Music – Page 2 – Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

On the radio

May 17, 2025

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Mom sang all the time as we were growing up. We never had a piano in our home, because Mom and Dad did not play any musical instruments. They bought me a cheap guitar one year for Christmas and we discussed my taking lessons. That never happened. There just wasn’t enough money in the budget.

My cousin Russ came over with his guitar from time to time and would regale us with tunes like Running Bear. But in his version, Running Bear didn’t love Little White Dove. He ran through the bushes. Russ even brought Jimmie Gately over at least once to play and sing with him. He also brought an album one time by a new comedian, Bob Newhart. The Button-Down Humor of Bob Newhart was the title. We kids were sent to bed early that night.

That was Dad’s instrument of choice, the record player. My talent ran along the same lines as his, but I had to be different from him. I played the radio. Yes, my drug of choice at first was the 9-volt AM model. It was a gift. It went everywhere with me. I did not limit myself to just one flavor on the radio. I was eclectic. KICK was the top 40 station in Springfield, but late at night, I would tune in to WLS from Chicago and other stations from all over the country. KGBX, KWTO, KTTS, and KWFC in Springfield were not enough for me.

Then my brother bought an AM/FM/SW receiver. We listened to broadcasts from all over the world. Springfield even had FM stations, KTTS, KGBX, and KWTO. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? KICK was still the predominant influence in my life. That spawned another childhood desire. To be on the radio as a Disc Jockey or DJ. They were so cool.

Bob Bright woke us every morning with not just music. He also read the news every hour on the hour and added a twenty-second weather report. One morning he was reading the weather, “Thirty percent chance of precipitation throughout the day.” And he went off script to ad-lib. “I just looked out the window here at KICK radio and I want to step out on a limb. I give it a 100% chance of rain.” Out our window, it was storming and dropping the proverbial cats and dogs.

Bob wasn’t the only radio personality in my memory. There was Bill Ring, Bare-foot Bob, Lloyd Evans, and Dan Coulter. I remember Dan because he was on the air on KICK before Bob Bright. He had the privilege of being the overnight guy on the “twenty-four-hour hit after hit after hit” station.

And I knew his brother. We were in school together in junior high and my freshman year of high school. That was about the only fascinating thing about Bruce. He had a brother that everyone listened to. Heads tucked under the covers at two in the morning with the volume so low you had to put your ear to the speaker to hear. That was to keep Mom and Dad from telling you to turn it off and go to sleep.

But then there was Cliff House. He was the husband of the Drama teacher at Hillcrest where we went to high school. Did I mention that his wife was beautiful? How many of your schoolteachers were you in love with? I think Sandy was one of only two in my life.

With all these wonderful DJs of course I wanted to be one myself. Steve Grant also inspired me. And frustrated me. He was a classmate and would join the Speech and Debate team on occasion when Radio Broadcasting was one of the events at a tournament.

There were three of us for these events. Steve, Richard, my debate colleague, and myself. Richard and I never stood a chance. Steve had that voice, even in high school, that made him the perfect announcer. Was it against the rules that he worked at KTXR in the evenings and weekends? I don’t think there were any rules for student broadcasters at that time.

While in college, Bill and I decided to drive to Kansas City to take the test for our radio broadcaster’s license. I only qualified for my third class, restricted license. When I transferred to college in Bolivar, MO, I even applied at their station. I kept it active for about ten years and then let it lapse because no one would hire me.

I did make it on the radio once. I received an award from the Northside Optimists Club and was asked to do an interview on KGBX AM. I don’t remember the interviewer’s name. I think my speech and journalism teachers had the radio on in their rooms that afternoon.

Young Girl

May 15, 2025

Not all classic music is palatable in every aspect of consideration. “Young girl” is one of those. Gary Puckett and the Union Gap was a pop music group in the 1960s and 70s. I enjoy their music. There is a problem with this song, though.

It could sound like a dirty old man who is chasing a young lady. When I was in college I had this problem as well. However, I was only nineteen. She was fifteen. According to Missouri State laws I could be prosecuted for having sex with her until she turned eighteen.

Listen to the lines of the song. He thought she was old enough. I knew that Cindy was not. I did not tell her to hurry home to her mother. I did not need to change my mind. I could not get her out of my mind even if I wanted to. I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted to get to know her better. This is the normal course of dating.

Our culture has changed since my days. Young people were taught to wait until they were married to have sex. It is better to concentrate on other things as your relationship grows. My love for this girl was not out of line. My desire to just have sex with her would have been.

When we got married, she was seventeen. Her Mother signed our marriage license. She was still in High School. I was twenty-one and had graduated from college two weeks before. The previous summer I spent ten weeks away in Pennsylvania working as a student pastor for a church through the summer missionary program of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board.

Upon returning, I decided that we needed to be married as soon as I graduated. I did not know where God would lead me. I did not want to have to leave her behind again. We were already engaged before I had left for the summer. I knew after a few months of dating her that I wanted to spend my life with her. Not just one night.

We planned the wedding for May. I began working at a part-time job. We decided where we would live. We purchased a car of our own. Our families helped with expenses and preparations. We planned for a minister, church, flowers, cake, maid-of-honor, best man, and everything else. We even decided to go to Branson for our two-day honeymoon.

Right after graduation, my part-time job became a full-time position in a management program. Two weeks after the wedding I was told that next Monday I would be in Joplin and would serve as a manager at a new location. I was reminded of why we needed to get married when we did.

This year we will be married for forty-nine years. If anyone said it would not last, I think we have proved them incorrect. All our kids got married while still in college. When I told them they should wait like I did, they reminded me that Cindy finished high school as a married woman. Now you know why I always said they could start dating when they were thirty.

I think I’m in love.

May 5, 2025

In college, this was a saying that many guys my age used. One of my friends or acquaintances would say this when we say a beautiful girl or woman walks by. A friend of mine at Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, MO, changed that slightly. He was a ministerial student like me. He changed it to “I think I’m in lust.”

There is a difference between love and lust. Let me define the two words. Love is not an emotion. Lust is a desire for something sexual. I do not like to use dictionaries for words like love. Secular scholars are more interested in contemporary usages of the word and not what the Biblical examples indicate.

I agree with Paul’s definition of the love of God. You’ve read it in First Corinthians chapter 13. It includes patience, kindness, lack of envy, boasting, and pride. This is what we should strive for in our romantic love.

Do you know how to define what you mean when you say “I love you” to your spouse? The Association referred to it as “Cherish” in the song in 1966. “Cherish is the word I use to describe all the feelings that I have” is the opening line. This song also tells us that all the other guys say, “I love you.”

All they want is to touch your face, your hands, or hold you. Others say they will love you all the rest of their lives. When I was dating the girls were warned not to believe us when we said that we loved them. Most of these guys would use the line, “If you really love me, we should have sex.”

I never was one to do that. I had one girlfriend that I learned later and she stopped dating me because I never tried to have sex with her. Cindy will tell you that I haven’t had that problem for a long time.

On television and in movies, young people ask their parents or other adults how you know if you love someone. For me, it was because I wanted to be with her. Not every minute of every day like the songs say. When we are apart, I need to get back to her. I hope you have someone that gives you that kind of security.

This is not sexual. That is why I say that sex is not the same as love. I do not like to use the term making love. That makes love a noun, not a verb. Love is something you do. As Paul says, “It is patient, it is kind, it never fails.”

I explain to those who say that they fell in love and have fallen out of love by adding I did not fall. I jumped in. I can leave if I do not want to continue to love. I have a choice to love or not. It is the same for you. Jump or stay where you are.

Love is a choice as the book title says. It is up to you. Like Doc Brown said at the end of the third installment of the Back to the Future Trilogy, “Your future isn’t set. Make it what you want it to be.”

New Year new goal

January 5, 2025

I am one of the few people that I know who can honestly say that they have not broken a new year’s resolution for more than ten years. Over ten years ago I resolved to never make another resolution. I make goals each year. Not just one thing that I may not accomplish.

These goals are of varying types. Usually, I set several during a year. In 2009 I needed to get a new job when I was laid off in January. I found that job in March. In 2010 I set the same goal when I was terminated from that company. I celebrated that dismissal because the owner of the company was a tyrant.

That new job did not appear until 2012 when I dropped the first company from my resume’. That made me realize they had been spreading lies about me. Recently they had problems of their own and I can say that I hope they soon recover. Tough times for others are not a time to rejoice.

This year I have a few goals already in mind. Publishing my book “Doulos” on this site and using several E-book platforms as well. We’ll see how quickly that goes. I have five other projects that I hope to complete and present to you here this year. My problem is which will be next.

To do this, my reading goal on Goodreads has been adjusted down to one hundred. Writing and publishing will be my priority until I can reduce my backlog. These are personal accomplishments I will concentrate on. My wife and I are working on a book together. We hope to finish it before the year is out.

We also have several quilts that we would like to finish. They are what are lovingly referred to as UFOs (Unfinished Objects). Then there is the completion of the dining room and kitchen renovation we began between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Several DIY repairs will follow that one.

Each year we perform these tasks as we have money, time, and energy. This is nothing new for us. We have been here for a while and did not need to make changes until recently. We have replaced the water heater, HVAC system, refrigerator, and dishwasher. Things wear out and must be taken care of. There has been talk of a hot tub and possible long vacations. These are in the we want and planning stages.

I am sure that you have some things you would like to see started or completed in the next few months. Restore a classic car, write your first or next song, get married, have children, or buy a home. These are all worthy goals. Set your own and see where they lead.

One thing I think we should all strive for is a more positive attitude towards others. This could be as easy as taking yourself off the throne in your life and putting others on that pedestal. It may sound hard. Nothing worthwhile is easy. Give it a shot.

Have a great year and let’s get together this December and compare notes. I believe we will all be pleasantly surprised.

Not so favorite Christmas songs

December 18, 2024

I often think about things that I am not fond of. At this time of the year, we hear a lot of Christmas music. Some are carols. Others are spiritual. Many are just fun like one of my mom’s favorites, “Granma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Then there are those that I question why someone even bothers to record them.

“Little Drummer Boy” tops this list. I do not find it to be Biblical. There is no young boy mentioned in the gospels as being at the manger. There are also those other songs and videos that have the animals discussing the baby being a savior. Do animals need a king? They already have lions.

We do not know how many men came from the East to find the newly born king of the Jews. A star had appeared in the night sky that indicated a new king was born in Judah. We know they were astrologers because of this. “We Three Kings” assumes that there were only three of them because they brought three gifts. Matthew tells us they traveled a long distance. He does not call them kings or tell us how many there were.

Ask anyone who has studied ancient customs in the desert areas, and they will tell you that only three people would be a dangerous caravan group. For this type of trip wives were probably included. There would also be servants to take care of these advisors to the king of their country. They would have been sent by their boss. At some point they lost the direction of the star and ended in Jerusalem.

“Go tell it on the Mountain” is another one that I have disliked by numerous artists. This is usually because of the arrangement. I have heard a few that had an entirely different melody and harmony that I enjoy. I am not a long hair music or opera fan. I’m not sure if this is the class this one falls into, but the original tune gives me that old fashioned feeling.

I am not a country music fan by the nature of the genre. This may be part of why some songs strike a bad chord in me. I grew up with the twangy, throat strangling, yodeling style of some of the earliest country artists. KTTS radio in Springfield, that’s Missouri not Ohio, played this for years. Bill Ring, Barefoot Bob and others were the D.J.s. It was my dad’s favorite station, and I walked out of the room when I heard it was playing.

There are good country singers. I posted Dolly’s version of “Mary Did You Know” in that column recently. The afore mentioned “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is country in origin. I even like Kenny Rogers. Most of the time. But he was a pop artist when he started with “The First Edition.”

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” is another song with questionable lyrics. A lamb tells a shepherd boy. The little boy that tells a king. Then the monarch proclaims it to the public, each in turn. The topic of the conversation is a baby that is born. He is described as shivering in the cold.

Then the pitch for the non-profit organizations. Bring him silver and gold. Who wrote this? A Madison Avenue advertising copy writer? Give me a break. Yes, McDonalds, you do not have a trademark on that line.

Then there are Christmas titles and phrases that I find offensive. “Deck the Halls” is one. I enjoy the song. I have known the Hall family for years. Even though I don’t always agree with David, I would not knock him out. We used to hang the Greens before Christmas at our church. I never understood why that family did not boycott the celebration.

What about “The Twelve Days of Christmas?” Originally it was a political commentary. It has now been lengthened to the six months of Christmas. TV channels and marketers begin with July and stretch it to boxing day with the British. We Americans just switch to New Years so we can keep getting drunk.

Pop music brings up a long list of not Biblical and sometimes not so great Christmas songs. “Santa, Baby” is one. Some Santa Claus songs are cute. This one is almost obscene. Justin Bieber’s “Under the Mistletoe” is one I would like to say that I do not like. However, I understand the desire to be with someone special. I’ve enjoyed that for fifty years.

We are talking about my personal preferences here. You might enjoy the songs I do not. If so, that is your choice. I don’t want anyone to say that I am trying to ban anything. I can always turn them off.

Mary, Did You Know?

December 5, 2024

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Did you know the Christian comedian Mark Lowry penned these lyrics in 1984? In his own words, “I just tried to put into words the unfathomable. I started thinking of the questions I would have for her if I were to sit down & have coffee with Mary. You know, ‘What was it like raising God?’ ‘What did you know?’ ‘What didn’t you know?’^”

These questions were asked in a script he wrote for a church Christmas program. In 1991, Buddy Greene wrote the music, and Michael English recorded the song for the first time. It was released on his debut solo album, Michael English. I have a copy of the cassette tape in my collection.

The three had toured with “The Gaither Vocal Band”. Many have recorded it since including Lowry, Kenny Rogers and Winona Judd, Dolly Parton, Pentatonix, Kathy Mattea, Clay Aiken, Ceelo Green, and Carrie Underwood. David Guthrie and Bruce Greer used it as the title and basis of a stage musical that won a Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Musical of the Year in 1999.

Let’s look at the questions Lowry asks Mary. Did you know who this baby would be? That He would walk on water? He was the ruler of the universe. He was the promised deliverer. There are numerous queries in these lyrics and for the majority the answer is no.

Mary was told by the messenger Gabriel that she would give birth to a son. She was to name him Jeshua or in Greek, Jesus. He would be called the son of the most high and would inherit David’s throne. In the gospels, we are not given more details. I doubt that Mary was either.

She was more concerned with the fact that she would have a baby. She could not get pregnant. She had never had sex. God would be the father of her child. This was never heard of before. Many women may have claimed to have given birth through immaculate conception. The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was born this way. My Bible does not say that.

What interests me most about these words that Lowry wrote is that we are looking at a young girl who has given birth to her first child. Does she know more than any other woman what will happen in the future. Her son did it from an early age. She did not.

This child, as a man, would not only deliver her from eternal punishment for sin, but also her younger children. He would if they and our own children accept Him as the savior that He claims to be.

God lives outside of time. He created time with our universe. Genesis tells us that. Moses did not understand it when he wrote it down. I don’t understand it. I do believe it. Jesus is Jehovah God. He created the universe and our world. He came to live with us and die for us. Do you believe that? Tell Him that you do. Accept Him for who He is.

As you hear the many Christmas carols this year think about the questions in this song. Do you know who that baby is? These inquiries are more important than anything you will be told about Santa Claus, Ebenezer Scrooge, or Rudolph. This is life-changing.

For those of you in my area, Mark Lowry will be in concert at The Mansion in Branson, Missouri on March 12, 2025. Whether this song will be sung at that venue is not known by me at this time. I’ve heard it at other concerts of his that I have attended previously.

(Quotation from “How Well Do You Know ‘Mary Did You Know?'”. Sheet Music Direct. Retrieved December 30, 2018. an interview with the songwriter, Mark Lowry … originally conducted by Martha Lyon for AbsolutelyGospel.com)

It’s in the book

October 22, 2024

There was an old radio skit by one of those comedians seldom mentioned anymore. His name is Johhny Standley. His fame came in 1952 with the release of his recording, “It’s in the book.” I remember hearing it on the radio as a child. You know the type of story. Wayne Glenn played it on “The Old Record Collector” on Saturday mornings on KTXR radio in the 80s and 90s.

Andy Griffith became famous when he told us, “What it was was football.” This was in 1953. He followed Johnny Standley’s format as a comedian and told a tale from the viewpoint of a country boy. Standley took the persona of an old-time preacher complete with closing song. Deacon Andy went on to become famous as Andy Taylor and then as Ben Matlock. Last week I saw a new Matlock show. Life is a progression and that is what this column is about.

In the 1950’s almost everyone responded to these epic comedy records because they came from what we knew. It was familiar to us. Today it appears strange. Everyone knows “Little Bo-Peep” and football. Why were these skits popular? They were funny. They were different from what they heard before.

Television was new and this type of humor converted from radio and recordings to TV with little difficulty. When I retired my ministry changed from the workplace to the internet and instead of talking to dozens of people in a day, I now write to a potential audience of thousands. At least a couple of hundred. I hope.

Your life and experience are changing. Can you go with the flow? All you must do is be flexible. Do not get pushed around by the crowd as young Andy did. Be a leader or a follower and do not let others force you into a path you do not want to take.

In 1970, I got my driver’s license. I dropped Mom at home and went to Dog ‘N Suds drive-in to see Frank Costello about a job. He said they had no openings. As I was leaving, he asked why I had come there. My response was that he had employed my brother three years before. When he heard I was Sam’s brother, I filled out an application and started two days later. I was a fry cook. I became the best fry cook I could.

Three years later I became the best screw installer I could be. I worked on final line five at Zenith Radio Corporation in Springfield, Missouri and helped build console televisions. I was in manufacturing. All I did was install five screws and hang a tuner. I hated it. At the end of eighty-nine days, I turned in my resignation and went back to college determined to never work in a factory again.

A year later my dream of becoming a reporter became a desire to become a minister and I transferred to Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri from Southwest Missouri State University. My plan had been to go to the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia. That was what I thought I wanted.

God wanted me to spend my next two years learning to study His word and how to lead others to learn what He wanted them to do. Fifty years ago, I began that journey. He opened many opportunities for me. I have served as a student pastor, salesman, purchasing agent, manager, teacher, husband, father, guide, friend, and mentor.

Now I have time to share all my experience with you, dear reader. I hope you realize the potential that God has given to you to be what He wants you to become. The possibilities are endless and yes, the saying is still true. It’s in the book. Join me as we explore it.

Feel Good Ads

August 20, 2024

I’ve written about commercials that I find stupid or offensive. I would like to tell you about some of my favorites that promote happiness and health. Have you seen the Jardiance spots that promote this diabetes medication? They are an old-style musical song and dance production. If you don’t like musicals, you will not enjoy them.

Another good one is the Make-A-Wish advertisement with the little girl roping and pulling a star. She takes it to a window in a hospital room. She wants the star to grant the wish for another kid who needs hope and encouragement.

One thing that makes me feel good is music. I like a good advertising jingle or an old familiar song used in a new way. I am not talking about the mattress commercial that uses three words “all night long” from a song. I mean the songs that I grew up with. If an ad uses music from the sixties or seventies, it gets my attention.

That is what they are trying to do. Get our attention. Sell their products. We have a free economy. You can sell someone a rock and call it a pet. You can make a doll, give it a name and a birth certificate, and sell it for ten times what it costs to make. Don’t sell people stock certificates to a company that doesn’t exist. You might go to jail for that.

Advertising and propaganda are the same thing. Advertising is good. Propaganda is bad. They attempt to do the same things. Convince you that you need something they have. Propaganda sells ideologies. Advertising sells products.

Political commercials are propaganda. They want you to believe the half-truths and misinformation that they spread. That guy is a communist. He voted for higher taxes. No one wants higher taxes. We all hate commies, or is it anarchists this week? Put an old song in the background and we might listen to your commercial.

I need another song. I need to stop writing about what some commercials want me to believe and just relax and listen to the Beach Boys, Elvis, or the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I think I need a new mattress. All night long.

Remind me

November 14, 2023

Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood recorded this song in 2011. They have reprised this song on many occasions. It has received numerous awards. Why? This isn’t just Paisley’s song that he co-wrote with someone else. It is possibly your song. I know it is mine and my wife’s.

It has wide radio and internet play. The critics have a difficult time with it because they don’t think Underwood and Paisley have voices that work together. I am not talking about artistic production. I want to speak to you about the story the song tells and the number of couples it touches.

want you to understand why I have posted so many videos of these two for this column. They are not a couple. The passion that they have when onstage or behind microphones in the studio demonstrates their talents as entertainers. We believe they are a married couple that has lost the lust that we all had in our marriages when we started.

I am going to remind you. When you first started dating your spouse you were nervous and uncertain of whether this was the real thing or not. A few weeks or minutes later that feeling that some call love hit you. Like the couple Brad wrote about, you may have been told to get a room.

It may have been at school where your relationship began. If so, you probably know the phrase public display of affection. PDA is something that we still remind young people to avoid at church and school. Most of us want that feeling of uncontrollable passion again.

Your making out may have interfered with travel plans as it does in this story. In the early days of your marriage, getting to work on time might have been a problem. I remember those days. I also remember the afternoon I picked Cindy up at the bus station in Joplin, MO.

After two weeks of marriage, I had to go help open a new store. I drove our car and spent the week in a motel alone. On Friday she joined me. I needed to get back to work after taking her luggage to our room. There was also something else that we needed to do. It was one of the reasons we married.

In my mind, I changed the lyrics to “so on fire and so in lust, way back then we couldn’t get enough.” Was there a look in her or his eyes that you had not seen for a while? Remind them. Do not assume that they know that you still love them. Remind them.

What made you love this person that you married because of that love? Did you stop them just for a kiss? Was it flowers or love notes? Maybe it was the occasional surprise date that you have no time for now with work and kids. Don’t just fall into bed tonight. Intentionally take them in your arms and remind them of how much you love them.

In every marriage, there is one person who wants sex more often than the other. It is not always the male. I know some couples where the wife wants more passion in the marriage. I often speak of love languages. If you do not know his or her language, how can they know that you love them? After all, love is a choice, and you may have changed your mind.

I teach that sex and love are not the same concept. These lyrics celebrate the passion of the marriage bed. We are also reminded that after one, five, ten, or fifty years the lust that made us want to love each other is gone. Remind me.

He’s my Boy

September 19, 2022

We have heard many stories about blended families in our time. When I was a boy, almost all my friends had a mom and dad and at least one sibling. Many had more than one brother or sister as I did. Few of the kids I went to school or church with had last names different from one parent.

In high school, I began to meet others whose mother and father both had a family name that did not match theirs. The song “My boy” is about this type of situation. Elvie Shane wrote this song and it was first recorded in 2020. It is the true story of His wife and her son.

One of the lines that affect me the most is “He’s got somebody else’s eyes I’m seeing myself in.” When my children and grandchildren were born people commented on their features. “She has your nose” or your eyes or your teeth. That’s right. When my daughters were born, they had my dad’s teeth. He didn’t have any real ones in his mouth. They were man-made.

The serious part of this line is “I’m seeing myself in.” We need to stop and view ourselves through the eyes of children. They do not judge. They can measure their worth through how we treat them. My kids and grandkids react to me as the one who is trying to be funny. “Don’t take Pawpaw too seriously” is the byword around me. How does your son or daughter react to you?

Keep in mind that Mr. Shane and his boy do not have the same name. It makes no difference to a true dad. The emotions are the same. Love is a choice. It is a verb. His boy knows that he loves him because he hasn’t missed a ballgame yet. A dad is there for what is important to his kid.

My mom and dad were at the important events in my life. The school activities like open houses and annual fundraisers. In my senior year in high school, they even came to watch my debate partner and me compete against the two best speakers in our school. There was no official decision after. When we got home, they told me they thought I had won. That was love.

This is what should never change. The love of a parent for a child is present when they are at your death bed, and you see the pain in their eyes. They think they are losing you. You know his step is necessary if you want to spend eternity together as believers in Christ. That is also love.

Some fathers have walked away. Not Elvie. This young man is not his entire life. He is an integral part and is making him a better dad. Your children make you a better mom or dad because they test your love and your patience. Paul tells us in first Corinthians chapter 13 verse four that love is patient and kind. That will make a family last.

Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Walk With a Servant

Tag: Music