Oh, as I’ve said a few times, sometimes these posts write themselves. I’m just the witless scribe.
This morning, one of my favorite Ricochet posters linked to the hymn, Amazing Grace, as performed by Dan Vasc, a 34-year old Brazilian heavy metal singer and YouTube star. A tough pill to swallow, if you’re me, the “heavy metal” business. Not to mention the additional millstone of “YouTube star.”
Still–never say die!–and, on the strength of the love and respect I feel for the poster, I took a look. And I’m so glad I did (note to the unwary: don’t turn the volume to “high” if you’re having difficulty hearing the first verse. Just a thought):
Wow.
This is a soooo much better use of the Internet that that which revolves around freakish, bizarre and loony women spouting freakish, bizarre and loony social culture/sex nonsense, looking for freakish, bizarre and loony followers to make them feel better about their insecure and self-esteemless freakish, bizarre and loony reflected personal images. And vice-versa.
My long-time favorite in a similar musical vein has long been this arrangement of It is Well With My Soul, in which all parts are sung by Sam Robson. In fact, I wrote a post incorporating the song, a few years ago, here:
Vasc’s website makes the point that he does all the singing, and all the instrumentation, himself.
My God. Ain’t technology wonderful.
When it works.
Amazing Grace is a touchstone hymn for me. I remember a beautiful rendition at my stepson Michael’s funeral, just before I and the singer led the congregation in a spontaneous explosion of Three Dog Night’s Joy to the World. It was epic. And I didn’t realize how much of a mark it had made on the parish, and how much it had damaged the self-esteem of the fragile and respectable ladies of the church until they insulted me five years later on the occasion of my mother-in-law’s memorial service:
Crimenutely. If Joy to the World isn’t a Christian hymn, what the hell is?
I’ll never regret, nor forget, that moment, when, in spite of the tears on the part of (among others) the three (count ’em!) officiating priests, we shifted the misery of the service to a celebration of Michael’s life. When people jumped up from the pews and danced.
Just as Michael would have wished.
Dan Vasc’s rendition is a similar celebration of life His. Mine. And everyone else’s.
