Six Blade Knife / Two Edge Sword

"Took a stone from my soul when I was lame."

Dire Straits, Six Blade Knife

Back in the very early eighties I had a cassette of Dire Straits 1978 debut album; Dire Straits. It’s the one with Sultans of Swing on it. I played that cassette in my Walkman until it wore out, then I bought another and sent it, via that same Walkman plus a cassette player in my truck, to the same fate. When I moved to a place where I had a turn table, I bought the LP. These days, when I clean the kitchen or fold laundry and I need to create a playlist on Spotify or build a station on Slacker or Pandora I often start with the song Six Blade Knife from that album to set the tone.

I was the only one of my circle of friends back then who listened to them, and I felt very protective of “my band.” But when their album Brothers in Arms came out in 1985, and with it the astronomically popular single Money for Nothing, it seemed everyone bought that album, cassette, or newfangled compact disc. In fact, Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums recorded digitally when most other bands were still recording in analog. Suddenly everyone was a Dire Straits fan. I tried to explain how I’d been listening to them for years and how these newcomers hadn’t “earned” the right to enjoy what a guitarist friend of mine once described as the, “blues guitar on ludes” craftsmanship of lead guitarist Mark Knopfler.

I have since abandoned my crusade to enlighten others as to my superior appreciation of the band. Because of the popularity of Brothers in Arms, Mr. Knopfler and the rest of Dire Straits have amassed enough wealth to free themselves up to produce whatever kind of music they want, without the worry of whether it is “marketable” or not, which should be the way all artists create, but more often than not, it is not. Other people’s appreciation, celebration, or elucidation of the band doesn’t change my enjoyment of them one whit, and with that freedom afforded to those musicians comes superior music/art. It’s win, win.

This time of year certain TV pundits or even politicians are ranting about what they describe as the War on Christmas. They are upset about retailers using phrases like Happy Holidays in their commercials, banners, flyers, and other marketing material instead of Merry Christmas. They are offended when governors from the other end of the political spectrum speak of “tree-lighting” ceremonies without the word Christmas preceding it. They suggest that there is a conspiracy to rid the holiday season of all Christian tradition and references, and to eventually turn the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years, and our fair nation into a secular paradise.

Businesses use Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas to maximize the reach of their advertising dollar. Tree-lighting ceremonies are worded in that manner as a way of inclusion; of inviting all members of the community to participate. There are people who would love to see this country as completely secular, but they are not the people who make the decisions about TV commercials for an oak furniture store’s “Holiday Sales” or who write copy for tree-lighting ceremonies at state capitols.

No one is preventing those who see the birth of Jesus as the “reason for the season” from celebrating in that exact fashion. But are those folks trying to prevent those who don’t subscribe to the celebration of a saviors birth during December but instead just give presents, hold dinner parties, and put up lights from celebrating in that manner? Is that a two-edged sword?

There is also the idea that some people who attend church, service, or mass every Sunday complain about the people called CEOs (Christmas and Easter Only) showing up and crowding their parking lots and pews a couple of times a year. Perhaps they don’t feel these CEOs have “earned” the right to the choice seats at what they see as the most important services of the year, just like I didn’t think newcomers to Dire Straits earned the right to be a fan back in ’85.

I can’t see the harm in allowing some people to only attend church twice a year. For those two days are not the collection plates fuller, is not the message reaching more ears? Can that be anything but a good thing in the steady church-goer’s eyes?