MYSTIC EYES
There is a moment in the middle of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ version of Van Morrison’s Mystic Eyes that not only showcases the wonder of transcendence in art but if you listen more carefully you might even sense the very reason for rock n roll. Petty slows the band down and brings a little dramatic hush before going into a spoken word...
“And I thought to myself... wouldn’t it be great if just for one moment everything was alright... I want to give that to you babe, I want to give you a moment... where everything is alright... a moment where everything’s good, everything’s safe, everything’s warm... where everything is alright...”
As Petty assumes the role of preacher you can sense that this is indeed what rock n roll has always been about. It has been people who played to turn things alright. Whether it was the bluesman needing to fix what was so badly wrong, the young pop lovers gazing into each other’s eyes or the social justice agenda highlighted in Live Aid or Live 8 music has had a liturgical role at putting things right. Many trees have been cut down to feed the books that have called rock music destructive, and there are no doubt times when it has been used as such, but Petty somehow touches its very essence here and reveals its transformative hope and function.
That Petty should choose Van Morrison to attempt the transcendent should not surprise. Morrison has been making the ordinary little back alleys and chip shops of Belfast seem transcendent for years. Indeed when I heard Petty’s cover for the first time it was his Thirtieth Anniversary Concert from his hometown of Gainesville, Florida and I was even more excited at the lines “I was walking on University Avenue...” My old college room at Queens’ University Belfast looked out onto that very avenue, just about twenty yards from the Fitzroy he made a little less ordinary on his Astral Weeks record. I was buzzing for weeks that Petty had declared the purpose of rock as he sang about my street and how it made my straight a lot more extraordinary. Then I sought out the Them version and there was no University Avenue in their lyric. So where did Petty get Morrison’s geographical streets? Eventually having Googled ‘University Avenue’ I found one right in the heart of Petty’s own Gainesville. He was contextualising it in his place not mine. Still, about a year later I became the minister of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church and it, as already mentioned. is canonized so I can rest easy!
What Petty is doing, and what Morrison was the king of, was lifting the ordinary mundane streets of any town and giving them a significance way beyond the temporal. There is something going on that can be caught if we are acutely aware. If our souls are spiritually sensitive to the moment then heaven can peek out from “the brown brick spine of some dirty blind alley”[i] and illuminate life and eternity. Oh to have... or to look into those Mystic Eyes.
Hi,
This is Vicky Silvers, Asst. Editor for Christian.com which is a social network made specifically for Christians, by Christians, to directly fulfill Christian's needs. We embarked on this endeavor to offer the ENTIRE christian community an outlet to join together as one (no matter denomination) and better
spread the good word of Christianity. Christian.com has many great features aside from the obvious like christian TV, prayer request or even find a church/receive advice. We have emailed you because we have interest in collaborating with you and your blog to help us spread the good word. I look
forward to an email regarding the matter, Thanks!
God Bless,
Vicky Silvers
vicky.silvers@gmail.com
Posted by: Vicky Silvers | 15/04/2010 at 03:56 PM