The toddler was having a temper-tantrum the other day, and I found myself singing to her the "Have Patience" song from Music Machine. Which of course then immediately caused me to think, "Hey, remember Music Machine? Was that actually a big thing, or was that just me?"
[Sidenote: I've often noticed that a lot of the Christian songs and other media I remember from childhood is not well documented on Wikipedia. Would it surprise you to learn that there's only a skeleton article on Wikipedia about Psalty the Singing Songbook? And there's no Wikipedia entry for the Sunday School standby "Rise and Shine (Arky, Arky)". And a lot of other Christian children's songs and media. I don't know if this is because of an oversight on Wikipedia's part, or maybe it just goes to show how provincial my own upbringing was. I assumed everyone knew those songs, but maybe it was just my community?]
Anyway, Music Machine is on Wikipedia. Wikipedia links it to a whole series of albums about Agapeland, which include Bullfrogs and Butterflies.
...and I thought, "Oh yeah! I'd forgotten all about Bullfrogs and Butterflies. I used to have that album as a kid. We played it all the time.
and then I went to Youtube to listen to it.
It's a strange thing re-discovering something from your childhood, isn't it? I think we've all had this experience with something or other. Maybe it wasn't Bullfrogs or Butterflies in your particular case, but we've definitely all had this experience. Listening to it, and thinking "Oh yeah! I remember this. I had completely forgotten this exists, but now that I'm listening to it, all the memories are flooding back. I remember how I used to feel as a child when I listened to this song."
There are a lot of slow songs on this album which I didn't like as a kid, and which try my patience even now. But I really loved the upbeat songs when I was a kid. There's a real sense of polished presentation. (These aren't so much campfire songs as they are professional media--it wouldn't be entirely out of place in a Disney cartoon.) Combined with the cartoon pictures on the record, it always made me feel like it was part of a magical world.
What's really interesting is listening to the song Noah. I used to love this song as a kid, and I still like its bouncy feeling now.
Bullfrogs And Butterflys - Noah
...but man, is the upbeat tune of this song ever at odds with the actual story! The story of God wiping out almost all life on earth is told with such a happy bouncy song.
I mean, I guess the same is true for Arky, Arky, but at least Arky, Arky skips over the parts where everyone dies. Not this song: "As the rain came tumbling down, everything around was drown"
The assumption seems to be that because the story is in the Bible, it is therefore a happy story suitable for kids. An assumption in much of Christian children's media. (I'm reminded of what Yale Professor Christine Hayes says in her lectures on the Old Testament: "The Bible is not for children. Those Bible stories for kids book? They scare me.")
And guess who is singing on this album? According to Wikipedia, none other than Barry McGuire--the Eve of Destruction guy.
Todd in the Shadows has a brilliant video on Barry McGuire's career (worth watching, if you haven't seen it already)
ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire
At the end of the video, he mentions that Barry McGuire turned his career into singing Christian kids music. But I hadn't realized it was the exact same Christian kids music I grew up with.
Oh God! My coffee! My keyboard!
ReplyDeleteI was a "young adult" in the early 80s, and it did not matter how desperately I wanted to drown these musicals out with AC/DC or Def Leppard, there was simply no escaping them. Churches were utterly saturated with these songs. McGuire should really, by rights, be a very rich man. Alas, he never demonstrated much of a nose for the deal. Musicians, eh?
"Dawn of Correction" -- giggle!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't much familiar with McGuire's 60s output, though I knew he was deeply embedded in The Scene. We had a copy of Cosmic Cowboy that I gave a LOT of play back in the 70s. Hey, it was the closest thing to actual rock music that we had in the family collection of LPs. Then Larry Norman showed up, and Resurrection Band, et al and it was buh-bye Barry. I still think of him fondly, though, and have to tip my hat to his attempt to resurrect the Eve of Destruction theme by incorporating environmental concerns. Not exactly a recipe for "Christian" success, the only market he can call his own right now.
Wup -- that last comment was supposed to be a "thanks for posting that last video" but I got distracted.
ReplyDeleteYou've kind of answered this question already with your second comment, but... was it widely known in the churches in the early 1980s that this album was by the "Eve of Destruction" guy? (I was too young to know who Barry McGuire was in the early 80s. I knew who he was by the time I became a classic rock buff in college, but never realized he was on these albums until just now.)
ReplyDeleteAnd while I'm asking questions: I hadn't heard this album in so long I forgot it existed. But then again, I'm out of the church scene nowadays. What's your feeling? Do people still listen to Bullfrogs and Butterflies?
Oh, yeah. I mean, "Eve Of Destruction" was printed on EVERYTHING promoting Christian Barry McGuire -- we had a legitimate TALENT in our camp now! Must say I prefer his more dulcet tones in his born-again phase than I do the croaky Grandpa Froggy tones of his protest song days.
ReplyDeleteI think this stuff still gets played in the same circles, but I'm probably the wrong guy to ask. But as you note, it's cheerful music no matter how dreadful the source material might be. Kids prefer cheerful music first, before they graduate to the more nuanced modes.
Yeah, quite a different in voices, isn't it? I would never have known it was the same guy if I hadn't stumbled upon it on Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteIn the video, Todd in the Shadows hints that the voice is something of an act. (I think he says something about how that was an accepted sound style in the 1960s). The fact that he sounds completely different in Bullfrogs and Butterflies means it must have been something of an act.