Part 1
            Hello, Central Kansas and across the world!  Thank you for joining us this 18th day of the 8^th month of the year 2019—the hot month of August.  Welcome to “Message at the Top” on today’s best music, Mix 103.  Get set for the top 10 songs of our area right now as determined by the research from your requests, as well as our own research by Mediabase 24-7 for the reporting date of today, and get ready for some pretty good songs of the past as well.  Some of our songs this morning include the music of artists like Christina Perri, the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato among many others.  Our motto as always is to enjoy the music AND listen to the message so that the message can help you live a little bit better.  I am Fr. Mike Scully, and you have your dial set to Mix 103, number one in Central Kansas. 
            Demi Lovato will be 27 years old on Tuesday of this week, and I thought it would be good to listen to all of her top 10 songs—there are 6 of them, and let’s use her song “Give Your Heart a Break” to lead today.  A line in her song brings up this story.  The man felt his life was not satisfying at all.  In fact, that person was thinking about it when there was a sudden slowdown of traffic on Interstate 80.  He had swerved at the last moment, catching the fender of the car in front of him, turning his car around and ending up facing the wrong way in congested traffic.  They managed to get the cars to the side, the police were there, and then a priest, showed up.  He was driving by on his way to a hospital near there, and he had stopped to see if he could help. / The man who had the accident did not want to see that person dressed in black.  He realized later that it was because of what it did to his conscience.  The man had been raised a Catholic, but had grown to disregard religion because in his mind, the Church did not help with life at all, in his words.  He had left the Church because he was close to despair and he felt the Church was too old in its thinking to help him. / The sight of the priest brought it all to his mind.  It began some serious thought and he realized that he had not even talked to anyone in the Church, and had just made a judgment without thinking about it.  Ultimately, he had found out where the priest was, talked to him and finally learned that there were some answers to life, and that the Church and a relationship with God could help him.
            Well, the lady in Demi Lovato’s song here is pursuing a love relationship that she wants to begin again, and uses the line, “there’s just one life to live.”  She sings “The day I first met you, you told me you’d never fall in love, but now that I get you, I know fear is what it really was.  Now here we are so close yet so far.  Don’t wanna break your heart, wanna give your heart a break.  I know you’re scared it’s wrong, like you might make a mistake.  There’s just one life to live and there’s no time to wait, to waste.  The world is ours if we want it.  We can take it if you just take my hand.  Try to understand.”  So, the lady in the song is pursuing a love relationship--again, and as she does it, she realizes that this is the only life she has.
            So let’s use that theme of “The One Life We Have” this morning, and beginning us off, this is Demetria Devonne “Demi” Lovato and a song about wanting another to love the lady in the song from her album “Unbroken,” from the year 2012 and her song “Give Your Heart a Break” and happy birthday to her on MATT.
(double)    GIVE YOUR HEART A BREAK / Demi Lovato
                              HEART ATTACK / Demi Lovato
 
Part 2
            We are in the middle of a Demi Lovato six-play as we celebrate her birthday Tuesday.  That last one was her song "Heart Attack" from 2012 on MATT. It is a love song with high emotions, both in sound and in the words of the music. She sings the thoughts of a lady in the relationship: "You make me wanna act like a girl, paint my nails and wear high heels. Yes, you make me SO nervous, and I just can't hold your hand. You make me glow, but I cover up, won't let it show, so I'm putting my defenses up 'cause I don't wanna fall in love. If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack." The lady knows the emotions of love will hurt her, and she's not ready to feel that pain yet. Interesting thought and in terms of our theme, the one life we have will be affected quite a bit by a lasting love relationship, and therefore we should prepare for it a lot.
            Let’s go to the third song from Demi Lovato.  This one a song of seeking pleasure, especially physical pleasure, it would seem.  “Tell me what you want,” she sings, “What you like.  It's okay.  I'm a little curious too.  Tell me if it's wrong, if it's right.  I don't care.  I can keep a secret.  Can you?  Got my mind on your body, and your body on my mind.  Don't tell your mother.  We're cool for the summer.  Don't be scared ‘cause I'm your body type; we’re cool for the summer.”  The lady in the song is pretty much interested only in the pleasure of the moment, and she should be more interested in what will happen in the future.  The sooner we learn that, the better we will live the one life that we have, our theme today.  From her album “Confident,” this is Demi Lovato, and her song “Cool for the Summer” from 2015 on MATT.
(triple)      COOL FOR THE SUMMER / Demi Lovato
                              SORRY NOT SORRY / Demi Lovato
                  NEON LIGHTS / Demi Lovato
 
Part 3
            Number 5 of our initial 6 songs from Demi Lovato, that one, from her album “Demi,” and the song “Neon Lights” from 2013 -on MATT.  The song is a statement of the lady in a relationship about her relationship with a friend, and her relationship is full of strong emotions.  “Be still, my heart,” she sings, “cause it’s freaking out right now, shining like stars ‘cause we’re beautiful.  You’re all I see in all these places, you’re all I see in all these faces.  So let’s pretend we’re running out of time.  You’ll be coming home with me tonight and we’ll be burning up like neon lights.”  The lady has a good feeling about their relationship and that idea of feeling good about life is something that we want in the one life we live, our theme today, but we also have to remember—as I remind us all the time—love is more than emotions.
            Before that song from her, her again, Demi Lovato, and her song from her album “Tell Me You Love Me,” “Sorry Not Sorry” from Demi Lovato from last year.  It is a song of revenge against a boyfriend who didn’t treat the lady in the relationship so well.  “Now, I’m out here looking like revenge,” the lady in the relationship sings, “I know how bad it must hurt to see me like this.  Now you’re out here looking like regret, second chance you’ll never get.  You’re messing with a savage, and it’d be nice of me to take it easy on you, but nah—Baby, I’m sorry (I’m not sorry).  Talk that talk, better walk that walk.”  So apparently the man in the relationship had said some things that he did not follow through on.  In terms of our theme today, the one life that we have should be spent without vindictiveness, that is without revenge and hateful feelings.
            Our theme song this week is a former top 10 song from birthday person Demi Lovato and her song “Give Your Heart a Break.”  I’m Fr. Mike inviting you to stay with us.  Let me take you to break with a thought about dreams from an author by the name of David Hodges, songwriter who once worked with the group Evanescence: “A dream isn’t something that you awake from, but something that wakes you up.”  And when you truly wake up, you are living a pretty good life.  Your dial is set for Mix 103 and you are listening to “Message at the Top”.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 4
            You are in tune with “Message at the Top”, your top 10 show on today’s best music, Mix 103.  Thank you for joining us this morning.  We welcome you back to the songs that have been the most popular in this area during this past week.  We take the top 10 and study their messages, and then call our show MATT.  I am your host Fr. Mike.  It’s great to have you here.  We began our show with a theme and title setting song from a song from Demi Lovato, and we are calling our show “The One Life You Have.” 
            We began our show with 5 top 10 songs from Demi Lovato.  She has had one more go to the top 10.  It is up for us next, but first a little bit about Demi.  She is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who began as a child actress in Barney & Friends, then into Disney Channel Television.  She has received a considerable number of accolades including an MTV Video Music Award, 13 Teen Choice Awards, 5 People’s Choice Awards, a Latin American Music Award and a Grammy Award nomination.  In 2013, Billboard ranked her second on its Social 50 Artists of the Year list.  She is politically involved in many feminist movements.  Quite an accomplished young lady. 
            Her song here sounds like a really happy song, but its words do not capture real happiness.  It is the story of a would-be romantic partner who leaves and then rubs it in, then that partner gets what he deserves and then the lady in the song says that it is okay, and moves on with her life.  “Maybe I should have known that you would walk out the door,” the lady sings, “said we were done, then met someone and rubbed it in my face.  She broke your heart, and then she ran away.  But even if the stars and moon collide, I never want you back into my life.  I really don’t care.”  Strong words and some vindictiveness shown on the lady in the song’s part.  We said before that being vindictive is never a way to spend the one life that we have.  Sung with British artist Cher Lloyd, Demi Lovato and their song “Really Don’t Care” from 2012 on MATT.
(double)  REALLY DON’T CARE / Demi Lovato
                  5 SOMEONE YOU LOVED / Lewis Capaldi
 
Part 5
            We have forged into our top 10 with that song, moving up to number 5 in our top 10, from Scotland Mr. Lewis Capaldi from his album, “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent,” “Someone You Loved” on MATT.  The song is a sad one sung after a breakup.  “I'm going under,” he sings the thoughts of the man in the relationship, “and this time I fear there's no one to save me. This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy. I need somebody to heal, somebody to know, somebody to have, somebody to hold. I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain. Now the day bleeds into nightfall. And you're not here to get me through it all. I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug. I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved.”  In terms of our theme today, and we’ll say this a couple of times during the show, if we really want to live the one life we have well, we will learn the art of communication.
            Three more top 10 songs for our listening pleasure right now, and we begin with Pink.  She is speaking of a love relationship that she sees as the “only thing that’s good” as she sings.  But she’s also talking about the problems of the world in my opinion.  Her refrain is: “Walk me home in the dead of night.  I can’t be alone with all that’s on my mind.  So say you’ll stay with me tonight ‘cause there is so much wrong going on outside.”  So, the solution for her mind to her situation is her significant other; and she needs that person to overcome her loneliness and her despair about what’s happening in the world.  And the tie into our theme is this.  If she wants to discover how to live well in this one life she has, she will have to overcome that loneliness some way, but the answer may not be him.  Pink right here, from her album “Hurts 2B Human”, her song “Walk Me Home” number 5 this week on MATT. 
(triple)      7 WALK ME HOME / Pink
                              8 NEVER REALLY OVER / Katy Perry
                              2 SUCKER / Jonas Brothers
 
Part 6     
            Remaining at number 2, former number 1, from their album “Happiness Begins”, the Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick and their song “Sucker” on MATT.  It is a song about devotion to another, and what that other does to the man in the relationship.  “We go together,” they begin their song, “Better than birds of a feather, you and me.  We change the weather: I’m feeling heat in December when you’re ‘round me.  I’ve been dancing on top of cars and stumbling out of bars.  I follow you through the dark, can’t get enough.  You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain.  It’s obvious, I’m a sucker for you.  Say the word and I’ll go anywhere blindly.  Any road you take you know that you’ll find me.  I’m a sucker for all the subliminal things.”  I’ve said that the word “subliminal” is an interesting word for the lyrics of a song.  In terms of our theme today, one of the ways to learn to live well the one life we have is to pay attention to the subliminal things that we all have.
            Before them, we heard another top 10 from Katy Perry or Ms. Kathryn Elizabeth Hudson, and her song at number 8, “Never Really Over”.  It is a song about a love situation that was part of the lady in the song’s life, then she or both of them decided that it should cease, and it doesn’t.  “I’m losing my self-control she begins her song, “Yeah, you’re starting to trickle back in.  I tell myself draw the line and I do, but once in a while I trip up and I cross the line, and I think of you.  Two years and just like that, my head still takes me back.  Thought it was done, but I guess it’s never really over.  Oh, we were such a mess, but wasn’t it the best?  Just because it’s over doesn’t mean it’s really over.”  When it comes to living the one life we have well, our theme today, if we are thinking we are in love, we had better discover it before we commit ourselves.
            We will continue MATT in just a few moments and hear the music in order of appearance of Shawn Mendes, Christina Perri, Sam Smith, Bruno Mars, Sara Bareilles, and Panic! At the Disco.  Let me take you to break with this thought.  It comes from Robert Frost: “Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.”  A little cynical, but certainly something that if we learn, and determining which one we are in, we might improve the one life we have.  I’m Fr. Mike, this show is “Message at the Top” your dial is set at to today’s best music, which is Mix 103 and We’ll be right back.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 7
            We are back for “Message at the Top” and we welcome you back to the top 10 songs of our area as determined by the research of Mediabase 24-7 and your requests.  We call our show MATT because we take those top 10 songs and analyze their meanings and messages in the light of how we can live better in this complicated world.  Our motto is very simply to enjoy the music, and to listen to the message so that the message can help you in your complicated lives.  I am Fr. Mike, your host for the top 10 show of today’s best music, Mix 103, and we are pursuing a theme from Demi Lovato from 2012, a song called “Give Your Heart a Break”.  The theme that comes from it is the thought of “The One Life We Have.”
          And let’s begin another triple play right now with a story about a couple who really don’t know for sure about each other yet.  “I love it when you call me Senorita,” the lady sings, “I wish I could pretend I don’t need you, but every touch is true.  Oh, I should be running.  You keep me coming for you.”  The man in the relationship sings, “Sapphire moonlight, we danced for hours in the sand.”  And she sings, “When you call me Senorita, I wish it wasn’t so hard to leave you.  Locked in the hotel, there’s some things that never change.  You say, ‘We’re just friends.’”  And all during the song, it feels as though things are just not quite right between them.  It is acted out in the video with the man leaving the girl.  What captures my attention is her statement that she should be running, but she hasn’t discovered it yet.  If she is going to live the one life she has well, she probably should be looking at another relationship.  This is number 9 in our top 10 from Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, “Senorita” on MATT.
(triple)      9 SENORITA / Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
                              ARMS / Christina Perri
                              6 DANCING WITH A STRANGER / Sam Smith f/ Normani
 
Part 8
          That was Samuel Frederick Smith or Sam Smith and Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei Hamilton or Normani and their song “Dancing with a Stranger”, number 6 on MATT.  The man in the relationship sings: "I don't wanna be alone tonight.  It's pretty clear I'm not over you.  Can you light the fire?  I need somebody who can take control.  Look what you made me do: I'm with somebody new, I'm dancing with a stranger." And the lady sings, "I wasn't even going out tonight, but I need to get you off of my mind. I don't wanna be alone tonight. Look what you made me do: I'm dancing with a stranger."  Both are unhappy and really want to be back together, but you don’t know whether they will or not because they are blaming each other.  One of the things we must learn in this one life that we have is never to blame another unless we are certain it is their fault.
            Before them, we heard from a lady whose birthday is tomorrow, Christina Perri—she is 33 years old tomorrow.  It is from her album “Lovestrong”, her song, “Arms” from 2011, a beautiful song, I believe.  She sings the thoughts of a woman in a relationship: “I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart, but you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start.  You put your arms around me and I’m home.  I can’t decide if I’ll let you save my life or if I’ll drown.  I hope that you see right through my walls.  I hope that you catch me ‘cause I’m already falling.  The world is coming down on me and I can’t find a reason to be loved.  I tried my best to never let you in to see the truth, and I’ve never opened up.”  The lady in the song has not communicated well, and yet she wants the relationship in the worst way.  It comes up again and again.  We absolutely need communication in order to live well, and it is a major way to make the one life we have a happy one, our theme today.
            Yet another triple play will grace our airwaves right now.  We’ll begin it with a song of total love to someone who has come into the life of the man in the song, and it has changed him to be a better person. "Never had much faith in love or miracles," he sings, "Never wanna put my heart on the line, but swimming in your water is something spiritual: I'm born again. 'Cause you take me to paradise, yeah, you take me to paradise and it shows 'cause you make me feel like I've been locked out of heaven for too long." The song is controversial in religious circles because he describes his love encounter in terms of a spiritual encounter with God, and the use of the word "sex".  In these songs physical love often is presented as a proof of love, but in reality, physical love is only part of love, and in fact, one of the lesser important parts of it.  My opinion, of course, and in terms of our theme, and I have said this before, if we want to make our love life to be the best love life there is, we will make the physical part of love be something of lesser importance than say communicating with each other.  MATT presenting Mr. Peter Gene Hernandez better known as Bruno Mars and his song "Locked out of Heaven" from his album "Unorthodox Jukebox" from 2012 on MATT.
(triple)    LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN / Bruno Mars
                  LOVE SONG / Sara Bareilles
                  3 HEY LOOK MA, I MADE IT / Panic! At the Disco
 
Part 9
            MATT presenting Panic! At The Disco and their number 3 song as we speak this morning, from their album “Pray for the Wicked”, “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”.  It is a good song about a person who wanted to go to the top, he did, and now he finds that he is not satisfied.  “All my life been hustling and tonight is my appraisal ‘cause I’m a hooker selling songs and my pimp’s a record label.  This world is full of demons, stocks, and bonds, and bible traders, so I do the deed, get up and leave, a climber and a sadist.  Are you ready for the sequel, ain’t ready for the latest?  In the garden of evil, I’m gonna be the greatest in a golden cathedral.  I’m be praying for the faithless.  Hey look Ma, I made it, everything’s coming up aces, and if it’s a dream, don’t wake me.”  And the result: some like it, many don’t.  He made it, it seems, but doesn’t feel good about it because he has met evil up front and personal.  The one life we have, our theme today, will be surrounded by some bad things even if we have lots of good things.
            Before them, we heard from 2007 and Sara Bareilles from her album “Little Voice”, and her song “Love Song”.  She sings of a man in the relationship who wants her to write a love song for them, but she’s not so sure that the love relationship is what it should be.  “You made room for me,” she sings, “but it’s too soon to see if I’m happy in your hands.  I learned the hard way that they all say things you want to hear, and my heavy heart sinks deep down under you and your twisted words.  You are not what I thought you were.”  And so she says, “I’m not gonna write you a love song if your heart is nowhere in it.”  She’s correct with her thinking, I believe—one has to really mean that you love someone if you say it, and apparently the man in the relationship—in her mind, anyway—didn’t mean it yet.  This is the one life we have, our theme today, and we have to be as certain as we can be about major moments in that life. 
            Ah, the insights of rock music.  You’ll hear them on this show, to be sure—what great thoughts they lead us to.  “The One Life We Have” is our theme today, that thought coming from birthday person on Tuesday Ms. Demi Lovato and her song “Give Your Heart a Break”.  Our next set of music and message will explore our theme with Adam Lambert and also the number 1 song in our land.  May I take you to break with this thought from Seneca, a statement over 2000 years old and still just as valid today: “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.”  Being kind is always a way to feel better about ourselves, and to improve the one life we have.  You bet.  I’m Fr. Mike, listen to these words of wisdom, and then I hope you come back for more.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 10
            Every song has a message, and with a little bit of thought, most of the messages will give us something good to think about.  Good morning, everyone, what’s left of it. This is “Message at the Top”, on Mix 103.  Thank you for joining us this morning.  I am Fr. Mike, and our show gives you the top 10 songs of our area, as well as some top 10’s of the past.  We invite you to enjoy the music AND listen to the message so that your lives can be a little bit better than they are now.  The topic of our show today concerns some ideas for the one life we have.
            Yet another triple play as we move into our final segment right now, we begin it with Mr. Jason Mraz and Ms. Colbie Caillat.  Their song is a love song, a song of a couple who seem to be very committed to one another, and about to live their life of marriage together: “Do you hear me,” the man in the relationship begins the song, “I’m talking to you across the water across the deep blue ocean under the open sky?”  And the lady answers, “Boy, I hear you in my dreams, I feel your whisper across the sea, I keep you with me in my heart: you make it easier when life gets hard.”  And they both sing: “I’m lucky I’m in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been, lucky to be coming home again.”  They are best friends, and in love, and therefore they feel very alive, and they feel great about the one life they have, our theme today.  MATT presents Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz from Jason Mraz’s album “We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things”, and their song, “Lucky” from 2008 on MATT.
(triple)    LUCKY / Jason Mraz f/ Colbie Caillat
                  WHATAYA WANT FROM ME / Adam Lambert
                  4 IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU / Shawn Mendes
 
Part 11
            MATT presenting Mr. Shawn Mendes again, “If I Can’t Have You” at number 4 from his album “Shawn Mendes”.  It is a song of real devotion to another but it seems to even go further than that.  It is almost like the person in the song cannot even exist without the other.  “I can't write one song that's not about you.  Can't drink without thinking about you.  Is it too late to tell you that everything means nothing if I can't have you? Oh, I'm good at keeping my distance.  I know, / that you're the feeling I'm missing.  You know that I hate to admit it, but everything means nothing if I can't have you.”  The man in the relationship has very strong feelings about the other.  And because feelings are so fickle, in order for him to have the one life he has and live it to the fullest, our theme today, he must discover that.
            Before him, we heard from Mr. Adam Lambert from his album “For Your Entertainment”, and his song “Whataya Want From Me”, the number 2 song of meaning from 2010.  He sings: “There might have been a time I would give myself away, but now here we are.  So whataya want from me.  Just don’t give up: I’m workin’ it out.  Please don’t give in, I won’t let you down.  It’s plain to see that you’re beautiful and it’s nothing wrong with you.  It’s me.  But thanks for lovin’ me ‘cause you’re doing it perfectly.”  So, the man in the relationship admits that the problem in the relationship is him, and he really doesn’t want his significant other to give up.  He has to make some changes, and he is saying it to the other.  He is asking his friend what he wants from him, and at the same time, he is recognizing that he is not giving what the other wants.  Honest sincere talk is what the topic of the song is, and something we should all strive for.  And if we do, the one life we have, our theme today, will be a good one.
          A double play now beginning with a song from a number of years ago, 1989 to be exact, satisfying my 1980’s desires.  It is one very interesting song as she sings about her addiction, as she calls it.  That addiction is nothing less than using others in order to feel good, and her comment: “Bit by bit torn apart, we never win, but the battle wages on for toy soldiers.  Only emptiness remains.”  That’s what happens when one is in the habit of using others, no matter what “use” you are talking about—and here she is using her love.  As we speak of the one life we have, we will not enjoy it if we spend the time using others.  This is Marta Marrero better known as Martika, “Toy Soldiers” on MATT.
(double)    TOY SOLDIERS / Martika
                              10 TALK / Khalid
 
Part 12
       Coming back into our top 10 from his album “Free Spirit” and his song, “Talk” on MATT.  It is the latest from Khalid Donnel Robinson.  I really like the song since I believe every relationship must be based on good communication.  The situation is that the lady sort of pulled away from the relationship, and his response is let’s talk about it—exactly what should happen.  “Can’t we just talk,” the man in the relationship sings, “Talk about where we’re going?  Lend me your thoughts, can’t get what we want without knowin’.  Started off right, I can see it in your eyes, I can tell you’re wanting more.  What’s on your mind?  There’s no reason we should hide, tell me somethin’ I ain’t heard before.”  The point is that she pulled away for some reason and they have to discover it.  The only way is direct communication.  That which comes up so often—the way to live the one life we have well is to learn to communicate well.
            And the number 1 song for four weeks in a row is from two superstars, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber and their song “I Don’t Care”.  It is the story in song of the man in the relationship not being real happy with the situation he is in except for the fact that his significant other is there.  “I’m at a party I don’t wanna be at.  Don’t think I want to be at this party, I always feel like I’m nobody, who wants to fit in anyway ‘cause I don’t care when I’m with my baby, all the bad things disappear.  And you’re making me feel like maybe I am somebody.  I can deal with the bad nights when I’m with my baby.”  The other is really important to this relationship, perhaps too important.  Our theme today is that we want to live well this one life that we have, and we will if we learn to be dependent and independent, and to know when to be them.
            Today we have spoken of that theme—the one life we have.  My prayer for you and for me is that we will always search for the very best way to live this one life we have.  If you would like to communicate with me, my e-mail address is: frmikescully@yahoo.com.  The address at the radio station: KJLS-FM, Hays, 67601.  My website is www.frmikescully.com where you will find a transcript of the show and some meditations on these songs and some great movies.  I just put on the website “Creed 2,” great inspirational movie.  We are on the web also every Sunday morning at 10 am Central time at www.hayspost.com and then clicking on Mix 103.  Thank you for being with us today.  My thanks to the producers of our show and to our sponsors, especially Thomas More Prep-Marian Junior and Senior High School in Hays, Hays Car and Truck Alignment, and Holy Family Elementary School in Hays.  Happy school to all of you.  My closing thought for you comes from one of our great Presidents, Mr. John F. Kennedy.  Listen closely because of the wisdom that is hidden in it: “Too often we enjoy the comfort of an opinion / without the discomfort of thought.”  Sometimes we don’t reason too well when we are too opinionated about something, and our life suffers as a result.  As you listen to the number 1 song in our land from Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber and the song “I Don’t Care”, may I remind you that you are listening to today’s best music on Mix 103.  Hold a good thought.  My name is Fr. Mike Scully.  Peace to you, and be good!
1  I DON’T CARE / Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber

Part 1
            Hello, Central Kansas and around the world; thank you for joining us this hot but pleasant August Sunday morning and welcome to Mix 103’s unique top 10 show, “Message at the Top”.  We are the home of today’s best music which includes MATT.  I hope your beginning of school experience either this week or the next is a good one!  I am Fr. Mike Scully, your host; get ready for the top 10 songs of our area as determined by our own research here at Mix 103 as well as the research of Mediabase 24-7.  We here at Mix 103 continue to give you only the very best in radio entertainment, / and that includes not only the songs that we play, but their messages as well.  And so, our plea to you is to enjoy the music that we play, but take the time to listen to the message because the message can honestly help our lives as we live in this complicated world. 
            When we think seriously about our lives, we think in general about a lot of things that we should do, and don’t for whatever reason.  We talk a lot about resolutions on this show, resolutions that we have to carry through with in our lives if the resolutions are to mean anything.  There is therefore in our thinking a category that can be labeled as “Some Things We Should Do.”  That is, things in life as we try to live well that we do, and really we should not do at all.  So, let’s talk a little today about some things that we should do.
            What gives occasion to such a thought is a song in our top 1o from Shawn Mendes and his present girlfriend Camila Cabello, a song called “Senorita”.  It is an interesting song of love, but it seems that the couple really don’t know for sure about each other yet.  “I love it when you call me Senorita,” the lady sings, “I wish I could pretend I don’t need you, but every touch is true.  Oh, I should be running.  You keep me coming for you.”  The man in the relationship sings, “Sapphire moonlight, we danced for hours in the sand.”  And she sings, “When you call me Senorita, I wish it wasn’t so hard to leave you.  Locked in the hotel, there’s some things that never change.  You say, ‘We’re just friends.’”  And all during the song, it feels as though things are just not quite right between them.  It is acted out in the video with the man leaving the girl. 
            A number of things catch my attention in the words.  But one that I am thinking of right now is her statement that she should be running.  It seems to capture the situation of what should happen in my opinion.  Either that, or as we said last week, some type of sincere communication between the two of them.
            Be that as it may, it is a good topic for our show today, a topic that we have used a number of times in the past since it comes up so often, namely what we should do, or the negative of it, what we should not do.  We’ll see how the songs of our show fit into that theme.  Starting us off, here is number 10 in our top 10 from Shawn Mendes—happy birthday to him tomorrow, 21 years old and Camila Cabello, “Senorita” on MATT.
(double)    10 SENORITA / Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
                              HAVANA / Camila Cabello
 
Part 2
            That was Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao better known as Camila Cabello again, this time featuring Jeffrey Lamar Williams better known as Young Thug, from Camila Cabello’s album named after her, the album “CAMILA”, the song “Havana” on MATT.  It is the story of a young man who took his girlfriend from Havana, Cuba and they went to East Atlanta, Georgia and she did not like it at all and she wants to go back.  “Half of my heart is in Havana,” she sings, “he took me back to East Atlanta, but my heart is in Havana.” They had a good time together, it seems, but in her mind it is over, and she wants to go back to her home.  In terms of our theme, what he should be doing is making sure they are doing what both of them want, or at least to compromise. 
            Our first triple of the day begins with a song about real devotion to another but it seems to even go further than that.  It is almost like the person in the song cannot even exist without the other.  “I can't write one song that's not about you.  Can't drink without thinking about you.  Is it too late to tell you that everything means nothing if I can't have you? Oh, I'm good at keeping my distance.  I know, / that you're the feeling I'm missing.  You know that I hate to admit it, but everything means nothing if I can't have you.”  The man in the relationship has very strong feelings about the other.  And because feelings are so fickle, what he should do, our theme today, is always be aware that feelings can be deceiving.  Happy birthday to him again and this is his song: Shawn Mendes “If I Can’t Have You” number 4 on MATT. 
(triple)      4 IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU / Shawn Mendes
                              BAILANDO /Enrique Iglesias, etc.
                  WHAT ABOUT NOW / Daughtry
 
Part 3
            From the songs of meaning of 2008 from his album “Daughtry,” Chris Daughtry and his group and a high song of meaning, “What About Now” on MATT.  I place it high because I look at it as a song imploring you and me to change for the better what we can.  “Shadows fill an empty heart,” he begins the song, “As love is fading from all the things that we are, but are not saying.  Can we see beyond the scars and make it to the dawn?  For all the things that never died, to make it through the night, love will find you.  What about now?  What about today?  What if you’re making me all that I was meant to be?  What if our love never went away?  What if it’s lost behind words we could never find?  Before it’s too late, what about now?”  And the video shows scene after scene of people doing something on behalf of humankind, showing love in action, exactly what should happen, our theme today.
            Before them, we heard from a song about dancing.  It is a really moving song that is difficult to understand even in the English version, Enrique Iglesias along with assistance from Sean Paul, Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona from Iglesias’ album “Sex + Love”, “Bailando” which is Spanish for “dancing”.  Its video was described as spectacular by Billboard magazine, and I would have to agree with that.  They sing: “Girl, I like the way you move; come and show me what to do.  People tell me that you want me.  Girl, you got nothing to lose.  I can’t wait no more.  I wanna be contigo (that is, with you), and live contigo and dance contigo.”  My Spanish is not the greatest to say the least, but it is definitely a love song, and as we consider what we should do in life, our theme today, I don’t know that people in love should dance, but it usually will make them feel better. 
            Some rock music has messages that everyone should listen to, and we have some on our show today.  I’m Fr. Mike inviting you to stay with us.  After a short break, we will continue our presentation of the top 10 songs of the 2000’s, 90’s and 80’s.  May I lead you to break, as is my wont, with a quote.  Here’s one from author Tony Robbins.  It concerns a discovery that should be made as we look into ourselves: “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you.  If you do that, you're in control of your life.  If you don't, life controls you.”  Great insight, I believe.  One of the ways to do what we should do is to learn to control how we feel about pain and pleasure as we do it.  Your dial is set for 100,000 watts of insight and power, Mix 103 and you are listening to “Message at the Top”.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 4
            You, my friends, are in tune with “Message at the Top,” your top 10 show on today’s best music, Mix 103.  Thank you for joining us this morning.  We welcome you back to the songs that are and have been most popular in this area.  We take the top 10 from the past 39 years including today and study their messages, and then call our show MATT.  I’m your host Fr. Mike.  It’s great to have you here.  We began our show with a song from Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello and their song “Senorita” and now we are looking at the songs of our show from the point of view of exactly what we should do in life.
            What does the number 9 song say about what we should do in life?  Well, let’s listen to this young lady and see if we can figure it out.  It is a song about a love situation that was part of the lady in the song’s life, then she or both of them decided that it should cease, and it doesn’t.  “I’m losing my self-control she begins her song, “Yeah, you’re starting to trickle back in.  I tell myself draw the line and I do, but once in a while I trip up and I cross the line, and I think of you.  Two years and just like that, my head still takes me back.  Thought it was done, but I guess it’s never really over.  Oh, we were such a mess, but wasn’t it the best?  Just because it’s over doesn’t mean it’s really over.”  What should she do, our theme today?  How about spend time with him to see whether it is over or not.  MATT presenting Katy Perry, or Ms. Kathryn Elizabeth Hudson, and her song at number 9, “Never Really Over”. 
(double)  9 NEVER REALLY OVER / Katy Perry
                  WHAT DO YOU MEAN / Justin Bieber
 
Part 5
            We’ll hear from him again, Justin Bieber from his album “Purpose” and his song “What Do You Mean”, from 2015 on MATT.  It is a great song about the importance of communication.  “What do you mean?” he begins the song.  “When you nod your head yes, but you wanna say no, what do you mean?  When you don't want me to move, but you tell me to go, what do you mean?  Said we're running out of time, what do you mean?  Better make up your mind.  What do you mean?  You're so indecisive of what I'm saying, trying to catch the beat, make up your heart.  Don't know if you're happy or complaining, don't want for us to end.  Where do I start?  First you wanna go to the left and you want to turn right.  First you up then you're down and between.  I really want to know.  What do you mean?”  Thinking of the song together with our theme of what we should do, if we want anything to work well, we need to have good communication with the people involved. 
            Another triple right now, and let’s begin it with this story.  The person wanted to go to the top, he did, and now he finds that he is not satisfied.  “All my life been hustling and tonight is my appraisal ‘cause I’m a hooker selling songs and my pimp’s a record label.  This world is full of demons, stocks, and bonds, and bible traders, so I do the deed, get up and leave, a climber and a sadist.  Are you ready for the sequel, ain’t ready for the latest?  In the garden of evil, I’m gonna be the greatest in a golden cathedral.  I’m be praying for the faithless.  Hey look Ma, I made it, everything’s coming up aces, and if it’s a dream, don’t wake me.”  And the result: some like it, many don’t.  He made it, it seems, but doesn’t feel good about it because he has met evil up front and personal.  What should he do, our theme today?  In order to feel better, he probably should discuss it with someone who truly cares about him.    This is Panic! At The Disco and their number 3 song as we speak this morning, from their album “Pray for the Wicked”, “Look Ma, I Made It” on MATT.
(triple)      3 LOOK MA, I MADE IT / Panic! At The Disco
                              LOVE REMAINS THE SAME / Gavin Rossdale
                              WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND /Justin Timberlake
 
Part 6     
            A song about life, and it is sort of a threat to an ex-girlfriend of the man in the song, but nonetheless a fact that is true.  It comes from his album “Future Sex / Love Sounds,” from the top 10 of 2007, “What Goes Around Comes Around”.  “Hey, girl,” the man in the song addresses the ex-girlfriend, “is he everything you wanted in a man?  You know, I gave you the world.  So why your love went away I just can’t seem to understand.  Thought it was me and you until the end, but I guess I was wrong.  Can’t believe it’s ending this way.  Should have known better when you came around that you were gonna make me cry.  That’s okay ‘cause in time you will find what goes around, comes all the way back around.”  Now, there’s the fact of life I was speaking of—what goes around comes around.  It is one of the things about love that we have to remember: when we are working out some love relationship, we have to do it with caution and understanding because as Jesus says, the measure we measure with will be the way we are measured in the long run—or what goes around comes around.  In terms of our theme, we should always work with caution and understanding in every love relationship.
            Before him, we heard from British singer/songwriter Gavin Rossdale, from his album “Wanderlust” and his song “Love Remains The Same”, a number 1 song from the year 2008.  He began his song this way: “A thousand times I’ve seen you standing.  You make me wanna run till I find you; I shut the world away from here.  I drift to you, you’re all I hear, as everything we know fades to black.  Half the time the world is ending; truth is: I am done pretending.  I never thought that I had anymore to give.  Here I am without you.  Everything will change, but love remains the same.”  It is a song of what could have been.  He is talking to his girlfriend, but you’re not sure whether she will respond or not.  One of the statements in the song always impressed me: he says that he is done pretending.  The fact is that pretending love is never a way to work out a good plan and almost always it will mean that selfishness has entered the picture and ruined things.  What we should do, our theme today, is continually work at overcoming selfishness.
               We will continue to look at the top 10 songs of today and yesterday in just a few seconds.  In fact, during our next segment, we will hear from—in order of appearance—the Jonas Brothers, Maroon 5 in double play, Sam Smith, the Fray and the Script.  How about that line-up!  Let me take you to break with a quote from my favorite author, Mr. Mark Twain.  Here, he is talking about control: “When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.”  Now, I don’t agree with that, but he always catches you off guard.  What I would say, what you should do when very angry is pause for a few moments in order to establish some form of inner peace, and then talk.  I’m Fr. Mike, this show is “Message at the Top” and your dial is set at Mix 103.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 7
            We are back for “Message at the Top”.  We call our show MATT because we take songs that are or have been on the top of the charts and analyze their meanings in the light of how we can live better in this complicated world.  Our motto always has been and will always be to enjoy the music, and listen to the message—and learn something.  I am Fr. Mike, your host, and we are pursuing a theme from Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello and their current top 10 song “Senorita.”
            Let’s begin our second hour with the number 2 song on our top 10, and listen to a song about devotion to another, and what that other does to the man in the relationship.  “We go together,” they begin their song, “Better than birds of a feather, you and me.  We change the weather: I’m feeling heat in December when you’re ‘round me.  I’ve been dancing on top of cars and stumbling out of bars.  I follow you through the dark, can’t get enough.  You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain.  It’s obvious, I’m a sucker for you.  Say the word and I’ll go anywhere blindly.  Any road you take you know that you’ll find me.  I’m a sucker for all the subliminal things.”  I’ve said that the word “subliminal” is an interesting word for the lyrics of a song.  In terms of our theme today, we should pay close attention to the subliminal things that the other shows because it may make or break the relationship.  Remaining at number 2, the Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick and their song “Sucker” on MATT. 
(triple)      2 SUCKER / Jonas Brothers
                  GIRLS LIKE YOU / Maroon 5 f/ Carli B
                              LOVE SOMEBODY / Maroon 5
 
Part 8
            The group Maroon 5 in double play there, and their last song named “Love Somebody” from their album “Overexposed”, their song from the year 2013 on MATT.  “I know your insides are feeling so hollow,” the man in the relationship sings, “and it’s a hard pill for you to swallow, but if I fall for you, I’ll never recover, I’ll never be the same.  I really wanna love somebody, I really wanna dance the night away.  I really wanna touch somebody, I think about you every single day.  I know we’re only half way there, but you can take me all the way.”  The situation in the song seems like the couple have had a problem, and he’s trying to keep the relationship together.  You don’t know the complete feeling of the lady in the relationship, but as far as he is concerned, he’s ready to work from his side of the relationship.  As we consider some things that we should do, we have to continually work on a relationship.
            Their song before that was sung with Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar better known as Carli B and is a song of a man in the relationship who struggles at working a relationship out with his fiancée; then after he does, things are just fine, Maroon 5 with Carli B and “Girls Like You” and a great video honoring ladies of leadership.  “Spent 24 hours,” they begin, “I need more hours with you, you spent the weekend getting even.  We spent the late nights making things right between us, but now it’s all good, play me close ‘cause girls like you run ‘round with guys like me ‘til sundown when I come through.  I need a girl like you—girls like you love fun and me too.  I need a girl like you.”  The thing I like about the song is that they worked on their relationship and after it, then they could enjoy their relationship.  Once again, what we should do, our theme today, in relationships is continue to work at them.
            Immediately we go to another triple play and it begins with a song in which the man in the relationship sings: "I don't wanna be alone tonight.  It's pretty clear I'm not over you.  Can you light the fire?  I need somebody who can take control.  Look what you made me do: I'm with somebody new, I'm dancing with a stranger." And the lady sings, "I wasn't even going out tonight, but I need to get you off of my mind. I don't wanna be alone tonight. Look what you made me do: I'm dancing with a stranger."  Both are unhappy and really want to be back together, but you don’t know whether they will or not because they are blaming each other.  What should they do, our theme today?  Rather obvious, I think—don’t blame each other; find out the real reason.  This is Samuel Frederick Smith or Sam Smith and Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei Hamilton or Normani and their song “Dancing with a Stranger”, number 7 on MATT.
(triple)    7 DANCING WITH A STRANGER / Sam Smith f/ Normani
                  LOOK AFTER YOU / The Fray
                  NOTHING / The Script
 
Part 9
            MATT presenting the Irish group The Script, from their album “Science and Faith,” and their song “Nothing” from 2010 on MATT.  It concerns the topic of romantic love, but it approaches it from the point of view of something that can hurt us, namely drinking.  “Am I better off dead,” they sing, “Am I better off a quitter?  They say I’m better off now than I ever was with her as they take me to my local down the street.  They say a few drinks will help me to forget her, but after one too many I know that I’m never.  And my mates are all there trying to calm me down, ‘cause I’m shouting your name all over the town.  I’m swearing if I go there now, I can change her mind, turn it all around.  Dialed her number and confessed to her: I’m still in love, but all I heard was nothing.”  As I say, a romantic love problem that the person in the song thinks that he can solve by drinking alcohol.  The fact is that nothing can be solved by drinking alcohol, and thinking of what should be, we don’t want to mix alcohol and love because love will always suffer.
            Before them, we heard from their album “How to Save a Life”, from The Fray, “Look After You” from 2007.  "If I don’t say this now," the man in the relationship begins the song, "I will surely break as I’m leaving the one I want to take.  Forgive the urgency but hurry up and wait—my heart has started to separate.  Oh, be my baby, and I’ll look after you.  Will you be the one I’ll always know?  When I’m losing my control, the city spins around, you’re the only one who knows, you slow it down."  He is begging her to come back into the relationship, and she seems to listen, at least in his mind--he sings: "My love leans into me."  Dealing with developing love relationships is one of the most difficult moments in a person's life.  Thinking of what we should do, our theme today, dealing with love relationships must be done carefully and the couple must give time and effort to cultivating the relationship in order to do it well. 
            Ah, how these messages of rock music could help our lives if we listened and thought about them.  No wonder I keep telling you to enjoy the music—that’s just fine—but to listen to the message and learn from it.  Our next 30 minutes of music and message will explore our theme of “What Should We Do” with music from among others Mr. Zedd and Maroon 5 again and the number 1 song right now.  May I take you to break with this thought: it comes from an author by the name of A. J. Kitt, and you’ve probably heard it before, but it’s really very good: “You have no control over what the other guy does.  You only have control over what you do.”  And anyone who is convinced of that will usually discover what he/she should do.  I’m Fr. Mike.  Listen to these words of wisdom, and then I hope you come back for more--wisdom.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 10
            This is “Message at the Top”, on today’s best music Mix 103.  Thank you for joining us this morning.  I am Fr. Mike, and our show gives you the top 10 songs of today and yesterday along with their meanings.  And what is amazing about them is that with a little bit of help, those songs can actually teach us something about ourselves and about our behavior.  With that in mind, we keep imploring you to enjoy the music AND listen to the message.  The topic of our show today deals with what we should do.  The thought came to us from Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello and their song “Senorita.”
            Still another triple is coming our way right now, and we will begin it with a top 10 song from Lewis Capaldi.  The song is a sad one sung after a breakup.  “I'm going under,” he sings the thoughts of the man in the relationship, “and this time I fear there's no one to save me. This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy. I need somebody to heal, somebody to know, somebody to have, somebody to hold. I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain. Now the day bleeds into nightfall. And you're not here to get me through it all. I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug. I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved.”  In terms of our theme today, he and his significant other should talk about it, and that it what they should do.  Moving up to number 6 in our top 10, from Scotland Mr. Lewis Capaldi from his album, “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent,” “Someone You Loved” on MATT.
(triple)    6 SOMEONE YOU LOVED / Lewis Capaldi
                  STAY / Zedd f/ Alessia Cara
                  8 SWEET BUT PSYCHO / Ava Max
 
Part 11
            MATT presenting there Ms. Ava Max and her song “Sweet But Psycho”, number 8 this week.  It is a song about a person who wants the relationship but he/she should not in my humble opinion.  “She’s sweet but a psycho,” she begins her song, “at night she’s screamin’ I’m out of my mind.  She’ll make you curse, but she’s a blessing; you’ll be coming back, just can’t help it.  You’ll play along, let her lead you on.  You’ll be thinking, ‘No, no,’ then saying ‘Yes, yes. Yes’ ‘cause she’s messin’ with your head.  She’s poison but tasty. People say, ‘Run, / don’t walk.’”  I’ve said before that they are pretty smart people who say that.  In terms of our theme, they should indeed run away from each other until they are prepared to find out the story of the lady in the relationship.
            Before her, we heard from Anton Zaslavski better known as Zedd and Alessia Carraciola better known as Alessia Cara and their song, “Stay” from 2017.  It is a song of the lady in the relationship urging the man to stay, even though she knows that she has to make it on her own.  “You’ve got to make it on your own,” the lady sings, “but we don’t have to grow up.  We can stay forever young, living on my sofa, drinking rum and cola underneath the rising sun.  All you have to do is stay a minute.”  She knows that she needs to grow up, but she is not willing to do that because she would have to let him go.  In terms of our theme today, no doubt about what she should do, but that’s difficult to do at times.
            Let’s go to a double play right now, and beginning a double play, the first of which is a lady speaking of a love relationship that she sees as the “only thing that’s good” as she sings.  But she’s also talking about the problems of the world in my opinion.  Her refrain is: “Walk me home in the dead of night.  I can’t be alone with all that’s on my mind.  So say you’ll stay with me tonight ‘cause there is so much wrong going on outside.”  So, the solution for her mind to her situation is her significant other; and she needs that person to overcome her loneliness and her despair about what’s happening in the world.  And the tie into our theme is this: she should be working on the relationship to determine whether he/she is willing to continue the relationship or not.  This is Pink right here, her song “Walk Me Home” number 5 this week on MATT. 
(double)    5 WALK ME HOME / Pink
                              WHAT LOVERS DO / Maroon 5 f/ SZA
 
Part 12
       MATT presenting Maroon 5 again featuring rap singer Solana Imani Rowe, better known as SZA, and their song from Maroon 5’s album again, “Red Pill Blues” and their song “What Lovers Do”.  The song says what lovers have to do is to make up their minds about each other which is exactly what must happen.  “Tell me if you love me or not.  I bet the house on you.  Am I lucky or not?  Been wishin’ for you.  Are we too grown for games?  Are we too grown to play around, young enough to chase, but old enough to know better?  I can’t wait forever.  Both of us should know better.”  What lovers should do, our theme today, is study their relationship and determine whether it will last or not, and if they think it will, to go for it.
            And the number 1 song for three weeks in a row is from two superstars, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber and their song “I Don’t Care”.  It is the story in song of the man in the relationship not being real happy with the situation he is in except for the fact that his significant other is there.  “I’m at a party I don’t wanna be at.  Don’t think I want to be at this party, I always feel like I’m nobody, who wants to fit in anyway ‘cause I don’t care when I’m with my baby, all the bad things disappear.  And you’re making me feel like maybe I am somebody.  I can deal with the bad nights when I’m with my baby.”  The other is really important to this relationship, perhaps too important.  In a relationship, there must be some type of dependence on each other, but there must be a certain amount of independence as well, and that is something that both of them should do, our theme today.
            We have looked at our songs from a teaching point of view today.  What have those songs to say about what we should do.  My prayer for you and for me is that we will always want to discover what we should do in every situation we are in, and have the courage to follow through. / My thanks to the producers of “Message at the Top,” and to the staff here at Mix 103.  Thank you for being with us today.  My thanks also to our sponsors especially Thomas More Prep-Marian Junior and Senior High School in Hays, Hays Car and Truck Alignment, and Holy Family Elementary School in Hays.  And good luck to all of you as you begin school—it is a great time in your lives!  If you want to contact me for any reason, my email address is frmikescully@yahoo.com.  My website where you can find a transcript of the show and meditations on the top 5 and some great movies is www.frmikescully.com.  You can hear us on the web every Sunday by tuning into www.hayspost.com and then clicking on Mix 103.  My closing thought for you comes from Muhammad Ali and something for all of you out for football or cross country or volleyball: “Champions are not made in gyms.  Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision.”  Great quote, and something that if we learn it well, we will usually find out what we should be doing.  Our number 1 song is “I Don’t Care” from Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber, and as you listen to it, may I remind you that this is today’s best music on MATT and Mix 103.  Hold a good thought.  My name is Fr. Mike Scully.  Peace to you, and be good!
1 I DON’T CARE / Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber

Part 1
            Hello Central Kansas and around the world.  Thank you for joining us this first Sunday of the summer month of August, 2019.  Many of us are turning to the thoughts of return to school this week—good thoughts, I believe.  Of course, I am a strong believer in education.  Welcome to “Message at the Top.”  Get set for the top 10 songs of our country right now and some top 10 songs from birthday people Anna Kendrick and Shawn Mendes.  I am Fr. Mike Scully and you have your dial set to Mix 103, the number one rock station in Central Kansas.  It is great to have you with us.  Our motto continues to be the plea—to enjoy the music, and at the same time, listen to the message so that the message can truly affect our lives for the better.  Our number 1 song last week was from Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber and their song “I Don’t Care.”  We’ll see if they stay there this morning.
            Those of you who listen to this show regularly know that I believe that communication is one of the leadership principles that everyone of us should know, and I phrase it this way: “Develop the ability to communicate and listen to others.”  It comes up in the songs of the top 10 almost as often as breakups, which in turn are always caused by lack of communication.  I always say that this principle is even more important than acceptance of God in our lives—and I feel that that is pretty important—obviously, given my line of work.  But I look at communication as even more important, and the reason is very simple—most American people choose to be married, something like 96% of us or so, but a tragic lesson of our lives is that half of us also get divorced.  I know there is good reason for divorce, and I have counseled many a person to obtain a separation, but I know—and every counselor knows—that if both parties of the marriage relationship really want to communicate with the other, there will be less necessity for any divorce or separation.  Simply put, marriages will be saved and marriages will be better if both people in the relationship learn to talk to one another directly.
       I think of all of that as I choose our lead song this morning.  It is the latest from Khalid, and is entitled simply “Talk.”  Obviously, I really like the song since I believe every relationship must be based on good communication.  The situation is that the lady sort of pulled away from the relationship, and his response is let’s talk about it—exactly what should happen.  “Can’t we just talk,” the man in the relationship sings, “Talk about where we’re going?  Lend me your thoughts, can’t get what we want without knowin’.  Started off right, I can see it in your eyes, I can tell you’re wanting more.  What’s on your mind?  There’s no reason we should hide, tell me somethin’ I ain’t heard before.”  The point is that she pulled away for some reason and they have to discover it.  The only way is direct communication.  They have to talk to one another with openness and honesty.
       So, let’s make the topic of our show the important subject of “Communication” reminding us that it is “the most important thing” in relationships and present some philosophical thoughts around it as drawn from the situation of the songs that we play.  And to start us off, this is just leaving our countdown from his album “Free Spirit” and the name of the song, simply “Talk” on MATT.
(double)    TALK / Khalid
                              TALK / Coldplay
 
Part 2
            The title of our lead song as well, the group Coldplay from their album “X and Y”, number 6 of all the songs of meaning of 2006, and on MATT.  Just as that lead song, the song is a high category song of meaning because it stresses the one thought that is absolutely necessary for good living—communication.  The man in the relationship realizes that his girlfriend is not talking the way she should: “I can’t get through,” they sing, “I’ve been trying hard to reach you, ‘cause I don’t know what to do.  I’m so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you.”  And they close the song: “So you don’t know where you’re going, and you wanna talk, and you feel like you’re going where you’ve been before.  You tell anyone who’ll listen but you feel ignored.  Nothing’s really making any sense at all.  Let’s talk.”  It is exactly what we are saying with our theme today.  Incidentally, there are 8 songs in the top 10 songs since 1980 with the word “talk” in their title, and we have all of them on our show today.
            But first let’s go to our first triple of the day, and give you 3 top 10 songs right now.  And we begin with number 7.  The song is a sad one sung after a breakup.  “I'm going under,” he sings the thoughts of the man in the relationship, “and this time I fear there's no one to save me. This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy. I need somebody to heal, somebody to know, somebody to have, somebody to hold. I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain. Now the day bleeds into nightfall. And you're not here to get me through it all. I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug. I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved.”  It was our theme last week when we reminded ourselves that breakups are very difficult, and we talked about what can save us because the person in the song felt so badly that he could not be saved.  In terms of our theme today, he and his significant other must talk about it and be saved.  Moving up to number 7 in our top 10, from Scotland Mr. Lewis Capaldi from his album, “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent,” “Someone You Loved” on MATT.
(triple)      7 SOMEONE YOU LOVED / Lewis Capaldi
                              3 LOOK MA, I MADE IT / Panic! At the Disco
                  9 NEVER REALLY OVER / Katy Perry
 
Part 3
            MATT presenting Katy Perry, or Ms. Kathryn Elizabeth Hudson, and her song at number 9, “Never Really Over”.  It is a song about a love situation that was part of the lady in the song’s life, then she or both decided that it should cease, and it doesn’t.  “I’m losing my self-control she begins her song, “Yeah, you’re starting to trickle back in.  I tell myself draw the line and I do, but once in a while I trip up and I cross the line, and I think of you.  Two years and just like that, my head still takes me back.  Thought it was done, but I guess it’s never really over.  Oh, we were such a mess, but wasn’t it the best?  Just because it’s over doesn’t mean it’s really over.”  Well, at least the lady in the song is willing to talk about it, and if he listens and talks, it will constitute communication, our theme today.
            Before her, we heard from Panic! At The Disco and their number 3 song as we speak this morning, from their album “Pray for the Wicked”. “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”.  It is a good song about a person who wanted to go to the top, he did, and now he finds that he is not satisfied.  “All my life been hustling and tonight is my appraisal ‘cause I’m a hooker selling songs and my pimp’s a record label.  This world is full of demons, stocks, and bonds, and bible traders, so I do the deed, get up and leave, a climber and a sadist.  Are you ready for the sequel, ain’t ready for the latest?  In the garden of evil, I’m gonna be the greatest in a golden cathedral.  I’m be praying for the faithless.  Hey look Ma, I made it, everything’s coming up aces, and if it’s a dream, don’t wake me.”  And the result: some like it, many don’t.  He made it, it seems, but doesn’t feel good about it because he has met evil up front and personal.  In order to feel better, he must talk it over, our theme today, with someone who really listens to his problems.
            We have much more music for you today right after the break including the 6 remaining songs with “talk” in their titles.  The thought that we are working with came from Khalid’s song “Talk.”  Thanks to my trusty quote book, I have another thought for you.  It comes from Bob Dylan in one of his songs, as he sings about his age.  “I was so much older then,” Bob Dylan sings, “I’m younger than that now.”  Interesting, huh.  Think about that.  Being too old / too soon can hurt us.  Those words coming from a “wanna be” young old person.  You’ve got Mix 103 on your dial right now, I’m your host Fr. Mike Scully, and you are in tune / with the MATT music network.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 4
            We continue on the MATT music network.  Welcome back to the only top 10 show of its kind in these parts, maybe in the world.  We look at the meanings of the songs we play in the hopes that you and I can learn to live better.  I’m Fr. Mike, your host, and it is so good to have you with us today.  The motto of our show continues to be to enjoy the music, and to listen to the message.  We are using a theme which we have labeled “Communication: the most important thing” to guide us through the top 10 of today and yesterday.
            Another song that has the word “talk” in its title is up next.  “Hey”—a word used quite a lot in the song—“I don’t like walking around this old and empty house,” they sing, “so hold my hand, I’ll walk with you, my dear.  Some days I can’t even trust myself; it’s killing me to see you this way ‘cause though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore.  There’s an old voice in my head that’s holding me back: well, tell her that I miss our little talks.  Soon it will be over and buried with our past.  We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love.  Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear.”  The meaning is a little complicated, but it sounds like the lady in the relationship is in need of help, and the two of them will have to do some serious communicating to find out their problem.  This is the group Of Monsters and Men, another “talk” song from their debut album “My Head is an Animal,” and their song “Little Talks” from 2012 on MATT. 
(double)  LITTLE TALKS / Of Monsters and Men
                  2 SUCKER / Jonas Brothers
 
Part 5
            Remaining at number 2, the Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick and their song “Sucker” on MATT.  It is a song about devotion to another, and what that other does to the man in the relationship.  “We go together,” they begin their song, “Better than birds of a feather, you and me.  We change the weather: I’m feeling heat in December when you’re ‘round me.  I’ve been dancing on top of cars and stumbling out of bars.  I follow you through the dark, can’t get enough.  You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain.  It’s obvious, I’m a sucker for you.  Say the word and I’ll go anywhere blindly.  Any road you take you know that you’ll find me.  I’m a sucker for all the subliminal things.”  I’ve said that the word “subliminal” is an interesting word for the lyrics of a song.  In terms of our theme today, subliminal things must be talked about in a relationship so that both of the parties know exactly what the other feels.
            Let’s begin this triple play with another “talk” song, from Tove Lo, a song of begging another to stay with the lady in the song.  “Bed,” she begins her song, “stay in bed.  The feeling of your skin locked in my head.  Smoke, smoke me broke, I don't care: I'm down for what you want.  Day drunk into the night, wanna keep you here ‘cause you dry my tears.  Yeah, summer lovin' and fights.  How it is for us, and it's all because now if we're talking body, you got a perfect one, swear it won't take you long.  If you love me right, we act for life on and on and on.”  I cleaned up the words there a little.  You know, I really wish that they wouldn’t feel that they have to use curse words to get their point across.  But the artists continue to fail to talk with me before they release the song.  Be that as it may, if one finds his or herself begging another to be part of a relationship, instead of begging, they simply ought to be communicating about the things that are happening, our theme today.  Ms. Tove Lo from her album “Queen of the Clouds” and her song from 2015 “Talking Body” on MATT.
(triple)      TALKING BODY / Tove Lo
                              WHAT ABOUT US / Pink
                              5 WALK ME HOME / Pink
 
Part 6     
            Double Pink right there, that last one, her song “Walk Me Home” number 5 this week.  She is speaking of a love relationship that she sees as the “only thing that’s good” as she sings.  But she’s also talking about the problems of the world in my opinion.  Her refrain is: “Walk me home in the dead of night.  I can’t be alone with all that’s on my mind.  So say you’ll stay with me tonight ‘cause there is so much wrong going on outside.”  So, the solution for her mind to her situation is her significant other; and she needs that person to overcome her loneliness and her despair about what’s happening in the world.  And the tie into our theme is this: she must talk to that significant other to see whether he/she is willing to continue the relationship or not.
       Before that song from her, we heard Ms. Alecia Beth Moore Hart again, better known as Pink, and her number 1 song at Thanksgiving 2017 from her album “Beautiful Trauma”, and her song “What About Us”.  It is a great song to study.  “We are searchlights,” she begins, “we can see in the dark; we are billions of beautiful hearts, and you sold us down the river too far.  What about us? What about all the times you said you had the answers?  We are problems that want to be solved; we are children that need to be loved.  What about love?  What about trust?  What about us?”  It can be viewed as a protest song about the way that some people are treated in our world.  It could be more or less a statement to people who are in charge that there are people who are neglected, and a statement that everyone is important.  And if we view everyone as important, when we meet anyone, we will be open to good communication, our theme today.  Good song.
            We have another hour to go yet today.  In fact, get ready for people like birthday people Anna Kendrick and Shawn Mendes and much more.  Rock music always seems to have a message, and it always contains something to talk about, and we will continue to do just that in a couple minutes.  First, a thought to lead us to break, coming from Oscar Wilde who died back at the turn of the last century.  One of his characters said this in one of his plays: “My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, / they don’t know anything at all.”  Now, that is truth!  And when we think we do always know better, we will not communicate very well.  I’m Fr. Mike, inviting you to keep your dial right there as we continue shortly / on the MATT music network on Mix 103.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 7
            We continue with the only top 10 show of its kind in this area as we celebrate the first Sunday in August 2019.  It is great to have you with us on 100,000 watts of power, live streaming across the world, and the show we have labeled MATT, the show that takes only the top 10 of today and yesterday, and discovers just what their messages are, often giving us some thoughts to live by.  My name is Fr. Mike, your host, and we are featuring the thought of Khalid and his song “Talk”, and the theme we are using is “Communication: the single most important thing.”
            Let’s begin with another “talk” song from the group The Heights, a band that was the group from a television series in 1992.  “How do you talk to an angel, how do you hold her close to where you are?” they sing.  “It’s like trying to catch a falling star.”  It is significant that the inability to talk is the direct result of being in love because if one were to speak logically, perhaps the one thing that should come as a result of love is the choice to talk about important things.  But it does not happen in the song: “I don’t know where to start,” they sing.  Too often, we allow the heat of the moment, emotions, to take a leadership position where logic and reason should be.  In this song’s case, there was very little communication, our theme today, because he was so overwhelmed by her.  This is The Heights, former number 1 from 1992, “How Do You Talk to An Angel” on MATT.
(triple)      HOW DO YOU TALK TO AN ANGEl / The Heights
                  CUPS / ANNA KENDRICK
                              8 DANCING WITH A STRANGER / Sam Smith f/ Normani
 
Part 8
          That was Samuel Frederick Smith or Sam Smith and Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei Hamilton or Normani and their song “Dancing with a Stranger”, number 8 on MATT.  The man in the relationship sings: "I don't wanna be alone tonight.  It's pretty clear I'm not over you.  Can you light the fire?  I need somebody who can take control.  Look what you made me do: I'm with somebody new, I'm dancing with a stranger." And the lady sings, "I wasn't even going out tonight, but I need to get you off of my mind. I don't wanna be alone tonight. Look what you made me do: I'm dancing with a stranger."  Both are unhappy and really want to be back together, but you don’t know whether they will or not because they are blaming each other.  Rather than blame each other, they have to talk to each other, our theme today, and then they may find an answer to their problem.
            Before them, we heard from a lady whose birthday is Friday of this week, Ms. Anna Kendrick’s when she will be 34 years old.  She was born in Portland, Maine, was a child actress, and has obtained fame especially with her singing in Pitch Perfect, the movie and its sequel.  She only has one song in our playlist since only one song of hers made it into the top 10.  But it is an interesting one, especially heard with its video.  I believe that it is a great video, worth watching on You-Tube.  The song itself is the catchy melody from the movie “Pitch Perfect”, and “Cups”.  The song speaks of someone who is leaving a locale.  “I’ve got my ticket for the long way ‘round, two bottles of whiskey for the way, and I sure would like some sweet company, and I’m leaving tomorrow.  What d’you say?  When I’m gone, you’re gonna miss me.  I’ve got my ticket for the long way ‘round, the one with the prettiest of views.  It’s got mountains, it’s got rivers, it’s got sights to give you shivers, but it sure would be prettier with you.”  The person in the song is looking for company as she leaves.  In terms of our theme, she wants direct communication from someone who will help her. 
            Another triple play now begins with yet another “Talk” title, this one from Neon Trees.  Their song says that everybody is talking too much about love and what you need is a little more action.  “Hey, won’t you look my way,” they begin their song, “I can be your new addiction.  What you gotta say?  All you’re giving me is fiction; I’m a sorry sucker and this happens all the time.  I found out that everybody talks.  It started with a whisper, and that was when I kissed her, and then she made my lips hurt.  I could hear the chit chat.  Take me to your love shack.”  And a little later, they sing, “Never thought I’d live to see the day when everybody’s words got in the way.”  Well, sometimes words get in the way, as they sing, but for the most part, words are what are necessary for sincere communication, our theme today, but if the words do not convey what is really important, other words should be chosen. From the year 2012 from their album “Picture Show”, Neon Trees, and their song “Everybody Talks” on MATT.
(triple)    EVERYBODY TALKS / Neon Trees
                  10 SENORITA / Shawn Mendes f/ Camila Cabello
                  4 IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU / Shawn Mendes
 
Part 9
            Happy birthday to him, as we close off a double play from him.  He will be all of 21 years old a week from Monday, and that was his song “If I Can’t Have You” number 4 on MATT.  It is a song of real devotion to another but it seems to even go further than that.  It is almost like the person in the song cannot even exist without the other.  “I can't write one song that's not about you.  Can't drink without thinking about you.  Is it too late to tell you that everything means nothing if I can't have you? Oh, I'm good at keeping my distance.  I know, / that you're the feeling I'm missing.  You know that I hate to admit it, but everything means nothing if I can't have you.”  The man in the relationship has very strong feelings about the other.  And because feelings are so fickle, in order for the relationship to honestly work, they must be communicating, our theme today.
            The song before that one from him was our latest addition to the top 10 at number 10 that he sings with his current girlfriend according to the latest gossip, Camilla Cabello, a song called “Senorita”.  It is our theme next week and is an interesting song of love, but it seems that the couple really don’t know for sure about each other yet.  “I love it when you call me Senorita,” the lady sings, “I wish I could pretend I don’t need you, but every touch is true.  Oh, I should be running.  You keep me coming for you.”  The man in the relationship sings, “Sapphire moonlight, we danced for hours in the sand.”  And she sings, “When you call me Senorita, I wish it wasn’t so hard to leave you.  Locked in the hotel, there’s some things that never change.  You say, ‘We’re just friends.’”  And all during the song, it feels as though things are just not quite right between them.  It is acted out in the video with the man leaving the girl.  They need our theme today, some sincere communication, and then they can figure out their relationship for real.
            And that thought takes us to a break this first Sunday of August morning, as we think about communication.  Get ready to see how music from people like Ava Max and Jason Derulo can fit into that theme.  To that break, we go with this thought from an anonymous author: “Maturity is the time of life when, if you had the time, you'd have the time of your life.”  Now, that’s pretty good.  And if we manage to mature at that time, they will find that they need to communicate.  I’m Fr. Mike, and this show is MATT on Mix 103.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 10
            Every song has a message and most of the time that message can be studied in the light of helping us.  Such is our thought on this show.  Hi, everyone, welcome back to the only top 10 show of Mix 103 that gives you the meanings of the songs.  We take the top 10 of today and the past 39 years, study their messages, and then find a guide to better living.  In fact, such is our motto as we gather every Sunday: enjoy the music we play, but listen to the message.  I’m Fr. Mike, your host for a show that we call MATT, and the thought that is helpful for us today is the thought of communication with that thought supplied by Khalid.
            Another triple is ready to come out of your listening device right now, and we will begin it with a group who disbanded a couple of years ago, but may unite again.  They sing the song here with Ms. Janelle Monae, American R&B singer/songwriter from right here in the Kansas City area, from Fun.’s album “Some Nights”.  The song is a story of a couple who have had rough times.  He was physically abusive to her in the past, and now he’s trying to make up for it.  “I’m trying hard to take it back,” the man in the relationship sings, “so, if by the time the bar closes and you feel like falling down, I’ll carry you home.  Tonight, we are young, so let’s set the world on fire.  We can burn brighter than the sun.  Maybe we could find new ways to fall apart.”  And the lady in the relationship finally agrees, saying, “Carry me home tonight.”  Therefore, the two in the relationship are making up and want to try again.  And if they are going to do that, you can bet that they will be doing a lot of communicating, our theme today.  This is Fun.’s extremely popular song, a grammy award winning Song of the Year and number 1 for a long time, from 2012, “We Are Young” on MATT.
(triple)    WE ARE YOUNG / Fun.
                  TALK DIRTY / Jason Derulo f/ 2 Chainz
                  HE LOVES YOU NOT / Dream
 
Part 11
            The group is Dream, an American pop girl group who disbanded in 2016, and their most popular hit from 2000, “He Loves You Not” on MATT.  Speaking of keeping the man of the lady’s dreams, the lady sings: “Pulling petals off a flower, trying to get your way.  Keep pulling till it says what you want it to say.  Girl, you can pick a field full of daisies, but he’d still be my baby.  I know you can hardly wait till I’m away from him.  Instinctively, I know what you’re thinking.  But my baby won’t be taken in.  No chains to unlock, so free to do what he wants.  He’s into what he’s got.  He loves me, he loves you not.”  Rather sure of herself, I would say.  Now, either she is correct or she is in for a very big letdown.  If she is correct, you can bet that they will have spent a long time communicating, our theme today.
            Before them, we heard from Jason Derulo featuring rapper Tauheed Epps better known as 2 Chainz from Jason Derulo’s album “Tatoos,” and “Talk Dirty” another one of our talk songs.  It is a song of desire for pleasure.  The lady the man in the relationship is interested in doesn’t speak English, but he is only interested in feeling good and pleasure.  “Been round the world,” he sings, “don’t speak the language.  All I really need to understand is when you talk dirty to me.”  As you would guess, I have a difficult time with songs like these because in our lives there is so much more than pleasure.  Enough said.  They should be spending more time on communicating, no matter how difficult it may be.
            Let’s continue our music with another double play right now and yet another “talk” song.  It is a song that says that because of the lack of communication, there can be no love.  In the song, the man in the relationship has recently learned that his girlfriend is with another man, and he knows that he should just move on, but he doesn’t.  As he looks back at their relationship, he knows that it was just a game, and there’s every reason to move on to another relationship.  It’s interesting because the lady in the relationship is saying the same thing, and therefore it is a very mixed up relationship.  And it all began with the fact that they don’t talk the way they should.  It is another instance of why communication is so important in our lives, our theme today.  Charlie Puth here along with Selena Gomez, from his album “Nine Track Mind” and their song “We Don’t Talk Anymore” on MATT. 
(double)    WE DON’T TALK ANYMORE / Charlie Puth f/ Selena Gomez
                              6 SWEET BUT PSYCHO / Ava Max
 
Part 12
            MATT presenting there Ms. Ava Max and her song “Sweet But Psycho”, number 6 this week.  It is a song about a person who wants the relationship but he/she should not.  “She’s sweet but a psycho,” she begins her song, “at night she’s screamin’ I’m out of my mind.  She’ll make you curse, but she’s a blessing; you’ll be coming back, just can’t help it.  You’ll play along, let her lead you on.  You’ll be thinking, ‘No, no,’ then saying ‘Yes, yes. Yes’ ‘cause she’s messin’ with your head.  She’s poison but tasty. People say, ‘Run, / don’t walk away.’”  I’ve said before that they are pretty smart people who say that.  In terms of our theme, they should indeed run away from each other until they are prepared to spend time truly communicating.
            And the number 1 song for two weeks in a row is from two superstars, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber and their song “I Don’t Care”.  It is the story in song of the man in the relationship not being real happy with the situation he is in except for the fact that his significant other is there.  “I’m at a party I don’t wanna be at.  Don’t think I want to be at this party, I always feel like I’m nobody, who wants to fit in anyway ‘cause I don’t care when I’m with my baby, all the bad things disappear.  And you’re making me feel like maybe I am somebody.  I can deal with the bad nights when I’m with my baby.”  The other is really important to this relationship, perhaps too important.  In a relationship, there must be some type of dependence on each other, but there must be a certain amount of independence as well, an independence that will be brought about along with sincere communication.
            It is a such an important theme that we have had today from Khalid and his song “Talk”.  We have called it the single most important thing in life on our show today.  My prayer for all of us is that we always discover just how important communication is.  My thanks to our producers and to our sponsors, especially the people of Thomas More Prep-Marian Junior and Senior High School, Holy Family Elementary, and Hays Car and Truck Alignment.  I hope you enjoyed our show, and that you choose to make our show always part of your Sunday thinking.  If you would like to request a song or contact me, feel free to let me know by mail at KJLS-FM Hays, KS 67601 or by e-mail at frmikescully@yahoo.com.  My website is www.frmikescully.com where you can find a transcript of the show, and some meditations on these songs and some great movies.  You can catch us on the web also as Mix 103 live streams their station across the world.  Just go to www.hayspost.com and click on Mix 103.  A final thought today coming from the author Diane Von Furstenberg: “You're always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.”  In other words, be happy with who you are, and when we finally do it, you will find that you communicate with others a little better.  As you listen to the number 1 song from Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber and their song “I Don’t Care”, may I remind you that you are listening to today’s best music Mix 103, and one of our thoughts for you to learn is to hold a good thought.  My name is Fr. Mike Scully.  Peace to you, and be good!
1 I DON’T CARE / Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber

Part 1
            Hello Central Kansas and around the world!  Happy last Sunday of July to all of you, and welcome to MATT on today’s best music Mix 103.  On our show, we pride ourselves on playing the best of rock today and the best of rock from the past as well, the top 10 of today and yesterday as we call it, and we continue to be so much more because we like to speak of the meaning of the songs we play here.  MATT looks at those meanings and finds in them some good thoughts for living well.  I am Fr. Mike Scully, your host.  We take songs that have been popular for a while, songs that are only beginning their popularity and some very good songs from the past, put them all together with a theme, and we discover an attitude of living that can actually guide our lives.  Today as we consider the very best that rock music has offered over the past 39 years, get ready for current top 10 music from people like the Jonas Brothers, Pink and Shawn Mendes and the remaining top 10 this week.  We also have past top 10’s from people like Lady Gaga, Imagine Dragons and Rob Thomas.
            One of our newest top 10 songs has already reached number 1 in a lot of European markets, and is from Lewis Capaldi from Glasgow, Scotland.  The song is a sad one sung after a breakup.  “I'm going under,” he sings the thoughts of the man in the relationship, “and this time I fear there's no one to save me. This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy. I need somebody to heal, somebody to know, somebody to have, somebody to hold. I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain. Now the day bleeds into nightfall. And you're not here to get me through it all. I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug. I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved.” 
            Breakups are very difficult, as you can sense from his pain in the song and we must be very careful about what we do and say after we suffer through them.  A romantic breakup disturbs a person's whole being and demeanor.  People who suffer them feel terrible, at least for a while.  But, the important lesson with breakups is what we do after we suffer them.  The feelings of a breakup will pass, but what we do as a result may not pass so quickly.
            If the person is a Christian, the behavior of the person that suffers breakups of relationships ought to remain in the category of "Christian."  Christians should always be thinking in terms of love and understanding, not hatred and revenge.  They must remain Christian at all times, even when a relationship has ceased for some reason.  To be sure, it is not an easy task.
            Well, the pain is evident in this song, and one of his opening thoughts is that there is no one to save him.  It is a very tough feeling, and to made things a little more positive, let’s think of some things that can save us, and take that thought through the songs of our show.  We’ve used the thought a couple of times because it is so important for us who can get so down on ourselves that there are some things that can save us.  Let’s call our show “What Can Save Us?” and feature Mr. Lewis Capaldi from his album with the ominous title of “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent” and his song at number 8, “Someone You Loved” on MATT. 
(double)    8 SOMEONE YOU LOVED / Lewis Capaldi
                               LOVE SOMEONE / Lukas Graham
 
Part 2
            There are only three songs of all the titles in our top 10 since 1980 that have the word “Someone” in them.  That was one of them, and the other one we will play next.  But that last one was from the group Lukas Graham, that is Lukas Forchhammer and band from Copenhagen, Denmark, and their song from earlier this year “Love Someone”.  It is a beautiful love song with some pretty deep meaning.  “You still look perfect as days go by,” he sings, “even the worst ones, you make me smile.  I’d stop the world if it gave us time.  ‘Cause when you love someone, you open up your heart, when you love someone you make room.  If you love someone, and you’re not afraid to lose them, you probably never loved someone like I do.  I thought it would be hard to find the one ‘til I found you.  And I find it bittersweet ‘cause you gave me something to lose.”  I believe that is a great thought about love—when you love someone you are always afraid to lose them, and you will do your best to keep that love.  As we think of what can save us, certainly true love is an answer.
            Now, the third “someone” song in the top 10’s since 1980.  The song is the thoughts of a woman about a former relationship.  She tells the story: I see “that you found a girl and you’re married now,” she sings.  “I heard that your dreams came true.  Guess she gave you things I didn’t give to you.  I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited, but I couldn’t stay away, I couldn’t fight it.  I had hoped you’d see my face and that you’d be reminded that for me it isn’t over.”  So, she’s feeling a little bit vindictive, it seems to me—showing up uninvited, and wanting him to feel a little guilty.  But, after she feels this way, the woman in the former relationship sings, “Never mind, I’ll find someone like you.  I wish nothing but the best for you too.  ‘Don’t forget me’, I begged.  ‘I’ll remember’, you said.  Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.”  There is pain there, but it is pain from which the lady in the relationship learned.  And she wishes nothing bad for him, exactly the way she should act, I believe.  If young people can manage to behave that way after they have had a breakup or after they have gone out with someone and it just hasn’t worked out, then their lives would be a lot better for it, and such an attitude is something that can definitely save us in our lives, our theme today.  Guessed the song, very popular a couple of years ago, from her album “21”, the talented British artist Adele Laure Blue Adkins and her song, “Someone Like You” on MATT.
(triple)       SOMEONE LIKE YOU / Adele
                               WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE / Adele
                   4 IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU / Shawn Mendes
 
Part 3
            That was Shawn Mendes and his latest song “If I Can’t Have You” number 4 on MATT.  It is a song of real devotion to another but it seems to even go further than that.  It is almost like the person in the song cannot even exist without the other.  “I can't write one song that's not about you.  Can't drink without thinking about you.  Is it too late to tell you that everything means nothing if I can't have you? Oh, I'm good at keeping my distance.  I know, / that you're the feeling I'm missing.  You know that I hate to admit it, but everything means nothing if I can't have you.”  He has very strong feelings about the other.  And as we speak of what can save us, certainly our feelings are good and can feel like they can save us, but we always have to remember that feelings are fickle.
            Before him, MATT presented the close of a double play from Adele, from her album “25” and her song “Water Under the Bridge”.  It is what I would call a “want to be in love” song.  The lady in the relationship definitely wants the man to be the one for her, as she sings, but she seems realistic at the same time.  She sings “If you’re gonna let me down, then let me down gently.”  And she has good reason to believe that he is going to let her down because he doesn’t seem to be responding to her: “It’s so cold out here in your wilderness.  I want you to be my keeper, but not if you are so reckless.”  She doesn’t want to say that their love is just water under the bridge, and she begs him, “Say it ain’t so.”  One of the ways to save ourselves, our theme today, is sometimes to leave a relationship, and she is singing of one right there.
            Important things being said there—not because I said them, but because we all need to understand them in order to understand life a little more.  We’re talking about what can save us this morning.  We are exploring the thoughts that our songs offer to us, and we are finding that they are pretty good thoughts to learn from, I think.  Get ready for current top 10 music from numbers 3 and 9 and also music from Starship and one of my favorite 80’s song, also Mr. Probz and Kris Allen.  May I lead you to break with this thought from Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous: “In this world of give and take, there are few people willing to give what it takes.”  Amen, but to give what it takes is a way to save ourselves in life.  You’ve got MATT on your dial today, this last week of July 2019.  I’m your host Fr. Mike, and this is your invitation to stay right where you are.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 4
            We continue with MATT.  Welcome back to the only show of its kind in these parts.  We take the attitudes of the songs we play here on Mix 103, and we look at their meanings in the hopes that you and I can learn to live better.  I’m Fr. Mike, your host, and it is great to have you with us again today.  Again we remind you of our motto which is to enjoy the music, but at the same time to listen to the message because more often than not, the message will be good for us in one way or another.  Our theme came from Lewis Capaldi and his song “Someone You Loved.”  That theme is “What Can Save Us?”
            “Let’s go to the song “Waves” from 2014.  It is a song of pain, since the man in the relationship has not been able to communicate well with the lady in the relationship.  “I’m slowly drifting away, wave after wave,” he sings, “and it feels like I’m drowning, pulling against the stream.  I wish I could make it easy to love me, but still I reach to find a way.  I’m stuck here in between.  I’m looking for the right words to say.”  Pain sung about because the relationship just is not working out because the two cannot communicate.  When it comes to what can save us, our theme today, communication will do it—in relationships and real life. This is Princewell Stehr better known as Mr. Probz, a Dutch singer/songwriter, and his song “Waves” on MATT.
(double)  WAVES / Mr. Probz
                   9 NEVER REALLY OVER / Katy Perry
 
Part 5         
            MATT presenting Katy Perry, or Ms. Kathryn Elizabeth Hudson, and her song at number 9, “Never Really Over”.  It is a song about a love situation that was part of the lady in the song’s life, then she or both decided that it should cease, and it doesn’t.  “I’m losing my self-control she begins her song, “Yeah, you’re starting to trickle back in.  I tell myself draw the line and I do, but once in a while I trip up and I cross the line, and I think of you.  Two years and just like that, my head still takes me back.  Thought it was done, but I guess it’s never really over.  Oh, we were such a mess, but wasn’t it the best?  Just because it’s over doesn’t mean it’s really over.”  What can really save us, our theme today, is the ability to look at past relationships with love and understanding. 
            Now, another triple play for you and we will begin it with a great song from Mr. Kris Allen, what MATT called the number 1 song of meaning in 2010.  Tremendous words here: “Sometimes we fall down and can’t get back up; we’re hiding behind skin that’s too tough.  How come we don’t say 'I love you' enough 'til it’s too late.  It's not too late.  If your life flashed before you, what would you wish you would've done.  We gotta start looking at the hands of the time we’ve been given here.  This is all we got and we gotta start pickin’ it.  Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’, gotta live like we’re dying.”  If we live like we're dying, every second will count as we live our day, and we will spend those seconds developing love and life, and if we do, we will find a way to save ourselves, our theme today.  Good song here.  This is American Idol first series number 8, Kris Allen, from his album named after him, and “Live Like We’re Dying” on MATT.
(triple)       LIVE LIKE WE’RE DYING / Kris Allen
                               WE BUILT THIS CITY / Starship
                               3 HEY LOOK MA, I MADE IT / Panic! At The Disco
 
Part 6     
            That was from their album “Pray for the Wicked” at number 3 today “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”, Panic! At the Disco on MATT.  It is a good song about a person who wanted to go to the top, he did, and now he finds that he is not satisfied.  “All my life been hustling and tonight is my appraisal ‘cause I’m a hooker selling songs and my pimp’s a record label.  This world is full of demons, stocks, and bonds, and bible traders, so I do the deed, get up and leave, a climber and a sadist.  Are you ready for the sequel, ain’t ready for the latest?  In the garden of evil, I’m gonna be the greatest in a golden cathedral.  I’m be praying for the faithless.  Hey look Ma, I made it, everything’s coming up aces, and if it’s a dream, don’t wake me.”  And the result: some like it, many don’t.  He made it, it seems, but doesn’t feel good about it because he has met evil up front and personal.  What can save us, our theme today, is that we will always be able to accomplish great things, but always remember that there are bad things that we must contend with. 
            Before them, we heard from one great song to think about from the album, “Knee Deep in the Hoopla,” a quote from that song, the group Starship, 1985, and their song “We Built This City”.  The song answers the question of what are the elements that should be present in our towns and cities today that would make it a good one, a happy one, a productive one.  One, that the businesses of the town ought to be open to criticism and open to the fact that they can improve, and two, that the city work on expressing their care and concern for the young people who inhabit the city.  The song was the first single released under the name Starship in 1985.  Before that they were known as Jefferson Starship and Jefferson Airplane.  The DJ/announcer is Les Garland, who was an executive at MTV at the time, and a DJ at a San Francisco radio station, and the song is a rebellion against a corporation trying to ban rock and roll.  As I remember it, the song made people look at what was happening in the world—and still does, even today, because unfortunately, it is so true.  “Too many runaways eating up the night; someone’s always playing corporation games; they call us irresponsible, write us off the page.  Who counts the money underneath the bar, who rides the wrecking ball into our guitars.  We built this city on rock and roll.”  A really strong thought here, as they sing: you tell us you don’t need us, ‘cause we’re just simple fools looking for America, crawling through your schools.  The song is a commentary that points out the duplicity of corporate America, and the neglect of the desires of young people.  They are singing about what can save us all, our theme today, namely paying attention to what is really going on in our world.  Great song. Great video.
            We’ll be right back with two triple plays, and in order of appearance—listen to this line-up: the Jonas Brothers, Jason Derulo, Pink, Rob Thomas in double play and Khalid.  Rock music always has a message and when you listen carefully, you hear some interesting stories and attitudes and sometimes pretty heavy commentary.  We go to break with another thought, this time from author Leonard Klappant: “Look for a little bit of God in everyone.”  We do that, and we will be happy with life, and we will find safety for everyone.  I’m Fr. Mike, inviting you to keep your dial right there, as we continue shortly with MATT.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 7
            We continue with the only top 10 show of its kind in this area.  It is great to have you with us on Mix 103 and / the MATT music network, our show being the show that takes the top 10 of today and yesterday, and discovers what the meanings of the songs are, often giving us some thoughts to live by.  My name is Fr. Mike, your host.  We began our show with the song “Someone You Loved” and we are asking the songs of our show to give us insight about the theme of “What Can Save Us.”
            As promised another triple play is ready to come out of our listening devices right now, and it begins with a song about devotion to another, and what that other does to the man in the relationship.  “We go together,” they begin their song, “Better than birds of a feather, you and me.  We change the weather: I’m feeling heat in December when you’re ‘round me.  I’ve been dancing on top of cars and stumbling out of bars.  I follow you through the dark, can’t get enough.  You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain.  It’s obvious, I’m a sucker for you.  Say the word and I’ll go anywhere blindly.  Any road you take you know that you’ll find me.  I’m a sucker for all the subliminal things.”  I’ve said that the word “subliminal” is an interesting word for the lyrics of a song.  In terms of our theme today, subliminal things can save us—namely the little things that the other does, or they can ruin us.  We have a new number 1 song this week since this song falls to number 2 after a long time at number 1, the Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick and their song “Sucker” on MATT.
(triple)       2 SUCKER / Jonas Brothers
                   WANT TO WANT ME / Jason Derulo
                               6 WALK ME HOME / Pink
 
Part 8
            MATT presenting Ms. Alecia Beth Moore Hart, better known as Pink and her song “Walk Me Home” number 6 this week.  She is speaking of a love relationship that she sees as the “only thing that’s good” as she sings.  But she’s also talking about the problems of the world in my opinion.  Her refrain is: “Walk me home in the dead of night.  I can’t be alone with all that’s on my mind.  So say you’ll stay with me tonight ‘cause there is so much wrong going on outside.”  So, the solution for her mind to her situation is her significant other; and she needs that person to overcome her loneliness and her despair about what’s happening in the world.  And the tie into our theme is this: she must talk to that significant other to see whether he/she is willing to continue the relationship and then it will be a relationship that can save her; if not, it could ruin the relationship in the future.
            Before her, we heard from singer, songwriter and dancer Jason Joel Desrouleaux from Miami and a song of strong desire for another, and if the desire leads to as strong a commitment as his desire is, the relationship will be very good—and his song “Want to Want Me”.  “It's too hard to sleep,” he sings, “I got the sheets on the floor and I can't take it no more; it's a hundred degrees.  I got one foot out the door.  Where are my keys?  'Cause I gotta leave.  In the back of the cab, I tip the driver 'head of time, get me there fast.  You're the one I want to want me, and if you want me, you got me.  There's nothing I know I wouldn't do just to get up next to you.”  Once again that theme of a strong commitment to each other is an important element of anyone’s life, and if that commitment has been made, one of the ways to save ourselves, our theme today, is to always be committed in that way.
            Let’s continue with another triple play beginning with a double from Mr. Rob Thomas.  The person in this first song from him is singing about some special time together, and how important it was: “Our lives are made in these small hours,” he sings, “these little wonders, these twists and turns of fate, time falls away, but these small hours, these small hours still remain.  Let your troubles fall behind you, and I don’t mind if it’s me you need to turn to.  We’ll get by; it’s the heart that really matters in the end.”  For the person in the song, the intimate moments of sharing are really important to him.  It is a thought about what we call “gut-level communication”, and its significance for a couple.  It is another song about communication, and a 10+ category song of meaning for MATT, saying that people who truly love will communicate well.  And if they do, as we said before, they will be able to save themselves.  MATT presenting Rob Thomas, and “Little Wonders” from the soundtrack of the movie “Meet the Robinsons” from 2007 on MATT.
(triple)     LITTLE WONDERS / ROB THOMAS
                   LONELY NO MORE / Rob Thomas
                   10 TALK / Khalid
 
Part 9
      New to our countdown coming in at number 10, our theme next week, when we will talk about communication, the theme of the song: Khalid from his album “Free Spirit” and the name of the song, simply “Talk.”  I really like the song since I believe every relationship must be based on good communication.  The situation is that the lady sort of pulled away from the relationship, and his response is let’s talk about it—exactly what should happen.  “Can’t we just talk,” the man in the relationship sings, “Talk about where we’re going?  Lend me your thoughts, can’t get what we want without knowin’.  Started off right, I can see it in your eyes, I can tell you’re wanting more.  What’s on your mind?  There’s no reason we should hide, tell me somethin’ I ain’t heard before.”  The point is that she pulled away for some reason and they have to discover it.  We’ve said it before with our theme, what can save us?  No matter what the situation—talk about how you’re feeling with the one you’re involved with.
            Before him, we heard the close of a double play from the leader of the group Matchbox Twenty, 47 year old Rob Thomas.  It was the number 1 song of meaning from 2005 according to MATT from Rob Thomas from his album “Something To Be,” and his song “Lonely No More”, a song about loneliness.  “Now it seems to me,” he sings, “that you know just what to say, but words are only words.  Can you show me something else?  Can you swear to me that you’ll always be this way.  Well, I don’t want to be lonely no more.  I don’t want to have to pay for this.  I don’t want another lover at my door.  It’s just another heartache on my list.  I don’t wanna be angry no more.  So when you tell me that you love me, know for sure I don’t wanna be lonely anymore.”  It’s a great message because he is speaking directly to someone else, telling her that he doesn’t want the feeling of loneliness, and that is direct communication.  In terms of our theme today, and we have said it a couple times this morning, being able to directly communicate with someone can save us in any relationship. 
            Which brings us to a break in the action, as my friend Gerard Wellbrock says here on Tiger Radio.  We’ll be back with more music in our final segment from our segment 10 portion of the show, giving you people like Lady Gaga and Sia.  First, a leadership thought: “Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.”  We need people who are anxious to see greatness in everyone—and that is what can save us to be good people.  Great quote.  Stay with us—you have MATT on your radio dial this morning on Mix 103.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 10
            Every song has a message and most of the time that message can help us understand some things about life.  Such is our philosophy on this show.  This is the MATT music network, as we are apt to say here, as we play only the top 10 songs that have graced our airwaves over the past 39 years, and we talk about them from what they talk about—that is their meanings.  Thank you for spending part of your Sunday with us.  I am Fr. Mike, and I welcome you back to our show that is speaking about “What Can Save Us” this morning, that thought from Lewis Capaldi and his number 8 song “Someone You Loved.”
            Let’s go to a song of discovering excitement in life.  The woman in the relationship begins the song: “There ain’t no reason you and me should be alone tonight.  And I got a reason that you’re who should take me home tonight.  I need a man that thinks it’s right when it’s so wrong, right on the limits where we know we both belong tonight.  It’s hard to feel the rush, to brush the dangerous.  I’m gonna run to the edge with you, where we can both fall far in love.  I’m on the edge of glory.  I’m on the edge of something final we call life tonight.”  Enjoying the excitement in life is something that can save us, our theme today, but it may cause a little adversity and we have to be prepared for it.  MATT presenting here Stefanie Joanne Angeline Germanotta that is, Lady Gaga, and from her album “Born This Way,” from 2011, former number 1, the song “The Edge of Glory” on MATT.
(triple)     THE EDGE OF GLORY / Lady Gaga
                   RADIOACTIVE / Imagine Dragons
                   5 SWEET BUT PSYCHO / Ava Max
 
Part 11
            MATT presenting there Ms. Ava Max and her song “Sweet But Psycho”, number 5 this week.  It is a song about a person who wants the relationship but he/she should not.  “She’s sweet but a psycho,” she begins her song, “at night she’s screamin’ I’m out of my mind.  She’ll make you curse, but she’s a blessing; you’ll be coming back, just can’t help it.  You’ll play along, let her lead you on.  You’ll be thinking, ‘No, no,’ then saying ‘Yes, yes. Yes’ ‘cause she’s messin’ with your head.  She’s poison but tasty. People say, ‘Run, / don’t walk away.’”  I’ve said before that they are pretty smart people who say that.  In terms of our theme, in order to save ourselves, we have to be pretty sane with a relationship, and that one is not sane at all.
            Before her, we heard from Imagine Dragons and their song called "Radioactive" from their album “Night Visions”.  "I’m waking up to ash and dust,” they sing, “I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust.  I’m breathing in the chemicals.  I’m breaking up, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus.  This is the apocalypse.  I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow.  Welcome to the new age.  I’m radioactive.  All systems go, the sun hasn’t died, deep in my bones, straight from inside.”  The man in the song has had a difficult past, it would seem--"ash and dust" is how he describes it.  He wakes up from that past, and now he is looking forward to a life of happiness, as he says, "all systems go, the sun hasn't died."  The man has been able to recognize what held him down in the past, and he has now awakened to a new age, the apocalypse, a radioactive feeling straight from his inner being.  In terms of our theme, he is being saved, because doing something about what held you down in the past is how to be saved.
            Another double play will come out of these fancy computers, and let’s begin it with a song of having fun by dancing on a weekend. “Come on, turn the radio on,” she sings, “It’s Friday night and I won’t be long.  Gotta do my hair, I put my make-up on.  I won’t be long till I hit the dance floor.  I got all I need.  No, I ain’t got no cash.  I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight.  I love cheap thrills.  I don’t need no money as long as I keep dancing.”  So a dance song of happiness.  Tying it into our theme, dancing is not a way to save ourselves, but it can usually make us feel good.  This is Australian singer/songwriter Sia Kate Isobelle Furler known simply as Sia from her album “This is Acting” from 2016 and her song “Cheap Thrills” on MATT.
(double)    CHEAP THRILLS / Sia
                               7 DANCING WITH A STRANGER / Sam Smith f/ Normani
 
Part 12
          That was Samuel Frederick Smith or Sam Smith and Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei Hamilton or Normani and their song “Dancing with a Stranger”, number 7 on MATT.  The man in the relationship sings: "I don't wanna be alone tonight.  It's pretty clear I'm not over you.  Can you light the fire?  I need somebody who can take control.  Look what you made me do: I'm with somebody new, I'm dancing with a stranger." And the lady sings, "I wasn't even going out tonight, but I need to get you off of my mind. I don't wanna be alone tonight. Look what you made me do: I'm dancing with a stranger."  Both are unhappy and really want to be back together, but you don’t know whether they will or not because they are blaming each other.  Blaming each other is not a way to save anyone, our theme today.
            And the new number 1 song is from two superstars—what else would you expect—Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber and their song “I Don’t Care”.  It is the story in song of the man in the relationship not being real happy with the situation he is in except for the fact that his significant other is there.  “I’m at a party I don’t wanna be at.  Don’t think I want to be at this party, I always feel like I’m nobody, who wants to fit in anyway ‘cause I don’t care when I’m with my baby, all the bad things disappear.  And you’re making me feel like maybe I am somebody.  I can deal with the bad nights when I’m with my baby.”  The other is really important to this relationship, perhaps too important.  In a relationship, that which will save it, is for both parties to be completely in agreement that they want the relationship to work.
            Our topic today has been that thought of what will save us, that thought having come from Lewis Capaldi and his song “Someone You Loved.”  My prayer for you and me is that we will always do our best to discover what will save us.  And of course, I would say that it would ultimately be something to believe in.  My thanks to our producers here in the studio, and to our sponsors, especially Hays Car and Truck Alignment, Holy Family Elementary School here in Hays, and Thomas More Prep-Marian Junior and Senior High in Hays.  If you want to contact me by mail, I hope you do so at KJLS radio, Hays, KS, 67601 or my e-mail address is frmikescully@yahoo.com.  My website is www.frmikescully.com where you will find a transcript of the show and some meditations on these songs and some good movies.  We are on the web every Sunday morning at 10am as well.  Go to www.hayspost.com and click on Mix 103. / May I close with this thought from an anonymous author again: “Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.”  Now, that is something to spend some time thinking about.  Yes, indeed.  As you listen to the new number 1 song in our land from Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber and their song “I Don’t Care”, may I remind you that you are listening to today’s best music Mix 103, and among all the great things we tell you, here is another one: hold a good thought.  My name is Fr. Mike Scully; peace to you, and be good.
1 I DON’T CARE / Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber