Sunday, November 6, 2011

On my mind...

My mind feels like a bipolar radio station tonight...seesawing back and forth between two very different songs.

One, a Benjamin Britten Christmas carol that we are learning in the church stake choir called "This Little Babe."  It's a 3-part treble number that is to be sung Presto con fuoco...Presto meaning very fast and con fuoco meaning with fire.  In true Benjamin Britten style, the melody line is random and unexpected.  And little by little the song turns into a speedy little canon (round).  It is AWESOME!


The song on the other end of the musical seesaw in my brain?  Coldplay's "Us Against the World" from their newest Mylo Xyloto album that came out two weeks ago.  Though I'm loving the whole album, this song is my favorite.  It's a slower ballad with lyrics that keep me wondering if there is some deeper poetical meaning to it all or if they're just meant to sound pretty.  Regardless, it's the 30 seconds worth of instrumental chord progressions about 3/4ths of the way through the song that has me replaying over and over and over again.


And yet, this morning in church it was the message of the lyrics in the opening hymn that took hold of my mind and heart.  In an already emotionally fragile state, this hymn opened the floodgates and besides making it rather impossible to actually sing, also kept me reaching for the kleenex frequently throughout the remainder of the meeting. 
"As witnesses we gather here to thank and to attest of mercies and of miracles--oh, still our lives so bless! Feed thou our souls, fill thou our hearts, and bless our fast, we pray. That we may feel thy presence here and feast with thee today."
Bipolar-like or not, I actually quite enjoy the fact that the soundtrack of my life includes such varied and diverse kinds of music.

1 comment:

Melissa@thebblog said...

ok, and now I'm going to ruin your nice, spiritual moment. I remember sitting in church one day on fast sunday and Daddy singing "bless us fast we pray" and mary and rachel and I laughed and laughed and I can't sing that song without thinking about that day any more. I so love my funny dad. I swear next time I sing it - after I smile and think of dad - I'll reread the words and think of the meaning. Promise.