Music is a weapon with which love conquers hate.
Scott Mulvahill has been using his isolation down-time to compose a new song, “JOY.” The tune is a lively composition that encourages the listener to find the joyful aspects of life, even when times get tough.
In the lyrics, Mulvahill notes that there are two major factors at work in our own sense of joy. In the first verse he sings:
“Brothers, we are patient and in the rocky ground we work. My hammer is a chorus and my shovel is the verse.”
This suggests that the first avenue to be explored in finding joy is through our own hard work. Maintaining a joyful outlook on life is very much an instance of mind over matter, and an upbeat attitude requires maintenance to keep it fresh and true. When considering how to go about accomplishing this, Scott gives us some direction in the second verse, where he sings:
“I can’t snap my fingers and make the problems go away. Change is God’s department and I’ve filed my complaints.”
Here Mulvahill expresses the second factor, the influence of God. The line tells us that prayer is essential to create meaningful change, be it in the world or within our own hearts.
The music video is a wonderful change of pace for a production conducted during the world’s social isolation. While many artists have made releases during this time, few have left their living rooms. Mulvahill instead took his camera out to the vacant streets and invited his fans to join him. The video is filled with shots of young families dancing around colorful chalk inscriptions of the lyrics.
Some of the fans went above and beyond with their clips, showing off some really impressive sidewalk art, as well as other skills, like the tap-dancing girl who was really quite good. Mulvahill himself looked like he had quite a bit of fun posing with his bass over his shoulders on the line “I can’t hold the weight of the world.” And by the end he is happily pantomiming playing the piano on a chalk keyboard, with random colors smeared across his face.
The whole video is a fun watch from start to finish, and the song is catchy enough to keep you coming back for more. Although it was written well before the recent tensions, it is especially relevant to the current social climate. Perhaps we should all take the cue from Scott and pray for change and that a joyful atmosphere might return to us after these long months of uncertainty.
And today we celebrate...