The Tie Song

My cousin Grant gets home from his mission in less than 3 months. He's gathering Israel in Fukuoka, Japan. Wow. Time sure does fly. I can still remember the day he had his mission farewell. Grant gave a great sermon and said that film has to be put in harsh chemicals and agitated before it can be developed into a good picture. Somehow we are all like that. I knew he would be a good missionary because he was so passionate about sharing the gospel. He looked the part, too. Like all men giving speaking in church, Grant wore a suite and a necktie. But this wasn't any necktie. No way. This was a tie to travel the world.

Grant and his buddies all chipped in money and they bought one tie. The first guy to give his mission farewell wore it and signed his name on the back on one of the stripes. He gave it to the next guy who wore it at his farewell, who then signed the back and gave it to the next guy, and so on and so forth until Grant got it. He wore it to his farewell, signed the back, and passed it down the line.

It kept going down the line until the tie had its sufficiency of farewells. The last guy to leave sent it to the first guy in the field, who then kept it for a week and recorded his instances in the accompanying notebook. After a week he sent the tie and the notebook to the next guy, and so on and so forth. It's a lot like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but it's the Brotherhood of the Traveling Tie. And even though Grant gets home at the end of March, the tie will still circulate, weaving through continents and oceans.

A necktie to unite all these brothers together. Well I just thought this tie idea was the most brilliant thing ever. Absolutely brilliant!

So I wrote a song about it.
-------------

The Tie Song
By Marcie Glad

Chords Em C G D

There’s a tie and it goes all around the world
It starts in the west and it moves to the north
Montana, Russia, Brazil and Japan
Gathering Israel in every land

CHORUS:
Truth, hope, faith in Christ
Conquering evil and spreading the light
Record your story, give God all Glory
------------The tie that goes around the world

I spend my days tracting my shoes have no soles
But I have seen miracles like crickets and gulls
I may have sore feet but at end I don’t care
I have but two years and no soul can I spare
CHORUS:

Truth, hope, faith in Christ
Conquering evil and spreading the light
Record your story, give God all Glory
------------The tie that goes around the world

All nations, kindreds, and tongues
Will know of the gospel of which I have sung
Though diverse in all things there’s one thing we’ll share
The gospel so go to your mission prepared

(no strum)
To teach them

Chorus’
Truth, hope, faith in Christ
Conquering evil and spreading the light
Record your story, give God all Glory
The gospel is the tie that goes around the world


It's a bad recording, but meh, what can you do?
I had to facebook/missionsite stalk people to get a lot of these pictures. Many thanks to Al Gore for inventing the Internet ;)

And here's the same video on youtube. I just wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of the quality of the movies.

Chick-Fil-A Christmas Carols

Once upon a time I used to work at Chick-fil-A. I loved it. My co-workers and I had a blast and during the crazy Christmas season Brandon and I wore Santa hats and sang the following carols. The customers loved it.

To the tune of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
Chick-Fil-A classic sandwich
Pickles and a buttered bun
Bread it and then deep fry it
Eating it is so much fun.

Try it in our first combo meal.
It comes with a drink and fries
And if you’re feeling hungry
Go ahead and Value-size.

After you try it, you will find the food is quite delicious.
And you will be happy to know
That you don’t have to do the dishes!

Then how you’ll love Chick-Fil-A
You’ll think it’s a bit of heaven
Chick-Fil-A classic sandwich
In combo number one or seven.

To the tune of “Jingle Bells”
Nugget combos, nugget combos, nugget meals are great.
Try one of our nugget combos in combo five or eight.
Nugget combos, nugget combos, nuggets everyday.
Have yourself a nugget combo here at Chick-Fil-A

Dashing through the mall with presents yet to buy
Your feet are getting tired and bills are running high.
You’re starting to feel hungry and need something to eat.
Swing right by a Chick-Fil-A and grab some chicken meat. Oh…

Nugget combos, nugget combos, nugget meals are great.
Try one of our nugget combos in combo five or eight.
Nugget combos, nugget combos, have nuggets everyday.
Have yourself a nugget combo here at Chick-Fil-A



To the tune of “O Come all Ye Faithful”
O come all ye hungry
Come and taste some chicken
Eat all the tasty nuggets tha-at you’re given.
Come try our char grilled, soup and wraps and salads.
Oh this is our ballad.
Oh this is our ballad.
Oh this is our ballad at Chick-Fil-A

To the tune of “Little Drummer Boy”
Said the Corey to the Cheri boss.
“Who should we go fire?” (Who should we go fire?”)
Said the Cheri to the Corry boy
“Who should we go fire?”
“Brandon! Brandon! Let’s go fire him!”
Then Cheri looked with a grin
And said, "I already did."

Silent Night

Christmas music should be joyful and triumphant-full of french horns and boisterous orchestras and booming men's choirs. It is a time to celebrate through music.

Or so I thought.

I used to think quiet songs had no proper place in the Christmas canon. Don't tell anyone, but I used to hate Silent Night because it was slow and boring. I would roll my eyes and refuse to sing along. Thank goodness my Young Women leader changed my mind. She said, "Christ's life was mainly full of persecution and noise. There weren't too many times when 'all [was] calm, all [was] bright.' But Christ's birth-free of persecution-in a private, lowly, stable was a silent, holy night."

And now Silent Night is my favorite hymn.

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright'
Round yon virgin mother and Child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia;
Christ the Saviour is born
Christ the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

HISTORY OF SILENT NIGHT

Back in 1816 an Austrian priest named Joseph Mohr wrote the lyrics for Silent Night. Two years later the song was performed on Christmas Eve. Just a few hours before the performance Mohr took the lyrics over to Fraz Xaver Gruber and asked him to write a melody for the poem. Some sources say Mohr also explained that the church organ was broken. But whatever the reason, Silent Night was originally composed for guitar. The song was finished just in time for Midnight Mass.

Part of the tune resembles Austrian yodelling.

The above info only touches the surface of the history. Yes, I did take my info from wikipedia. And you can learn more about it from this wikipedia link.

This version of the popular Christmas carol was done by Simon and Garfunkel. You can hear the 7 o'clock news announcements in the background although you might want to listen a few times to catch it all. It's an odd juxtaposition at first but I really think it's rather appropriate. All the horrible things in the world coupled with the humble birth of our Lord and Savior.

Stew on that for a minute.



May you and your loved ones sleep in heavenly peace tonight and may you pray for those who won't.

Zazous Vivace

Welcome to my new blog where music makes the world turn.

The title of this post and blog is Zazous Vivace. What's in a name? Everything. Let me tell you what is in this name.
(Tremendous thanks to the film Jazz: Dedicated to Chaos for the bulk of this information.)

Zazous (pronounced sazoos...kind of like a kazoo but not)

During WWI Jazz music really started to get moving. Big shots like Charlie Parker, Louise Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Roy Eldridge, John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, Billy Strayhorn, Earl Hines, and Benny Goodman took over the musical stage. All of whom were black, with the exception of Benny Goodman, who was Jewish. And that was incredible because this was during a time when blacks were still segregated in the US and Jews were being slaughtered under Nazi rule.

By 1941 the Nazis had control over most of Europe. Jazz and swing music wasn't just a hit in the US it also seduced the hearts of Europeans because, as Earl Hines said, "Jazz expresses the hope of a free people. It is based upon individuality which is contrary to the very fundamentals of Nazism” Naturally the Nazis wanted to crush jazz. But despite their domination, the Nazis had failed to take down this music as jazz still bloomed underground. Germans still got together to play jazz and swing music. They called themselves "swing kids".

In 1942 the Nazis tried a new tactic: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Instead of blocking out swing, Nazis took popular American tunes and changed words to suit their propagandic needs. This is seen in this version of "Making Whoopee":


(This really isn't that important to the title of my blog, but it is interesting.)

In Paris the Nazis even banned the word jazz. But Parisians would still rebelliously listen to the American classics because "Jazz was a way of fighting against the German atmosphere. It was important when fighting against a racist government." The French jazz fans met in cafes and cinemas and would change the names of American songs. For example "In the Mood" became "Ambiance". They would dance to the swingin' tunes of African Americans. They called themselves Zazous after the scatting of Cab Calloway. It didn't take long for the Nazis to find them and beat them in the streets.

But the Zazous still met.

This is what music does to people: it breeds connections, it festers emotions, it harbors unity. It breaks boundaries and barriers. It makes people aware of feelings and more passionately than they knew possible. But my favorite part about music is that it brings people together. Perhaps it is because it is the same in every language: a Bb quarter-note, played by any musician-whether German, French, Mexican, or American- will still sounds the same.

But I think music actually goes much deeper than that. I believe it vibrates the finite within us and puts all on the same wavelength. I was at an acoustic guitar show a few weeks ago and at the end of the show the three performers did a number together: Silent Night. And they invited the audience to sing along. There was a strange bond formed between all of us in that room. We all became comfortable with slouching a little closer to the stranger seated next to us. Everyone was comfortable mingling with other people after the show: something people struggle with even when at a party of a mutual friend. Music. Unites. People.

While the first word in my title comes from a French group, the second word, Vivace (pronounced vih-vah-chey) is an Italian musical term that means "lively". Thus the name of this blog is symbolic in nature; a French term and an Italian term joined together.

So welcome to Zazous Vivace where I believe in bringing people together via a medium most uplifting, where I believe in edifying life, and where I believe in being lively about it.

If you want to learn some more about Zazous click here. And enjoy this clip of Cab Calloway.