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01/08/2017
A short reflection and prayer with Rev Dr Lesley Carroll.
Last on
Tue 1 Aug 2017
05:43
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
Prayer for the Day Script - Rev Dr Lesley Carroll
Good morning.Β
It was 1960 and a dance took feet and swept across America and into Britain- the Twist. It was very different to the slow foxtrot or the quickstep; in some circles it was condemned as being too provocative. Β Its origins can be traced back to this day in 1960. In Baltimore USA . A disc jockey called Buddy Dean was playing a song called The Twist which started it with the words βCome on baby, let's do the twistβ. He recommended it for a national television show where it was performed by an 18 year old singer called Chubby Checker. It became a smash hit and Checker became a successful performer.Β
Yet I have to feel a bit sorry for Hank Ballard and the Midnighters who had released The Twist on a disc in 1959. Chubby Checker built on their success. But even Hank Ballard had used an old idea, for the twist that had appeared in songs long before him.Β
It is said there is nothing new under the sun. That saying comes from the book of Ecclesiastes β what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. The same idea is found in other sayings: history repeats itself, or who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it.
If you feel like there is nothing new, no breaking the cycle, no way out, then let me share a prayer based on words from a man of simple faith β St Francis of Assisi:
Lord teach us to start by doing whatβs necessary; then help us to do whatβs possible, so that we may rejoice when suddenly we are doing the impossible. Amen.
It was 1960 and a dance took feet and swept across America and into Britain- the Twist. It was very different to the slow foxtrot or the quickstep; in some circles it was condemned as being too provocative. Β Its origins can be traced back to this day in 1960. In Baltimore USA . A disc jockey called Buddy Dean was playing a song called The Twist which started it with the words βCome on baby, let's do the twistβ. He recommended it for a national television show where it was performed by an 18 year old singer called Chubby Checker. It became a smash hit and Checker became a successful performer.Β
Yet I have to feel a bit sorry for Hank Ballard and the Midnighters who had released The Twist on a disc in 1959. Chubby Checker built on their success. But even Hank Ballard had used an old idea, for the twist that had appeared in songs long before him.Β
It is said there is nothing new under the sun. That saying comes from the book of Ecclesiastes β what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. The same idea is found in other sayings: history repeats itself, or who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it.
If you feel like there is nothing new, no breaking the cycle, no way out, then let me share a prayer based on words from a man of simple faith β St Francis of Assisi:
Lord teach us to start by doing whatβs necessary; then help us to do whatβs possible, so that we may rejoice when suddenly we are doing the impossible. Amen.
Broadcast
- Tue 1 Aug 2017 05:43ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
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