfully in the past.

William Shatner, who turned 80 last Tuesday, has a personality that has aged well. He makes a good career of mocking his image as a younger man who was full of himself. One of the best things one can do in maturity is to laugh at one’s younger self.

Time Magazine recently did a fun feature of The Top 10 Unforgettable William Shatner Moments, only a few of which involve any scenes from Star Trek. One of my favorite moments is from the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards, where William Shatner’s performs Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” What is better than one William Shatner? Three William Shatners! The video starts off amazing and just gets better, so make sure you hang around for the second and third William Shatners to appear. Unfortunately, there is no evil Shatner with a goatee but there is a lot of cigarette smoking.

While his performance of “Rocket Man” above is great because it is funny, Shatner’s cover of Pulp’s “Common People” with Joe Jackson is just a great version of of a great song. I have it on my iPod by choice.