Dear Folks,

The above photo is a Chocolate Tart with Candied Orange that I made for our son Bill's birthday last week. [Note the Kama Sutra insert. Who said I don't believe in God(s)?]

This week, in Songwriting Workshop 2, I will look at the use, and roots, of Biblical imagery in some of the songs of Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, Paul Kelly and Leonard Cohen, and compare it to the way I have used it in my own songs. It's quite a long essay (20 pages +) so be ye prepared.

FAVOURITE LETTERS OF THE WEEK

Hi Joe
 Did you go and see Bob Dylan whilst he was here? He was superb.  Love, Di

(Note: No Di, didn't catch the concert, I had free tickets but there was a rerun of Zorro on that I wanted to watch. I did run into Bob later that night at the Hairy Circumcised Biker's Club in Preston where we had an argument about Ginsberg's latent hetrosexuality. The bitch slapped me so we're not speaking at the moment.
I will be going to see the film: 'I'm Not There - The Lives and Time of Bob Dylan,' where Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, and Christian Bale ALL play Bob Dylan. I'm serious.)
(wiki article), (a little of Cate's bit) (youtube), (film website).

Joe,
I just thought I'd send you a piece of fan mail today. I enjoy your emails immensely. Thanks for sending me stuff that's  hilarious and/or  thought- provoking , some of the only mail that's not immediately relevant to that tiny scrap of computer time and attention  I'm still willing to pay. For me, to read  anything on a computer screen , it has to be great. I don't see well, type well, or have patience for much email. but I look forward to yours. Thanks ! Lisa A

Hey Couz Giuseppe,
 Just wondering, do you have relation to film 'Reasonable Doubt: The Single-Bullet Theory and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy' (1988) as Dr. Joseph Dolce?    Hope you are well, Joe Dolce, USA (see: article)

(Note: Thanks to another of my doppelgangers in the US. Any discussion of the single bullet theory needs to include the views and research of Dr. Joseph Dolce, Chief the Wounds Ballistic Division of the Army. Dolce was to be called whenever a VIP was shot. The Warren Commission lawyers consulted him. He told them flat out, the single bullet theory is wrong on April 21, 1964. Then he was given Oswald's ammo and shot human cadaver wrists and in every instance the bullets were severely deformed, even at low velocity. Dolce concluded Connally was hit by two shots. He stated that the magic bullet, CE 399, could not have shattered the governor's wrist and remained pristine. The report, compiled by several of ballistics officials was never published by the Commission and unavailable for eight years after the Warren Report came out. It was not declassified until 1972. Dolce's devastating critique is available on the award winning documentary,' Reasonable Doubt.' Dr. Joseph Dolce spent three years as a battlefield surgeon in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He retired as a full Colonel.)

Dear Joe,
Subject: Re: Washington Post rhymes
Thanks for this entertaining WP inclusion. [Last week's newsletter.] It would make quite a cynical lovesong and should be set to music. Has anyone done this already or would it be ok to have a go? Many, many thanks for sharing your wit, wisdom and enthusiasm. Ciao from Adrienne L
PS. that complaining AL was NOT ME

(Note: Adrienne, setting that stuff in a song is an excellent idea. Make sure the music is catchy and let me know when it's finished!)

Dear Joe,
I love you and your random shots of insightfulness. Peace. Beverley M

(Note: Beverley, xx Joe)

Micky Mouse Club Departs Sinking Ship

Bush's Herd of Loyal Texas Advisers Continues to Thin
By Dave Montgomery

Washington - They were fiercely loyal, unfailingly disciplined and, as a unit, offered the president a comforting touchstone from his home state. Now, Team Texas is moving ever closer to extinction. The already thinning cadre of advisers who followed George W. Bush from Austin to Washington is unraveling even further, with Alberto Gonzales and Karl Rove heading toward the door. Although Texans are still dotted throughout the administration, most of the influential Lone Star transplants who've worked at Bush's side since his days as Texas governor either have left town or removed themselves from day-to-day influence at the White House. Gonzales, a steadfast loyalist who served as Bush's counsel in the governor's office, announced his resignation as attorney general Monday after enduring a months-long uproar over his stewardship of the Justice Department. Rove, the architect of Bush's victorious presidential campaigns, will leave at the end of the week.(article)

Bush Admin Resignations, 11/06 - 08/07
- Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
- White House Press Secretary Tony Snow
- White House Senior Political Adviser Karl Rove
- White House Counselor Dan Bartlett
- White House Budget Director Rob Portman
- White House Counsel Harriet Miers
- White House Political Director Sara Taylor
- White House Director of Strategic Initiatives Pete Wehner
- White House Deputy National Security Adviser J.D. Crouch
- Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty
- Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer
- Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
- Army Secretary Francis Harvey
- Joint Chief of Staffs Chairman Peter Pace
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson
- U.N. Ambassador John Bolton
- USAID Director Randall Tobias

 Fringe Evangelicals Distort US Military Policy
 By Thomas D. Williams and JP Briggs II, Ph.D.
  
"He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;" - Micah, Chapter 4, The Bible

"And make not Allah because of your swearing (by Him) an obstacle to your doing good and guarding (against evil) and making peace between men, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing." - The Koran

 For decades, especially since the end of the Vietnam War, the US military has been wrestling with aggressive sects of doomsday Christians demanding control and conversions of those of other faiths as well as nonbelievers within the armed forces. Even beyond this high-pressure hard sell, those Judgment Day, apocalyptic Christian leaders, with followings estimated at 40 million parishioners, have urged public officials on all levels to wage war with Israel's enemies. Sometimes they and others even send their followers into dangerous war zones to preach their faith and risk lives. In at least one case, the Pentagon is supporting a Christian evangelistic group's efforts to promote itself inside the Muslim-dominated Iraq war zone. (article)

Not So Fast, Christian Soldiers
By Michael L. Weinstein and Reza Aslan

The Pentagon has a disturbing relationship with private evangelical groups.  Maybe what the war in Iraq needs is not more troops but more religion. At least that's the message the Department of Defense seems to be sending.  Last week, after an investigation spurred by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Pentagon abruptly announced that it would not be delivering "freedom packages" to our soldiers in Iraq, as it had originally intended.
 What were the packages to contain? Not body armor or home-baked cookies. Rather, they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers.(article)

11th Hour: Moment Has Come to 'Heal' the Earth, Film Argues
by Haider Rizvi

Huge fires burning forests, devastating floods, dark clouds of industrial smoke, traffic jams, a million cars, deadly earthquakes, devastating floods, melting ice on mountain tops, traffic noise, and crowded malls. That is what you see when the show starts: it's called "The 11th Hour."

Produced and directed by Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, the new feature-length documentary film on the extent and gravity of the global environmental crisis is being shown in theaters across the United States and Canada this week. The 131-minute film is based on interviews with more than 50 world-renowned figures, including the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, physicist Stephen Hawking, Noble Peace laureate Wangari Mathaai, environmentalist Bill McKibben, and Native American leader Oren Lyons. Using striking images of the earth from aerial photography accompanied by solid music, DiCaprio tells the audience about the environmental destruction of the planet: "The evidence is now clear."

Unlike Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth," an environmental documentary released last year in July, "The 11th Hour" does not merely warn of the consequences of the dangers posed by global warming. It rather attempts to raise the bigger question of whether the existing model of economic development is compatible with the laws of nature. (article)

DVD Recommendations

SKELETON KEY
with Kate Hudson
from Ehren Kruger, the writer of 'The Ring'
directed by Iain Softley

My favourite otherworldly thriller at the moment. I've seen it three times in the past 6 months and can't wait to see it again. Plantations, voodoo/hoodoo, reincarnation, gumbo recipes, scary as hell, in a primal way like Nosferatu. Nothing gory or exploitative. Set in the pre-Katrina New Orleans swamps. A brilliant music and effects soundtrack.

ORPHEUS
by Jean Cocteau

Starring Jean Marais. Retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in Left Bank Paris in the 1950s. Gorgeous and very compelling story, with Death as a Gothic dominatrix with leather-clad biker angels. Cocteau's special effects are fantastic and ingenious for their time. According to Truffaut, this film was the precursor to the French New Wave. "Once seen, never forgotten.' BBC

Why do songwriters like Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Paul Kelly - and myself, occasionally - who are either non-practicing Christians or Jews, and in some cases, declared atheists, make use of so much Judeo-Christian imagery in songwriting?

I'm not talking about real believers. When actively practicing Christians and Jews write songs, they are testifying.

I'm talking about the folks that do NOT go to church or synagogue and, you might say, pretty much do not practice exactly what they preach.

The simplest reason for the use of religious metaphor: it's a handy way to try on the personae of the Prophet. Everyone likes to think they are The Chosen One every now and then. An extension of the first/only child syndrome. Also, the use of myth is an effective way to create the illusion of resonance in lyric writing. For instance, 'Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a bucket of water,' isn't as deep sounding as 'Jesus Jack and Mary Jill Goeth up Golgotha Hill to Fetcheth a Pail of Blood and Nail.'

Another less obvious reason for this mangling of the Bible by we infidelic songsmiths is for simple shock-value: getting people's attention by a relatively risk-free flirting with the Sacrilegious. I say risk-free because Kinky Friedman's 'They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore' is unlikely to raise death threats from either Jews or Christians, whereas a truly controversial and dangerous songtitle like, 'They Ain't Making Paedophiles Like Mohammed Anymore' would definitely earn you a half dozen Fatwas. (Hell, the local Iman will probably put me on the short list just for suggesting it.) Songwriters don't mess with the Koran. But there was a time when Greeks, Romans, Christians and Jews could be stoned to death for 'taking the name of God in vain.' Heresy is still alive and well in Islamic culture. The Name of God may change but the fanatics stay the same.

I'm going to compare and contrast some of Dylan's, Cave's, Cohen's and Kelly's religious writing, and a little of their backgrounds, with my own. I'll just reference some fragments of the songs as you can find most of the full versions on the internet.

PAUL KELLY: "I have written a lot of songs that come straight from The Bible. I don't believe in God but I'm interested in why so many people do.''

Paul was born in Adelaide in 1955 which would make him 52 this year. We share a Catholic upbringing which means he took a few guilty trips to the confessional as well. He attended a Christian Brother's school where he once said, "They had a three-pronged philosophy: religion, academic aptitude and sport. I was good at sport and I was good academically. I even had a religious face for a while."

That face may be gone but the mask remains. Here are a few illustrative fragments from some of the songs of faith Paul has written:

Love is the Law -
" Though I speak in tongues of angels
And in many tongues of men
Though prophecy may sing through me
Without love I'm nothing."

Glory be to God -
" She's got a smile that shames the sun - Glory be to God!
Undoes her buttons one by one - Glory be to God!
On my knees before her splendour oh Glory be to God!
She knows she's a natural wonder Glory be to God!
Glory be to God! Glory be to God!"

I Still Pray (co-written with Kasey Chambers) -
"I still cry, for baby Jesus
and I still pray, when im alone
and when im lost he'll come to find me
because he died to save my soul."

Forty-Eight Angels -
" Twelve angels from the north
Twelve angels from the east
Twelve angels from the south
Twelve angels from the west
Coming for to carry me away."

God Told Me To -
" Seven golden candles flaming bring forth the Son of Man
In his mouth a two-edged sword, seven stars shining in his right hand
The beast has eyes before him, the beast has eyes behind
Those not with me are against me, they're surely gonna feel my holy fire
God told me to
To thine own self be true
God told me to
God told me to. "

I like Paul Kelly's new album 'Stolen Apples' not because of the lyric writing, but because of the creative arrangements and production of the music which I didn't expect. Two outstanding tracks are 'Keep On Driving' (amazing guitar counterpoint) and ' Please Leave Your Light On' - the latter a kind of Lightning Hopkins-Meets-Robert Frost, with a tender and sincere message. The album also contains some Christian/Judaic references, most notably in the obvious song 'God Told Me To,' but also 'Lion and the Lamb'.

Even the title of the album itself, 'Stolen Apples' makes reference to Adam and Eve in one verse. The very premise that 'Stolen Apples taste the sweetest' is 100% bona fide Catholic thinking: they presumably taste sweeter because they are verboten, not yours, keep-off-the-grass, do-not-pass-go, not supposed to touch. So by taking them, you enjoy the guilty pleasure of not only eating someone else's apple, but the grimy satisfaction of knowing you're being naughty. (But it's ok because you can confess this little transgression in confession, whack out a few Hail Mary's and Gabriel's Yer Uncle.) Now anyone who has ever raised an apple tree certainly knows that the sweetest apples aren't the stolen ones but in fact the ones that are grown properly. When I lived in Maui, I pinched a lot of stolen fruit from people's orchards that tasted like shit. The best papaya I ever ate was one I grew myself. I used to watch it like a hawk, too, 'lest some other Catholic bastard try to steal it.
(Paul Kelly Website)

LEONARD COHEN: "I love Christ. I see Christianity as the world historic mission of certain ideas that the Jews developed. Christianity is a mighty movement, and that is the way those ideas penetrated the world. Christianity is the missionary arm of Judaism. As Maimonides said, "We're all working for the world to come." Leonard Cohen

Christianity is the missionary arm of Judaism! Now there's an original thought.

I suspect that Cohen, like so many other people who use Jesus to mouth Old Testament values, is writing his own personal Frankenscripture. His Prince of Peace obviously saw no conflict playing for the Israeli troops of Ariel Sharon for two weeks, during the build-up to the Yom Kippur War.

Leonard Cohen was born to a middle-class Jewish family of Polish-Lithuanian ancestry in 1934 in Montreal, Quebec, which makes him 73. His father died when he was nine years old. Like many other Jews named Cohen, his family made a proud claim of descent from the Kohanim: "I had a very Messianic childhood. I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest."
Kurt Cobain famously sang, "Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld so I can sigh eternally." One woman friend in New York once said he was "a very complicated man. Complicated in a very grown-up way. I mean, he makes Dylan seem childish." I hold this image of Leonard Cohen from an interview I read recently: lighting up a fresh cigarette before every sentence up at his Zen monastery retreat. A 73 year old man seeking balance yet still chain smokes. Isn't his Zen master supposed to hit him with the stick when he does this? What about starting with the obvious things first, Leonard, like tobacco addiction, and THEN working your way up to the Monkey Lotus Posture?)

God is Alive, Magic is Afoot -
"God is alive; Magic is afoot
God is alive; Magic is afoot
God is afoot; Magic is alive
Alive is afoot.....
Magic never died."

(This is my favourite Cohen piece taken from his book 'Beautiful Losers'. Placing Magic and God in the same sentence would have earned him a Burn at the Stake Certificate in medieval times. I used to perform this poem live in concert with a poet friend of mine named Matthew Von Baeyer back in the 70s and I still have a great recording of it somewhere. Matthew read the poem and I improvised on blues harp. Very powerful performance piece. (Full poem at bottom of newsletter.)

Suzanne -
"Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone."

(Jonathan Edwards ('Sunshine') was the lead singer in my first band, The Headstone Circus, in Athens Ohio back in the late 60s and he used to sing an inspiring version of Suzanne, which was the first way most of us were introduced to the writing of Leonard Cohen.)

Hallelujah -
(KD Lang does a ripper version of this. Each verse has at least one smart Biblical couplet:)

" Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord . . . "

"You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name . . . "

"I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah . . . "

Some others:

That Don't Make It Junk -
"I know that I'm forgiven, But I don't know how I know."

Here It Is -
"Here is your cross, Your nails and your hill;
And here is your love, That lists where it will."

By The Rivers Dark -
"And I did forget My holy song:
And I had no strength In Babylon."

The Land Of Plenty -
"For the Christ who has not risen, From the caverns of the heart ­
For the innermost decision, That we cannot but obey -
For what's left of our religion, I lift my voice and pray . ."

The most unexpected thing I discovered about my re-reading of Cohen's writing is that he wrote a song, that I never knew about before, with a good lyric, reminiscent of Goethe's Erlking, called 'Joan of Arc':

(Note: Why this is of special interest to me is later down below you will see that my 1994, 250 page choral oratorio was titled 'Joan on Fire'. Seems like Leonard and I - quite independently of each other - were both fascinated by Joan and her Flames. Small world: Heresy.
(Leonard Cohen Website)

NICK CAVE: When asked if he had any interest in other religions, or in a broader, non-religious spirituality, Nick replied: "Oh, a passing, sceptical kind of interest. I'm a hammer-and-nails kind of guy."

Nick Cave was born in 1957 in Victoria, making him 50. He was raised as an Anglican, and sang in the boys choir at Wangaratta Cathedral. Later in his education, he sang in the school choir at Melbourne's Caulfield Grammar School.

"Nick Cave enjoys a love-hate relationship with a bona fide, fire-and-brimstone Old Testament God; in his music, he praises God, yet twists like a broken marionette under God's wrath. Nick Cave's God is not ambivalent, nor is he kind. This is a God who is waiting around the corner to trip you, who delights in his cruel plan, and whose meddling with justice and revenge cannot be fathomed by a mere mortal man." LJ Lindhurst

I still remember the first time I heard 'Big Jesus Trash Can' off the first Birthday Party album. An engineer friend of us both by the name of Tony Cohen (another friggin' Cohen!) produced the record stoned out of his brain and he stuck contact mics onto pieces of roofing tin and placed them in front of the speakers of the guitar amps for more grunt. The tortured sound just jumped off that disc:

Big Jesus Trash Can -
" Big Jesus soulmates Trash Can
fucking rotton business this
bot feet in the bad-boot
siff in the crypt, babay, like a rock
rock-rock-rock
Big-Jesus soul-mates Trash-Can
pumped me fulla Trash at least it smelt like Trash
wears a suit of Gold (got greasy hair)
but God gave me sex appeal
well-well-well-rock
he drives a trash can
he's comin to my town."

Nick Cave probably has more Biblical references per square inch than any other writer out there. Here're just a few:

Up Jumped the Devil -
" I was born on the day
That my poor mother died
I was cut from her belly
With a stanley knife
My daddy did a jig
With the drunk midwife
Who's that younder all in flames
Dragging behind him a sack of chains
Who's that younder all in flames
Up jumped the Devil and he staked his claim. "

The Mercy Seat -
(ie. the Electric Chair. Johnny Cash recorded this.)

"How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might I say it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that's what I'm told
Like my good hand I
tattooed E.V.I.L. across it's brother's fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.
In Heaven His throne is made of gold
The ark of his Testament is stowed
A throne from which I'm told
All history does unfold.
Down here it's made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And God is never far away.
Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired . ."

Red Right Hand -
(Stephen King territory.)

" You'll see him in your nightmares, you'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of no where but he aint what he seems
You'll see him in your head, on the TV screen
And hey buddy, Im warning you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru
You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan
designed and directed by his Red Right Hand."

Fable of the Brown Ape -
(Cave's version of 'Old McDarwin Had a Farm.')

"Farmer Emmerich went into his barn
And found a cow suckling a serpent
And a brown ape clanking a heavy chain
Said Farmer Emmerich to the ape
Never ask me to come into this barn again."
(Nick Cave & Bad Seeds Website)

BOB DYLAN: " I went to Bible school at an extension of this church out in the Valley in Reseda, California. It was affiliated with the church, but I'm not a believer in that born-again type thing. . . . it's the people who live under tyranny and oppression, the plain, simple people, that count, like the multitude of sheep. They'll see that God is coming. Somebody representing Him will be on the scene. Not some crackpot lawyer or politician with the mark of the beast, but somebody who makes them feel holy. . . . People are going to be running to find out about God, and who are they going to run to? They're gonna run to the Jews, 'cause the Jews wrote the book, and you know what? The Jews ain't gonna know. They're too busy in the fur business and in the pawnshops and in sending their kids to some atheist school. They're too busy doing all that stuff to know. People who believe in the coming of the Messiah live their lives right now as if he was here. That's my idea of it, anyway. I know people are going to say to themselves, "What the fuck is this guy talking about?" But it's all there in black and white, the written and unwritten word. I don't have to defend this. The scriptures back me up. I didn't ask to know this stuff. It just came to me at different times from experiences throughout my life." Bob Dylan

Here are a few lyric examples from Father Bob's extensive earthly Canon:

Property of Jesus -
"He's the property of Jesus, Resent him to the bone
You got something better, You've got a heart of stone.'

Ye Shall Be Changed
"Ye shall be changed, ye shall be changed
In a twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet blows
The dead will arise and burst out of your cloths
And ye shall be changed."

(Ouch! Shades of The Rapture . . .)

When He Returns -
"Of every earthly plan that be known to man, he is unconcerned,
He's got plans of his own to set up his throne, When he returns."

Gotta Serve Somebody -
" But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody. "

God Knows -
" God knows there's a purpose, God knows there's a chance,
God knows you can rise above the darkest hour Of any circumstance."

Father Of Night -
" Father of grain, father of wheat, Father of cold and father of heat,
Father of air and father of trees, Who dwells in our hearts and our memories,
Father of minutes, father of days, Father of whom we most solemnly praise."

Tryin' to Get to Heaven -
" Everyday your memory goes dimmer,
It doesn't haunt me like it did before.
I've been walkin' through the middle of nowhere,
Tryin' to get to heaven before they close the door."
(Bob Dylan Website)
---------------------------

So what's MY excuse for dabbling with this Biblical Voodoo in my own songwriting? Glad you asked . . . . .

Someone asked me last week, 'Joe, do you even believe in God?'

Is that a Multiple Choice? What a question! It's like asking somebody, 'Do you believe in Sky?'

Of course, I believe in Sky - and God. But Belief is really the wrong word here. Perceive is better. Everyone perceives these things differently. There is no once-and-for-all definitive Book of Sky. Likewise, the varied names, and Holy Books of God are simply attempts by our understandably finite intelligence to describe the misunderstandably infinite. A task doomed to eternal argument. We MUST agree to disagree on this God thing, once and for all. And move on!!!! A whale cannot scratch his back and we cannot ever hope to absolutely stand outside ourselves and understand the First Principle. (Mainly because we ARE part of the First Principle.) One can only allude. Suggest. Hint. The whale will always have to rely on those little scavenger birds to assuage his itch (i.e. artists.) And Poetry and Music will always be more effective tools than Religion and Science for describing the indescribable.

Jean Cocteau said, in the liner notes to his film 'Orpheus':
' Myth is like a key that opens even the most unsympathetic soul to writing. I have always preferred myth to history because history consists of truths which in the end turn into lies, while myth consists of lies which finally turn into truths."

Our major significant religious paradigm is grafted deep into our psyche during our early childhood years, depending on whatever belief system our parents and teachers unwittingly, or dim-wittingly, force-fed us. Kids from Catholic families, who go to Catholic churches and attend Catholic schools, receive a stainless steel Catholic cookie cutter template. Same with Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Scientologists, to name just a few. This template is as much a part of you as your sex or the colour of your skin. Of course, as we grow into independent thinkers, we can re-train ourselves not to judge people by the colour of their skin, or sexual preferences, or religious beliefs - and we can, in fact, change ourselves completely due to the marvels of modern technology and the information age. But the religious template etching, so to speak, always stays in place. We never truly get over our first Spiritual Lover. Like an archaeological dig, our Higher Education is stacked layer upon layer, over time, but the echo of the churchbell, the cantor or the chanting Iman can always be heard.

So what does this have to do with songwriting? Bear with me - I'm getting there.

Writers with these strong religious templates who create mystical art, will, at first, make use of their prime religious imagery unconsciously. (i.e. We don't think about it too much; just go with the flow. Trust the metaphors and luminosity of what the 'angels' are telling you.)
But the more we absorb other belief systems, and move away from active practice of our first Spiritual Affair, the more conscious we get about what we are doing - and the more control we have over the imagery.

I was born in 1947, in Painesville, Ohio, USA. So I'll be 60 this year. Hooray. I was raised as a practicing Catholic, Mass on Sunday, Sunday school (held for some inexplicable reason on Saturday - who questioned these things?) and confession and communion about once a month. Confession was like going to the dentist without the ice cream. One particular priest used to enjoy having me explain to him - through the Curtain of Anonymity of the Confessional Booth - my fledgling pubescent masturbation explorations. He would walk me through every episode I had that week and demand excruciatingly fine detail. Titles of magazines, like Playboy or Penthouse. Did I open the centrefold? Did I use my Red Right Hand or my Red Left Hand? Almost forensic questions. I used to sweat and mumble out the answers, sitting there in the dark, awaiting that sweet moment when he would finally say, 'Ok, for your penance, say ten 'Our Fathers' and ten 'Hail Marys' and don't sin again.' Yeah right. He could have saved some time by just giving me 20 of each prayer and said, 'You might as well just skip next month."
As I got older, I left the Catholic Church behind - way behind - but in my forties, I began rediscovering some aspects of Catholicism that I didn't know about. Like Exorcism. The film of 'The Exorcist' blew my mind. I devoured everything written by, and about, real exorcists. THIS was exciting! I thought these guys were the spiritual Bruce Lee's of the church - out there battling evil one-on-one, throwing holy water, dodging green vomit. THIS was something I could relate to rather than kneeling in some uncomfortable pew listening to some boring-ass sermon.
Later, although I never went back to church, except for my mother's funeral and a few of my grandchildren's baptisms, I found great ideas in the writings of the mystical Christian poet, St John of the Cross, whose relationship to Christ was almost erotic and narcissistic, and Maximillian Kolbe, the Polish Marian mystic who believed the ONLY way to Christ was through Mary as intermediatrix, or 'gender filter'. He felt the church had become too patriarchal and only via Mary could the balance be regained. (Holy Goddess Worship, Batman.) Kolbe set up Marytowns all over Poland and the priests would greet each other with 'Mary', rather than 'Hello'. Kolbe was taken by the Nazis, and sent to concentration camp where one day, he voluntarily offered his own life, for another prisoner who had been condemned to die - and was starved to death in a bunker. He never hated the people themselves who had become Nazis, believing that they were just ordinary souls who had become trapped in a SYSTEM of evil and could be freed from it, if love was given in return for hate, no matter what the price. Sounds like something Christ might have done, doesn't it? Practicing what he preached.
In the last ten years, I have been profoundly inspired by the mystical musical Christianity of JS Bach. Bach was indeed a mystical composer, no matter what the Lutheran church would have you believe. Why else would he write a Mass (B-Minor Mass) for the Catholic Church - a work so flawed theoretically and structurally that it could never be performed in the church itself during his own time, or any time, really, and most likely got Johan on the Inquisitor's Black List - but today, you can listen to the B-Minor Mass next to the St Matthew Passion and it all makes perfect sense -Bach's own personal mystical interpretation of the Gospels.

When I wrote my hour-long oratorio, 'Joan on Fire,' in 1994, I was using unconscious Christian imagery to a great extent. I woke up one night sweating in the throes of a passionate sexual dream and as I sat there in the dark, on the upstairs verandah, cooling off, the imagery of Joan of Arc, burning at the stake, on fire, with Eros, love of God, a Life purpose- the whole ball of wax and incense. I knew the metaphors were already buried there in my substrata spiritual image bank without having to analyse it too much. I just wrote and let the language flow.
Later as I re-worked the libretto, I found ways to consciously flesh out some of my recent non-violent and feminist insights into the work. But the basic foundation imagery was coming from an unconscious place worn smooth by those nightly childhood 'Now I lay me down to sleeps . . . ."

Joan on Fire -
"I, Joan am on fire,
With God fever,
In a cell, one moment,
In an oasis, the next.
A chain of flames
Binding me, cutting my ankles
And lifting me up.
The world is reversed,
So reversed to me.

First, the spark,
And then, the flames,
Soon the embers
'Till the ash remains".
(full lyric)

Fast forward ten years. When I decided to write another series of songs with Biblical imagery, I was not the same person when I wrote 'Joan on Fire'. I had become very politically active. I had spent five years studying and absorbing ALL the major religions of our time, and I had also read over a hundred books on feminist thought, religious patriarchy, the pagan and Goddess belief systems of the past, etc. My partner Lin and I had been performing our women-centred show, 'Difficult Women,' for almost ten years (Now fifteen years!) Practicing what we preached.
This time, the Christian iconography of my songs was used with specific conscious purposes in mind- I knew full well many people, including many family and friends, still subscribed to this stuff as reality, not myth. But I thought, maybe I could bring something original to the table. (I may be wrong. It may be better to just cease and desist. We'll see.)

Some excerpts from the new songs I wrote - and the reasons behind the imagery - are as follows:

God Was A Hard Man -
" God was a Hard Man,
A Hard Man was He ,
He built a Hard House,
Down by the Hard Sea.

God had a Hard Wife
Who served him Hard Soup,
She wore a Hard Dress
Sewn on a Hard Hoop."
(full lyric)

(Note: Written as a kind of Dr. Seuss jump rope song on the theme of fundamentalist knuckleheadism.)

Did You Get Stupid From Being Ugly (Or Ugly From Being Stupid?) -
" You say God told you to do it,
That God told you to kill,
But I always thought that God
Gave us a little thing called 'Free Will.'
Free Will to just stay put, or Free Will to up and go,
The next time that God tells you to do something like that,
Why don't you just tell Him, 'No'?"
(full lyric)

(Note: Interesting. Though written and recorded long before Paul Kelly's 'God Told Me To', this is almost a reply. Winner of an online song contest a few years ago and was included on a Canadian compilation CD called, ' Protest Songs for a Better World'. Basically, why God is 'OK' with NO.)

A Girl is Born in Bethlehem -
"A Girl is born is Bethlehem.
When our eyes at last shall see her,
Hearts and souls to rejoice.
A Girl is born in Bethlehem.
O, Morning Star, now proclaim,
Peace on Earth and goodwill.
A Girl is born in Bethlehem.
(full lyric)

(Note: Simply using basic hymn template and hymn language but different gender. Just to see what happens. This song was performed by the Melbourne Chamber Singers and I was asked to introduce it so I dedicated it to all the girl babies born in Bethlehem who didn't get the press!)

Real Live Nephew -
" Now I know that the Bible supports my views,
I can answer any question with a Verse or two.
Even Jesus said I could trade for my gun,
('Though I can't recall Him ever owning one.)
Oh, oh, how can I do this?
I'm a real live nephew,
Of my Uncle Judas."
(full lyric)

(Note: For Australians, I'm making reference to the old US war standard, 'I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy, A Yankee Doodle, do or die, A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam Born on the Fourth of July." (Written by yet another Cohen - George M.!) I was so sick of hearing that broken-record argument of right wing idjuts justifying war because Jesus knocked over some moneylenders tables in the temple and said you could trade your coat for a sword. He might have also said you could trade your cow for a handful of beans. He was at least half-human so therefore maybe he got frustrated and lost his temper like the rest of us half-humans. My point is: so what if he did that and said that? HE NEVER PICKED UP A WEAPON HIMSELF IN ANY OF THE GOSPELS. Read your damn Bible. If you want to walk in His footsteps, take off those Army boots.)

God is Dead, Marx is Dead (and I'm Not Feeling that Good Myself) -
" The last time I went to confession,
The priest was nowhere to be seen.
I heard a voice behind the curtain saying, 'Talk after the beep . .'
Coming from an answering machine.
God is Dead, Marx is Dead,
And I'm Not Feeling that Good Myself "
(full lyric)

(Note: A bit of existential humour to lighten the load.)

Lower Jesus -
'I washed him, I kissed him,
I taught him wrong from right.
I rocked him with a lullaby
On many a sleepless night.
I taught him how to walk,
How to run and how to play,
How to share with other children.
To bow his head and pray.

Help me lower my son down from this Cross,
Help me free his hand from where it's caught.
Return him to my arms, now,
Let me hold him one more time.
Let him lie down here beside me,
With his face pressed close to mine ".
(full lyric)

(Note: This song was a recent finalist in the Australian Gospel Song Awards. A little Marian mysticism. Sung from the point of view of Jesus's mother. I've always thought the great tragedy of Catholicism was making the Cross the central metaphor for Jesus Christ, when the Sermon on the Mount was really the important message. I wanted to move the emphasis away from the Cross and more toward the Sermon on the Mount, as Gandhi explained so eloquently in his book 'Message of Jesus Christ', so I imagined how Jesus's mother might have felt when she saw him dying up there. Like any mother, she would have wanted him taken down immediately and she probably would have never wanted to see another cross in her life. So why can't we respect a mother's wishes?)

RECIPES

I made both of these this week. Easy. Just keep an eye on it and you might have to do it a few times to get the exact consistancy you want but it will always come out good enough to eat. You can also dip them in chocolate or incorporate this idea into cake and tart composition.

Cream Caramels (fudge)

2 cups sugar
1 cup of milk or cream

Flavor with vanilla to taste.
Cook sugar and milk until the mixture forms a soft ball in cold water.
Take from the fire, add the vanilla, and beat until creamy.
Set to cool and cut in squares.

Chewy Cream Caramels

2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups white corn syrup
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter a 9x13 inch dish.
In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, 1 cup cream and butter. Bring to a boil, stirring often, then stir in remaining 1 cup cream. Heat, without stirring, to 242 degrees F (116 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a firm but pliable ball.
Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and pour into prepared dish. Refrigerate.
When cool, return to room temperature but still cool, cut into 1 inch squares and wrap in waxed paper.

The Last Hurrah

A guy walks into a Glasgow library and says to the prim librarian:
"Excuse me lass, day ye hiv ony books on suicide?"

To which she stops doing her tasks, looks at him over the top of her
glasses and says:

"Fuck off, ye'll no bring it back!"

(thanks to Joe Creighton)