The other evening I was out for a walk while Sue was visiting a friend.
I’ve had some kind of portable music device since I was a teenager and I’ve always liked listening to music as I walk. First it was cassette tapes then CD’s and latterly some kind of MP3 player.
On this particular evening I was listening to a playlist of songs that iTunes had automatically created based on one of my favourite songs. Most of the songs on this playlist date back to my cassette tape days and it got me thinking about how many miles some of these songs have travelled with me. Miles walking, miles driving and even miles flying.
The playlist continued and then I heard a few cords and these words:
Sing this with me, this is “40”
I must have heard those words hundreds of times, before they had even been spoke I knew what was coming next:
I waited patiently for the Lord
He inclined and heard my cry
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clayI will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
These words were being recorded in 1983, over 30 years ago and they’ve meant a lot to me through the years. This has been one of my signpost song with signpost words.
Words that have been there as a signpost through exams at school, college and university.
How long to sing this song
How long to sing this song
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song
Words that have been there as a signpost through engagement, marriage and children.
He set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm
Many will see
Many will see and hear
Words that have been there at work and at play.
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
Words that have been there from rental to buying smaller onto buying bigger.
How long to sing this song
How long to sing this song
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song
How long to sing this song? I don’t know but for a long while yet I hope. I like new songs, but I also love high-mileage songs, songs that have formed signposts in my life.
The song is call “40” because it’s based on Psalm 40. That makes them words that are thousands of years old and signpost words for generations.
Those signposts are important markers of where we have come from.
(The picture is of the sunset that night taken on the beach in Southport)
Graham Chastney 