Awsome JCB Song

JCB Song

JCBSONG by Nizlopi: Monkeehub presents a music video to the single ‘JCB’ by band ‘Nizlopi’. It’s way awesome! Don’t forget to read all the credits.

Here’s the story behind the song from the monkeyhub site:

About the JCB song:

Being dyslexic in the early 80’s (oh the irony… give people who can’t spell a word that nobody can spell) Luke’s school days weren’t always that easy. Indeed he was victimized at school, not just by bullies, but by the school itself… so when he sings of “all the bullies and the teachers and their pets…” he knows what he’s talking about and this very much comes from the heart. There were school days when Luke’s Dad would decide he needed some “compassionate leave” and would take him to work, where the five year old would ride proudly on the toolbox of the old JCB and cook up vivid imaginings of diggers morphing into Jurassic monsters, vanquishing his school yard tormentors in a Bruce Lee, B.A. Barachus or Transformer style-lee – such fantasies so masterfully brought to life in Monkeebub’s Animation.

Because JCB Song embodies such real childhood experiences that I’m sure anyone who’s ever had a tough time at school can relate to, it is easy to appreciate why it strikes a chord with so many and has literally captured the hearts and imaginations of thousands (millions?) of people world-wide. Mid-December 2005 saw JCB Song released into the UK and Ireland charts, simultaneously entering at Number 1 and staying in the top ten for 8 weeks amassing 400,000+ sales (Gold Disc) in the UK and selling Double Platinum in Ireland.

While Luke and his father may have been holding up traffic on the by-pass, the adventures had in their “big yellow digger” have inspired floods of people to come see the beautifully playful JCB Song Animation, resulting in jcbsong.co.uk receiving over 1 million hits and counting, and the award-winning video being recognized globally as a work of pure genius. The public response to the song, site and video has been overwhelming with thousands of emails received from all ages, and from all around the globe, expressing their heart felt compassion and enthusiasm for the songs sentiments and Luke’s experiences.

The songs by Nizlopi represent fresh, child-like innocence… remember back when your dad was such a hero that nothing was bigger or better then he? Nobody knew anything as much as he did; nothing he did could let you down. Yeah – it’s that.

Lame

I used to lead worship for our church’s children regularly for about 8 years. During that time I found it necessary to ask kids if they knew what they were singing about.

I recall reading some humorous notes from school teachers where a class had been required to write out the pledge of allegiance (to the flag…).

From that, and through some of the college classes regarding music instruction to grade-schoolers, I understood that children don’t necessarily know what’s going on with the song so you have to ask some basic questions.

So we were singing “Peter and John” also known as “Silver and Gold Have I None”:

Peter and John went to pray
They met a lame man on the way
He asked for alms and held out his palms
and this is what Peter did say:

“Silver and gold have I none,
But such as I have give I thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazereth rise up and walk.”

He went walking and leaping and praising God,
Walking and leaping and praising God,

“In the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazereth rise up and walk.”

Noticing the look of blank seven-year old faces in the crowd I stopped and asked some questions. I could understand the younger kids not understanding the content, but by seven I expect them to understand the gist of the song.

Me: “Does anyone know what lame means?”
only one boy held up his hand – he was about 7 or 8.
Boy: “Boring!”

(Insert snickering from the present teachers)

I know he only understood “lame” in today’s slang context … as in “That movie was lame.” But there is a hidden allegation that children’s worship is also “lame.”

One of the frustrations felt as a worship leader is that the children expected to be entertained. Their short attention span could only be held by a laser-light smoke-machine strobe-light pounding hard-core show … or at least some puppets.

Our overabundance of TV watching and video games are designed to under-sensitize children. If you laden their little brains with flashy videos and fast music then you can grab their attention more than your competitors… which means your sponsors are happy.

Those children from homes without much TV – or any TV tend to be more responsive to their environments and definitely hold longer attention spans … and who knows … they might even know, by looking at the social behavior of their peers, the real meaning of “lame.”