I grew up hearing the kind of music I link below as kind of a background to my life. Every now and then the man who wrote this piece, “Christmas Means Thinking of Jesus” (perhaps the least consequential thing he ever wrote, in fact) would spend some time at our home. Not all that often, but every now and then. He was my dad’s mentor, someone he admired and greatly respected, and besides that was both a fine man and a fine musician.
It’s not all that good a recording (much of the sound quality problem is in the original), and the style was dated even in the early 1950s when it was recorded, but it has a nice message, and the harmonies are a welcome flashback for me:
I had ocassion to recall this piece this morning when I read Kender’s “in-your-face” post at Stop the ACLU, “JESUS JESUS JESUS JESUS JESUS!!!!!!!! (or, you have no right to NOT be offended)” heh. Go, Kender! :-). While I’m more concerned about assaults on Christianisy by “mega-churches” removing Christianity bit-by-bit from their “worship”, Kender does have a point:
“…the Secular movement in America IS doing harm. They are trying to destroy the CULTURE of this country, trying to run it down the secular path that europe has taken, charging headlong into a world where life is almost worthless…”
Well, he does have a point. If you’re a quasi-liberal (it’s unlikely that there are many true liberals who read this simply because the number of truwe liberals in America is somewhere approaching 1. or 2.) and not easily offended, you might pop on over and give it a read. Might learn something. If you’re a quasi-liberal and ARE easily offended, you might pop on over and stroke out. If you’re a quasi-conservative (see comment on quasi-liberals, above), pop on over and read, too.
Meanwhile, stop and give a listen to the lil mp3, above, from a simpler time.