Several people have asked me, “Why Stick Out Your Tongue? What does it mean?” Even my wife has asked me where it came from. I think the assumption is that it has naughty implications. I’m sure you can make anything suggestive, but it was never intended that way. The origins of using this phrase in a song and the inspiration for the song itself are not complicated.
The song Seven Times Seven Times Seventy-seven is based on The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18. The title of the song comes from Jesus response to a question from Peter.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 18:21-22
For many of my songs, I try and go against the grain of normal thinking about familiar Bible Stories. The idea for A Cave in Bethlehem came from the fact that many of the stables in the region where Jesus was born were caves instead of the wooden structures we see in modern nativity scenes. I also thought about the barns and stables that I have been in. They are not clean environments. Just the thought of putting a baby in a manger with hay isn’t something we would want to do today.
My pastor was preaching a sermon about Pentecost. He was discussing speaking in tongues. My mind tends to drift during some sermons and this was one of those times. I began thinking of how the concept of speaking in tongues is different in the story from Acts than it is in later parts of scripture and even what we typically experience today.
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Acts 2:2-13
Several years ago, I wrote a song called The Belly of the Whale. It was based on the familiar story from the first three chapters of the book of Jonah. In the story, Jonah is called to preach to the people of Nineveh, he runs away from God, is swallow by a whale, is spit up after three days and he finally goes to Nineveh to preach where the people turn to God. My song stopped at this point in the story. This is also the point where most people stop when they are telling the story of Jonah. But there is one more chapter in the book.
My song Neighbor is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. The song has 5 verses and each verse has its own melody. It works like a round. Each verse gives voice to a different person related to the parable.
Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.”
-Exodus 15:21
This verse of scripture is identified at Mariam’s Song in most of my Bibles. The verses prior to it in Exodus 15 are identified as Moses Song. Moses Song is an account of crossing the Red Sea while Mariam’s Song focuses on Pharaoh’s army being destroyed. These songs immediate follow that Exodus account of the crossing of the Red Sea. I was inspired by Mariam’s Song to write a chorus for a song about this story. Here is my chorus:
Oh no! What do I see?
Pharaoh’s chariots coming after me.
Praise the Lord, Mighty is He
The horse and the rider drowned in the Red Sea
I decided that I wanted to write a song about the Bible verse, “the lion will lie down with the lamb.” It turns out that this is one of those things everyone thinks is in the Bible but its not. The closest thing to this is in the eleventh chapter of the book of Isaiah. In verse 6 it says,
“The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.”
I didn’t let this discourage me from going ahead and writing a song about this passage of prophesy about a coming Messiah. I wanted to stick with the original groupings of animals in the verses. I decided that whenever I performed this song, I would emphasize the fact that this is different from what everyone thinks is in the Bible. I think it helps people pay more attention to what the scripture and ultimately what the song has to say.
When I wrote Every Other Day, I started with the idea of doing a blues tune that would be similar to B. B. King’s “Every Day I Have the Blues”. I was playing around with the idea that white people can’t have the blues. Or at least that white people can’t play or sing the blues.
I know plenty of white guys that do a great job of playing the blues. Singing the blues is harder for white people without just trying to sound black. People who know me well know that I enjoy listening to entertainer who don’t really have the chops to perform the type of music they are trying to perform. I came up with the idea that maybe a white guy like me might be able to play the blues right at least some of the time. If B. B. King has the blues every day, maybe I could at least try to have the blues every other day. I also considered that on the days that I don’t have the blues, things would be going pretty good for me. This is the basic idea behind the chorus of the song and established what I would describe in the verses.
While many of my songs are based directly on specific incidents, Cosmetic School Graduation is an exception. I have never fallen in love with anyone that cut my hair and I’ve never gone to a cosmetic school for a cheap haircut. I’ve had several real life experiences that were inspiration for this song. This is the story behind the song.