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You can listen to it here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOr60MxIvvE
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It was sweltering in West Kentucky that mid-summer day in 1967. I had just come in from mowing lawns, an activity my father encouraged during the summers, both to ensure I wasn't asking him for money and to teach me "the value of hard work."
As soon as I cleared the door, I sank onto a kitchen chair and let the air conditioning wash over me. I was the very definition of "hot and sweaty." My t-shirt was soaked with perspiration, and, because I had tried one too many times to dry them on that shirt, my glasses were smeared. I grabbed a dish towel from one of the three little swing arms near the kitchen sink and cleared the sweat and grass clippings from my glasses. Then, happy to realize that I was the only one at home, I quickly turned on the radio, and ...
Bobbie Gentry's throaty voice and basic guitar strums flowed gently into the room. It was a simple tale, a kind of ballad, so filled with words it was almost spoken. And, yet . . .
It was electric.
"Ode to Billy Joe," rendered as a lunchtime conversation between members of a southern family, went on to be a number-one hit in the U.S. and was a big seller internationally. It generated eight Grammy nominations. Today, it is ranked among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Many have described it as "southern gothic," and perhaps it is. Something about it struck a chord all across the globe, and continues to capture the attention and interest of people 50 years later. But what I heard that day was something only a Southerner could hear:
Us.
There, for the first time in my experience, was a song that sounded like we did; that sounded EXACTLY like conversations at OUR dinner table. I was captivated by the stunning familiarity of it. More than any other thing I had heard, it captured the language and cadence of the life I was a part of. When Bobbie Gentry sang, "It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day," my mind overflowed with the sights and sounds of the South, the part of the world that was my home. Each new verse said to me: this is important; this is about something that matters.
Yes, it is just a song. I know that. But, oh, the impact of hearing my world, described in my language. Wow.
Now, imagine what it must have been like for those gathered at Pentecost ... to suddenly hear the Gospel in their own language. In this week's Lectionary selection from Acts Chapter 2, many were away from their home countries, "visiting Jerusalem for the holidays," so to speak. Each language has its own cadences and rhythms, distinct because they reflect the very history and culture of a people. Imagine the impact that would have, to hear idioms and nuances that were special to them.
And here before them was something entirely new ... but delivered to them in the comfort of their own tongue.
It must have been electric.
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It's been three years since I wrote about feeling electrified the first time I heard "Ode to Billy Joe" ... about the impacts of hearing a new story, told in an interesting way, but in the stunning familiarity of my "mother tongue." It was a pivotal moment in my life, and one I hope you won't mind me reposting (slightly revised).
Welcome to June,
Steve
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Day of Pentecost (June 4, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=47
Acts 2:1-21
Numbers 11:24-30
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
John 20:19-23
John 7:37-39
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Can you be with us Friday morning? Lectionary Breakfast starts at 8:00 and finishes about 9:00 (or sooner if you need to leave ... but you'll find it's more fun to stay :-)
We're still at the Waco "Egg and I" on Franklin and New Road. Come and enjoy good food, friendly people, laughter, and time in the scriptures.
And for these hot, southern days, it's air conditioned!
Blessings,
Steve
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