Happy Birthday Kevin!
8th November 2010
Today we say “Happy Birthday” to Kevin Robinson who has played with Simply Red since the Lyceum shows in 1998.
Hope you have a good day Kevin!
8th November 2010
Today we say “Happy Birthday” to Kevin Robinson who has played with Simply Red since the Lyceum shows in 1998.
Hope you have a good day Kevin!
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hey Mick…and the band…Mick, today I read a little excerpt from a book by Cardianl Carlos Maria Martini (I think I got his name right)…it reminds me of what I copied down from St. Bernard in my Dec 20th 2011 comment…here’s a couple of short exerpts from what I read…“The Scripture texts describe the dark and negative existence into which God intervenes, bringing the light of salvation…Our Lady…shines on this world and makes us feel proud to be a person.….Even though we at times may be constrained to say along with the psalmist, “no one is honest, no one is sincere, no one is pure in this world”; even though we may feel bitterness and desolation, we can always rejoice because we have Mary before us!”…it’s like St. Bernard said, Mick, “unless you wish to be swallowed up by it all, call on Mary…or like YOU say in “holding back the years”- —“strangled by the wishes of pater (I.e. the way God lets things seem dark and negative sometimes) hoping for the arms of Mater — (i.e. calling on the intervention of Mary, a good person, and the bible says the same God who lets things seem dark and negative at times, hears the prayers of good people, and Mary is a good person).…there’s a reason to rejoice, Mick, and your music helps me do that!…I’m serious…your music and that reading I read today just lifted my spirits…and I think when Martini says Mary makes us feel proud to be a person, I personally think he meant it in the humble way of contrasting it with the statement “no one one is honest, no one is pure” from the psalm mentioned above, to kind of say, “Maybe God doesn’t think we are the very worst thing He ever created after all-maybe we are not yet completely lost!.…
hey Mick…and the band…watched the clip of you singing and performing “something got me started” from April 25 2013, via “Mickfans” twitter fan page…things sure do get exciting on your various twitter feeds and web pages when you go on tour, with all the fan clips of performances, concert revues and what not…not that it’s just incredible all the time, because it isn’t, but still, some real gems come out of your tours, and some days your performances just lift my spirits…you’ve got a real gift, Mick, a real talent, and you know how to enjoy yourself at what you do and it rubs off…I still like your song “Holding Back the Years” the best of all, because it just touches my soul with peace, and for so many years I was without peace, but your performances of your more lively songs add life to my day too…your music makes my life and the practice of my faith more pleasurable, Mick, and for that, I hope God in His goodness, shows you and your family and the band the joy of His mercy…so, hope you have a reasonably good day…
Hey Mick…and the band…was listening to “Holding back the years” a little while ago and really expeiencing some peace and joy and love as I prayed to it, and then I went down to get a snack and talked to one of the ladies in the kitchen who happeened to be there…she said“How are you doing?”…to which I replied, happily, “I could be worse”…she said, “that doesn’t sound good”…I said,“No, it’s good. Saying I could be worse means just that,-I could be worse-which means it could be worse, which is a cause for joy!”…we both laughed…
hey Mick…and the band…there was an article in my regions newspaper today, about how Manchester is undergoing a renewal of culture and the arts…it says that a lot of it can be reached within walking distance of each other…this is kind of silly, but I was thinking maybe that’s where SOME of the ambience of your video “holding back the years” comes from…of course that was almost thirty years ago…I’m not pretending that I know, but I guess I would like to think that when you step into Manchester and it’s renewal of culture and art, it wouldn’t be totally UNLIKE the video holding back the years…maybe it is not true, but it’s nice to think that there is SOME place in the world that would be like that…what’s that old saying– “Life imitates art”…
hey Mick…and the band…just listened a while ago to your performance of “Yolanda” from the Vienna show on March 23, 2013…if your goal is to instill admiration and like for these songs and their composers in people who weren’t that familiar with these songs and their composer’s talents, it’s working, at least in my case…I think many times your live performances outdo your performances captured in studio albums, and in my opinion, that’s the case with this performance of “Yolanda”…
Hey Mick…and the band…watched footage of “if you don’t know me by now“from March 19th 2013…no two performances of yours are exactly the same, Mick, but so many times you just bring to life the music you sing, in this case, with a deep sense of calm, and maybe even a little tear of relief…so often, I find your music to be an antidote to the restless, frentic hurry of the world, and your performance of that song that night is another example of that…and at the same time, other nights, the gem of the show is a fast paced song, like “money’s too tight to mention”…I think you are performing, on the whole, better now than when you were at the height of your career…but that’s just my opinion…depends what a person likes, I guess…
hey Mick…and the band…(I won’t mention Gabriella or Romy True anymore cause I think you may be trying to protect them from the media and the raging masses, which makes sense, but they are in my prayers too)…you’re sending out such a good vibe from your current tour…just a joy…it such a relief for me that things are going so well for you…wouldn’t be surprised if the odd night or two isn’t quite as good as some of the others, cause after all, you’re only human Mick!…but I don’t mean that as an indictment, cause from what I’ve seen, you and the band are doing just a fine job on your tour…surley God is blessing you…at least that’s what I think…
Hey Mick…I don’t know if I should say “and Gabriella and Romy True and the Band”, or if that’s just silly, so I’ll try something different and just say “Hey Mick”…listened to “Beside You” off your songs of love album…I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, that is a really good song in my opinion…so peaceful…thanks again Mick
Hey Mick…and all those you hold dear…well, Mick, I listened to your performance of “don’t let me be misunderstood” on the Lorraine show, via youtube…never particularly liked the versions I have heard of that song, and never paid much attention to the words before, but after hearing you perform it that day, I was kind of inclined to change my mind and say, “that’s a pretty good song”…when you are on your game Mick, you can make any song you sing sound like no one else…you just imbue them with life…
Hey Mick…and all the rest…peace, Mick…that’s what your music has helped to bring into my life…without prayer and the sacraments of my roman catholic faith, and some of the writings of the saints, and the bible, it never would have worked…but combined with them-well, peace-it’s brought me peace…I first heard holding back the years in 1989, when I discovered confession again, the writings of saint augustine of Hippo, and prayer, all within a couple of months…then I went into a tailspin, even though I was praying, and didn’t listen to “hbty” again until 2000…things had been looking up a little for me by then (I had kept praying etc pretty much all the time), and it was napster that reminded me of your music…I finally got a disc with “hbty” on it (I paid for it, didn’t bootleg it) and it just brought back that feeling of relief and peace I had felt the first time I had heard it…that summer, me amd my friend who I spend a bit of time with when I go on holidays, we drove around the city one day, listening to “hbty” over and over and over and over again.…even my friend was singing it, I liked it so much…then I started to associate the peace I felt when I heard that song, with my time spent in prayer, and combined the two…I’m not sure if that was 2000, or maybe a year or two later, but it was somtime around then…fast forward thirteen years to today, and despite having gone through what for me were some very “dark nights of the soul” as John of the cross puts it, your music has helped me to “keep holding on” to my faith, love and hope in God, and I am just so pleased…peace, Mick…that’s what your beautiful mind and music have helped me find, and that’s all I ever really wanted…and I really must say, that without my Catholic faith, I think even your music would have failed me by now.…but with it, well, your music brings me joy, and rest, and peace…even in the midst of a busy day, sometimes…
Hey Mick and all…well Mick, I think your music, particularly “Holding Back the Years”, just embodies the spirit of peace I seek in God…and things like confession, the eucharist, prayer time, the writings of the saints, some of the women who are kind to me at work, etc., make holding on to that peace, which is good, not an exercise in futility…so, it may not be heaven, Mick, (and it isn’t), but by the same token, it isn’t without some love and peace and joy that I go through my days now, and some of my gratitude for that goes to God for creating a ex-womanizing, very talented singer/songwriter, who still likes to sin by tying one on every now and then, as far as I can tell, whose music has taught me as much about the peace of Christ, as the writings of Saint Augustine of Hippo, whose work I also love.…
hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True…and the band…Mick, your music has helped me to find my happiness in God…the pleasure and joy which you take in performing is evident so very often, and it brings me pleasure and joy…when I pray to your music, it helps make praying pleasurable and joyful and peaceful…maybe that comes after years of doing it (I only got the idea of praying to your music in 2000), but nevertheless, the ability of you and your music to help bring pleasure and joy and peace to my prayer time, pleasure which has grown over the years from just a few split seconds of joy every now and then, to much longer periods of pleasure and peace and joy, has brought to life those words from psalm 37 (that might be psalm 38, depending on the translation) “seek your happiness in the lord, and he will give you your hearts desire”…well, I sought my happiness in praying to God, and your music helped me with that, and now I seem to find happiness in just listening to your music and praying to God in my leisure time…MIck, I love you for that, and I hope and pray that you, Gabriella and Romy True, and the band, wind up finding your happiness in God, who is love, too, because that’s what it is all about, as far as I can tell…and though I am far from being in heaven on earth in my happiness, that doesn’t prevent me from experiencing some true joy, either…I love you for that, Mick…
hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True…and the band…Mick, I’m thanking God for your music, particularly the song “holding back the years”…a theme that reoccurs to me when I hear that song, and that today has brought me such deep peace and relief, is “there is good and beauty in everyday ordinary things…there is good in people…and surely this goodness comes from God”…oh Mick, I don’t want today to end…it’s been so peaceful, such a relief, a respite from the restless hurry of the world…and your song “hbty” had a lot to do with that…ofcourse, without God blessing my efforts to find peace, even your music wouldn’t be of help…but it has been of help, and today was so peaceful and restful, and such an antidote to the restless hurry of the world…I could just cry tears of relief and happiness…there is good and beauty in everyday, ordinary things…there is good in people…and surely this goodness comes from God…that’s what your music said to me today Mick…I think your music, coupled with faith, hope, love and prayer can bring everybody that, eventually…I mean a person couldn’t possibly be much more screwed up or weaker in character than I was when I first started praying and heard your song and read saint Augustine of Hippo for the first time, and started going to confession again…but twenty three years later, I’ve found the peace that I was sure those things could bring me, if I could only, somehow, keep holding on to my belief in them…
hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True…and the band…Mick,your song “holding back the years” along with having gone to confession, has helped to instill just a great degree of peace in me…not that it’s heaven on earth, nothing can compare with the true heaven, I think, but still, it has helped bring me some pleasure in the thought of God’s willingness and desire to forgive us humans our sins, when we finally get up the courage, or whatever it takes for us, to finally acknowledge and admit them…and it just goes to show that a person can make some pretty horrendous errors in judgement, be in denial of it for years because they feel so guilty, and still be forgiven, once they finally admit it and confess it…
hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True…and the band…Mick, I’ve just got to say that your music has been quite helpful in helping me find some faith, hope, love and peace in my Roman Catholic faith…those things are all indications of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and I find your music helps brings them out in my faith…so, while my life may not be heaven on earth (like I tell quite a few people when they ask me how I’m doing I say, with a bit of a laugh,“Let me tell you, it ain’t heaven!) still, your music helps make my life and the practice of my faith, bearable in the rough times, and somewhat enjoyable in the easier times…
hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True…and the band…Mick, I watched some of one of the videos you retweeted…it’s the one about Romney…I know it’s not popular to say, and I hope I don’t offend you too much by saying this, but I think his stand that abortion is a detriment to society is a good one…and if you want to see an equally over the top reaction, try telling someone who’s “pro-choice” that they don’t have the right to choose to kill an innocent child…but still, your music takes me away from all that, so for that, thank God for you, in all sincerity…
Hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True…the band…Mick, that writing of St. Bernard that I quoted from my Dec 20 2011 entry, and the comment on it by Brenda Freeman, and your song “holding back the years” that helps me put it into practice, well, I am just so grateful for it all…and Freeman is right in his comment that “we don’t like to admit it, but we have experienced all of them many times”…so at church today, I prayed that God would help us all in the congregation, not to descend into hatred, anger etc. of each other…I was remembering all the times I’ve prayed to the peaceful sound of the music and your voice on “HBTY”…I felt more human after, sort of like,“well, yes, sometimes I do feel those negative sentiments rise in me, even in church, but I can always call upon heaven to help me remain in love”…and your music helps with that…
Hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True…the band…Mick, your song “Holding Back the Years”, coupled with the reading I quoted in my entry from Dec 20 2011, has sure helped make my day the last couple of days…I feel the greatest sense of peace and pleasure in God that I have felt since I was about five…surely God, who MUST have been with you when you wrote and recorded that song, at least in some capacity,influencing you somehow to write and sing it as you did, will grant you and Gabriella, and Romy True, and the band, some kind of eternal reward for that…that song has helped me so much…whoohoo!…
Hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True…the band…well, Mick, I guess you probably did an excellent job of performing your new songs from the “American Soul” album…wouldn’t surprise me if you did…your music instills, or helps to instill, hope in me…and faith and love too…I think you help make the world a better place just by enjoying what you do…keep up the good work…
hey Mick…Gabriella…Romy True…the band…Mick,your music, has once again today, helped to bring me the deepest sense of peace and happiness I have ever known…I’m thinking of your cover of Bunny Wailer’s “Love Fire”, and of course, “Holding Back the Years”…every time I think, “well, I guess I’ve finally gotten tired of HBTY”, a couple of days will go by, and I’ll be listening to it again with renewed faith, hope, love, and interest…that’s the way it’s gone up till now, and today it brought me renewed peace and joy, so much so that I think it was BETTER than the first time I heard it, which is hard to believe…love you, love your music…
Hey Mick…Gabriella and Romy True and the band…Mick, your music from your “Simply Red” days, well, it’s just excellent…
Hey Mick, Gabriella, Romy True, the band…Mick, I’m happy again…not that it’s heaven on earth, I didn’t say that…but thanks be to God and not me, it isn’t hell on earth either, and there was a time when I wouldn’t have been able to say that so easily…love your music…it’s beautiful…
hey Mick, Gabriella, Romy True, and the band…Mick, I am sincerely thanking God today for the existence of your music…it helped me hope in God today…the way things were going the last couple of days reminds me of that poem “if” by Rudyard Kipling, the part that says,“if you can keep your head, when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you”…I was thanking God, Mick, that your music (and some sanity) exists in this world…
hey Mick, Gabriella, Romy True, the band…Hey Mick…I listened to your Christmas song “happy this Christmas” today…I know it’s not Christmas, and it’s not like me to listen to Christmas music out of season, but that is just such a beautiful song…love the sentiments expressed in the lyrics too…I think it will be a part of my Christmases to come…Love you for that Mick…
hey Mick, Gabriella, Romy True, the band…in case any of you ever try looking up any of the things in the bible that I quoted, be careful with the psalms…some translations number them differently…so in one translation, 38 might be 37 or 39, and in another , not…I only say that cause once I went to church, and there was a psalm book in the stall, and I was really moved by this one verse, so I wrote down the psalm number and the verse, and when I got home and looked it up, the translation was completely out in left field, and I was sort of thinking to myself,“Who on earth tranlslated that, cause it’s nothing like this translation”…
hey Mick, Gaberiella, Romy true, and the band…Mick, today I took some joy and comfort in those words you sang in “suffer”, i.e. “so scared, I don’t want to fall”…it reminds me of the 38th psalm in the good news bible where it says, verse 17 “I am about to fall, and am in constant pain”, and also the book of Jude in the same translation,verse 24″ To Him who can keep you from falling”, and from luke’s gospel in the same translation, chptr 22 verse 40, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation”…
hey Mick, Gabriella, Romy True and the band…you know Mick, you did just a beautiful job on a lot of the music you recorded as Simply Red, just a beautiful job…to this day, the song “holding back the years” instills a hope in me that there is hope God loves us when things aren’t going the best…that’s what technology SHOULD be used for…because of technology, I can call up your music whenever I have the time, and find the peace and happiness and joy in life that your music so often brings to me…surely that is a gift from God, and surely that’s what God wants technology to be used for, i.e. to find and inspire love of god and your fellow human beings…peace to you and all Mick, like your music has helped me to find in my life.
hey Mick…well, today I got taken back to a time over twenty years ago, when I first heard “holding back the years”…I had just become drawn back to the Catholic faith I had been baptised into as an infant, after sort of a conversion experience in which, despite my frenetic scatteredness at the time, I felt deeply, that there really was a real need to pray…when I heard hbty for the first time, a few weeks later, I breathed a sigh of relief and thought,“that’s what peace is”…hbty is the closest thing I have ever come to, to recreate the feeling of peace and “knowing” I had when I thought, “there is a real need to pray”…
hey Mick…well, I’m on the last day of a five day holiday…your music and my Roman Catholic faith, and family and friends, they’ve all been in the mix…I’ve found some peace and joy in my life, Mick…and your music, particularly the song “holding back the years” has played a big part in it…and I think I will continue to live in peace, thanks to God and not me…what can I say…the music of a former womanizing drunk has helped me find the deepest peace I’ve ever experienced…
hey Mick…did I ever tell you that I think you’ve got something true and spiritual going on in some of your music?…just enjoying my Sunday after having gone to mass this morning…I bet you’re watching the Euro soccer final today…I enjoy the odd north american style football game too…sometimes they can give a person’s spirit a boost…other times the vibe is so bad I watch five minutes and turn it off and go listen to you…anyhow, hope you enjoy the game!…
Hey Mick…the band…you’ve really got something going on in your music…peace, joy, pleasure in the spirit…so far, I haven’t gotten tired of listening to it…can’t imagine my life being as good without it…you got the spirit in you!…
hey Mick…just thought I’d wish your sweet daughter Romy True a happy birthday…happy birthday Romy!…
hey Mick…happy birthday…I hope you have a happy birthday like your music has made some of my days somewhat happy…
hey Mick…well, I went to confession today…it felt great!…then I listened to “holding back the years”…your music, particularly hbty, is the closest thing to the peace that can come to me when I pray, that I’ve ever experienced…that is helpful…
hey Mick…I clicked the “accept cookies” on your hucknall homepage.…I assume this means your computer will be keeping track of what I surf and where…I do not mind this, but as I have told you before, I am not the only one who uses this computer, and we all surf under the same user name, if that makes any difference…there are no logons or logoffs for different users…it makes me a little paranoid because I basically surf your various twitter accounts, a couple of sports pages, the hungersite, and some you tube…but who knows what the other guys are surfing, and I know from having gone to questionable sites in the past myself, that it’s not beyond imaging they still do that…I just don’t want to be guilty by association, if there’s anything to be associated with…honest…
hey Mick…and all…today, I was listening to “holding back the years”…you’d think I would have gotten tired of that song by now, but no, so many times when I listen to it, it is like the pleasure of a very good friend to listen to it, and sometimes, it takes me back to the newness and life and discovery of the first time I ever heard it…what I like about that song is that it brings to me the idea of hope and peace and joy, not in a perfect world without trouble, but in a world where we are somtimes “strangled” so to speak, by “outrageous fortune”, to quote shakespeare…I like the lines, “gets to me but sooner or later”, because I think they tell the truth that no one, no matter how faithful or secure, remains completely untouched by trouble when it comes into their lives…at the very least we get stressed out…“but sooner or later” things get better, with God’s help of course, and life goes on…I love you for writing that song, Mick…you were wise beyond your years…
hi Mick…and all…today, I wrote a prayer…the first part are my own words, the middle part echoes some of your lyrics from “you’ve got it”, and the last part is a quote from St. Augustine of Hippo…it goes like this (and it was written with the idea that gratitude can inspire grief-i.e. blubbering tears of joy)
O magnificence, too magnificent for a man who was far, far from you-it all could have been worse. I have tried hard, but I can’t do without your kindness. Lest I die, let me die, that I may see it.
hope and gratitude, Mick, that’s what I am trying to express in that prayer…
hey Mick…and all…today, listening to “holding back the years” and then singing it in the car as I was driving into town, I was thinking, “there is good and beauty in everyday ordinary things…there is good in people…and surely this goodness comes from God…“that’s one of the recurrent themes that comes to mind when I listen to that song (as I’ve said before in previous comments)…
Hey Mick…and all…well, I’m over being angry at God…but I sure do like your music and your website, and some of your tweets…in the mass it says that all good things come from God, Mick…I think you and your music and the band and some of the things you say are good, so what does that mean?…
hey Mick…and all…well, today I was tired, fed up with God…so tired of trying to see His love in the horrendous things that go on in the world, sometimes even in the church…couldn’t He make His love known in OBVIOUS ways for once?…does He have to test us every minute of every day, to see if we’re really going to be faithful to Him?…so I said to Him, “God, if I am going to survive, you are going to have to forgive me for all those things I have said like this to you today, because frankly, I’m tired of making excuses for you and your horrible behavior”…then I went to you tube and listened to you and Ronnie woods rocking the joint at the hall of fame induction, and felt much better…you rock Mick!…
hey Mick…and all…today the song “holding back the years”, means the same to me as these words from one of the psalms (I can’t remember which one) in the Grail translation of the psalms i.e.“when cares increase in my heart, Your consolation calms my soul”…your music helps calm my soul, Mick, when cares increase in my heart…that and things like the eucharist, prayer, the bible, the writings of some of the saints and other spiritual writers, confession, the women who are nice to me who I work with– god’s consolation is at work in all these when cares increase in my heart…it’s just like your words say in hbty“strangled by the wishes of pater, hoping for the arms of mater”, which could be altered slightly to“feeling the tension of life on earth Jesus, hoping for the intercession of Mary”…
Hey Mick…and all…listening to your music, thinking of the words of a retreat master from about 2000, who said, “it just isn’t the way it should be, but can’t we make do with it the way it is?”…that’s what your words from “holding back the years”-i.e. “I’ll keep holding on” mean to me today-it just isn’t the way it should be, but can’t we make do with it the way it is…
hey Mick…and all…here’s an excerpt from the book, “Renewed for Life” by the late Henri J.M. Nouwen, page 29…it pretty much sums up what your words from “holding back the years” i.e. “hoping for the arms of mater”, which I often modify to “hoping for the intercession of Mary, Jesus” mean to me, accompanied by your plaintive, beautiful voice and music…Quote“A man with hope does not get tangled up with concerns for how his wishes will be fulfilled. So, too, his prayer is not directed toward the gift, but toward the one who gives it. His is not a question of having a wish come true but of expressing an unlimited faith in the giver of all good things. You wish that…but you hope for…for the prayer of hope, it is essential that there are no guearantees asked, no conditions posed, and no proofs demanded, only that you expect everything from the other without binding him in any way. Hope is based on the premise that the other gives only what is good. Hope includes an openess by which you wait for the other to make his loving promise come true, even though you never know when, where, or how this might happen.“end of quote…so, it’s a happy story, Mick…
hey Mick…and all…just got to tell you Mick, that I really like your music…that statement has been tested many, many times over the years, and it’s held true…your music speaks to me of things like faith, hope, love, and God, happiness, and hope amidst sadness, and that is priceless…
hey Mick…and all…today the song “holding back the years” brought to my mind these thoughts– our sins, after all the pleasure and pride and swinging from the chandeliers is over, make us sad, but even in the midst of the sadness our sins bring us, their can be that redeeming virtue you sing about in hbty-hope…as I’ve said before, I like to use the lines “hoping for the arms of mater” as a kind of prayer to Saint Mary, mother of God, hoping for her intercession, and it has been marvellously helpful on many occassions…
hey Mick…and all…Mick, your music makes my roman catholic faith and practising it more enjoyable for me…don’t know how you do it…
hey Mick and all…Mick, I was listening to “holding back the years” today, and when you sing “I’ll keep holding on”, it just brought to life these words from the good news bible (acts 2:v. 26):
And so I am filled with gladness,
and my words are full of joy.
And I, mortal though I am,
will rest assured in hope…
to me, Mick, your words,“I’ll keep holding on” sum up those bible words about as well as anybody I ever heard comment on them…you spoke the truth, Mick, and wound up echoing the bible, without wanting to…at least to me you did…love you for that…
hey Mick and all…Mick, I read one of your tweets!…it’s the one where you redirect us to a site about mark twain and some of his quotes, suggesting (I think) that you love the beauty, and color, and fine things of life as well as the more mundane…Love you for that Mick…it shows in your music and helps add color and life to my existence too!…
hey Mick and all…was listening a little bit to “holding back the years” today…and it brought to mind thoughts that I had years ago when I listened to it…i.e.-there is good and beauty in every day, ordinary things…there is good in people…and surely this goodness comes from God…
hey Mick and all…Mick, I was thinking today of how the words and music and your voice in “holding back the years” reminds me of chapter 11 in the “letter to the Hebrews” in the new testament…from the opening line of the chapter, i.e. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Gideon bible translation 1976) to the descriptions of historical figures in the bible, your words, so beautifully put to music, “I’ll keep holding on” often bring to my mind thoughts of faith, hope, and love…those words and the music that accompanies them, along with your plaintive voice, have helped me to “keep holding on” through some very “dark nights” of the soul…
hey Mick and all…happy new year!…I’m thankful for a number of things, thanks be to God and not me, and one of them is your music…I imagine you’ll be staying up late tonight, so once again, happy new year!…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…listened to “beside you” a bit today…beautiful song, in my opinion…one of your best I think…it sure is a peaceful, inner joy sort of song…and there are worse things to find embodied in a song than peace and inner joy…it reminds me of Jesus’ words when he said something to the effect of, “behold I am with you to the end of the age”…to watch our day and night as your songs says…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…please accept my apologies…I use a shared computer in a public space and someone made a change to the you tube homepage so that it would bring up related videos to ones that were previously watched…and since I watch simply red videos sometimes, it brought up that one…hopefully the only person I made a fool of was myself…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…Mick, one of the Christmas songs you sang at the Union Chapel a few weeks ago was one of the videos selected to be on the Ypu tube home page for today…I was so excited when I saw it had been selected that I went right here to tell you…it the one where you sing “merry Christmas everybody’s having fun, and it’s only just begun” or something close to that…anyway, you did just an excellent job on it I thought…anyway, to you Mick, and Gabriella, and Romy True, and everybody in the band, thanks for the music and Merry Christmas…
Hey Mick…all the members of the band…I found the page describing what I wrote about in my last entry in the book “come and see” by Brendan Freeman. page 167. I’ll write it here word for word for you, cause he says it so much better than I did.
“To show us how to acquire that devotion, he [St. Bernard] mentions several types of experiences that leave us feeling lost and alone. For example, he describes the feeling of being adrift in a storm-tossed sea, no longer able to feel solid ground, and says that unless you wish to be swallowed up by it all, look to the star and call upon Mary. “When you are beset with temptations, when you are about to give in to pride, hatred or jealousy, look to the star, call upon Mary. Should anger, avarice or lust violently assail you, look to the star, call upon Mary. If you find yourself beginning to sink into the bottomless gulf of sadness and despair, then think of Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips. Never suffer it to leave your heart. If you do this, you will be safe from deception and will never go astray. You need not fear that you will grow weary and lose heart. You will reach your goal.“
[from here on it is the writer of the commentary on St. Bernard’s words talking]
What Bernard is describing does not happen overnight. It is a long process. It is the formation of our hearts, and it is rooted in our Cistercian patrimony because since the time of St. Bernard, devotion to Mary has been important to us.
Notice the experiences Bernard describes. We are all familiar with them because they are all part of being human: pride, ambition, hatred, jealousy, avarice, lust, and sadness. We don’t like to admit it,but we have experienced all of them many times. What Bernard is telling us is that we don’t need to give in to them; we don’t have to act on them. Don’t hate your brother or cut him down because you are jealous or ambitious. Instead, call upon Mary for strength to endure. If you do this over a long period of time, you will realize that Mary is like a star in your life, a permanent, fixed position of strength. She is a nurturing influence, always there, someone who understands what all of us are going through in our lives.“
I love that page of writing, Mick, and your music helps me put it into practice…“about to give in to hatred and anger, hoping for the arms of mater”…your music is helpful, Mick…
Hey Mick…all the members of the band…I read one of your tweets Mick!.…it’s the one where you say that you had forgotten how much you love California and that it shows how angry and frustrated and jealous a lot of people back home are…I think you have stumbled onto a truth I read written by St. Bernard of Clairvox (I don’t think I spelled that correctly)…basically, what he says is that we are all tempted, about to give in to, pride, hatred, jealousy, anger, lust, avarice, sadness, despair and fear, and that unless we want to be swallowed up by it all, we should call upon St. Mary to intercede for us (cause like it says in the bible, the prayer of a good person has a powerful effect and Mary is a good person)…that’s sort of what I use your music to help me with sometimes Mick…in “holding back the years” I change the words of “strangled by the wishes of pater, hoping for the arms of mater” to “about to give in to hatred and anger” or whatever the case may be“Hoping for the arms of mater”-meaning the intercession of Mary…so I can identify with those people you know back home who are tempted, about to give in to anger and hatred sometimes, but I know from experience that your music, imbued with a spirit of peace as it is, and a slight change in the lyrics, (which I would never want YOU to change) helps me a fair bit find peace and happiness…love you for that…
Hey Mick…all the members of the band…was listening to “holding back the years”, “you make me feel brand new”, “lost weekend”, “love fire”, “fake”, “suffer”, and “you’ve got it”…your music sure has helped me with my roman catholic faith…I don’t know how a former womanizer who still doesn’t mind tying one on could have produced so much music that is so spiritual that I learned more from it than I did from a lot of priests, but you did and I did…and I know that some of the things you do and say even today aren’t the most admirable, but still, you gift and love shine through in your music, particularly some of the live clips I’ve seen on you-tube, shining through all the crap in your life and mine, making the truth that God loves me and wants me to be happy, along with everyone else on the face of the earth, seem more accessible…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…I listened to your new song Mick!…I was kind of relieved…I like the sentiment expressed in it, “let’s forgive and forget, fill the world with happiness”…that may not be the exact way you put it…I remember hearing you sing all those words in the song though, maybe not in that order…beautiful song (just my opinion)…I like it…are you happy this Christmas Mick?…you seem happy to me…maybe not all the time, but some of the time…that’s better than never…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…I read one of your tweets Mick!…the one where you say to someone, “you’re making lovely wine over there that’s for sure”…that sentiment echoes something I was thinking about your music today, which was that your music has had a good effect on me, that’s for sure…say all the negative things you like about you Mick (and if you’re like all the rest of us some of them are probably true) your music is beautiful and brilliant and hopeful and I think some of it is deeply involved with things like faith, hope, love and truth…no one’s perfect Mick, but your music has had a good effect on me, that’s for sure…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…listened to some of your music…thinking in particular of “love fire” and “holding back the years”…it was kind of a happy thing…oh sure, it wasn’t heaven on earth, but there was some peace and some joy in my heart and my head…so I guess I can say, why compare my happiness to anybody else’s (although I do find myself doing that sometimes out of weakness) when, however humble it may sound, I found some peace and joy in your lovely music…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…I like the title,at least, of your new song, “happy this Christmas”…so far so good…the title brings to my mind thoughts of kindness, the way it’s phrased…maybe when I hear the song when it comes out I won’t like it as much as some of your other stuff, but you never know…it might be another gem…plus, listened to some of your music before going to sleep last night and thought thoughts of faith, hope, and love…thank God for the things in all our lives like that…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…was listening to “holding back the years” this morning…I think that is basically a happy song…oh sure, it’s subdued, but like saint Augustine of hippo says in one place in the book “city of God” those who are not at peace are not happy…so if you’re like I was for a couple of decades there, engaged in frenetic activity, always on the move and trying to put a smile on things, but not very often at peace, I think this song is maybe a partial antidote…peace and joy, Mick…that’s what that song says to me…peace and joy INSIDE…and you may still have some sins in your life that I don’t really admire you for, Mick, but still, I’m pretty sure you’ve got something spiritual going on in your music…and for that, how can I not thank God for you and your music?..
hey Mick…all the members of the band…if I may say so, in the light of my last post, your music, particularly holding back the years, has brought me some deep peace again today, by singing the words to myself of “strangled by the wishes of pater, hoping for the arms of mater” just slightly altered to,“frustrated to tears by my own stupidity and weakness, hoping for the arms of mater”…it feels good not to blame others, but show them mercy, and hope for mercy too for myself through the prayers of St. Mary, Jesus mother, who, as a Catholic, I believe intercedes for us when things get tough, like a mother would with love, as well as when they go well…peace, Mick and the band…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…quote from the gospel of Luke, chapter 6, v41-42, that your music got me thinking about today, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but pay no attention to the log in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Please, brother, let me take that speck out of your eye,’ yet cannot even see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
hey Mick…all the members of the band…today, once again, your music helped me find peace and joy in the thought of God…it made me think of those times when I am almost in despair, and the happy thought that brought me a sense of joy and peace as I listened to your beautiful music was, “ALMOST only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades”…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…the last few days your music has helped me believe in things like the Eucharist, confession, the bible, prayer, the words of St. Augustine of Hippo and the Holy Spirit…like a priest friend of mine says to me playfully often when I see him, “What a JOY it is to see you again!”…or in this case, listen to your music…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…qoute from Luke 11 v.21…“When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe. But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole”…to me these words are summed up pretty well by your song, “you’ve got it” when you say “this impossible power, that’s broken into me, and stolen all the sense that I had before”…the sense you had before, in this comparison, could be interpreted, (at least I like to interpret it this way)as the weapons of the strong man, so to speak, and the impossible power is the even stronger man of peace, joy happiness, kindness, who’s broken in and disarmed you…
hey Mick…all the members of the band…this is complex but I’ll try to explain it briefly…in the 11th chapter of St. Luke’s gospel, it says about halfway through that when a strong man guards his house, all his belongings are safe, but when an even stronger man attacks him, the jig is up so to speak…I think the evil in the world is the strong man…I think the spirit of peace and joy I find in things like your music, the bible, confession, the eucharist, prayer, the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo, and things like that, is the stronger man…your music helps me believe the truth-i.e. that love, peace joy and suffering patiently for a long time is more powerful than evil, and that peace and joy will triumph, happily, in the end…
hey Mick…the band…I’m on holidays for the next few days!…on my drive into the city, the fields were lush and green from all the rain we’ve been having…and I found a bit of joy in your music as I drove alomg, listening to my favorite compilation disc of your songs I like the best!…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…you know Mick, I’m pretty sure you’ve got something about God, about His peace, going on in some of your music…the two tracks I am thinking of are “holding back the years” from picture book and “beside you” off your latest album…those two tracks, maybe a little more so than some of your other tracks which I also love, are so imbued with a sense of peace and joy inside, that I just have to compliment you on your musicianship and work on them…may peace come inside you, so quiet…and happiness, too!…I hope…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…just finished listening to “holding back the years” a little while ago…you know, that song, coupled with the Eucharist, prayer, the words of the old and new testaments, and confession,and some of the writings of saint Augustine of Hippo, helped me turn away from some sins of mine that had been piling up as high as heaven…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…you know Mick, I am just so impressed with most of the music you made under the name “simply red”…today, some of that music helped inspire hope in me for a better tomorrow, or if not better, at least that there would be a little bit of light shining through the darkness, and that thought, coupled with my faith and your music, brought a little joy into my life…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…after starting off the day kind of rough, your music helped make me a little bit happy today…
Hey Mick…Kevin…the band…I’m glad I have some of your albums…your music has helped me find some peace and some happiness in my Roman Catholic faith…don’t ask me how, but it has…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…your music helps make my prayer-time more enjoyable…surely you have the spirit in you…I am grateful to God for you and your music…what else is there to say?…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…listened to “holding back the years” a few times today…you’d think I would have got tired of that song by now…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…well, I’m sort of happy…not that it is heaven on earth, I didn’t say that…but it’s like your song fairground’s lyrics say,“a little ray of light” shining through all the things that aren’t the way they should be…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…was listening to some of your music last night…I love your lyrics, and your voice, and the musicianship of the band…you may not have the best voice I’ve ever heard, but it’s the voice I love listening to the most…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…happy easter, a day ahead of schedule…
Hey Mick…Kevin…the band…I read one of your tweets Mick!…I’m thinking of the one where you say it’s Shrove Tuesday and you are having pancakes…I hope if you are planning on giving up something for lent, that you don’t go too hard on yourself…something I’ve always loved about your music and that has helped me with my faith is that your music has always seemed to have a lighthearted, lenient, gentle streak running through it…keep that up, okay?…I love that…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…today was listening to “love fire”, “holding back the years”, and last night “beside you”…your music instills such hope in me, such a love of God…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…you know, “holding back the years” just seems to get better and more meaningful to me as the years go by…that song is so deep…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…was just listening to some of your music…it kind of made me happy…
Hey Mick, Kevin, the band…just reread my last comment, and would like to add that I don’t think women are God, anymore than I think you are God, I think God is God, but like it says in the letter to the romans chapter 1 verse 20 “Ever since God created the world, His invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things God has made.” So just like I perceive the thumb print of God in listening to your music, so too when women are kind, or merciful, or kind of pretty, or intelligent, or all those things I can kind of use that to lift me up to a greater appreciation of God…
hey Mick…Kevin…the band…well, I spent some time today reading the bible and listening to “holding back the years”…I love the spirit of peace that’s imbued in that song…today when I was listening to it and watching the video once on your youtube channel, I just got carried back to my younger years when I first heard that song, breathed a sigh of relief, and thought, “that’s what peace is”…
Hey Mick…Kevin…the band…was talking to one of the ladies I work with today…she quoted a poem that says “in heaven nothing functions as it ought”…I said “that sounds more like earth to me”…she said“the implication is that if everything functioned as it ought that would be hell”…I said,“if everything functioned as it ought I think that would be heaven”…she said,“but if everything is based on precision and results and only the bottom line matters?…“then I said,” oh I see what you mean. it’s true that on earth nothing or nobody functions as they ought-they either get scared, or get angry or get lazy or get worried or get anxious-and if you try demanding perfection from them it gets worse…I think I understand now…you have to live with the imperfections of people and be patient, because nobody functions as they ought, and if you try to make them, you may just end up with the very efficient death camps of guys like Hitler…”
Hey Kevin…Mick…the band…was just kind of mellowing out listening to “holding back the years”…what a beautiful song…I’ll never know how you managed to write such a song at such a young age, Mick…to my mind, it has to have had SOMETHING to do with the love, and the mercy, and the tenderness of God, speaking through you…somehow…I don’t know how…but somehow…
hey Kevin…Mick…the band…you know there’s a hymn that I’ve heard a couple of times in church that alludes to “the calm of call obeyed”…I find that sentiment embodied in the song “holding back the years”…I know when you wrote it, (or at least later when you sang it, maybe not when you wrote it) you were something of a womanizer and a wild person, and so it seems like you hardly could have been obeying God’s call…so how could that song of yours represent “the calm of call obeyed”…well, all things considered, maybe you could have done worse…maybe you weren’t totally off track when it comes to obeying God…maybe just in the the way of womanizing and things like that you were thumbing your nose at God, but in other ways you weren’t…it’s possible…
hey Kevin, Mick, the band…was listening to some of you music today…in the new testament letters, in Romans 15:13, it says in my edition of the “good news” translation, that God is the source of hope…I find some of your music to be very helpful for inspiring hope in me…that connection is what makes me think that there is something spiritual going on in your music, even though it just seems like nice, enjoyable and peaceful, sometimes exciting, listening music…not that it isn’t all those things, but it is also spiritual in my opinion…
Happy belated Birthday Kevin. sorry this is late. I went to New Zealand to stay with my brother for 6 weeks so we came to one of your concerts, which, need I say was fantastic as usual.Back to earth with a bump now but looking forward to seeing you all again in December. My two 11yr old boys cant wait either, they are huge fans of SR :)xx
Hi! Kevin, Happy,Happy,Happy,Birthday! Kisses.:).From Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Congratulations Kevin !! More kisses from Chile.
happy birthday kevin from santiago chile kisses for you,make a wish bye
hey Kevin…Mick…the band…today, when I listened to “holding back the years”, I got the sense that God loves His creations…that music is so good, it makes me think that God must be good…it’s just like it says in the Roman Catholic mass of my country (before all countries in the roman catholic church had the same mass, but now I know many countries have not exactly the same wordings, at least I’m pretty sure of that)…any how, in my country, part of the wording of the roman catholic mass says about God that He is the one “from whom all good things come”…I think your music is good…therefore, I believe, it must have it’s source, somehow, in God…that makes me somewhat happy…
Belated Happy Birthday Kevin!
Sorry to be late — just got home from Ireland. Two fabulous shows and it was extra special seeing YOU on your birthday in Belfast. What a night that was!!!!!!!
Enjoy the rest of the tour and I’ll see you in December.
Big hug for you, love jenny xxxx
Happy Birthday Kevin! We enjoyed seeing you in concert on your special day!
Love
Carol xx (Edinburgh)
When Smokey sings “I Hear Violins“
Happy Birthday geeeez!
x
HAPPY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!
Belated birthday wishes. I hope you had a good one. Looking forward to seeing you next month at the O2. ♥xx
HI KEVIN
I wish you HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY and many happy returns. I‘ll hope you had a wonderful day.
See you on thursday in Odense.
Luv‘from Denmark
Else
Happy Birthday Kevin!!!..kisses kisses kisses…from CHILE
Happy Birthday Kevin!!!
Hope you had a perfect day!!! My best wishes for you!!!
Take care & kisses.♥ ♥ ♥
Roxyie :)
Happy Birthday Kevin,one of the great talents that make Simply Red the great group you are and always will be.Hope to see you tour the USA in the future,love those high notes you hit.
Happy Birthday!
Everything Best For You!!! Hope to see You Again in Poland:)
happy birthday …to you.….I wish you a nice day … .… congratulations and thanks for your music …come back to chile … to always love you kevin…see you!
Happy birthday Kevin!
All the best, for one of the best.
Thanks for your talent and… congratulations!!
c
happy birthday kevin, hope you had a great day,
love chris xxxxxx
Kevin
Preocupada, porque en mi saludo anterior por tu cumpleaños aparece ONU, no he puesto nada relacionado con eso, es que del español al inglés puede existir algo relacionado?, hago la mención, para no ser mal interpretada.
De nuevo, FELÍZ CUMPLEAÑOS, FELÍZ , FELIZ , DESDE EL FIN DEL MUNDO
Happy Birthday Kevin!
I wish you all the best.
See you in Prague :)))
Kisses from Poland.
Hi, Kevin,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope that you are having a lot of fun on the tour. From what I have seen on the message boards, you guys are really tearing them up!! However, all good things must come to an end and it looks like you are heading for the final stretch of the tour.
I wish you good luck with your future projects and I hope that you will get a chance to work with Mick, Kenji, Pete, Steve, Dave, and Ian again. Maybe you can all get together for an “unofficial” jam session or two.
Have a happy birthday and have safe travels for the rest of the tour.
Big Birthday Hugs!!
Linda
Hey Kevin…Happy birthday again…was just singing in my head “Love fire”…what an awesome song!…I hope the music you make like that with Mick and the rest brings you joy, because it has brought joy to me today, and it’s not even my birthday, but you have made it feel like it is…may you have a somewhat happy birthday, just the way I’m sure you have brought happiness to many, even when it wasn’t their birthday…
Happy Birthday Kevin :))))))))))) i will see you the 5 –12 in belgium Anvers
Joyeux anniversaire ;))
big hugssssssss ans big kiss from angel
Happy Birthday dear Kevin
you have a nice day…
kisses from Chile
Happy Birthday Kevin!!! Hope you have a great day!!
love pat xxx
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN
HAVE FUN
GREETINGS FROM MÉXICO!!!!!!!!!
Happy birthday Kevin! I got to meet you in Mexico City in May. You are one class act!! Talent, personality and a real gentleman! Best wishes for you!!
hey Kevin…hope you have a reasonably happy birthday…
Happy birthday, Kevin — hugs and kisses from Finland! You’re wonderful! See you in Hamburg in three weeks :)
From Spain, CONGRATULATIONS KEVIN!!!!!!
Desde Chile, te deseo un excelente cumpleaños, que cumplas muchos más y que sigas con éxito en todo lo que emprendas, eres un hombre muuuy interesante y atractivo, eso solo lo puedo decir, viendo el DVD del concierto en el Albert Royal All, te ves regio, con el debido respeto, por cierto, son un excelente grupo, triste porque ya no los veré más, el paso por Chile fue apoteósico, King — Kevin Robinson
Un gran abrazo
Happy Birthday, Kevin!!
Have a wonderful and amazing day. My best wishes for you
from Argentina.
Pablo.
♪ Happy Birthday Kevin ♪ : )
*☆♪Happy Birthday Kevin!☆♪*;-)
From Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Happy Birthday!!!! Wishing you all the best : )
Happy Birthday Kevin. Hope you have a great celebration. 12 years with SR hey? Well done, we love havin’ ya! Best wishes. Pat
Best wishes for a very Happy Birthday Kevin. I hope you have a good day.
Happy Birthday Kevin, all the best, have a good one.
Karenxxxx
Happy Birthday Kevin ♥
Happy Birthday Kevin!have a good day…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KEVIN!!!!!
YOU ARE A BIG MUSICIAN AND SINGER!
A LOT OF KISSES AND HUGS FROM ARGENTINA♥♥♥
Happy Birthday Kevin! Lots of joy and happiness! A big hug !
Happy birthday Kevin, I’ve just been to the Dublin Concert, It was my birthday treat ! Same date as you, so happy birthday to us both :P x Martina
Happy Birthday Kevin ! Fantastic to meet you, hope you like the “Cat In The Hat” notes posted (would send you one if I knew what to buy), you are a great guy and talented player, hope to catch you along the way before the end of the year.…Have a Great Birthday, Love from Lin and Mark, USA.…xx
Happy Birthday Kevin!!!!!!!!!!!!
From Chile, Happy birthday Kevin! :)