Make old things new

a newsletter about country music

Photo by Catalin Pop on Unsplash

Well. This one’s going to be different.

First off, I’ve been sick. It started with a simmer last Wednesday and on Thursday had disappeared. But by Friday night (what a bummer), sitting next to my husband on the living room sofa, I knew it was back.

So that was my weekend: lots of coughing, no fever, doing precious little.

I was back at school today and busy enough to forget I’d ever been sick at all— but my newsletter is still due in the morning.

So this one’s going to be different.

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Here’s news: we seem to have become country music fans around here. Never in a million years did I see this coming. For the last decade at least it’s been all pop, funk, and r&b at our house. My husband’s favorite band growing up was Sly and the Family Stone; I was a devoted Michael Jackson fan in high school. Together we’ve loved Prince, Sting, and The Police, Tears for Fears, Sarah McLaughlin, Marc Cohn. The list goes on.

For five years in the 2000’s, my husband put on a music festival where we enjoyed the talents of the Indigo Girls, Edwin McCain, Colby Caillat, and others; and we’ve definitely skirted the country music world with much love for James Taylor and Nickel Creek. But this is nothing compared to what we’ve got going now, which is Hot Country on Spotify and The Highway on Sirius XM.

I know, I know: everybody’s doing it. It does seem to be the zeitgeist. But that doesn’t mean I’m not surprised. And it doesn’t mean I’m not schooled by it.

Honestly, my running opinion— for decades (I’m ashamed to say)— is that country music had little to offer. Bad songs, poor lyrics, and a terrible twang. Nothing but pickup trucks and the lover who left me, my boots and a dog on a sagging porch. And whiskey.

Here’s news: I was wrong. It turns out that country music has lots to offer. Scads. For example: clever lyrics. I cannot begin tell you how I love me some clever lyrics. Don’t believe this exists in country music? Try this. And this. Delightful. If those weren’t enough to win me, then there’s this, whose grammatically correct use of “weren’t” is enough to make me swoon.

This one will have you dancing in your seat, even though the bouncy melody belies some serious melancholia. And this one. Well. There’s something about this song that just sounds the way songs should sound. If you don’t agree, that’s fine: you’re entitled to your own opinion. And (as this newsletter is trying to make abundantly clear) opinions can be wrong.

I wonder now if we were somehow pulled into country music’s sway through listening to this podcast, in which we learned that Dolly Parton is actually a national treasure. And as we look back on our listening preferences, my husband and I realize that country has occasionally been something we’ve loved. This song is a perfect example, and it’s also an example of double entendre— which, of course, is clever.

As for our assumptions about country music, we weren’t entirely wrong. There’s definitely mention of lost love, pickup trucks, boots, and dogs— and then there’s this song entitled “Whiskey Whiskey”— because the writer was driving home the point. But we’ve found we can easily put up with these things, because the songs they’re in have so much to offer in the way of a really good time.

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For our word game this week, respond below with your favorite song lyric or song title. It doesn’t have to be a country song (although major bonus points if it is)— just a song lyric or title you love.

That’s it. So easy.

Please participate. This is how we have fun.

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In other news, today a class of freshmen and I explored the Christian doctrine known as substitutionary atonement. If you’re familiar, then I can leave it there. But for the uninitiated (thank you for reading this newsletter), it’s this: in dying on the cross, Jesus took on himself the due punishment for our sin.

This is tricky in lots of ways. Some people don’t believe in sin. Some don’t believe that sin deserves punishment, and certainly not death. And some people (such as—no doubt— some students in my class this afternoon) have heard this doctrine so many times that it’s…. Well. A little tired.

But as I prepared for my class today, I was newly struck by what I’ve been trying to get across to my students all semester: we were made by a Being whose power and creativity exceeds our imaginations. This Being created us out of love because he desires a relationship with us.

When we rejected him, he came after us, taking on himself the penalty for our rebellion. He loves us that much, and he extends the offer for that relationship to anyone who wants it.

If that’s something you know and have accepted, then I invite you to celebrate it.

If that’s something you’ve never heard before, then I invite you to think on it, because it’s beautiful, and it’s for you.

And if it’s something you’ve rejected— for any reason at all— then I invite you to consider it again with fresh eyes and ears, if you can, because it’s absolutely for you, too.

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Our poem this time is song lyrics, because of course it is. And obviously it’s a country one—one of the songs my husband and I have loved for a long time.

You’re welcome to read it, but I invite you to listen to the song itself.

Broken Things

You can have my heart, though it isn't new
It's been used and broken, and only comes in blue
It's been down a long road, and it got dirty along the way
If I give it to you, will you make it clean
And wash the shame away?

You can have my heart, if you don't mind broken things
You can have my life; if you don't mind these tears
Well, I heard that you make old things new
So I give these pieces all to you
If you want it, you can have my heart

So beyond repair, nothing I could do
I tried to fix it myself
But it was only worse when I got through
Then you walk right into my darkness
And you speak words so sweet
And you hold me like a child
'til my frozen tears fall at your feet

You can have my heart, if you don't mind broken things
You can have my life if you don't mind these tears
Well, I heard that you make old things new
So I give these pieces up to you
If you want it, you can have my heart

                                                       -Julie Miller

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Thank you for reading, my friends. Have a great week!

With joy,

Rebecca