Shed a Little Light

"Shed a Little Light" is a sermon in a song.  I can think of no other artist that has captivated me for so much of my life as James Taylor.  There has not been a single year gone by since my mid High School years that I have not listened to his music, whether his ubiquitous Greatest Hits, new albums as they've been released, or my treasured 2CD live set.  I was lucky enough to see him in concert with my younger sister during my college years sitting on a blanket in the grassy area of Deer Creek.  Now in my 40's I'm finding his early albums at Half Price Books and sharing them with my children.  I met James, figuratively speaking, in the summer of 1986. 

That summer I spent two weeks on the Indiana State University campus for a Summer Honors Seminar that focussed on Chemistry.  My best friend was also participating and it was nice to have someone along I knew and who I could share the experience with.  When it came to roommate assignments that first day of orientation we were paired up with people we didn't know though we were just down the hall from each other.  My friend wanted to ask our respective roommates if they'd do a switcharoo so we could be together but I convinced him it would be a good way to get to know more people in the two short weeks that we would be there and he agreed to stay put.

Turns out it was much easier for me to remain in place than my friend.  His roommate was a real oddball, obnoxious and frequently inappropriate over a wide range of contexts.  I remembered his name for years afterwards but only now cannot recall it.  I don't know if my friend has ever forgiven me for not making that switch the first day but I can't help but think it was somehow meant to be.  I make this strange assertion because of what happened in my friend's room that first week.  I went down one evening on a study break to see what he was up to.  His roommate was playing a tape on his boom box.

The song I heard was James Taylor's "Carolina on my Mind".  I was completely mesmerized and whatever I'd come down to do or say was forgotten as I simply sat down and listened to it.  It was sweet, heart warming, gentle, soulful, and had a richness about it that transported me to I do not know where.  I just know that I had a hard time coming back to the sweltering evening heat of that college dorm room from my reverie.  It was inexplicable to me how my friend's roommate in all of his vulgar glory could be listening to something so pure and sweet.  It was a mystery and in retrospect a testament to James Taylor's wide ranging appeal as a singer-songwriter.  So...

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let us turn our thoughts today

to Martin Luther King

and recognize that there are ties between us

all men and women

living on the Earth

ties of hope and love

sister and brotherhood

That we are bound together

in our desire to see the world become

a place in which our children

can grow free and strong

We are bound together

by the task that stands before us

and the road that lies ahead

We are bound and we are bound

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist

There is a hunger in the center of the chest

There is a passage through the darkness and the mist

And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

(Chorus)

Shed a little light, oh Lord

So that we can see

Just a little light, oh Lord

Wanna stand it on up

Stand it on up, oh Lord

Wanna walk it on down

Shed a little light, oh Lord

Can't get no light from the dollar bill

Don't give me no light from a TV screen

When I open my eyes

I wanna drink my fill

from the well on the hill

(Do you know what I mean?)

- Chorus -

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist

There is a hunger in the center of the chest

There is a passage through the darkness and the mist

And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Oh, let us turn our thoughts today

to Martin Luther King

and recognize that there are ties between us

all men and women

living on the Earth

ties of hope and love

sister and brotherhood

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Thanks James.  You're a one-of-a-kind gent.