This is usually a light-hearted blog, but I may make a few folks mad here.People...please understand that young, impressionable children hear the lyrics in music and it often effects their belief system. Believe me, I know. I grew up listening to secular-turned-Christian music star, Gary S. Paxton. As one of his titles read, "Terminally Weird, but Godly Right"
I will say that I have gotten some good from hearing his records. I have always loved his song Whiskey Wet, for instance because I can really hear the honest angst in his voice and he is speaking in the first person about his regrets.
This is not really a 'Gary-bashing' post. However, Paxton fans will probably not approve of this post, either. Hey, I'll admit...there are several songs of his that I do still like for nostalgia's sake, but others that I would certainly not want my children to accept as the Gospel truth, or "Godly Right". I'm just saying that kids are so impressionable and I see the wisdom in teaching them to be more open-minded and kindhearted, rather than cynical and sarcastic.
So, if you've developed a multi-phobic, hypocritical, judgmental, intolerant, fault-finding, condemning personality, finding it hard to pinpoint the cause, and realize that you grew up listening to these albums as I did, just bring copies of Gary's records to a good licensed counselor. It should clear up a lot of confusion. Ha-ha!
For reference,THIS site has quite a few of his songs, in their entirety, in streaming audio. Click on all of the pages to see the whole list. His Christian music discography is HERE, along with excerpts of all his songs.
By the way, I don't blame you too much for playing those records, Dad. You were an awfully strange hippie in those days too, after all. Ha-ha.
Later!
RM
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4 comments:
Support and cheers for you coming from this corner. You are not only a beautiful face, exquisite craftswoman/artisan, you have a keen intellect and the courage to take a stand and say your piece. Love Ya!
Thanks, GH. I guess what I want to say in this post is that we assume that WE are the only ones teaching our kids ethics and morals. We need to take into account that many things influence them and it's important to discuss how kids feel about social issues and tell them how important it is to love and respect for other people. I think they automatically accept ideals from movies, TV and music because they are put forth in such powerful stimuli. I'm not saying to rule them all out, either. I think they're great teaching tools when parents and young people have healthy discussions of the subject matter.
Love ya!
RM
Wow! You are amazing. Yup, we grew up with Gary S. Paxton (I still have a CD in my collection) and we loved it. He was terminally weird, indeed. I fully agree with you that everything he stated in his music wasn't really right. Very little understanding being shown there... I think of it more as testimony, though. How do you explain that to kids? It's not music for kids.
There were songs like "Fat, Fat Christians" and "The Big A= the Big M" which made light of serious subjects. Sure, we laughed and sang the songs, but I would never dream of conveying such judgement to the general public. I mean, where's the love in that? It's all judgement (but hey, it was funny back then). Hard to get someone to see your side of things when you're calling them names and isolating them further.
But you know, I'm glad you wrote about this. It's still fun to listen to, but like you said, it's a nostalgia thing. Luckily, we're in the same boat with our love of nostalgia. We recycle those memories. I'm so glad that YOU are the way you are. I am so glad that we shared our youth together. You are the coolest sister a girl ever had (and Bethany, too, of course). I love you dearly! You are truly an inspiration to me. Keep up the good work!
Blessings,
Rachel
Awwww...shucks! Love you too, Rachel! You're my sweet Sis O' Bliss!
Hugs,
RM
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