A familiar ring each holiday season, especially in the Sinclair household, is Greg Lake’s I Believe in Father Christmas. It is one of the most played Christmas songs since its release in 1975. It was written by Greg Lake with Peter Sinfield who was a long-time collaborator with Greg in King Crimson and ELP. For years, the song was only available as a single and difficult to locate at best. In High School, I remember staying up late to watch the ABC Midnight Special so that I might see the video only to fall asleep just as it began. With the advent of the compact disc and the internet, it is now available in multiple versions including hundreds, if not more, covers by other artists. WARNING to all, although I generally like U2, Father Christmas was not meant for Bono.
I love the tune and the video, but was always conflicted about the lyrics. It was my impression that they were anti-Christian in nature. Other Lake and Sinfield lyrics tended to be harsh and iconoclastic so this lent even more credence to my belief. More recently, Lake has indicated that this was not his intent and that the song was more about a return to child-like idealism as well as a statement against the over-commercialism of Christmas.
The most perplexing line of the song for me was “They sold me a dream of Christmas; they sold me a silent night. They told me a fairy story; ‘till I believed in the Israelite”. Calling it a fairy story bothered me because I thought that meant it wasn’t true, and I thought that was absurd seeing as the guy is singing about believing in Santa Claus whom I’m sure was a fairy tale. Sorry Mom:).
Even though there are historical and practical aspects of the Bible, I’ve long held the belief that the most important parts are lyrical, poetic and metaphorical in nature. After all, by the time they had reached 3rd grade, my own children wanted to know why the Bible doesn’t say anything about dinosaurs. I’ve made the statement many times that I do not believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, but of inspired men trying their best to explain something beyond their comprehension. It still is the Greatest Story Ever Told and the keystone of Tolkien’s and Lewis’ concept of True Myth. Just because it may not have naturally occurred in our space and time, does not mean it doesn’t represent something naturally true.
I believe there are other works of art and literature that are similarly inspired that are relevant spiritual themes including Lewis and Tolkien fantasies such as The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Some folks scoff at Harry Potter and Star Wars as being Christian corollaries. I’m not sure, but as long as there are people trying to make connections, I think it is a worthwhile debate.
I am surely not a linguist, but it seems to me that words are symbols that allow us to understand and communicate both mundane information as well as being artistic components for intimating personal feelings and expressing greater than thou reality. The best of the Bible is not mundane. To quote Chris Rock (okay now I’ve really discredited myself), “I don’t think my diet will be called into question on judgment day.”
More word fun includes consideration of the multiple translations of the original scriptures included and excluded from the canon. When describing greater than thou reality, you really need all of the words you can get. English has but one word for love. Greek has four. Agape means unconditional love, or higher love of God. Eros means I want you (now:)). Philos means brotherly love or affection as in friendship. Storge means affection for offspring or similar. Obviously translations from Hebrew and Greek into English don’t always convey the intended feeling.
Mainstream Christians also needed a bit of Greek influence to help us attempt to describe the nature of God. The Trinity is probably befuddling to many, but not unlike the multiple definitions of love in the previous paragraph. I believe the Trinity arose from inspired thought, perhaps imperfect, yet a true characterization of God as The Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Oh yes, back to God and Santa. Don’t anyone go Church Lady on me now (Santa not Satan). According to P.J. O’Rourke, God is a republican and Santa is a democrat. God holds you accountable for your actions and Santa brings you what you want regardless of whether you deserve it. It’s kind of funny despite the over generalizations. However, I’ll bet that P.J. himself would even go for the ideal Christmas if he knew he wasn’t paying for it.
I’m not suggesting that the myth of Father Christmas is as core to our being as our religious ideology, but there is no question that the spirit of Santa Claus is also a true representation of our Christmas experience. Just ask Mom.
I often get the question regarding the source of my email address, so this seems the appropriate time to dive headlong into what most of you will know as one of my biggest obsessions, Emerson Lake & Palmer, or ELP for short. The ELP experience has provided both the primer and the pinnacle to my eclectic musical tastes since first being exposed to their music in 1974.
For as long as I can remember, I have been inspired by music. I regularly spun records on a small, red, portable phonograph as a very small child. Some records were for children, others were selections from my parents’ collection of 45s, 33s and even 78rpm discs. I know this record player had to be pretty old as I have now seen it in pictures that were taken prior to my birth. Not that the age of the player was of any particular relevance, it just seems so bizarre in terms of today’s rapid pace of technological obsolescence. One particular day I had trouble plugging in the phonograph. One of the prongs on the plug had been bent. Not to be denied, I chose a kitchen knife to guide the plug into the outlet. Of course it shocked the living hell out of me, but I was fortunate that the knife had a plastic handle. I will never forget precisely how that felt! On reading this, some might wonder whether this might explain a few things:).
Besides whatever ball I was shooting or slinging at the time, the radio was my most-loved inanimate companion. This was especially true during the 3 years I delivered the Arizona Republic newspaper commencing at 4:00 each and every morning. Not only would I carry the radio with me on my route, it routinely stayed on all night. Kids, I don’t recommend this (do as I say, not as I did). There is no wonder I stopped growing near that time. The station I listened to was primarily top 40, but would sometimes play album oriented rock (AOR) during the wee hours. The most incredible thing at the time was that you could hear a Motown song back-to-back with Deep Purple. I thought nothing of that then, but everything has to have a genre these days and stations are strictly formatted to fit the demographic they’re targeting. Who knows, I might be more amenable to rap music if such a concept still existed. I doubt it, but I do have a very soft spot in my heart for soul music.
It wasn’t until about 1971 that I discovered that there was more to a band than what I was hearing on the radio. My first favorite band was Three Dog Night which was hugely popular due to their penchant for top hits and radio friendly songs. I eventually became disenchanted with this style even though I still love most of their songs. I started listening to Steppenwolf primarily due to the presence of their titles being shown on the record sleeves of Three Dog Night albums (ABC Dunhill Label) and because my cousins had an 8-track tape that I loved (Steppenwolf, The Second). Led Zeppelin IV was the album that took me to the next level. Never before had I heard such power on a record. The song Black Dog just exploded and jumped off the vinyl through the speakers and through my body. I ran to turn it down because I thought my dad would be disturbed. He saw me and just laughed.
This was also roughly the period that I started pushing music. See I had been ridiculed a bit for listening to Three Dog Night because it was too poppy. I was the first of my friends, however to discover the raw power of Zep and I immediately started sharing the tunes. My records were now the ones being played at 8th and 9th grade parties:).
It was the summer following my freshman year that I first heard a song I couldn’t get out of my head. It was on the way to an all-star baseball tournament in which I would coincidentally hit several home runs. The song would turn out to be From the Beginning by Emerson Lake & Palmer. Because I didn’t understand the DJ, it took several days to determine both the name of the song and the band. I think I bought the album Trilogy at the local Safeway with my cousin Tim. I put it on the stereo with great anticipation expecting to hear something similar to the song I'd heard. What I heard was the strangest music I’d ever experienced. I seem to recall making some unflattering remarks. Tim encouraged me to give it a try and not to judge too quickly. In retrospect, I would describe the music as hauntingly majestic.
The Endless Enigma starts out with a low level drumbeat that sounds like a heartbeat as eerie cries from a Mini Moog tease the listener. Then the rapid onslaught of Hammond keys, drums and bass with interspersed whines of a zourka (a Tunisian instrument which sounds like bagpipes) explodes, then primes Greg Lake’s strong, pure initial query "Why do you stare, do you think that I care. You've been misled by the thoughts in your head", etc. Part 1 concludes and is followed by a piano fugue, something more foreign to me at the time than that already described. Part 2 follows and closes with a full-fledged fury of arpeggios complete with Moog horns, bells and crescendos with Greg’s iconoclastic phrasing and resolution "Each part was played, though the play was not shown, Everyone came, but they all sat alone. The dawn opens the play, breaking the day, causing a silent hooray, The dawn will break another day! Now that it's done, I've begun to see the
reason why I'm here", synth trail off as if there is still a question.
After the ten plus minutes of Enigma, I would finally get to From the Beginning and fell in love all over again. I am still hooked today. It’s a jazzy ballad with subdued, but passionate wanting and sincere vocals. Keith’s Moog solo at the end is reminiscent (but more interesting to me) of the famous Lucky Man bit that both propelled the band to international acclaim and brought the Moog into popular music view. Another surprise was their arrangement of Aaron Copland’s Hoedown which I immediately recognized from my classical music memory days in grade school. How did they make this work? And how on earth did these same three guys play all these tunes?
The music described thus far is representative only in that is shows the depth and range of the band. Keith Emerson would later describe ELP’s music as progressive rock with a lot of regard for the past. The primary difference between ELP and other bands is their roots. Most of rock music is based on American black blues. ELP is primarily based on European classical and folk music. They do incorporate many other elements such as improvisation, a cornerstone of jazz and a true American art form.
As I stated in the introductory paragraph, my musical “homepage” is ELP. I have discovered more classical, jazz, folk and other related progressive music by listening to ELP. I kid by calling myself a music snob because I think I have a broad view of musical styles, something I’ve gained with the ELP experience.
ELP have been vilified by the mainstream rock press because their music does not fit the mold. They have also been called over-the-top, overblown and pretentious. They were indeed showman and in their prime were arguably the best musicians ever to play rock music. Then, amidst their musical tempest, they'd stop and perform some of the most evocative ballads of our times. The encores were of legendary proportion.
Their influence on other bands is now well documented. Keith’s sphere of influence goes far beyond rock and his Piano Concerto No. 1 has been performed worldwide. The classical snobs chided ELPs attempts to blend these themes into their music while the rock and roll purists have shunned them because their music is not blue collar, for the common man. Despite its raw power and blues mode, their arrangement of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man apparently did not resonate with the critics either.
As good as they were, between 1970 and 1977, they were singled-out by the Sex Pistols and other punk bands as being the epitome of arena rock dinosaurs and primary drivers of the punk movement. Keith Emerson was regularly burned in effigy during Pistols' concerts. Revolution against the elites is ubiquitous throughout history.
Another charge against ELP was that they took themselves too seriously. Really? Have you ever heard Jeremy Bender, The Sheriff, Are You Ready Eddy or Benny the Bouncer? Like the Beatles’ Rocky Racoon and Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, ELP would occasionally ham one up. Greg sings Benny the Bouncer in an exaggerated surly cockney accent.
Benny was the bouncer at the Palais de dance
He'd slash your granny's face up given half a chance.
He'd sell you back the pieces, all for less than half a quid
He thought he was the meanest-
Until he met with savage Sid.
Now Sidney was a greaser with some nasty roots
He poured a pint of Guinness over Benny's boots
Benny looked at Sidney:
Sidney stared right back in his eye.
Sidney chose a switchblade
And Benny got a cold meat pie.
Oh! what a terrible sight,
Much to the people's delight.
One hell of a fight.
Sidney grabbed a hatchet, buried it .... in Benny's head.
The people gasped as he bled:
The end of a ted?
Well, they dragged him from the wreckage of the Palais in bits.
They tried to stick together all the bits that would fit.
But some of him was missing
And "part of him" arrived too late,
So now he works for Jesus
As the bouncer at St. Peter's Gate.
To be honest, I went through several ELP songs before finding something that had not been used as an email address. I even had to smash the words together to make it unique. Guess there are some more fans out there.
Although the wounds are still fresh, perhaps enough days have passed since the Rangers’ World Series Götterdämmerung, that I might review my feelings in a more rational frame of mind. Still, I have been barely able to watch any televised sports and even refrained from watching Jay Leno when learning that David Freese, the World Series MVP would be appearing that night. As a kid, I can remember being devastated when my favorite teams lost, but last I looked, the mirror didn’t lie. I am no longer that 12-year boy who cried his heart out when the Cowboys lost to the Colts in the 1971 Super Bowl. I can still remember my grandmother asking my dad whether I’d cried when Tempe High lost the State Football Championship. I was in my bed crying at the time. So darling Trey, don’t be embarrassed, my face also hurt with the weight of disappointment last Friday.
There was a time that I believed I’d kicked the habit of being an ardent fan. It was in the winter of 1989 when my life as a Dallas Cowboy fan would change forever. I can still hear Scott Murray, the bumbling, drooling sports anchor from channel 5, breaking in with his self-congratulatory scooping tone, to bring us the word that Jerry Jones had bought the Cowboys and would bring his own coach Jimmy Johnson to Dallas. Those were words I thought I’d never hear. Tom Landry, the only coach the Cowboys had ever had, gone without as much as courtesy call. These classless jerks were the ones taking over the pillar of sports franchises. Of course it wouldn’t be long before we would see a similar level of integrity inhabit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Tom Landry was a great football coach and a greater man. A dedicated student and innovator of the game, he continued to compete during talent lean years in the mid to late 80’s. Landry certainly held on to some schemes, but continued to modify them to the players he had. Johnson, on the other hand, knew only one way and made whole sale changes to build to his desired system despite the results in the meantime. Landry was in the process of doing both while remaining a viable force in the league. Certainly both were extremely successful as football coaches, but no one will ever mistake Johnson as anything beyond a possessed football coach. Check his personal behavior after moving to Dallas.
I’ve not touched Jerry Jones yet, but maybe I’ll wait until his run is over. You can only guess how I feel. I thought I’d grown up a bit as I stopped watching the NFL almost completely after the ownership change and started doing other things on Sunday. What a concept. I’ve not fully warmed back up to the Cowboys, although I stay abreast of news and usually catch part of the weekly game. The passion is gone, however.
While I’ve aged, I am not sure if my maturity has kept pace with regard to sports fandom, or other things for that matter. I became genuinely captivated as a child and was enrapt without realizing it. I still get somewhat surprised, but I can see it happening to me, little by little, because I’m wise you know. So I keep saying to myself “It’s all gravy, the Mavs have already won the championship this year.” Then I fall and say I want it all! MAVS and RANGERS! Ouch! ‘Wash’ says “That’s how baseball go”, but I think Joe Jackson’s “Fools in Love” is more appropriate this year. We may be fools, but I love the Rangers even if they didn't win the World Series. Besides if the Mavs and Rangers had both won, we’d have to wonder whether that Mayan calendar might actually be right, 2012 being the end of the world and all.
