Short Supply

Nobody sings about hope anymore, and can you blame them? Our religious institutions have jettisoned suffering and sacrifice on behalf of the hopeless for a self-righteous brand of crony capitalism that's as restricted and anti-Christ as any secular private club.

As the rich -- both religious and not -- get richer the hope that the rest of us have to climb out of the pit of debt and despair recedes.

The remarkable thing is, it's the ones who have the least that help the most.

That's where this song comes from. Though it has its roots in one of the Olney hymns of former slave ship captain, John Newton, it took shape in black churches among people disenfranchised, and lynched for sport.

And yet, and yet ... they sang this.

Gratitude

They were so young, and this is so lovely.

The late Dave Swarbrick, on lead vocals here, was a fiddle virtuoso, and a mercilessly-underrated singer. What a glorious, natural technique.

The same could be said for backing vocalists, Richard Thompson and Dave Pegg, who still move audiences after all these years.

This performance is so simple, but so essential. There's something crucial about confessing gratitude in community, about saying -- or singing -- the words before a group of folks who can and will hold you accountable if you behave otherwise. Posting memes about how grateful you are won't cut it. If you're grateful, say thank you. To someone's face.

Otherwise, it just doesn't count.

There's something humbling -- some would say frightening or humiliating -- about having to say thank you, yet Swarb puts humility across with a sweet but unassuming vocal. Mind you, this record was released as a single in 1970, when the mandate of kids and young adults was to question authority, including Godly authority. With the release of this single, a young band managed the extraordinary feat of being both humble and daring, and thanking God in the process, without making a great show of their piety. How utterly refreshing!

This is Fairport Convention with "Now Be Thankful".