Jesus said to his
disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”
I happen to be a big
Rolling Stones fan, if I haven’t mentioned it in the
past. Whenever I come across that biblical
passage I instantly think of the wonderful Stones’ song, “Salt of the Earth.” This is such an underappreciated song, and it
comes from one of their greatest albums, Beggars Banquet.
This is such a fine song,
you really should have the lyrics before you as you listen.
SALT OF THE EARTH
M. Jagger/K. Richards)
M. Jagger/K. Richards)
Let's drink to the hard
working people
Let's drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Say a prayer for the
common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth
And when I search a
faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange
A swirling mass of gray and black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange
Raise your glass to the
hard working people
Let's drink to the uncounted heads
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead
Let's drink to the uncounted heads
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead
Spare a thought for the
stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio
And when I look in the
faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and black and white
They don't look real to me
Or don't they look so strange
A swirling mass of grays and black and white
They don't look real to me
Or don't they look so strange
Let's drink to the hard
working people
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the hard
working people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the two thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the two thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth
Lets raise our drink
To the salt of the earth
Lets raise our drink
To the salt of the earth.......
To the salt of the earth
Lets raise our drink
To the salt of the earth.......
If you’re only going to own
a couple of Stones albums, the 1968 Beggars
Banquet is a must. It’s one of those
albums where every song reflects another either thematically or musically, and
every song is near perfection. I love in this song the arrangement of acoustic and slide guitars and piano, backed up with a gospel choir. This is the Stones at their best.
Finally a note.
You can read in the Wikipedia entry that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards performed this song post 9/11 for the fallen
in New York City, replacing the line “Let’s drink to the good and the evil” which
I assume was meant as an embrace of all humanity, with the line “Let’s drink to
the good NOT the evil” which was meant to repudiate the terrorist’s actions. You can see that performance on youtube as
well, here.
Let's drink to
the hard working people
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
For no particular reasons, I really never followed "The Rolling Stones" but for what I've read here, "IT" sounds like, they were kind of spiritually salty.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless
Did you know that you can create short links with BCVC and receive $$$$$$ for every click on your shortened urls.
ReplyDelete