Gary has been doing all he can these last couple of weeks to exercise the memory portion of my brain. He’s a college buddy who’s been spending time posting some pretty incredible music memories on his Facebook page. One of the things that I love about music is that it serves me like that souped up Delorean Marty McFly used to transport himself instantaneously from one place to another. A lot of the stuff Gary’s been posting has taken me back and put a smile on my face.
After I commented to Gary on some of his selections, he dug into YouTube’s music archives to find something distinctively Philly-sounding that we often heard playing in the college dining hall back in 1976. Then, he posted the video on his Facebook page as a little gift to me. I love it!
Listening to Harold Melvin and the Blue Note’s “Wake Up Everybody” some thirty-plus years later reminded just how important and powerful the prophetic voice can be. In a day and age when music and its messages can be frustrating and even frightening – a fact fresh in my mind as just yesterday I wrote a 3(D) review of Miley Cyrus’s “Who Owns My Heart?” for our next edition of ENGAGE – this is one song worth listening to and even talking about with your kids.
So just for fun. . . take a few minutes and listen to the original. . . .
And then watch and listen to the newly released version of the song from John Legend and The Roots. . .
And if you’ve got even more time, check out this live version from John Legend and The Roots. Why? Well, it’s worth seeing a sousaphone on stage in the mix. . .
The John Legend & the Roots album is great. I work in a cd/dvd store, and we were playing the album today. I’m not familiar with the originals that they cover, but I love their versions. I find the Roots are usually pretty provocative, in a prophetic way. You should check out their song “Dear God 2.0”, it’s remix of Monsters of Folk’s song “Dear God”. The song and music video have gotten some play.