{"id":36336,"date":"2024-03-04T11:00:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T19:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=36336"},"modified":"2024-03-05T05:16:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T13:16:37","slug":"how-long-to-sing-this-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/how-long-to-sing-this-song\/","title":{"rendered":"How Long to Sing this Song?"},"content":{"rendered":"

U2 is a rock band from the north side of Dublin, that was formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono<\/a> (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), the Edge<\/a> (lead guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals), Adam Clayton<\/a> (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen Jr.<\/a>(drums and percussion).<\/p>\n

Each of these members were teenagers at Mount Temple Comprehensive School<\/a> and a part of a deeply religious group called Shalom.<\/p>\n

I have been tracking with this band for many, many years, and have seen them live in concert a dozen or so times, most recently a couple times at the SPHERE<\/a> residency in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Why the lesson in rock music history? Having formed in 1976, U2<\/a> is rapidly approaching 50 years of active (and I’ll add relevant<\/em>) music making, and culture shaping. That’s a good long time for any four creative people to stay together and keep making art for the masses. They started as a post-punk outfit, dabbled in ambient\/abstract sounds, and then had brief stints in Americana blues, alternative, electronica, and industrial music. However, at the core of U2 is a pop\/rock sensibility. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/a> boys from Dublin, although always open to changing styles, have continued to express deep themes of spirituality, justice, equality, love and compassion, set to an ever-changing palette of musical styles.<\/p>\n

Again, you have to be wondering where I’m going with all this? Here it is: the near 50 years of the band U2 gives me a handle of sorts on this pesky topic of postmodernism. Explaining Postmodernism <\/em>by Stephen R.C. Hicks was admittedly a dense read with much to absorb. And I, again admittedly, did not absorb it well. Much of it ricocheted off my over-saturated brain with a resounding thud. Just being honest, and keeping it real folks. So, I was desperate for something to help me pull all together.<\/p>\n

With the help of U2, I was able to grab onto this: \u00a0all of modern history has been shape-shifting, and expressing knowledge through various ways and means, styles and tempos, all the while threads have weaved their way through rational, and sometimes irrational, thought. Like punk-rock, there has been a general stance characterized by skepticism towards the worldviews of the Enlightenment, and the grand narratives of modernity. I get that. That makes sense. Each generation’s song is a point of rebellion towards the previous generation. U2 started out singing punk rock protest songs in Dublin high schools<\/a>, and as of late, are wooing massive crowds of Vegas high rollers<\/a>. As sad as I will be when this actually happens, I know that at some point they will take their final bow, with the hopes that a new revolution of thought and expression will step into their vacancy and bring their own rebel song to a waiting world.<\/p>\n

Modernity. Post-modernity. I wonder what will be next? Let me put it this way: who will be the next U2?<\/p>\n

I came to read this book with the distinct and burning question: I wondered if there would be a “post<\/strong>-postmodernism?” I initially thought of this because of the radical and distinct cultural shifts that took place during the pandemic. It made me wonder: did we just move into ANOTHER phase of philosophical existence? So then, on page 201 of Explaining Postmoderism<\/em> I was pleasantly surprised to find the very term I was curious about: \u00a0“Post-Postmodernism.”<\/strong> Unfortunately, page 201 is the last page of this doozy of a book, and Hicks only provided two paragraphs under the heading of “Post-Postmodernism,” and neither paragraph gave any predictors of what was to come. I guess we will have to just wait and see. Hmmm…wait and see. We’ll have to wait and see what emerges. Wait and see what the next 50 years brings. Perhaps new bands will step onto the stage with their<\/em> rebel songs – songs of protest, rage and skepticism for what has been and what could be.<\/p>\n

Modern. Postmodern. Post<\/em>-postmodern. Each intellectual stance and mode of discourse skeptical of the last. We live in the tension of these historical\/cultural\/philosophical movements (ie: songs) crafted with both consonance (harmony) AND dissonance (lack of harmony), as well as steady rhythm AND the shaky opposition to any form of uniformity.<\/p>\n

You see and hear this sort of tension in the 1983 song “40” by U2, which is an adaptation of Psalm 40:1-3.<\/p>\n

I waited patiently for the Lord<\/em>
\nHe inclined and heard my cry<\/em>
\nHe brought me up out of the pit<\/em>
\nOut of the mire and clay<\/em><\/p>\n

I will sing, sing a new song<\/em>
\nI will sing, sing a new song<\/em><\/p>\n

How long to sing this song?<\/em>
\nHow long to sing this song?<\/em>
\nHow long, how long, how long?<\/em>
\nHow long, to sing this song?<\/em><\/p>\n

He set my feet upon a rock<\/em>
\nAnd made my footsteps firm<\/em>
\nMany will see<\/em>
\nMany will see and fear<\/em><\/p>\n

I will sing, sing a new song<\/em>
\nI will sing, sing a new song<\/em><\/p>\n

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Catch it: I will sing a new song.<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Also catch this: How long to sing this song?<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It’s both a song of praise to God and a human prayer asking the Lord “How long?” “How long do we have to endure this?” “How long will You, Lord, let your children suffer?” That’s the tension we live in. That’s the songs we sing. And each generation has to write their own “rebel song” – sometimes birthed by skepticism, but more often fueled by the hope of a brighter future<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U2 is a rock band from the north side of Dublin, that was formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), the Edge (lead guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen Jr.(drums and percussion). Each of these members were teenagers at Mount Temple Comprehensive School […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[3090,3089,1764,395,180],"class_list":["post-36336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-3090","tag-post-postmodernism","tag-hicks","tag-postmodernism","tag-u2","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36336"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36366,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36336\/revisions\/36366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}