Eternal Father

 

If you have worn the uniform, this music is sacred to you

It gives me chills every time I hear it. 

 

"Eternal Father, Strong to Save" is a hymn written by William Whiting in 1860 inspired by the dangers of the sea described in Psalm 107. This hymn is commonly associated with seafarers, particularly in the naval armed services, and is often referred to as the "Navy Hymn." This hymn also has a long tradition in civilian maritime settings and is regularly called upon by ship's chaplains and sung during services on ocean travels.

1 Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm does bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee 
For those in peril on the sea.

2 O Savior, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard,
Who walked upon the foaming deep,
And calm amid the rage did sleep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee 
For those in peril on the sea.

3 O Holy Spirit, who did brood
Upon the waters dark and rude,
And bid their angry tumult cease,
And give for wild confusion peace;
O hear us when we cry to Thee 
For those in peril on the sea.

4 O Trinity of love and pow'r,
Your children shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire, and foe,
Protect them where-so-e'er they go;
Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

There exist a myriad of alternate verses to the hymn. One, for example, was written by David B. Miller in 1965 and specially dedicated to naval submariners.  

Lord God, our power evermore,
Whose arm doth reach the ocean floor,
Dive with our men beneath the sea;
Traverse the depths protectively.
O hear us when we pray, and keep
Them safe from peril on the deep.

The Story Behind Eternal Father, Strong to Save

The original hymn was penned in 1860 by William Whiting, an Anglican churchman from Winchester, United Kingdom. Whiting grew up near the shores of England, and at the age of thirty-five had felt his life saved by God when a fierce storm nearly destroyed the ship he was traveling on, instilling a faith in God's control over the rage and calm of the sea. As headmaster of the Winchester College Choristers' School some years later, he was approached by a student about to travel to the United States, who expressed to Whiting a tremendous fear of the ocean voyage. Whiting shared his experiences of the ocean and wrote the hymn to "anchor his faith". Whiting is commonly believed to have been inspired by Psalm 107, which describes the power and danger of the seas in great detail:

"Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters.  They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep.  For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away."

Psalm 107: 23–26

This hymn was popularised by the Royal Navy and the United States Navy in the late 19th century, and alterations of it were soon adopted by many branches of the armed services in the United Kingdom and the United States. Services who have adopted the hymn include the Royal Marines, Royal Air Force, the British Army, the United States Coast Guard, and the United States Marine Corps, as well as many navies of the British Commonwealth. Correspondingly, it is known by many titles, periodically referred to as the Hymn of Her Majesty's Armed Forces, the Royal Navy Hymn, the United States Navy Hymn (or just The Navy Hymn), and sometimes by the last line of its first verse, "For Those in Peril on the Sea". 

Wikipedia Reference
 

There's Something Happening Here

 

 

“For What It’s Worth” is one of the most widely known protest songs of the 1960s. Recorded by Buffalo Springfield as a single, it was eventually released in 1967 on their self-titled album. It has transcended its origin story to become one of pop’s most-covered protest songs – a sort of “We Shall Overcome” of its time, its references to police, guns and paranoia remaining continually relevant even to this day. 

Buffalo Springfield was the house band for LA’s famous Whiskey A Go Go Club during the time of the LA riots, which led Stephen Stills to pen the song.

“For What It’s Worth” was penned solely by Stills in response to the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles in 1966. It all started in the mid-1960s when hippies and young people associated with rock and roll culture would frequently gather on the famous street in West Hollywood. The commercial merchants on Sunset Boulevard decided that the element of young people on the street every night was not conducive to commercial enterprise. When bunch of kids got together on a street corner and said we aren’t moving, the local government put in place curfew and anti-loitering laws to stop people from congregating at the behest of local businesses.

 

This tension between the free-spirited culture and local government came to a head in November and December 1966 when protesters clashed with police, particularly on the night of November 12 when a local radio station announced there would be a protest over the closing of Pandora’s Box, a popular nightclub for young people. Roughly 1,000 people showed up to protest. Three busloads of Los Angeles police showed up, who looked very much like storm troopers. 

 

According to reports, a fight broke out for reasons having nothing to do with the curfew; a car carrying a group of Marines was bumped by another vehicle. Egged on by that fight, the protesters (some of whom carried placards that read “We’re Your Children! Don’t Destroy Us”) trashed a city bus and threw bottles and rocks at storefronts. 

  

The LAPD instigated a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone under 18. 

 

 

The riot was really four different things intertwined, including the war and the absurdity of what was happening on the Strip. 

 

Despite having a reputation as being an anti-war song, as it was also written during the Vietnam War, Stills said that “For What It’s Worth” was mostly written in response to the Sunset Strip riots. 

 

“It was really four different things intertwined, including the war and the absurdity of what was happening on the Strip,” Stills explained in an archived interview, according to the Los Angeles Times. “But I knew I had to skedaddle and headed back to Topanga, where I wrote my song in about 15 minutes. For me, there was no riot. It was basically a cop dance. … Riot is a ridiculous name. It was a funeral for Pandora’s Box. But it looked like a revolution.” 

  

The beginning of the song is a study in understatement. An electric guitar plays two notes, slowly repeated, with tremolo. The drums set up a quiet pulse-like beat. An acoustic guitar enters, strumming two chords, then beginning a quiet riff that is a definition of laid-back L.A. funk. (Audio clip – 80K.) Finally Steve Stills’ voice enters, in a quiet, conversational tone. (Audio clip – 64K.) 

 

[Verse 1]
There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
A-telling me I got to beware

[Chorus]
I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

[Verse 2]
There's battle lines being drawn
And nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Are gettin' so much resistance from behind

[Chorus]
It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

[Verse 3]
What a field day for the heat 
A thousand people in the street 
Singing songs and a-carryin' signs 
Mostly say, "Hooray for our side" 

[Chorus]
It's time we stopped
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

[Verse 4]
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life, it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you away

[Chorus]
We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going
We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going
We better stop
Now, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going
We better stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

While watching the new today, this song from my past came to mind and has not left. Once again we have riots in LA, and beginning to start in other cities. We have battle lines being drawn between Trump supporters and Trump non-supporters; Republicans and Democrats; those who want peace and those who want to take peace. When will we learn that nobody's right if everybody's wrong?

We teach our young people to "speak their mind" but we forget to teach them to consider those around them before they speak. Our "freedom of speech" does not give us the right to trespass, steal or destroy other people's property. Our "freedom of speech" does not give us the right to bully or demean any other human.  

Nearly 50 years later, and in very different times, we still haven't learned from our mistakes of the 1960s.  

Our Natinal Anthem - As You Have Never Heard It Before

 The story of the United States of America National Arnhem, as you have never heard before.

To celebrate their victory over British forces during the War of 1812, U.S. soldiers raised a large American flag at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 14, 1814.

Poet Francis Scott Key was inspired by seeing the flag after witnessing the fort’s bombardment. He wrote a poem called "Defense of Fort M'Henry." This eventually became the Star-Spangled Banner and the United States national anthem.

Defence of Fort M'Henry

By Francis Scott Key

O! say can you see, by the dawn's early light,

    What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

    O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?

        And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

        Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there —

            O! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

            O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

    Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep,

    As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

        Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

        In full glory reflected now shines on the stream —

            'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave

            O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

    That the havock of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

    Their blood has wash'd out their foul foot-steps' pollution,

        No refuge could save the hireling and slave,

        From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave;

            And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

            O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand

    Between their lov'd home, and the war's desolation,

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land

    Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!

        Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

        And this be our motto — "In God is our trust!"

            And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

            O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

 The story behind the song

 The Flag that inspired the song 

Behind the lyrics of 'The Star-Spangled Banner'

 

 

Back in My Day...

 

Instead of all the mass killings of today, when I was young we had THE STREAK!

 

Ray Stevens was inspired to write this classic song for his 11th studio album "Boogity Boogity" after reading an article while on an airplane about the then-popular craze of streaking. "The Streak" was released in March of 1974 and became an international hit, selling more than 5 million copies, which made it all the way up to #1 on the Hot 100 Billboard and #3 on Country Singles Billboard charts. Don't Look Ethel! - www.RayStevens.com

 

Streaking was a fad in the 1970s; someone would disrupt a public event by running naked through it. It started off being harmless fun with people clapping and the police exercising "catch and release" (throwing the person out of the event or after taking them to the station). But people got tired of the disruption and the police started arresting the streakers, causing a few of them to be labeled sexual offenders for the rest of their lives. That took all the fun out of it. 

From: American Heritage: https://www.americanheritage.com

That Streaking Fad

Frederic D. O'Brien  April 1999 Volume 50, issue 2

On April 2, at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, a naked man ran across the stage as David Niven was reading an introduction. Niven was shaken but recovered his customary urbanity fast enough to quip, “Just think, the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off his clothes and showing his shortcomings.” The incident marked the high point—or low, if you prefer—of a practice that vied with Pet Rocks for the coveted title of Dumbest Fad of the 1970s: streaking.

Streaking, or running naked through a public place, began on college campuses in the late fall and winter of 1973. Unsurprisingly, it was most popular at warm-weather schools. At the University of Georgia the phenomenon grew and grew until more than fifteen hundred people participated in a mass streak. Students finally had to parachute naked onto the Georgia campus to attract any attention. (Seventy miles west, in Atlanta, after a few people had streaked a city bus, the driver was asked if they were male or female. He replied, “I couldn’t tell—they were wearing masks.”) Even in the North a few hardy souls challenged the elements, including groups in Calgary, Alberta (four degrees below zero), and Anchorage, Alaska (eight below). A different sort of bravery was shown by several dozen cadets who dared to streak West Point (and reportedly escaped without punishment).

By March streaking had become a nationwide craze. Time and Newsweek jumped all over the story, grateful (like National Geographic ) for any chance to print photographs of bare-breasted women. Academics and experts contributed their opinions as well. The Christian Century called streaking “an expression of praxis. … It is Kierkegaard’s leap of faith; Tillich’s courage to be.” A more likely explanation is that too much Kierkegaard and Tillich were what had made bored college students run around naked in the first place.

In Davie, Florida, residents of a local nudist colony turned the tables by running through town with clothes on. At Columbia University a group of forty naked men invaded all-female Barnard College in an attempt to recruit volunteers but, as usual, attracted no interest from the students there. The next day’s events showed the reason for Barnard’s standoffishness: When one bold woman disrobed and mounted the campus’s statue of Alma Mater, hordes of overeager Columbia men started pinching her until she had to be removed under protection.

Dozens of pop songs were rushed out to capitalize on the fad. Most successful was “The Streak,” by Ray Stevens, which stayed on top of Billboard’s sales chart for an improbable three weeks. Stevens was best known as a novelty artist, although his previous number one hit had been a serious-minded plea for love and tolerance titled “Everything Is Beautiful.” After countless newspaper photos of overweight streakers proved the falsehood of that title, Stevens went back to comedy, and while he never had another chart topper, he did achieve some success with a 1977 remake of “In the Mood” performed by clucking chickens.

Even a beleaguered President Nixon got in on the act. When asked about the gray hairs on his temple, the President replied, “They call that streaking”—generally conceded to be his best one-liner since “I am not a crook.” Comedians and cartoonists across the nation picked up on the theme of presidential streaking, with the phrase cover-up figuring prominently in most cases. Literary scholars recalled Bob Dylan’s prescient line from “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”: “Even the President of the United States must some times have to stand naked.”

And then it was all over. A month and a half after the Academy Awards incident, Dr. Joyce Brothers explained streaking’s sudden demise by saying, “The challenge of finding new and unusual ways to streak was no longer there.” Or maybe it was just finals. Whatever the explanation, streaking vanished from America’s college campuses, to be reborn in the 1980s and 1990s in the guise of “Coed Naked” sports and “Nude Olympics.” The revival demonstrated once again the truth of Karl Marx’s famous dictum as applied to American popular culture: History repeats itself—the first time as travesty, the second as farce.

Johnny B. Goode

 

Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode (Live) (1958)

Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," released in 1958, is a legendary rock 'n' roll anthem that became one of the era's most influential songs. Telling the story of Johnny, a Louisiana country boy with dreams of fame through his guitar skills, the song captures youthful ambition and the American dream. Berry's energetic performance and signature guitar riffs made it an instant classic, influencing countless artists across genres.

 

Partly reflecting Berry's life and his pianist Johnnie Johnson, "Johnny B. Goode" combines fact and fiction, adding authenticity and inspiring aspiring musicians. The song's widespread impact is evident in its numerous covers, features in films, and inclusion in the Voyager Golden Record, representing humanity's cultural heritage.

 

Reaching number two on the Hot R&B Sides chart and number eight on the pre-Hot 100 chart in 1958, "Johnny B. Goode" resonated with a broad audience. Artists like Buck Owens, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Tosh, and Judas Priest have covered the song, each adding their style to this rock staple.

 

Berry's performance of "Johnny B. Goode" during his 1986 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame highlighted its status as a rock anthem. The song's inclusion in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and its ranking in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" further underscore its significance in rock history.

 

"Johnny B. Goode" also made a memorable appearance in "Back to the Future," introducing it to new generations. Its continued chart success and certifications in various countries attest to its enduring popularity and appeal.

 

Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" transcends being a mere song to become a cultural phenomenon. Its autobiographical roots and wide-reaching influence embody the spirit of rock 'n' roll, showcasing Berry's genius and the power of music to inspire across time and space.

Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu is an upbeat, infectious rock 'n' roll hit by Johnny Rivers, released in 1972. Originally written and recorded by Huey "Piano" Smith in 1957, the song was reinterpreted by Rivers with a lively arrangement featuring groovy piano riffs and a driving rhythm. Rivers’ version keeps the playful spirit of the original, with its catchy, danceable melody and lyrics that use “rockin’ pneumonia” and “boogie woogie flu” as metaphors for an uncontrollable urge to dance. The song became a fun and energetic addition to Rivers' catalog, blending rock, blues, and boogie-woogie influences.

Johnny Rivers' version of "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" became a hit, reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, giving the song new life 15 years after its original release by Huey "Piano" Smith.

Huey "Piano" Smith first recorded the song in 1957 as a New Orleans R&B track, which became a regional hit and a classic of the genre, but it was Rivers' cover that brought it mainstream success.

Johnny Rivers was already well-known for hits like "Secret Agent Man" and "Memphis," and his version of "Rockin' Pneumonia" further cemented his reputation as a versatile artist able to blend rock, pop, and blues.

The song was part of Rivers' "L.A. Reggae" album, which, despite its title, was more of a rock and roll record with a few reggae-inspired elements.

The boogie-woogie piano style featured in the song pays homage to the energetic, rhythm-based style that was popular in the early days of rock 'n' roll and blues, tying it back to its original roots.

"Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" remains a fun and enduring hit, thanks to its catchy beat, playful lyrics, and Johnny Rivers' lively interpretation, making it a staple of 1970s rock.