Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

• Hebrews 13:5

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

• Isaiah 14:10

Usually, you see the lyrics here, but I saved them for the punchline.

I have written about how, when marching with my platoon, I could be out of step by the fourth or fifth step.

I was in a song and dance troupe in the military, but after about ten steps into a dance number, the troupe voted that I would take care of the comedy.  I would participate in the song, but when it came to the dance, I was not allowed on stage.

I have written about how I had a hard time getting to the first date throughout high school and getting to the second date throughout college.  I lived ten miles out of town on a country road with old folks for neighbors.  I lived a lonely life.

I have written about how my wife loved odd ducks.  I was the oddest, so I won.  I guess.  Maybe I was the duckiest?

After my wife passed away, I have been in a three-bedroom house all by myself except for about ten days during the memorial service when my son and his family tried to clean up the mess that is this house.  So, I have returned to my lonely life.

Well, I was walking through the living room this morning, out of step as usual, and I heard a song sung by Billie Holiday.  I stopped in my tracks.  I had just discovered a song that describes my entire life story.

But there is only one problem with it.  With Jesus in my heart, I am not the loneliest man in town.

And I cannot believe it has taken me this long to get around to Irving Berlin.  I can’t believe Irving Berlin wrote this silly thing!

“‘Cause he ain’t got rhythm
Every night he sits in the house alone
‘Cause he ain’t got rhythm
Every night he sits there and wears a frown

[Verse 2]
He attracted some attention
When he found the fourth dimension
But he ain’t got rhythm
So no one’s with him, the loneliest man in town

[Bridge]
Oh!, lonely man is he
Bending over his books
His wife and family
Keep giving him dirty looks

[Verse 3]
‘Cause he ain’t got rhythm
When they call him up it’s to call him down
With that daring aviator
He encircled the equator
But he ain’t got rhythm
So no one’s with him, the loneliest man in town”

• Irving Berlin, He Ain’t Got Rhythm

Here is Alice Faye and the Ritz Brothers dancing to and singing He Ain’t Got Rhythm.  This was part of the movie On the Avenue (1937).

Here is the Teddy Wilson Orchestra, Teddy Wilson on the piano, and Billie Holiday (also in 1937) singing He Ain’t Got Rhythm.

And this may be in the realm of Too Much Information (TMI), but I was tapping my feet and patting my chair arms with my hands while making sure the links to the videos worked, and before the end of the first verse… Each foot and each hand had gotten out of rhythm with the music, and none were in step with any other foot or hand. The greatest could never pull that off if they tried. I wasn’t trying, and I have no idea how I did it, and all by the end of the first verse! Hmmm. Was Irving Berlin prophetic?

Other than God will never forsake His own, this was mostly for the fun of it.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.