Friday, October 10, 2014

Humble Stumble: Hymns for Imperfect Saints: "The Gospel of Carlos, Norman and Smith"

I have a started a new project in conjunction with my "The Humble Stumble: Lessons on Simplicity, Stillness, Fashion and Faith from a Bad Quaker" book. It's on Spotify -- "Humble Stumble: Hymns for Imperfect Saints."

I'll add a "hymn" a day.

These are not "hymns" in the traditional sense. Rather they're songs that have spoken to my soul in a spiritual sense -- even if they are not "spiritual songs" per se. Though my bias is that that our hearts hunger for beauty and meaning and when artists create something that sings deep in our souls, well, they've created a "hymn," even if it was unintentional.

Suggestions of songs that have spoken deeply to you are welcome!

I'll also post lyrics and video here.

Up today is  Rickie Lee Jones – The Gospel of Carlos, Norman and Smith

Didn’t you hear?
Black is a criminal,
White is a crime,
Poison is the pen
Writing down this children’s nursery rhyme.
Didn’t you see him standing next to me?
The seeds of change have grown,
We don’t have to hide anymore.

Lololololololo, that means trouble from the other side,
Lololololololo, maybe the trouble of a hopeful heart.

It doesn’t take much to see
If you’re looking for an enemy,
Greed and apathy
Spell the letters of our name.
You sit and laugh at other people,
Making money off their shame and sorrow,
Waiting for tomorrow to fix itself.

Lololololololo, that means trouble from the other side,
Lololololololo, maybe the trouble of a hopeful heart.

It’s a dark night to feed a stranger,
I don’t have enough to feed myself.
I keep trying to believe in believing
In something I can’t see
From where I stand,
I pull it with my faith,
With the smile on my face.

It’s gonna take a lot more
Than you might be used to,
Who’s to blame for not standing up for them
When it was not in style?
When hope is the color of a man
The color of love is the color that can
Stand for something.

Lololololololo, that means trouble from the other side,
Lololololololo, may be trouble of a hopeful heart.
Lololololololo, the trouble of a hopeful heart,
A hopeful heart, it could be a hopeful heart.

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