Iron Mountain ski jump

Iron Mountain ski jump

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Something Special On the Mind-In Honor of Joe Frazier

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter… ©

Today is the birthday of the late Joe Frazier, who was the baritone in The Chad Mitchell Trio and an Episcopal priest. The CMT was always my favorite folk trio, from the time I first heard the guys in the 1960s, but Joe and I did not meet until a few years ago, because of our shared “strange calling.” At this time of year I would always remind him that he was older than I [by 3 weeks] and he would reply, “How can I forget when you keep reminding me?” Here’s a song I wrote about the way Joe saw the Gospel, and his calling to proclaim it.


SOMETHING SPECIAL ON THE MIND
The Ballad of the Good Mexitan [Luke 10:25-37]

I went down to Mexico,
Not so very long ago,
With nothin’ special on my mind.
There I went into an inn,
To engage a little sin,
Then I had something special on my mind;
Oh, yes!
I had something special on my mind.

But in the corner lay a man,
He’d been beaten head and hand,
He’d been beaten and robbed and left behind.
And for those who done the beatin’,
And for those who done the leavin’,
He had something special on his mind;
Boilin’ oil!
He had something special on his mind.

He’d been lyin’ by the way,
Nearly half the day,
When a bankin’ man came by.
The victim had no money, the banker thought it mighty funny,
But he had something special on his mind;
Compound interest!
He had something special on his mind.

His lights were almost out,
He had no breath to give a shout,
When a priest of the church came by.
The man he was a bleedin’,
But the priest, he had a meetin’,
He had something special on his mind;
Holy Moley!
He had something special on his mind.

He was just about to die,
He couldn’t even heave a sigh,
When there came one of those, well, you know the kind.
And I’ll never understand,
But he stopped… and helped the man,
I guess he, too, had something special on his mind;
Jesus Christ!
He had something special on his mind.

John Robert McFarland
johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

The “place of winter” mentioned in the title line is Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [The UP], where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.]

I used to keep a careful index of all the things I told in this blog so that I would not repeat. That has become unwieldy. Now I just trust to memory. Sorry about that.

I have also started an author blog, about writing, in preparation for the publication, by Black Opal Books, of my novel, VETS, about four handicapped and homeless Iraqistan veterans who are accused of murdering a VA doctor, n 2015. http://johnrobertmcfarland-author.blogspot.com/

I tweet as yooper1721.

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