Saturday, October 23, 2010

You Don't Have To Rewrite Bach

I was watching VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs the other night, and they came to "You Really Got Me," the 1964 hit from The Kinks - a band that is "recognized as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era." This song, their third single, is what catapulted the group into prominence, when it became an international hit, topping the charts in the U.K. (where the band is from) and the U.S.

On this VH1 special, eccentric music icon Iggy Pop commented on how the song influenced him early on in his career.  He noted the very simple guitar riff (da na na na na, da na na na na) that starts the song off and continues throughout the song.  Pop said it made him feel good, that if that sounded good (the simple guitar riff), then he knew that he himself didn't have to "rewrite Bach" when he made his own music.  In other words, in order to make good music, it didn't have to be a complicated or complex process.

The same is of course true when it comes to whatever it is that you've been called to do in life.  You may indeed be a modern day "Bach," being proficient in the more complex aspects of whatever it is that you do.  Or you may be a modern day "Kinks," making simple work out of the things you do.  The point is, be who you are.  If you're a "Bach," don't look down on others.  You are not superior.  You are wired differently, not better, than others.  Or if you're a simpler person who has a "Bach" or two in your life, you may feel inferior or insufficient because you're not like them, but you're not!  You're who you are.  You don't have to "rewrite Bach" in the things you do.

3 comments:

  1. Be who you are! As someone who does have more than a couple of Bach's in his life - this is a great message! Sometimes it seems as if the simplicity of the gospel can be misunderstood. Yes-the gospel surrounds our entire life and even the creation, but it also surrounds my world of regular joes just trying to make a living and enjoy the simplicity of an average ordinary life. To Jesus-this is the very place he found his life in. A life spent with carpenters, fishermen, lepers, outcasts, tax collectors, etc. all outside the temple walls with a God incarnate in human flesh.

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  2. THIS IS SO RIGHT IN THE BULLS EYE---REALLY LOVE IT----GLORY*GLORY*HALLELUJAH---Going to post this on my Face Book---Page this is so GOOD---
    YOU ARE WELCOME TO CHECK IN THE POETRY I GOT FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT----GOD BLESS YOU ALL PRECIOUS BROTHERS AND SISTERS---GLORY*GLORY*HALLELUJAH*

    D.S.Lewis Axberg Poetry Blog On My Space
    http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=487212946

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  3. Grace Not Legalism, wonderful! Those are excellent words. So very true. The simplicity that is in Christ, the simplicity of the gospel... what a wonderful life for all of us ordinary people. :)

    D.S., thanks for the link, and thanks for your comment!

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