Saturday Song: Strawberry Alarm Clock, "Desiree"

Did you ever hear a song and not realize who sang it? That happened to me in June of 1970. To me, Strawberry Alarm Clock was a psychedelic band which had the hit "Incense Peppermints back in 1967. This new song didn't sound at all like it was from the same band.

Hear Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Desiree"

Twenty-four years later, I found out that this song was sung by Strawberry Alarm Clock. On the CD of their best hits, I could hear the change in the band's sound. Even so, it was the same group of musicians who recorded all those great songs.

So too is God the same throughout history. Look at what Malachi 3:6 (KJV) says. "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."

Though we now are in the New Testiment age, God is still consistant in his character. Cults like Islam and the Mormons say our relationship with him has changed but it hasn't. Old Testament and New Testament believers are saved the same way, no matter who they are or where they came from.

So, what do you think of the song and what I've written? Please leave me a comment in the box below. If you don't feel like it, have a lovely weekend anyway.

Stay tuned for my next blog post. It's in reference to a certain American comedian and his famous phrase.

MEMORIES OF DESIREE

Have you ever noticed the way interrelated things tend to cluster together at times in your life? It certainly happens to me quite often. I'll hear of the same Bible verse being discussed by two or more unrelated pastors or radio preachers. Sometimes I'll be thinking of a song and then I hear it on the radio. Usually these coincidences are unremarkable. I forget them after a while because they didn't make much of an impression on me.

Not so with one of those coincidences back in June of 1970. Neil Diamond released a great tune called "Desiree." It received quite a lot of airplay on the Vancouver radio stations which I tuned in. If I remember correctly, KJR in Seattle also played it often. What struck me most about the song is that I heard it on the third of June. The coincidence of Neil writing about that date and me hearing the song that day stuck in my mind.

At the same time, Strawberry Alarm Clock released a song called "Desiree." I didn't recognize the band as they sounded so different from there "Incense And Peppermints" hit back in 1967. Even so, the fact that two unrelated songs should have the same title also made an impression on me.

Furthermore, I'd never heard of anybody named Desiree. The name sounded exotic. It also sounded like a nice name. That too helped impress the songs and the time of year on my mind.

Rock music has played a big part in my life. Ever since the arrival of The Beatles on the North American scene in 1964, I've loved that style of music.

But there were people in charge of me at the school for the blind who hated it. I was told that it was bad music and I ought to be listening to classical compositions.

I was rebuked by Christian elders as well once I was mainstreamed into the public school system. The leaders of the house church I attended called it satanic and even warned that I might be possessed by a demon if I listened to it. Nothing of the sort happened. In fact, the music I loved from the sixties and seventies is now considered classic rock. You can even hear it played over the public address systems in malls and grocery stores. Perhaps we'll even hear both Desiree songs played someday.

I wrote about the static I received regarding my love of Rock music in my second and third memoirs. Please check them out at my Bruce Atchison's books page as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powell's Books.