Stories
have been told in song for countless centuries. The poets and the singers of
rural communities (later, in our times, urban voices) have carried the legend
and the oral history of the tribe.
The latter half of the 20th Century saw a
revival of song as having a social and political impact. In an interview a few
years back, Joan Baez commenting on the 60s mentioned that someone comparing
then and now had told her he was envious of her time for “you had the song,
the music that was the glue that held everything together”
There is a lot of truth in that statement. Songs,
tunes, singers and poets write the backdrop of our lives. The writers of the
songs are the popular poets of their time, drawing attention to the societal
problems that we lived through.
Each had a particular voice, both in tone and in
subject matter. They were heard at outdoor music festivals, in marches
protesting nuclear weapons and in funeral processions of companions killed in
street violence. Who can hear the words and tune of “We shall overcome”
without calling to mind the vivid images of the Civil Rights movement in the
US
?
The various singers dealt with issues of Rights and
justice, of the poor and the neglected. Through words and music they brought
their plight to our attention. The Live
Aid Concerts of 1984, inspired by Bob Geldof, linked the effort of these
music makers to support the causes of famine relief and human grief that seem
now to be part of our staple diet.
Johnny Cash took his music in to American
jailhouses, in to Fulsom prison and San Quentin, singing for those marginalised
by their actions from mainstream society.
The years of war in
Vietnam
gave rise to songs of protest that echoed across a nation
and beyond. Country Joe singing at the Woodstock Festival gave us one of the
memorable songs of war, one that could be applied to many fields of conflict
since then.
“Well
come on all of you big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again,
he
got himself in a terrible jam, way down yonder in
Vietnam
,
put
down your books and pick up a gun, we're gunna have a whole lotta fun.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Y0ekr-3So
But war isn’t fun,
it is savagely brutal as we still see week by week on our television screens.
The irony of those
Woodstock
words must never be lost.
The list is long and memorable. Men and women who
spoke for a society that couldn’t speak for itself, sang words for those who
were otherwise inarticulate and dumb.
That remarkable core of late 20th Century
folk singing, built on so many simple songs and singers of earlier years, is no
longer dominant in a commercially driven music world. Sad though it is, but
their sounds echo now in a different world.
The stress of the papacy of Francis has been concern
for those on the edge of society, those with little voice and still less by way
of economic wealth. Our appreciation of faith, of liturgical practice and of
generosity of purpose comes from being people formed through the Gospels. Those
us in our later years were nurtured in a traditional pattern that changed with
the coming of the Council.
Our music changed too. Lyrics were introduced into
our liturgy that reflected the influence of the times we lived through. It spoke
to the younger people and gave older ones an alternative view. Some of the words
survived, others with the passing years have faded, but at their time they
offered something, gave access to faith. One thinks of the words of Joni
Mitchell “I’ve looked at life from both sides now”
How does the contemporary Church speak to those who
call themselves Christians or to those not proclaiming our faith, looking in
with a questioning spirit?
Our liturgy should not be a showcase for virtuoso
performance but have within a vitality that reflects who we are and what we
strive to become. It has been said that a prayer sung is a prayer offered twice.
But either spoken or sung, the words we use have to reflect the reality we
experience. “Churchy words” remain just that, words that we use in church.
In
America
, the writing and singing of Bruce Springsteen still holds up
a mirror to an unequal society with its conflicts and tribulations. In spite of
his hugely successful career, he has not lost touch with his
New Jersey
blue collar background.
Merton once described the monk as a person “on the
margins of society”. Maybe it is a place a lot more of us need to share.
END
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