{"id":2779,"date":"2023-07-07T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2779"},"modified":"2023-07-07T08:00:11","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T12:00:11","slug":"powerful-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/07\/powerful-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerful Words"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.
\u00a0
\u201cIt\u2019s the best of songs, and it\u2019s the worst of songs.\u201d
\u00a0
That\u2019s the verdict of Dave Marsh in his book Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World\u2019s Most Famous Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Song.<\/em>\u00a0
\u00a0
In 1964 a Seattle band named the Kingsmen released their own version of a raucous Caribbean chantey that had been composed nine years earlier by an artist named Richard Berry.\u00a0 At first, local DJ\u2019s were less than impressed.\u00a0 But the teenagers who heard Louie Louie<\/em> on the radio loved its pounding rhythms and strangely inscrutable words.
\u00a0
In one of the strangest episodes in the history of the FBI, those words became a very big deal.\u00a0 Were American kids being unduly influenced by subversive lyrics?\u00a0
\u00a0
Let\u2019s begin by setting the record straight:\u00a0 The lyrics are no big deal.\u00a0 They describe a homesick Jamaican sailor pining for his girlfriend.
\u00a0
Jack Ely, lead singer of the Kingsmen, had been struggling with new dental braces during the recording session.\u00a0 And he had to stand on his tiptoes to reach the overhead mic.\u00a0 The result was a less than sterling vocal performance.
\u00a0
Somehow the lyrics became a national obsession.\u00a0 Were Ely\u2019s words vile?\u00a0 Suggestive?\u00a0 Politically dangerous?
\u00a0
J. Edgar Hoover decided that the FBI needed to know.\u00a0 Thus began an in-depth, 30-month investigation.\u00a0 Before it was over America\u2019s top cops had conducted dozens of interviews and generated hundreds of pages of documents.
\u00a0
Matthew Welsh, who was governor of my home state of Indiana at the time, decided to be proactive.\u00a0 He attempted to ban Louie Louie <\/em>from all Hoosier radio stations.\u00a0 Naturally that only fed the fascination.
\u00a0
The FBI pressured the Kingsmen to come clean.\u00a0 They threatened one member with jail.\u00a0 Agents collected numerous alleged versions of the \u201creal lyrics,\u201d most of which exceeded the boundaries of good taste and plausibility.\u00a0 In the crime lab they sped up and slowed down the record, but ultimately concluded that \u201cnone of the speeds assisted in determining the words.\u201d
\u00a0
The official verdict?\u00a0 No charges were ever filed.\u00a0 No scandal was ever uncovered.\u00a0
\u00a0
Interestingly, Louie Louie<\/em> was the Kingsmen\u2019s only hit, and it never reached #1 on the Billboard <\/em>charts.\u00a0 In early 1964 that spot belonged to Dominique<\/em> by Sister Luc Gabrielle, the Singing Nun.
\u00a0
Nevertheless the song became one of the most famous pop anthems of all time.\u00a0 American Songwriter<\/em> magazine has actually suggested it might be the most important rock song of all time.\u00a0 Such is the power of a good conspiracy theory.\u00a0 Here\u2019s vintage footage<\/a> of the Kingsmen singing on that very cool, 1960s concert show Shindig.\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0
It\u2019s safe to say that there\u2019s more at stake when it comes to figuring out the meaning of the Bible\u2019s words.
\u00a0
Is it really true, as some people say, that you can make the verses of the Bible mean anything you want?\u00a0 Is its essential message garbled, confused, and up for grabs?
\u00a0
Here\u2019s a timeless principle for scriptural interpretation:\u00a0 We must shout where the Bible shouts, and whisper where the Bible whispers.
\u00a0
The Bible whispers about many things:\u00a0how to run a church, what angels might be doing at this moment, and what the views will be like in heaven. \u00a0The Bible says nothing at all about fast food, theme parks, prescription drugs, lawn mowers, dental care, air conditioning, presidential elections, and how the groom\u2019s family should be seated at a wedding.
\u00a0
We\u2019re always on safe ground if we refuse to believe there\u2019s such a thing as \u201cthe Bible\u2019s true position\u201d on such subjects.
\u00a0
But when the Bible shouts, it really shouts.
\u00a0
The Bible shouts about the value of every human being.\u00a0 That life isn\u2019t over when it\u2019s over.\u00a0 That this moment counts forever.\u00a0 That character and integrity are of supreme importance.\u00a0 That God is not silent, and has self-revealed through Jesus.\u00a0 That it matters how we respond to God\u2019s offer of a grace-powered life.\u00a0 That loving and serving others is God\u2019s desire for every one of us.
\u00a0
Those are powerful words.
\u00a0
And there\u2019s no need for an FBI investigation to confirm that they describe the heart of a life well lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s the best of songs, and it\u2019s the worst of songs.\u201d\u00a0That\u2019s the verdict of Dave Marsh in his book Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World\u2019s Most Famous Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Song.\u00a0\u00a0In 1964 a Seattle band named the Kingsmen released their own version of a raucous Caribbean chantey that had… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[610],"class_list":["post-2779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-interpretation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2781,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2779\/revisions\/2781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}