Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love?
If I tried to give a sort of intro to this song, I would have to tell enough stories to fill a book... of so many teens who add to the violence because they've never been loved; of police throwing my 60-year-old neighbor woman in the ghetto to the sidewalk and handcuffing her because they were arresting her son and she was crying and frantically begging them in Spanish not to take him, and she didn't understand their English order to step back, of watching a fight from my third-floor window and begging God to fill the street with peace as a woman screamed for the blows to stop hurting her man and my tears fell to the sidewalk far below, of one of my most feared and violent girls hugging me instead of shaking my offered hand when she left and we both knew this was goodbye forever. Oops. Was that a book? Here's the song: (oh, but first scroll to the end of the page and turn off the music player. Is that thing annoying? I kinda' like it, but if it's a pain I'll delete it.)
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5 comments:
Hmm. You definitely interact with contemporary art. Is this Bob Marley?? I didn't recognize the artist. Art is so multifaceted...there's a lot I value in this song...my brother would appreciate the "not-too-quickly-resolved-conflict" thing about it--I think I do too; it's sortof like my life--though I wonder about the value of putting anger and tears in music, it is very powerful...
Rap seeps into your blood when you live in the ghetto. :) But yes, this group is contemporary, the Black Eyed Peas. I haven't listened to them much but this song was recommended to me by the person who sat and watched the song reduce me to tears. :) Bob Marley is an oldie. And yes, I have a thing for his music. There's a song for every mood, and the riffs and rhythms of the reggae genre make their way around the bottom of my soul. All that to say this: so much of discordant lines in life are not resolved for years, if ever. I think it's important to express the tears, anger, and pain in song... it reminds us of the broken places we should be with others... and lets us express our own. Of course, there is healing, beauty, and delirious joy. We need songs expressing and celebrating that, too. But I get so tired of every song having a happy ending when we all know the wounds still exist. Too many of these songs lull us into a warm contentment that keeps us from getting out into the rawness of the lives and places that need some crazy love. There. That's my rant. :)
So who is the main singer?
I don't know which singer belongs to which name, but here's Wikipedia's article about them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Eyed_Peas.
If but for a minute, we would all forget about the singers, the author, the style of music, and listen to nothing but the words of this song... believe it and let it seep into us and transform us....is it not true that my family, church, and local community will likewise be changed? Thanks for posting this....I've loved this song for so long... something about it makes me want to cry.
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