{"id":2582,"date":"2012-08-01T08:30:22","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T14:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tinseltalk\/?p=2582"},"modified":"2012-08-01T08:30:22","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T14:30:22","slug":"the-rocker-and-i-remembering-my-friendship-with-larry-norman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tinseltalk\/2012\/08\/the-rocker-and-i-remembering-my-friendship-with-larry-norman\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rocker and I: Remembering My Friendship with Larry Norman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
By Mark Rodgers<\/div>\n
This article was first posted<\/a> at the Clapham Group<\/a>.<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The author and Larry Norman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I got a call a few weeks ago from the author of a new biography of the\u00a0late singer\/songwriter\u00a0Larry Norman<\/a>, who heard\u00a0that Larry and I befriended in 2001. Larry\u2019s band in the 1960\u2019s was\u00a0People!, and toured with Van Morrison, \u00a0The Animals, The Doors, The\u00a0Who, Janis Joplin and even Jimi Hendrix. \u00a0Although a committed \u00a0Christian, he defied easy categorization. Over his career of more\u00a0than 100 albums he was often prophetic, and like Aslan, he was good\u00a0but not safe.<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cYou kill a black man at midnight
\n<\/em>Just for talking to your daughter
\n<\/em>Then you make his wife your mistress
\n<\/em>And you leave her without water
\n<\/em>And the sheet you wear upon your face
\n<\/em>Is the sheet your children sleep on
\n<\/em>At every meal you say a prayer
\n<\/em>You don\u2019t believe but still you keep on\u201d<\/em><\/h6>\n
\u2013\u00a0The Great American Novel<\/a><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In my life, the role of art (including its popular forms) has been\u00a0unconsciously but unmistakably an agent in the shaping my social\u00a0conscience. This\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0come as a surprise to any of us, as we\u00a0know that God made us more than rationale beings. \u00a0Our emotions are\u00a0meant to motivate, and our emotions are moved by art.<\/div>\n
\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The author and his family with Larry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thought of Larry a few days later when I heard UVA professor, author\u00a0and gardener Vigen Gueran exegete Hans Christian Anderson\u2019s short\u00a0story \u201cThe Nightingale.\u201d \u00a0This avian singer serves as the conscience\u00a0to the King, in the same way that Larry did and other artists today\u00a0serve as one to us:<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cI cannot live in the palace, and build my nest; but let me come when<\/em>
\nI like. I will sit on a bough outside your window, in the evening, and<\/em>
\nsing to you, so that you may be happy, and have thoughts full of joy.<\/em>
\nI will sing to you of those who are happy, and those who suffer; of<\/em>
\nthe good and the evil, who are hidden around you. The little singing<\/em>
\nbird flies far from you and your court to the home of the fisherman<\/em>
\nand the peasant\u2019s cot. I love your heart better than your crown; and<\/em>
\nyet something holy lingers round that also.\u201d
\n<\/em>
\n\u2013The\u00a0Nightingale<\/a><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When the Israelites in exile are asked by their captors to \u201csing songs\u00a0of joy\u201d they refused, and instead crafted Psalm 137, itself a song but\u00a0one of lament. \u00a0 Our staff watched the video for Linkin Park\u2019s \u201cWhat\u00a0Have I Done<\/a>\u201d recently, and\u00a0I was reminded that in a broken world, which ours certainly is, our\u00a0songwriters will write \u201csongs of lament.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is something uniquely powerful in the artist\u2019s \u201csong,\u201d whether\u00a0in the form of a story, a lyric or visual image. \u00a0 But what sets apart\u00a0redemptive art from much of the art that rails against injustice is\u00a0hope. \u00a0 Our little group is committed to bringing songs of lament and\u00a0songs of hope to the culture. \u00a0This is what our society ultimately\u00a0needs, and this is what artists like Larry Norman have to offer us:<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cAnd your money says in God we trust
\n<\/em>but it\u2019s against the law to pray in school
\n<\/em>you say we beat the Russians to the moon
\n<\/em>and I say you starved your children to do it
\n<\/em>you say all men are equal all men are brothers
\n<\/em>then why are the rich more equal than others
\n<\/em>don\u2019t ask me for the answer I\u2019ve only got one
\n<\/em>that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son\u201d<\/em><\/h6>\n
<\/em>\u2013\u00a0The Great American Novel<\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Mark Rodgers<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Christian rocker defied easy categorization and, like Aslan, he was good but not safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[592,593,590,591],"class_list":["post-2582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-christian-rock","tag-great-american-novel","tag-larry-norman","tag-mark-rodgers"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Rocker and I: Remembering My Friendship with Larry Norman - Tinsel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Christian rocker defied easy categorization and, like Aslan, he was good but not safe.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tinseltalk\/2012\/08\/the-rocker-and-i-remembering-my-friendship-with-larry-norman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rocker and I: Remembering My Friendship with Larry Norman - 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