I was fully awake and there was no alcohol or drugs involved – I was completely rational and coherent, as I am right now writing this. I know this will sound unbelievable, but I can only conclude that it was supernatural. Therefore it left me with no option other than to act on it, rather than ignore the event and carry on as if it never happened. Proof is in the pudding as they say, and the miraculous change in my life is a testament and a further proof of God – but more on this in Part 7.
Then that dread angel near the awful throne,
Leaving the seraphs ranged in flaming tiers,
Winged his dark way through those unpinioned spheres,
And on the void’s black beetling edge, alone,
Stood with raised wings, and listened for the tone
Of God’s command to reach his eager ears,
While Chaos wavered, for she felt her years
Unsceptered now in that convulsive zone.
Night trembled. And as one hath oft beheld
A lamp within a vase light up its gloom,
So God’s voice lighted him, from heel to plume:
‘Let there be light!’ It said, and Darkness, quelled,
Shrunk noiseless backward in her monstrous womb
Through vasts unwinnowed by the wings of eld!
ON a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose.
Tired of his dark dominion swung the fiend
Above the rolling ball in cloud part screened,
Where sinners hugged their spectre of repose.
Poor prey to his hot fit of pride were those.
And now upon his western wing he leaned,
Now his huge bulk o’er Afric’s sands careened,
Now the black planet shadowed Arctic snows.
Soaring through wider zones that pricked his scars
With memory of the old revolt from Awe,
He reached a middle height, and at the stars,
Which are the brain of heaven, he looked, and sank.
Around the ancient track marched, rank on rank,
The army of unalterable law.
Hast thou a cloud?
Something that is dark and full of dread;
A messenger of tempest overhead?
A something that is darkening the sky;
A something growing darker bye and bye;
A something that thou fear’st will burst at last;
A cloud that doth a deep, long shadow cast,
God cometh in that cloud.
Hast thou a cloud?
It is Jehovah’s triumph car: in this
He rideth to thee, o’er the wide abyss.
It is the robe in which He wraps His form;
For He doth gird Him
with the flashing storm.
It is the veil in which He hides the light
Of His fair face, too dazzling for thy sight.
God cometh in that cloud.
Hast thou a cloud?
A trial that is terrible to thee?
A black temptation threatening to see?
A loss of some dear one long thine own?
A mist, a veiling, bringing the unknown?
A mystery that unsubstantial seems:
A cloud between thee
and the sun’s bright beams?
God cometh in that cloud.
Hast thou a cloud?
A sickness–weak old age–distress and death?
These clouds will scatter at thy last faint breath.
Fear not the clouds that hover o’er thy barque,
Making the harbour’s entrance dire and dark;
The cloud of death, though misty, chill and cold,
Will yet grow radiant with a fringe of gold.
GOD cometh in that cloud.
(From Streams in the Desert, public domain version © 1925 )
Most often, when pop music tries to do this the results are abysmal. Yet, once in a while, a rock’n’roll song brings heaven down into our vale of tears (or launches us toward the throne of the Creator). Depending on one’s personal taste in music, this can be very subjective, I know. One man’s high art is another’s velvet painting . . .
I bring you two versions of Psalm by the 70’s glam-rock band Roxy Music.
This song has always intrigued me.
First the original studio version from the album Stranded (1973). It builds slowly, the rhythm becoming more insistent, with the London Welsh Male Choir singing as the song crescendos to its finish. The rhythm of this composition has always made me think of those New Orleans jazz funerals (go to 5-minute mark for the rhythm) or Creole-Indian Mardi-Gras parade struts: a sort of stuttering syncopated marching-band beat on the snare, much like Dr. John’s version of Junco Partner.
I have sometimes wondered whether Ferry was affecting the persona of a Bible-believer in this song for purposes of irony or mockery. But after pondering the lyrics to many of his other songs [like Triptych or In Every Dreamhome a Heartache] I get the sense that this is a straightforward heartfelt song. I guess only Bryan Ferry and the Lord know for sure.
Compare this track to the live version below. Bryan Ferry enunciates every word clearly; the band members play with totally relaxed precision. The song is all about God. Wow. There is not much Rock’n’Roll that reaches these heights […a mountain so high, high, high] and this is why Roxy Music is my all-time favorite band.
Is this at the level of liturgical chanting and holy high art? Definitely not. In fact the first few lines introduce an element of campy glam-fashion superficiality that is at odds with the rest of the lyrics.
A beautiful song, and to me, truly heavenly Rock’n’Roll.
This song is poetry.
CONNECT/HOOK 