Whatcha Gonna do When Your Number's Up

[Willa]

 

[turtletwo]

Clever words throughout the song driven by a timeless, needed message. 

Poignant questions like:

 Whatcha gonna do when your number's up
And you're buried six feet underground?
Spent your life looking out for number one,
Pride'll come before a fall.
Whatcha gonna do when your number's up?
Were you thinking that was the end of it all??

I owned this LP back in the day. I remember the unique, cool cover. How to describe Steve Taylor? Hilarious but gutsy. Dealt with radical topics for the years he was recording in ( songs were way ahead of their time.) He could do up a serious subject in a silly package. Not an easy task. But he did it well. 

 

[turtletwo]

11 hours ago, Yowm said:

I wonder how that song goes...the one that guy in the back is singing..."Mini "CD__6 Songs". LOL

I got your joke, Yowm. But now that you pointed that out...why DOES it say that?  I mean, cds were not even around in 1983, the year that this was released!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_disc says that 
Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA in 1984

Born in the U.S.A. became the first compact disc manufactured in the United States for commercial release when CBS and Sony opened its CD manufacturing plant in Terre Haute, Indiana in September 1984.

I owned this vinyl record & know it used  to read 'LP' there so I guess they had to redo the cover to nowadays print 'CD' instead...right? But isn't that sort of changing a piece of history?  Or perhaps artistic tampering? They might've had to ask legal permission to make this change? (I know...this is silly. And I'm not losing sleep over it. lol... Just curious.

Sooo What do you think, Yowm? (Since you brought this to my attention...lol)

Anyone? All input is welcome. 

Changing gears, I wanted to share what I found to be an nice overview of Steve Taylor's ministry below. Also, I had no idea Francis Schaeffer wrote to him with his support of his music until I recently came across the following:

I Want to Be a Clone is the title of the debut EP by new wave and post-punk influenced Christian musician Steve Taylor. As in later works, the singer-songwriter mixed criticism of general secular society, for things such as empty materialism and selfishness, with criticism of Christian church organizations, for things such as muddying the gospel message for marketing. Jonathan David Brown produced the work.

After hearing this album, influential Christian author Francis Schaeffer wrote the following to Taylor; "The combination of music and lyrics really works on a very high level, and the message, therefore, comes across with real clarity... in the light of the gifts that the Lord has so obviously given you, and which you obviously developed with care and hard work, I do urge you with all my heart to press on. You are really doing something marvelously worthwhile. I must say the words really cut a wide swath in the need in the church today

[Willa]

My dad was saved by reading a book by Francis Schaeffer.  I think it was something about "He is Not Silent".

I loved Taylor's "I Predict 1990" but few people got the messages.  They were put off by the title and the tarot cards on the cover and didn't really give it a chance.  It was an unfortunate choice by someone. It was as if I said I predict 2019.  If 2019 doesn't come to pass, we will all be gone so It won't make much difference. ? But He was slamming all the fortune tellers and psychics that show up each new year.  That is why he sang at universities.  The listened and got it.  They wouldn't even let him on a campus now.  The spirit of the antichrist.

[turtletwo]

14 minutes ago, Willa said:

My dad was saved by reading a book by Francis Schaeffer.  I think it was something about "He is Not Silent".

I loved Taylor's "I Predict 1990" but few people got the messages.  They were put off by the title and the tarot cards on the cover and didn't really give it a chance.  It was an unfortunate choice by someone. It was as if I said I predict 2019.  If 2019 doesn't come to pass, we will all be gone so It won't make much difference. ? But He was slamming all the fortune tellers and psychics that show up each new year.  That is why he sang at universities.  The listened and got it.  They wouldn't even let him on a campus now.  The spirit of the antichrist.

Wow! Praise the Lord! That is so cool how God helped your dad get saved by reading that book.  Thanks for sharing that. I looked it up online and found this description: "He Is There and He Is Not Silent discusses fundamental questions about God, such as who he is and why he matters." So based on that it looks like a good book to use as a witnessing tool. Did someone give it to your dad? (Or did he buy it because he was spiritually seeking?) 

I am glad you explained about the meaning of the title and the cover of "I predict 1990". That is something I did not know. I am learning new stuff all the time at Worthy.  

I know he got in a lot of trouble for the song on it, "I Blew Up The Clinic Real Good" People actually were foolish enough to think he was promoting that sort of craziness when he was meaning just the opposite. Oh brother!  Common sense is in short supply sometimes. lol Taylor simply used satire to do exposes. Some understood that and appreciated it like Francis Schaeffer. While other folks, well- let's just say Oy Vey! lol

[Willa]

Bless his heart, by dad was saved as a teen but lost his way when he went to Whitman College in Walla Walla.  One of the profs. actually tells his class in humanities that if they are still Christians at the end of it he will not pass them, and it is a prerequisite for graduation.  

Anyhow, my dad got caught up in philosophy back in the 20s and stopped believing in Jesus:  Pride of his education and crafty professors that he admired.  They taught secular humanism among the other philosophers.  My dad still believed in God the Creator and testified to that, but he completely stopped going to church.  Well, I would testify to them occasionally.  A year before he died I gave him Schaeffer's book.  It explains how each of the philosophies, especially the Greeks, would defeat themselves if you reasoned them out to the end.  Of course, he also challenged people to receive Christ.  First my dad was angry saying,: " if this is true then I have built my life on the wrong premise!  I told him that I hadn't read it because it was over my head,  but a lot of people like Billy Graham highly respect Schaeffer.     Anyhow, then my dad called me back and thanked me for the book.  He began getting excited when baseball players and other famous people confessed their faith in Christ.  Then he died of a heart attack a few weeks later.  That was 1978.

[turtletwo]

7 minutes ago, Willa said:

Bless his heart, by dad was saved as a teen but lost his way when he went to Whitman College in Walla Walla.  One of the profs. actually tells his class in humanities that if they are still Christians at the end of it he will not pass them, and it is a prerequisite for graduation.  

Anyhow, my dad got caught up in philosophy back in the 20s and stopped believing in Jesus:  Pride of his education and crafty professors that he admired.  They taught secular humanism among the other philosophers.  My dad still believed in God the Creator and testified to that, but he completely stopped going to church.  Well, I would testify to them occasionally.  A year before he died I gave him Schaeffer's book.  It explains how each of the philosophies, especially the Greeks, would defeat themselves if you reasoned them out to the end.  Of course, he also challenged people to receive Christ.  First my dad was angry saying,: " if this is true then I have built my life on the wrong premise!  I told him that I hadn't read it because it was over my head,  but a lot of people like Billy Graham highly respect Schaeffer.     Anyhow, then my dad called me back and thanked me for the book.  He began getting excited when baseball players and other famous people confessed their faith in Christ.  Then he died of a heart attack a few weeks later.  That was 1978.

Praise God that your dad came to his senses in the nick of time! The Lord is faithful. He knows the beginning from the end. He knew your dad's time was running out. I'm so glad you gave him the book. Thanks for sharing about his journey towards Salvation.