{"id":430,"date":"2004-02-14T18:42:38","date_gmt":"2004-02-15T01:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=430"},"modified":"2004-11-12T19:12:41","modified_gmt":"2004-11-12T23:12:41","slug":"most-inspiring-rock-song-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2004\/02\/most-inspiring-rock-song-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Inspiring Rock Song Ever?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, Kaimi made this Comment: “Possibly the greatest rock song of all time: Hotel california.” This was followed by a few expressions of incredulity, including this from cooper: “Hotel California??????? Ugh! Gross. Blech!” Kaimi defended his choice on grounds that the song had a great guitar solo, and he backed up his assertion with this ranking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When I heard Hotel California on the radio today, it reminded me of this exchange and started me thinking. Rock music can be rated along various other dimensions: best vocal (should we just agree by acclamation that Bohemian Rhapsody wins this?), best drum solo (anything by Keith Moon), best rock ballad (hmm, “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd?), etc.<\/p>\n

How about the most inspiring rock song ever?
\n
\nWhat I have in mind is something you would use to teach your children the Gospel or something you like to hear when you are in a spiritual mood. Not<\/i> Christian radio. Mainstream rock.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of choices. Some favorites from my childhood include “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds (almost too easy, since the text comes straight from the Good Book), “You’ve Got a Friend” and “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor, and anything Dylan. As you can see, for me the songs in this category range from (almost) pretentious to sappy, and they tilt heavily towards folk rock. Tastes about such things are profoundly influenced by the contexts in which you heard the songs, and my tastes were formed in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<\/p>\n

My top choice is pretty easy: “I Am a Rock,” by Paul Simon (sung with Art Garfunkel). I associate this song with my life before finding the Gospel. While some may find it depressing, I see hope in the speaker’s willingness to express his loneliness. In asserting his isolation (to whom?), he is reaching out. In those moments, God answers.<\/p>\n

A winter’s day
\nIn a deep and dark December;
\nI am alone,
\nGazing from my window to the streets below
\nOn a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
\nI am a rock,
\nI am an island.
\nI’ve built walls,
\nA fortress deep and mighty,
\nThat none may penetrate.
\nI have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
\nIt’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.
\nI am a rock,
\nI am an island.<\/p>\n

Don’t talk of love,
\nWell I’ve heard the word before;
\nIt’s sleeping in my memory.
\nI won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
\nIf I never loved I never would have cried.
\nI am a rock,
\nI am an island.<\/p>\n

I have my books
\nAnd my poetry to protect me;
\nI am shielded in my armor,
\nHiding in my room, safe within my womb.
\nI touch no one and no one touches me.
\nI am a rock,
\nI am an island.<\/p>\n

And a rock feels no pain;
\nAnd an island never cries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, Kaimi made this Comment: “Possibly the greatest rock song of all time: Hotel california.” This was followed by a few expressions of incredulity, including this from cooper: “Hotel California??????? Ugh! Gross. Blech!” Kaimi defended his choice on grounds that the song had a great guitar solo, and he backed up his assertion with this ranking. When I heard Hotel California on the radio today, it reminded me of this exchange and started me thinking. Rock music can be rated along various other dimensions: best vocal (should we just agree by acclamation that Bohemian Rhapsody wins this?), best drum solo (anything by Keith Moon), best rock ballad (hmm, “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd?), etc. How about the most inspiring rock song ever?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-and-poetry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}