Week 3 – Think Bensonium

Day 21 (Good Friday): Once Again by Matt Redman

Rbenson — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 22:04:21 +0000

The problem of evil (whether natural or human) has vexed philosophers and led to atheism down the ages. For many, Covid-19 is a timely reminder for why they do not believe in God. Yet I wonder if our problem with “the problem of evil” is we simply vastly underestimate how difficult it is to fix? Good Friday reminds me that even for God, the problem of evil could not just be brushed away by the power he used to create the cosmos. No it required his own mysterious Trinitarian Personhood to be broken: the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son interrupted for a finite period of time as Jesus hung in agony on the cross crying out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?“. Because he did this for me (and for all those who will receive it) I am very, very thankful.

Day 20: Hurricane by Bob Dylan.

Rbenson — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 22:03:25 +0000

The third member of the Travelling Wilburys recently won a Nobel prize for literature; an unusual accolade for a rock musician. Yet Dylan is an incredible wordsmith when it comes to writing songs and this protest song about the framing of the boxer Rubin Carter for first degree murder is probably one of the best examples of his truly amazing writing talents. Eight minutes 16 seconds of pure poetry.

My favourite lines in this song are:

Meanwhile far away in another part of town, Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around, the number one contender for the middle weight crown, had no idea what kind of shit was about to go down. When a cop pulls over to the side of the road, just like the time before and the time before that. In Paterson that’s just the way things go, if your black, you might as well not show up on the street unless you want draw the heat.

Day 19: Evil Woman, Electric Light Orchestra.

Rbenson — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 22:02:31 +0000

On day 15 I posted a track by the super group Traveling Wilburys. It is now time to look at what some of the band members produced in their “day jobs”. We have already had a song by George Harrison all the way back on day 7. So moving onto the next band member, Jeff Lynne. This song is from his “other” band ELO. Again so many good songs to choose from but I chose this one because it shows the concept of ELO with its backing orchestra (well sort of).

“You made a fool of me, but them broken dreams have got to end..“

Day 18: You’re my best Friend by Queen

Rbenson — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 22:01:27 +0000

So the other half of the rock collaboration that produced “Under Pressure” was Queen. Their most famous song is obviously “Bohemian Rhapsody”, however the original video for this song does not appear to be on Youtube. I thought of posting “The Prophet’s Song” but, given the darkness of the times, best go for something a little more cheerful.

This song also appeared on “A Night at the Opera” (the album that carried Bohemian Rhapsody). I dedicate it to all my lovely friends out there. God keep and bless you xx.

“???? Bedoo do do do do do do do Bedoo do do do do do do do.????????”

Day 17: A Space Oddity by David Bowie.

Rbenson — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 22:00:33 +0000

So my rock collaboration theme has come to an end and I am now going to start to look at what some of these amazing people produced outside of the music they made as part of their collaborations. I will start with David Bowie (see Covid Island Discs day 14). This youtube live version is really great and worth watching.

Just remember in these difficult times to “take your protein pills and put your helmet on“

Day 16: Money for Nothing by Dire Straits (and Sting)

Rbenson — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 21:59:42 +0000

OK I will admit this wasn’t going to be my original entry but then Anthony Holmes reminded me of this album in one of his posts. It makes sense to post it today because it also fits with my rock collaboration theme where Sting does the “I want my MTV”.

However, another reason for posting is because I have quite a funny back story to this song. In 1985, the year after I had left school this album was released. That year my school friend Mark Short, who was doing journalism at the time, rang me to ask if I knew anything about an unfolding story of the 1985 Higher School Certificate papers being stolen. I was nonplussed that he should think I would know anything about such seedy goings on.

Yet of course Mark was one step ahead of the game as it turned out that the whole unsavoury affair was centred around our local high school (Balgowlah Boys High School, oh yeah mate that the sort of names we give our suburbs in Aus) where some characters in that school managed to get hold of the national test papers before they were sat by the general public. How do I know this? Well my dear late friend Jonathan Higgs, who was one of the top students in the school, was approached by one of the boys, who had the 2 unit HSC mathematics paper, and asked if he could solve a particular problem from it. Of course Jon did not know it was his year’s HSC and given he was a 4 unit maths student, he never sat the 2 unit paper anyway. Looking back so many years later, it still makes me laugh.

So why is this story connected with this song you ask? Well after the fiasco blew over, some cheeky group released a cover song of Money for Nothing which was all about the stolen 1985 HSC papers. I don’t remember any of the lyrics except for the iconic Sting line: “I want my MTV” which they of course changed to “I want my HSC”.

Day 15: Handle me with Care, The Traveling Wilburys.

Rbenson — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 21:58:39 +0000

So Rolling Stone magazine said the Queen and Bowie match up to produce Under Pressure (see yesterday’s offering) was the second greatest collaboration of all time. The wiki article didn’t state what the magazine thought was the greatest. A few of you made some interesting suggestions ????. My favourite funny suggestion was McCartney and Jackson “The girl is mine”. Yes even an ex-Beatle can sometimes produce rubbish. Yet if I had to bet money on the Rolling Stone’s accolade of the greatest rock collaboration of all time, surely the Traveling Wilburys (George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan) would have to be on the money so to speak. Sadly, with the death of Petty in 2017, only two out of the original five survive.

Denis Colligan and I saw ELO in concert last year and Jeff Lynne introduced this song by saying: “this song is from my other band”. Wow imagine being able to say that. Will Johnston this one’s for you.