ADBC: 02 – Rights and The Music in my Mind

I established the premise of the blog conversation I’m having with my brother right here. David responded to the two questions I asked on his blog and you can read those responses in full by clicking this link. I will engage with the issues David raised with some minimal quotes from his post, but it’s best you read his stuff over there. There were two points he wanted me to address in the light of what he said:

Q Give some of your insights into my viewpoint about human rights including your ponderings on the topic.

If the issue was just about rights themselves, then this would not be a problem. I could easily and simply agree that rights exist. Rights exist, exactly as you describe it, as means by which people in a given area are shown what they can do and what recourse they have due to the ruling authority of the day. I don’t get too hung up on that, really, because I’m of the opinion that power dynamics will change over time depending on the moods and the trends of those who are influential.

The problem is about an appeal to human rights as though there is something inescapably real that humans have access to on the basis of being human. The main problem is the basis on which that can be agreed. The factors that led to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 is fascinating and in a similar way, it’s of interest to see how the Bill of Rights was developed in places like the United States. There is an appeal to supposedly greater than humanity that defines humanity, but in practical action, it comes across more as an exercise of what those in power will do to continue to wield that power. Just as there are conflicts even between some of the human rights that are expressed.

I may not be as explicit as you in referring to ruling authorities as ‘power-hungry human leeches’, but studies of those in authority appear at times to be the study of attaining, maintaining and exercising influence in righteous ways is such a major challenge. I cannot speak to the intellect, morals and intentions of those who come up with these rights. What is clear is that exercising these in everyday life can be very challenging to put it politely. To succinctly put it: rights exist, the basis for a claim to human rights is problematic (unless you have a greater source than humanity to define humanity who expresses such rights).

Q – When it comes to music are there any songs/albums that get stuck in your head so that you feel the need to listen to them audibly?

What an interesting question. Music comes in seasons for me. So what is in my head today won’t necessarily be in my head next week and wasn’t necessarily in my head last week. Having said that, there are some songs that come around a lot that when it’s in my brain I love to listen to it audibly. Here’s a selection (I could do many by the same few artists, but I’ll go for one selection per artist … kinda):

Abundant Life by Ron Winans and Family – this is a very important song in my history. Very important. Sure for the lyrical content, which has been a part of my life for a long time. Yet what makes this outstanding is the basis of the lyrics with a great lead vocal by Bebe Winans and then there’s that chord structure for the end part of the song. Simple things, but so wonderful. I often hear this in my head. I often want to get it on a sound system somewhere.

Smile Please by Stevie Wonder – I would class myself as a great admirer of Stevie Wonder properly for 25 years. I’ve heard most of his albums and there’s one concert that I love to hear that he did back in 1979 that is criminally underrated. It’s one he did with a live version of his album Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants as well as a collection of some of his best tunes to that time. Anyway, so being a Stevie Wonder admirer it should come as no surprise that a Wonder tune is one of those that I love to hear often. I’ve been on about being underrated I don’t hear anybody giving this track the kudos it deserves. I don’t hear them. If they’re there, I don’t hear them. But I’m making noise about it. this is such a beautiful song and I love it and if I go a month without getting that song in my head there’s a good reason to question if I’ve been alive in that month.

Level Next by John P Kee – I get to times in life when I want to be very active. Very fruitful. Very productive. A proactive state of mind if you will. I remember coming across this song and wondering why it was a gospel song when the sound of it is clearly made for fitness routines. Do you know what I mean? Those energetic types, that gets you to do 5 more press-ups after you’ve collapsed doing the first 100. It helps that it is a gospel song, though and it sums up the kind of drive to move on and get better. When that song comes to mind – and it often does – I get that desire to get the track on and if I’m not going to do a physical workout, it’s a motivator to get something else done in a productive, proactive, fruitful manner.

Finally album by Andrae Crouch – There probably are other albums I could refer to, but not many. Not that many at all. This one has sentimental value. This is probably the first album I heard that I remember as an album experience. And album experiences for me was a side A deal that was good, but then the height would be on side B before it ended well. This was the first album and certainly one of the best albums that got that rhythm so right. And that rhythm still worked when the album became a single play experience rather than a play of two halves. We Are Not Ashamed is a beauty. Finally is such a lovely track as well. The highlight for me – the peak of the listening experience if you will – is the track All the Way. Talk about an upbeat track that motivated. Loved it back then and that love has only grown to appreciate it all the more now.

I’m Every Woman by Chaka Khan – Now I have to be specific about this track. I’m not referring to the studio version. I am referring to the live version that Chaka delivered I believe at the Roxy nightclub back in 1981. Now the feel of that song is just fantastic. The groove of the live gang is something I particularly love. Great drive, great beat as well as awesome vocals by one of the greatest vocalists of all time. What puts it over the top for me and keeps it memorable is the band groove at the end of the song. The combo of the band and the vibe of folks loving what they’re doing is infectious. The lyrical content is clearly redundant and irrelevant to me seeing as though I’m No Woman at all.

O Give Thanks by Alvin Slaughter – A bit like Level Next, this is the sort of song that I use when I’m doing workouts (I don’t want to give you the impression that I do a lot of workouts, it’s only when I feel the flab in particular and know I have to take necessary steps. I’m no human specimen at the peak of physical fitness). It’s the kind of song that I love though for a reason to remember to give God thanks for so much that He has done as well as how awesome He is. That’s a great motivator to get things done as a response that corroborates the thanksgiving. If you’re a song that modulates (goes up a tone) that’s usually a good thing too.

Summer Soft by Stevie Wonder – Speaking of songs that modulate I have got to mention this song, bro. Got to. Simply must. Yeah, it’s my guy Stevie again, but this song is so superb that I love listening to it in my head and hearing it gets me straight to the nearest listening device to get to hear it out loud. And on repeat. And then again. This is the song that brings together a feel that is sweet and sensibility about the way time works and how we can’t afford to waste any. The lyric is strong, but the vocal is so much stronger and then there’s the musical arrangement which, my brother, I just love more than I love cherry Bakewell tarts – and you know I love me my cherry Bakewell tarts.

So brother that’s my response to what you shared and asked. Feel free to ask another question that’s of interest to you, but whilst you do that, answer me this, David:

Q – What standards/rules/laws/principles should society be built on and why?

In the meantime, thanks for this opportunity, dear brother.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden