The Greatest Songs of All Time - Part 4

Good Run of Bad Luck - Clint Black

Great Song, with video from one of my favorite movies of all time.

Country doesn't get any better than this!

The Greatest Songs of All Time - Part 3

Back In The USSR - Paul McCartney (The Beatles)

(Popular)

OK, maybe Back In The USSR is not one of the greatest songs of all time, but this performance deseves special recognition: Paul McCartney is performing on the Marquee of the theatre where The Fab Four debuted 45 years earlier on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.

This video elicits both nostalgically sad and happy emotions, but most importantly,

eternally grateful praises in me.

Sad, because of how people make the wrong people and things idols in their life.

The Beatles were nothing more than performers - Human just like the rest of us.

Sadly, John Lennon was murdered just a few blocks north of this theatre.

Happy, because The Beatles bring back many happy memories of growing up in Orange, NJ. (My old Rock Band used to play Back In The USSR)!

And ETERNALLY GRATEFUL that in spite of all the changes in the past 45 years,

(Paul McCartney points out that even the USSR doesn't exist anymore)

Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

The Greatest Songs of All Time - Part 2

SIR DUKE - Stevie Wonder

(Popular)

A Musical Genius saluting another Musical Genius!

ENJOY !!!

It Had Better Be Tonight - Michael Buble

(Popular)

Michael Buble is a good singer, but he does not have what I consider an exceptional voice.

What I like most about Michael Buble is he sings great songs, with fantastic arrangements.

The orchestra on It Had Better Be Tonight is phenominal.

Bandstand Boogie - Barry Manilow

(Popular)

This is the only video I could find with Barry performing this classic theme song from Dick Clark's American Bandstand..

Unfortunately, you have to suffer through 4:24 of the video before you get to the song. I suggest just fast-forwarding to the 4:24 mark.

You Can't Sit Down - The Dovells

(Popular)

Just hard-drivin', Hammond Organ and Saxophone-powered, Rock & Roll.

Bruce Springsteen's version doesn't even come close.

This is getting really scary...

The more I learn about Barack Hussein Obama,

The more afraid I become.

The Greatest Songs of All Time

I just realized I've been spending WAY TOO MUCH time complaining about Barack. It's time to blog about enjoyable things!

So, starting today...

I am going to compile what I believe are the greatest songs of all time - - - both secular (popular) and Christian.

Generally speaking, they will be in no order of favorites as to which is "#1" and so forth, as I enjoy all the songs equally. (With two notable exceptions for the Christian Genre: I unabashedly state the two songs I believe are the greatest.)

I will be posting (actually, paying tribute) to the songs as they come to mind - - - and in many cases, after I locate it on YouTube or elsewhere.

Feel free to agree, disagree, or suggest other songs for the list.

I hope you enjoy listening and watching in the days, weeks, and months to come.

Young At Heart - Frank Sinatra

(Popular)

Young At Heart would have been a hit even if I recorded it! (Well, OK, maybe not me!)

More Today Than Yesterday - The Spiral Staircase

(Popular)

One of the two songs my wife and I consider "our songs".

Enough said...

Never My Love - The Association

(Popular)

"Our Song" #2

Cat's In The Cradle - Harry Chapin

(Popular)

One of the most powerful songs ever written.

An absolute Masterpiece!

The Walk - Sawyer Brown

(Popular)

This song is incredible. Mark Miller has one of the best male voices in the world!

Birth of the Blues - Sammy Davis, Jr.

(Popular)

NOTE: This song needs Sammy Davis Jr.'s voice, but this is the only video I could find. Frank, Dean, and (surprizingly!) Johnny do a good job, but nobody sings it better than Sammy.

Baby Grand - Billy Joel & Ray Charles

(Popular)

OK, I admit I'm partial to The Blues, but the Piano Man and The Genius teaming up on Billy Joel's composition is just phenominal! (Unfortunately, this video does not do justice to the incredible blues riffs played by Billy and Ray on the two pianos.)

Amos Moses - Jerry Reid

(Popular)

Granted, the video is extremely dorky, but this is just a great down-home, foot-stompin' tune!

Officer Krupke - West Side Story

(Popular)

There were so many great Broadway shows in the past, picking a best song from a great musical was really tough, but Officer Krupke is hilarious.

Musical Comedy doesn't get any better than this!

Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones

(Popular)

I'm placing this as the last popular song for this list, right before the Christian Songs.

This song has a surprizingly Christian application.

I've posted the words, because Paint It Black conveys quite well how our hearts are black. Though I'm sure Mick Jagger never intended it this way, Paint It Black could be viewed as me admitting I am a sinner, which is the first step in becoming a Christian.

(I do not, however, suggest singing it in Church!)

He's Alive - Don Francisco

(Christian)

One of the two Greatest Contemporary Christian Songs

And my absolute Christian favorite.

I call this a "Story Song".

Watch The Lamb - Ray Boltz

(Christian)

The other Greatest Contemporay Christian Song.

Another "Story Song".

(Sorry about the Spanish Subtitles - I couldn't find the version without them!)

I Want To Be Just Like You You - Phillips, Craig, & Dean

(Christian)

As a father, this is my favorite "Prayer Song".

I hope God answers this prayer with "YES!!!"

I will be posting other songs in the future,

so check back often.

A Post-Racial President?

Note from At My Witz End:

This is an extremely powerful article written by Thomas Sowell, an African American. The white highlighted paragraph is an emphasis I added, for I believe that section passionately summarizes the dillusion to which the media - and the voters - have succombed.

I strongly urge everyone who reads this article to pass it on for others to read.

A Post-Racial President?

by Thomas Sewell

Many people hoped that the election of a black President of the United States would mark our entering a "post-racial" era, when we could finally put some ugly aspects of our history behind us.

That is quite understandable. But it takes two to tango. Those of us who want to see racism on its way out need to realize that others benefit greatly from crying racism. They benefit politically, financially, and socially.

Barack Obama has been allied with such people for decades. He found it expedient to appeal to a wider electorate as a post-racial candidate, just as he has found it expedient to say a lot of other popular things-- about campaign finance, about transparency in government, about not rushing legislation through Congress without having it first posted on the Internet long enough to be studied-- all of which turned to be the direct opposite of what he actually did after getting elected.

Those who were shocked at President Obama's cheap shot at the Cambridge police for being "stupid" in arresting Henry Louis Gates must have been among those who let their wishes prevail over the obvious implications of Obama's 20 years of association with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Anyone who can believe that Obama did not understand what the racist rants of Jeremiah Wright meant can believe anything.

With race-- as with campaign finance, transparency and the rest-- Barack Obama knows what the public wants to hear and that is what he has said. But his policies as president have been the opposite of his rhetoric, with race as with other issues.

As a state senator in Illinois, Obama pushed the "racial profiling" issue, so it is hardly surprising that he jumped to the conclusion that a policeman was racial profiling when in fact the cop was investigating a report received from a neighbor that someone seemed to be breaking into the house that Professor Gates was renting in Cambridge.

For those who are interested in facts-- and these obviously do not include President Obama-- there has been a serious study of racial profiling in a book titled "Are Cops Racist?" by Heather Mac Donald. Her analysis of the data shows how this issue has long been distorted beyond recognition by politics.

The racial profiling issue is a great vote-getter. And if it polarizes the society, that is a price that politicians are willing to pay in order to get votes. Academics who run black studies departments, as Professor Henry Louis Gates does, likewise have a vested interest in racial paranoia.

For "community organizers" as well, racial resentments are a stock in trade. President Obama's background as a community organizer has received far too little attention, though it should have been a high-alert warning that this was no post-racial figure.

What does a community organizer do? What he does not do is organize a community. What he organizes are the resentments and paranoia within a community, directing those feelings against other communities, from whom either benefits or revenge are to be gotten, using whatever rhetoric or tactics will accomplish that purpose.

To think that someone who has spent years promoting grievance and polarization was going to bring us all together as president is a triumph of wishful thinking over reality.

Not only Barack Obama's past, but his present, tell the same story. His appointment of an attorney general who called America "a nation of cowards" for not dialoguing about race was a foretaste of what to expect from Eric Holder.

The way Attorney General Holder has refused to prosecute young black thugs who gathered at a voting site with menacing clubs, in blatant violation of federal laws against intimidating voters, speaks louder than any words from him or his president.

President Obama's first nominee to the Supreme Court is, like Obama himself, someone with a background of years of affiliation with an organization dedicated to promoting racial resentments and a sense of racial entitlement.

An 18th century philosopher said, "When I speak I put on a mask. When I act I am forced to take it off." Barack Obama's mask slipped for a moment last week but he quickly recovered, with the help of the media. But we should never forget what we saw.

Michael & Michaels - 2 Singers Who Died This Year

They both were singers.
They both wanted to enact change.
And they both traveled the world with their message.

But the change they enacted - and the message they delivered - was 100% different.

Michael carried the message of Michael. He was the "greatest entertainer". He was the "lover of children". He was Peter Pan personified, living in his own Neverland.

Michael Jackson served himself. He was, after all, The King of Pop.

Michael Jackson viewed himself as king.

Bobby Michaels, on the other hand, was a servant, using his musical talents in service to The King of Kings!

Bobby Michaels' named his worldwide ministry Musicianairies International, NOT 'Bobby Michaels Ministries'. Even though he started the ministry, Bobby Michaels made sure his ministry would continue, with or without him.

Today, July 16, 2009, as I write these words, Michael Jackson's legacy is selling, in death, more of Michael Jackson: CD's, tee shirts, pictures of himself.

Bobby Michaels' legacy, however, lives on as we speak: His yearly 'Rice for Cambodia' missions trip is at this very moment distributing hundreds of tons of rice to needy people in southeast Asia.

Bobby Michaels passed away on March 31st, but his ministry lives on.

Michael Jackson died on June 25th, but his self-centeredness drags on.

The most important person in Michael Jackson's life was Michael Jackson.

The most important person in Bobby Michaels' life IS Jesus Christ!

Bobby Michaels is now with his King!

Sadly, for all eternity, I'm afraid Michael Jackson is with his.