Bebo

Jim Diffin <Jim_D_>

"Revolutionaries...dreaming once again..."

	Unlikely Prophets...	1057 days ago
	Do or die, you'll never make me Because the world will never take my heart Go and try, you'll never break me We want it all, we wanna play this part I won't explain or say I'm sorry I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar Give a cheer for all the broken Listen here, because it's who we are I'm just a man, I'm not a hero Just a boy, who had to sing this song I'm just a man, I'm not a hero 'Welcome to the Black Parade' - My Chemical Romance Hailed as the 'Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band' for the Tim Burton generation, Welcome to the Black Parade is well deserving of its title. In my opinion, it has a certain questionable spiritual outlook. Nonetheless, the moral message imbedded in this song is striking for all. Steve Stockman who wrote 'The Rock Cries out' suggested that, when listening to Rock music, we have a knack of finding 'the Truth, where it doesn't belong,' an eternal truth unlikely music. Im curious as to this fascination with the idea that the truth can not possibly belong in rock music. In a recent Channel 4 documentary, Robert Beckford explored what he termed the 'uneasy relationship between religion and popular music.' Underpinning this kind exploration is comments made by the likes of John Lennon who said that when looking at God and Music, one HAS to outlive the other (his famous 'bigger than Jesus' interview). Honestly, I'm not conviced that there has to be an uneasy relationship. Robert Beckford concluded by saying that in a post-modern world, Christianity has to adapt to a changing climate by excepting popular music and using Stockmans 'unlikely Prohpets'. I'd tend to be more of a fan of John Parkinsons argument, that Christianity, the Gospel and the Bible is eternal and that it is not what has to change ('No Other Doctrine'). By the same token, however, Rock music tends to be often a musical outpouring of emotion, so why can the Christian message not be excepted in this form? So often we find rock music lyrics searching for meaning; we know that the artist is trying to get at something, but we just arent sure what that 'something is'. Welcome to the Black Parade recognises that there is undoubtedly a certain ambivalence within our human existance. Maybe it's the societising process - "the world taking our hearts", maybe it's a shame towards the way our lives are lead - "hiding our scars" who knows. All I know is that when I listened to Welcome to the Black Parade, I knew that I had heard the same kind of emoional outpouring, the challenge to ambivalence, the call to action and change somewhere else... He said, "Son when you grow up, would you be the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned?" We'll carry on And in my heart I can't contain it The anthem won't explain it. I won't explain or say I'm sorry I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar Give a cheer for all the broken Listen here, because it's who we are Welcome To the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance They are free from materialism. They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice. They know the meaning of the Matrix; the way the West was won... They are mobile like the wind; They are free, yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying... Herald the weirdos! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension... And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great "Amen!" from countless angels, from heroes of the faith, from Christ himself. Pete Greig - The Vision in Red Moon Rising
	posted by Jim Diffin