Dont Care Where You Been Sleepin

Lat night I was thinking about some of the Christian music I used to listen to when I was a kid and didn't have control of the...well, back then it was a record player.  There was one record by a family of evangelists --can't remember their names now-- who sang family-friendly songs, one memorable one being about how they taught their godless neighbor how to pray.  I guess I was kind of wondering whatever happened to them.  The kids are all grown now.  Are they still evangelizing?

How do they feel about their parents putting them on record?  I dunno....  Just something to think about, I guess.

But it got me thinking about my absolute favorite Christian musician:  a guy named Don Francisco.  70s haircut, beard, guitar.  And awesome songs.  It's not nostalgia that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up to this day thinking of his song Too Small a Price.

But I also thought of this song, which is over twenty years old now, and it occurred to me.....holy shit, this Don Francisco guy was ahead of his time, man.

Take a listen:
 
Dont Care Where You Been Sleepin

Writing in "God's voice," as he often does, he lays out a vision of Christian belief that explicitly rejects some of the more intolerant aspects of Evangelism.

Witness:

I don't care where you've been sleeping, I don't who's made your bed
I've already gave My life to set you free;
There's no sin you could imagine that is stronger than my love,
And it's all yours if you'll come home again to Me.

The whole thing made me think of my Mom, who played Don Francisco's records for years, and all the crap she's gone through simply for being who she is, and how comforting this kind of thing must have been when faced with all the homophobic hate that basically defines the modern Evangelical movement.

Jerry Falwell was never man enough to say "I don't care where you've been sleeping," that's for damn sure.

Anyway, I highly recommend going to Don Francisco's website and downloading as many of his MP3s (for free!) that you can.  It's good stuff, even if you're a heathen like me.

Recommendations:

Adam, Where Are You?
Gotta Tell Somebody
Don't Care Where You've Been Sleepin'
Come and Follow Me
He's Alive
I'll Never Let Go of Your Hand
Too Small a Price

Happier Times

This is a song about a shattered love affair, but take out a few lines and it describes how I feel about my life circa Christmas 2012.



The relevant parts:

Shape that I’m in
Never let her down a day in my life
Tree’s all around me
As I see the time pass me by

Never trade you for the world
Never do the things I used to
I guess it’s not good enough
This I see

But I’ll remember happier times

Life it hits me
Comes faster now day by day
Places that I’ve been
Are not the places I wanna be

(PS.  The above vid is taken from Smokin' Joe's Live from Albert Hall concert, which is an awesome show for many reasons...one of them being two drummers!)