I’ve shared this song with you before, but it has been six years and warrants another listen. Easter songs are full of joy. On Good Friday there’s a different feel. We know today that joy is indeed on the way, but it is still a somber occasion.

So many of the lines from this song resonate with my soul, touching on deep themes.  Replacing Peter’s sword with a gun, giving a contemporary feel to an old problem: what is the appropriate response when confronted with state injustice? The need to watch and pray, which is timeless. The image of the curtain ripped from top to bottom, as God declares an end to the divide between humanity and our creator. The idea of belief in the face of adversity. I could go on, but you get the point.

It’s Friday, and all seems black, but Sunday is coming. Here’s a song to take us there.

The original is below; the version above is live and reworked. I can’t decide which is more powerful. You choose.

Swirling Eddies – The Twist
from the album “Zoom Daddy”
Words by Terry Taylor, Music by Terry Taylor, David Raven, Jerry Chamberlain and Tim Chander
©1988 Broken Songs

hang on, believe
there’s nothing up my sleeve
i’ve got no magic tricks to save the day
put down the gun
you’re not helping anyone
and i’m not about to run or back away

don’t walk the fence
then come to my defense
i don’t need fair weather kinds of friends around
so watch and pray
as a traitor’s kiss betrays
and rest your feet of clay on shaky ground

chorus
and look me in the face, at least what’s left of it
tell me you still love me just a little bit
or nail me down, break the skin
hard enough to do me in
but don’t leave me hanging
dying and dangling
twisting in the wind

here, touch my side
let doubt be crucified
nailed with your wounded pride
to love’s grim altar
here, taste my flesh
my bloody humanness
i am no phantom guest
no skinless martyr

so taste and feel
there’s nothing to conceal
you always knew the deal
was sacrifice
stand up, be strong
when all you’ve got is gone
i left the light turned on in paradise

chorus

and when the walls cave in
and the curtain’s torn asunder
you’ll know we’re near the end
you’ll hear me in the thunder
and when the sun grows dim
this will be your sign and wonder
that soon we’ll meet again
just like we did last summer