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| Courtesy of happyeastertoyou.com |
Commentary
In many ways, Easter is perplexing; ir's, by far, the holiest day on the church calendar. yet when it comes to seasonal music, almost every pop artist seems to have released one or more Christmas albums, yet hardly anyone (at least to the extent of what I am aware) has ever released an Easter album. I try to address that with a string of mostly pop hits listed below.There are several fond memories I have of the Easter season, including the perennial Easter basket which phased out by early adulthood. (I had a particular fondness for white chocolate.) I haven't had any Easter candy to speak of since then.
There's one memory I've published in the past. I was part of the "in crowd" of the Catholic Newman Center at the University of Houston in the early 80's, as I transitioned from a part-time MBA student to the MIS PhD program. (I left Newman by the year before my dissertation defense; I had broken off a relationship with a young woman who was not a student but lived a couple of blocks south of campus, and she didn't take it well. To be honest, I got freaked out when I went to an Astros game and came back to over a dozen answering machine messages. She was pissed off I didn't ask her to join me, even though I knew she didn't like baseball. After I broke off the relationship, she was determined to have the last word. She wrote a multi-page letter of Merrill Lynch letterhead; I never got past the first paragraph where she basically called me the spawn of Satan. It was impossible to be around her afterwards.)
In any event, I was a lector at Masses, and I recall one Good Friday I participated in a student group narration of the Passion at Mass. I've always been a very good public speaker; I remember taking a speech class at OLL pass-fail, and my professor protested that she would have given me an A; I loved delivering things like a soliloquy from St. Joan. My professor said she could just imagine George Bernard Shaw nodding his approval of my performance. I think I would have made a strong actor, but I knew it was a long shot at best. So at any rate, I quickly accepted the role of Pontius Pilate and gave a biting performance. There was a mildly retarded woman who normally accompanied another Newman regular; she made a beeline to me after Mass and gushed over my performance, saying it reminded her of miracle plays she had attended in her childhood. I remember thinking to myself, "Lady, you do realize I played the most evil man in history, the one who had Christ crucified."
But I specially remember driving home for Easter to San Antonio from Houston during my UH days, I normally stopped at a rest stop along I-10, and you could spell the bluebonnets in bloom.
And, of course, Easter dinner was always a highlight. Normally we had ham, potato salad, pies, etc. I talked to Mom recently, and she mentioned she had been invited to my nearby youngest brother's, bringing her Boston baked beans, a specialty since my youth. I'm not big on baked beans, but I would enjoy a regular portion.
These songs really don't celebrate Easter per se, but most address Christ's ministry versus the mythology of His birth. The first two songs are often played during the holiday season (i.e., Christmas); I particularly like the symbolism of "Morning Has Broken" as the New Day of the Lord's Resurrection. I'm sure people will quibble over what I left in and what I left out. In particular, "Get Together" does not explicitly reference religion at all, but it was promoted by certain Christian/Jewish groups, with an obvious reference to the Second Great Commandment. "El Shaddai" is really more of a Christian pop hit by an iconic star with crossover pop appeal, Amy Grant. I first bought her "Collection" on the strength of a pop duet with Peter Cetera, singer/songwriter from the pop group Chicago. I instantly fell in love with a half-dozen tracks, most prominently "El Shaddai", which completely blew me away the first time I ever heard it. It's my favorite of this collection.
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