Living Forever

Living Forever

Two songs from Genesis caught my attention last night. I was listening to We Can't Dance, the bands last real album, as Phil Collins left the band shortly after it was recorded. I chuckled as I realized that some of the topics were very adult. No, not in that sort of way. Adult in the sense that they were singing about problems and issues and topics that adults would care about, as opposed to the average youth.

In Living Forever Collins complains about how "they" tell us to do one thing to stay healthy and live longer one day, and then, based on new research, tell us the complete opposite another. It was really quite funny to think that the band was doing something very Rock & Rollish in writing an angsty (for adult contemporary) song complaining about people telling us how to be. Only this is middle age and not teenage angst. The album closes with a fitting tribute to the band's past, which seems to acknowledge that the band was coming to a close. Fading Lights remarks that "these are the times of our lives" and urges us to "remember."

At this point, I was struck by the fact that life and times are passing. We watched a concert by geriatric rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis the other night. He is 71 and he looks it. It got me thinking about the age of some of my favorite musicians, many of whom are in their mid 50's. In the short span of Rock & Roll's history, the originators of the movement (those who survived into old age) are getting older and will soon be passing on, and now the second and third generation of rock musicians are in their 50's and 40's. Phil Collins is 55, Neil Peart is 54. Even Eddie Vedder, who's band Pearl Jam was spearheading the youth-driven Grunge movement as recently as the early 90's, is now 41 (having outlived several of his contemporaries in the Grunge scene).

In the long span of history, Rock & Roll is a fifty year old phenomenon. It remains to be seen if history will regard it's members as worth noting in say, two or three hundred years. Eventually, it's progenitors will be mere memories, and will only remain for those who "remember." Something that in my lifetime and over the last half century has seemed so important to so many people is very transient, and may well be a very temporary and perhaps inconsequential movement when history rolls on.

A friend of mine is fighting a life-threatening medical condition, and his quality of life may never be the same. I was reminded by my Mom yesterday to be thankful of things like the ability to take a walk on a pleasant day. In the past I've had a habit of marking when the seasons change by saying to myself, "enjoy this spring [summer, fall, etc.], you may never see another one like it." I realized yesterday that I have come to expect a certain constancy from life. I may think to myself that this might be the last spring I experience, but mentally I also note that it will come again, just like it did last year. Likewise, I get a certain feeling every time I take the exit for Fortification street, which leads to my neighborhood. Having lived in Belhaven for over six years now, there have been many times in the past where I've noted that exit sign and thought, "this might not be home forever," yet I've come to expect that it will be.

But it won't be. The Bible reminds us that this world is not our home, but that we seek a heavenly dwelling place. The things of this earth are passing. Psalm 90 reminds us, "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away." Ephesians 5 says, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

I recently read an interview with Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. He was asked why he thought that Dark Side of The Moon was such an enduring recording. He answered, "I think Roger's [Waters] lyrics work incredibly well, they are still relevant today and, rather extraordinarily, they are particularly relevant to an older generation. They could have been written by a 40- or 50-year-old rather than by a 20-something-year-old. The thing about time passing and losing out and all the rest of it." It is interesting that, in an art-form that glorifies youth and creates a facade that tries to defy the passage of time, one of Rock's highest selling and most enduring statements is about the fleeting nature time.

The shortness of time is universally relevant, and something that everyone must deal with. The Psalmist reminds us that time is short and then comes judgment. Many hope to prolong their lives, but they are ignoring the inevitable; "Who considers the power of Your anger, and Your wrath according to the fear of You?" Judgment awaits those who do not fear God for His justice and trust in Christ for His mercies. The Psalmist's prayer is timeless and true when he says, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."


Sorry is the fool who trades his soul for a corvette
Thinks he'll get the girl, he'll only get the mechanic
What's missing?
He's living a day he'll soon forget

That's one more time around, the sun is going down
The moon is out, but he's drunk and shouting, putting people down
He's pissing,
He's living a day he'll soon forget...

That's one more time around, there is not a sound
He's lying dead clutching Benjamins
Never put the money down
He's stiffening
We're all whistling
A man we'll soon forget
- Pearl Jam