Were you ever in the valley
Where the way is dark and dim?
Cup of Loneliness
Lyrics by George Jones and Burl Stephens
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown…
Like a Rolling Stone/ Lyrics by Bob Dylan
“I have been watching my life…it’s right there. I keep scratching at it, trying to get into it.”
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in Mad Men
The TV show Mad Men not only has style, it has theology. From the opening credit images symbolizing a falling man right up through the end of season two (that I just finished in my two week binge) Mad Men deals with lost and fallen people.
Time will tell if they find some sort of salvation. But new life and resurrection themes are what this time of the year are all about.
The ending of Mad Men episode #24 (The Mountain, written by Matthew Weiner & Robin Veith) has the perfect song for Easter time. The George Jones song Cup of Loneliness sums up Don Draper’s life as season two comes to a close. This is the Good Friday song.
And since tomorrow is Easter Day there is the resurrection Sunday Mad Men song, also from season two that balances Cup of Loneliness quite well. It’s from episode 21, A Night to Remember (also written by Weiner & Veith) and the closing credit song is sung by Peter, Paul & Mary.
And since we’re stuck in the sixties and talking about Easter why don’t we conclude with the quintessential singer/songwriter from the ’60s. While Bob Dylan’s music was featured in season one of Mad Men, it was not this song where he sings about his “hero.”
Happy Easter.
P.S. A few days ago 80-year-old George Jones was hospitalized a respiratory infection. His website says he is resting at home now and plans to return to the stage April 20 in Minnesota. Another well-known 8o-year old was also hospitalized this week, Chuck Colson of Watergate fame. Known as Nixon’s “hatched man” he’s gone on to write several books including Loving God following his conversion to Christianity. There is a movie based on his life called Born Again starring Dean Jones. I had the opportunity to work with Colson a couple of times in the ’90s and once did an video interview with the late Green Bay Packer great Reggie White for a promotional video for Prison Fellowship which Colson founded in 1976 after his own time in prison. In light of the recent news reports about Charles Manson being up for parole, I remember Colson once giving a talk where he made the provocative comment that, “We are much closer to Charles Manson than Jesus Christ.” Though not universally agreed upon, I think Don Draper would agree with that sentiment.
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