There are so many reasons for me to love this song. It was written by the great Nick Lowe, and originally recorded in 1974 by his group Brinsley Schwarz. It was covered by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, whose brilliant rendition was found on their 1979 album Armed Forces, the first record Brenda ever gave to me. Its lyrics are simultaneously hopeful and defiant. A cover by Curtis Stigers appeared on the multimegacolossalsmash soundtrack to The Bodyguard in 1992, providing Lowe with a nice paycheck and some sort of happy ending. Peace. Love. Understanding.
Yet I hate the circumstances that so often prompt me to play it.
The week after 9/11, we didn't play much in the way of hopeful or happy tunes. We were angry and afraid, sad, angry, sad, angry. On that week's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Dana and I opened the show with "I Stand Tall" by the Dictators, and proceeded to seek catharsis through music. For the week after that, we received a request from our pal Liz Belmont in New York City, as she dealt with the day-to-day post-9/11 miasma of the embattled Greatest City In The World. Liz wanted hope. Liz wanted the promise of better. Liz wanted to know what was so funny about peace, love, and understanding. Liz wanted Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
We played the song for her. And we embraced the notion of looking for light in the darkness of insanity.
But so many times, as acts of violence and moments of sheer horror have pummeled us again and again and again and again and...damn it. God damn it. I love this song. I hate the recurring reason why I turn to it.
I don't really believe in God. I don't really disbelieve either; I'm not an Atheist, nor is my belief (or lack thereof) formal enough for me to consider myself an Agnostic. I don't question the existence of God so much as I remain unconvinced either way. I don't know. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it: I don't know.
Technically, I'm still a Catholic, I guess. I was raised Catholic, confirmed Catholic, and I went to Catholic church for decades. But I don't go to the meetings anymore, and I don't pay my membership dues. I respect the Church. I am no longer a part of it.
I respect your faith. Because, I don't know, you may be right. The Christians may be right. The Jews may be right. The Muslims may be right. The Wiccans, the Buddhists, the Atheists? I don't know. Maybe Corporal Klinger was right, in the spec M*A*S*H TV outline I concocted for a Radio and TV Writing course in college, as Klinger's quest to be dismissed from the army as a crazy person led him to fabricate a religion based on the divinity of the Lone Ranger. Hi-Ho Silver, Hallelujah!
Okay. That last one is not right. The others? I don't know. Neither do you.
And it's okay if you believe in something that can't be proven. That's why it's called faith. You may be secure in your belief system to the point that you take it as fact, as...well, Gospel. I have no problem with that. Your beliefs are yours to embrace, yours to proclaim, yours to accept as truth. Faith. Faith is not a sin.
It only becomes a sin when it is forced upon others. It becomes evil when believers kill on its behalf.
It's true of terrorists, foreign and domestic. It's true of individuals and it's true of groups, true of anyone who would take a weapon of any kind, proclaim a venomous conviction that some lives don't matter, and pass deadly judgement where judgement is not theirs to give. If there is a Hell, its flames await each and every one of them and those who enable them, from fringe groups and hatemongers to the soulless ghouls running the fucking NRA.
I have attended many Christian services over a span of decades, mostly Catholic, some Protestant, including some Mennonite services. I have attended a number of Jewish services. I have attended one Muslim service, a funeral at the Islamic Society Of Central New York. I confess (har!) that there were a few occasions when a priest or preacher said something from his pulpit that pissed me off, but even the worst of them never struck me as a murderer. More often than not, the Christian services I've experienced have been celebrations of love and hope. The Jewish services I've experienced have been celebrations of love and hope. My sole Muslim service experience was a celebration of love and hope. Religion isn't evil.
But religion is often used as a cloak for the unspeakable. No God--no God--sanctions the slaughter of innocents. This I do know. Zealots--mortal zealots--pervert what they claim is the Sacred Word, and use it as license to commit heinous acts that will condemn them to damnation eternal, as the God they worshiped looks on sadly and says, How could you so misunderstand my command to love?
Love.
I believe in love. I believe in a spiritual bond that connects us all, without silly regard for our many differences. I believe we can be better. I believe that hatred is strong, and I concede that hatred will win many battles. We will have cause to question our faith. But I believe love will prevail.
When will love prevail? I don't know.
Here on Earth, if there is a God, we are the ones responsible for carrying out His or Her work. Sometimes I believe, and I put God's name to that belief. Sometimes I despair, but retain faith that all hope is not gone, that there is more than pain and hatred and misery.
What's so funny? Really, what's so goddamned funny?
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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.
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