new old music

So I've been listening to an awesome artist lately. Actually i've been listening to his work and the work of his son. This post is dedicated to the former.


Charlie Peacock. Anyone heard of him? He's still a musician but does a great deal of producing these days. His style is almost "pop" but somehow it's still really good because he's a dang good musician. He recently put out a jazz album and i'm probably gonna get it the next time i have the cash to drop on a cd.

The album to which I've been recently listening is entitled "Everything that's on my mind."
This is a pretty old album. I grew up listening to Charlie Peacock in the car, at Cornerstone and Agape festivals, at home...my parents really like him. I always thought his music was pretty cool but that was about it.

Now i'm reading his lyrics and this guy, my friends, is an amazing lyricist. The music is indeed unique and most excellent, but the words make this stuff really stand out. This album is incredibly deep and he is consistent in the deepness(is that a word?) in all of the albums i've heard from him.

There are two songs specifically that are affecting me in a big way right now. ---

"I've been out here for so long riding fences
I don't know what it finally was
that brought me to my senses
Was it the cold?
Was it loneliness?
Was it my shame at the sickness of my flesh?

Rebuilding fences is an introspective undertaking
there's no diversion to distract you from the deeper aching
I cut the wood
I swung the hammer
Every strike like a flash of understanding

I have to say everything that's on my mind
I cannot keep it bottled up inside of me
I have to pray, it took me far too long to find out
That my weakness is my testimony

All my labor was the protest demonstration
Of a man who had the gall to call conviction condemnation
Till I cried for grace
and I finally meant it
Till I left my pride behind me nailed to those fences

Up in this altitude the cold of night can kill
My fingers got so numb,
My body got so chilled
It seeps into your bones and devastates your will
Oh, I'm not the strongest man
No, I'm not the only man
Who's been broken in those hills

I have to say everything that's on my mind
I cannot keep it bottled up inside of me
I have to pray, it took me far too long to find out that my weakness is my testimony"
"Everything that's on my mind"
-Charlie Peacock

This song has been hitting me like a ton of bricks. I've been thinking a lot this break about being honest with God, with myself, and with other people and the freedom that results. Like i said in another blog, I'm reading the Ragamuffin Gospel again and am being reminded of the importance of recognizing, admitting and being ok with the fact that i don't have it all together. I have to be honest with Him, myself and others or it'll stay inside me to rot. He gives grace --my weakness is my testimony.

so yeah. really loving that song. Here's another song. I could honestly put the whole album on here but these two are really hitting me because they're kinda where i've been at for a while.

"Just about sundown on the levee road near the old fishin hole
teaching me to shoot straight and true was your only goal
you threw a can up in the air and smiled
I pulled the trigger, missed by a mile, you said:

'Aim a little higher and you can't miss
Bless that can with a shotgun kiss
Aim a little higher, try it again
Aim a little, Aim a little, Aim a little higher'

In later years on a river of tears
I drifted home for awhile
Since shame was the only glory I'd ever known,
I didn't change my style
first night home I got drunk and confused
mistook you for a fool, you were not amused

You said: 'Aim a little higher, 'Cause you're not livin'
All this takin' son and never givin's
gonna catch up to you like a ball of fire
Aim a little, aim a little, aim a little higher

Aim a little higher, you're shooting too low
Aim for the dirt and you'll never know
glorious redemption or heavenly hope
Aim a little, aim a little, aim a little higher'

In those deceptive moments,
In those deceptive days
when the dung and the mire look like the high wire
will there be anyone who loves me enough to say

'Aim a little higher, 'Cause you're not livin'
All this takin' son and never givin's
gonna catch up to you like a ball of fire
Aim a little, aim a little, aim a little higher
Aim a little higher, you're shooting too low
Aim for the dirt and you'll never know
glorious redemption or heavenly hope
Aim a little, aim a little, aim a little higher"

"Aim a little higher"
-Charlie Peacock

i don't feel like giving an analysis of two songs. I'm still kind of chewing on this one. So even if i did write stuff down, i'm not sure it would be very coherent.

so yes...i bought some used cd's of his online cuz my folks only have cassette tapes and most of his old stuff is out of print. Check this stuff out. It's unique and is very very good in my opinion.

have an awesome night guys :)
-dave