Part 1
            Good morning, everyone.  Thank you for joining us this last Sunday morning of the winter month of January, 2012, and welcome to “Message at the Top.”  Get set for the top 10 songs of our country right now and some top 10 songs from the 2000’s, 90’s and 80’s as well.  Our topics will range from love to guns to complicated lives.  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 that we make to you—to enjoy the music, and at the same time, listen to the message so that the message can truly affect your lives for the better.
            During our show today, we will play the top 5 songs of meaning of the year 2009 according to MATT, and the number 5 song was from the group Kings of Leon called “Use Somebody,” the grammy award winning best song of the year that year, and its message which we’ll study in just a minute is a plea to someone else to help them.  Let’s look at that idea in general first before we study the meaning of their song in particular.
            One of the concepts of psychology that must be studied as we think in particular about how we interact with others is what is called “a cry for help.”  Psychologists tell us that certain actions indicate “a cry for help.”  Self-mutilation, excessive silence, no desire to be out in public, continual self degradation, and so forth are strong indications that something is the matter with the individual, and what he/she is doing is merely acting in such a way because of the pain and hurt in the mind.  What they need is for someone who really cares for them, and to show it in some way.  The cries for help that are not as serious are the ones most of us are familiar with.  We all know of the young person who just doesn’t get involved because no one has asked them or the person who always wants to be left alone or the person who always looks so sad.  These might be labeled as “minor ‘cries for help’”, that is, the people who are involved in that type of activity are doing nothing more than saying to other people who might be interested, “pay attention to me—I need some help.”
            And what can be done?  That is, what are the solutions to the cries for help that we see in our lives?  Obviously, it calls for us who care about the situation, to see if there is something that we can do to help, something that we can say to lessen the pain of someone who is suffering at that time.
            I think of all of these things because the group Kings of Leon’s song, “Use Somebody” can be studied as a cry for help.  Their song can also be viewed as a song in which the man in the relationship is begging the other partner to pay attention to him, but it can be looked at as a man who is hurting for whatever reason, and is asking for help.  “I’ve been roaming around,” the group begins their song, “always looking down at all I see—painted faces fill the places I can’t reach.  You know that I could use somebody, someone like you, and all you know and how you speak.  I hope it’s gonna make you notice someone like me.”  We have talked about “begging another” as not a good way to enter a romantic relationship because it takes two people to develop the love, but if we look at the song as a cry for help to anyone who will listen, it is a challenge to a person who might care for another.  Let’s entitle our show this week, “Responding to a Cry for Help,” and see what the songs of our show say in terms of that.  This is from the album “Only by the Night”, the group formed in Tennessee not too long ago, Kings of Leon the number 5 song of meaning of 2009, our theme song throughout our show today, “Use Somebody” on MATT.
(double)     USE SOMEBODY / Kings of Leon
                                    IT WILL RAIN / Bruno Mars
 
Part 2
            Current music from the album “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn,” that was Bruno Mars, and his latest, “It Will Rain” on MATT.  It is a statement of love to someone that talks about the possibility of a breakup, and you’re led to believe that he is speaking about it with a little knowledge, like it has happened before.  The video to the song depicts the same thing.  “If you ever leave me,” Bruno Mars begins the song, “leave some morphine at my door ‘cause it would take a whole lot of medication to realize what we used to have.  There’s no religion that could save me no matter how long my knees are on the floor.  So keep in mind all the sacrifices I’m makin’ to keep you by my side, to keep you from walkin’ out the door.  ‘Cause there’ll be no sunlight if I lose you.  There’ll be no clear skies; just like the clouds, my eyes will do the same, if you walk away.  Every day, it’ll rain, rain, rain.”  This is a pretty depressing song because it is sung as the two breakup, and from his point of view, anyway, can easily be seen as a cry for help, our theme today.  The way to respond to it, of course, is for the other to come back to him, but that must be her decision.
            Our first triple play of the morning involves the talents of Adele, Nickelback and Shinedown.  First, we go to the first of two current songs from Adele.  It is a song speaking of the contradictions that are present in a relationship.  The lady in the relationship begins by recognizing that she needs the man: “My hands,” she sings, “they’re strong, but my knees were far too weak to stand in your arms without falling to your feet.  But,” she continues, “there’s a side to you that I never knew, all the things you’d say—they were never true, and the games you play, you would always win.  But I set fire to the rain, watched it pour as I touched your face.  Well, it burned while I cried ‘cause I heard it screaming out your name.”  And the whole relationship is still there in her mind.  She sings, “Even now when we’re already over, I can’t help myself from looking for you.”  She always writes with poetry and here: setting fire to the rain is impossible of course, and it means that their relationship is impossible as long as the man in the relationship is not being honest to the lady.  Good lyrics, and fitting into our theme this morning, the song is a cry for help to the man in the relationship, and the way he must respond is to change some behavior patterns.  Good song to study, Adele from her album “21”, “Set Fire to the Rain” on MATT.
(triple)        SET FIRE TO THE RAIN / Adele
                                    GOTTA BE SOMEBODY / Nickelback
                                    SECOND CHANCE / Shinedown
 
Part 3
            That was from their album “Sound of Madness”, “Second Chance,” the group Shinedown from a couple of years ago on MATT.  The message is one of telling another that the person in the song must strike out on his/her own, away from where they are, and begin again.  “Tell my mother, tell my father,” they sing in their refrain, “I’ve done the best I can to make them realize this is my life.  I hope they understand: I’m not angry, I’m just saying: sometimes goodbye is a second chance.  Please don’t cry one tear for me.  I’m not afraid of what I have to say.  This is my one and only voice, so listen close: it’s only for today.  Here’s my chance.  This is my chance.”  The man is starting again in some way, probably headed to some other place, something that all of us may do in one way or another at some time in our lives.  As we consider our theme this week, namely, responding to a cry for help, someone who is crying for help in some way is asking for a second chance, and our response, if we are Christian, is to try to give that to everyone.
            Before them, the number 4 song of meaning of 2009 from the group Nickelback, “Gotta Be Somebody”.  It was from their CD “Dark Horse,” and it began this way: “This time I wonder what it feels like to find the one in this life, the one we all dream of, but dreams just aren’t enough, so I’ll be waiting for the real thing, ‘cause nobody wants to be the last one there, ‘cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares, someone to love with my life in their hands—there’s gotta be somebody for me like that ‘cause nobody wants to do it on their own, and everyone wants to know they’re not alone.  There’s somebody else that feels the same somewhere—there’s gotta be somebody for me out there.”  Their song is a statement of fact, and a statement of hope.  The person in the song hasn’t found that somebody yet, but they feel strongly that such a person exists, and you get the feeling from the song that they will extend the energy it takes to find that somebody.  The phrase to think about is: “everyone wants to feel like someone cares.”  Because—and this is our theme today—we all cry for help in one way or another, and the job of a concerned person in our world is to respond if we can.
            The thought that we are working with today came from the group Kings of Leon and their song “Use Somebody” and we are talking about the idea of responding to a cry for help.  To close off this segment, here’s a quote from Rev. Robert Schuller: “When you can’t solve the problem, manage it.”  Good thought, and in terms of our theme, as you respond to another’s cry for help, remember that you’ll never solve the problem completely, but you’ll manage it by listening.  We’ve got great music directly in front of you from Adele, Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, David Guetta and Green Day.  This is MATT on Mix 103.  Stay with us!  We’ll be right back!
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 4
            You are in tune with “Message at the Top,” your top 10 show on Mix 103.  Welcome back to the songs that are most popular in this area as well as the songs that have been most popular for the past 30+ years.  We take the top 10 from today and over the years, and study their messages, and then, call our show MATT.  I’m your host, Fr. Mike Scully.  It’s great to have you here.  We have taken our theme from the number 5 song of meaning of 2009 “Use Somebody” by the group Kings of Leon.  They have inspired us to entitle our show “Responding to a Cry for Help”.
            We’ll begin this segment with a double play, one from our current music from Maroon 5, the other very interesting music from the past from Green Day—of course, most of their music is very interesting.  But first of all, Maroon 5 singing along with Christina Aguilera.  Calling to mind the leader of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, they sing: “Just shoot for the stars; it feels right, and aim for my heart.  Kiss me and I’ll show you all the moves like Jagger.  I don’t need to try to control you.  Look into my eyes and I’ll own you.  I’ve got the moves like Jagger.”  The man in the relationship is telling the other person that he will show her a good time and all she has to do is trust him.  As we use the theme of “Responding to a Cry for Help,” in a sense he is crying out to the lady for help, our theme today, but romantic help is different from the help that we are thinking of.  This is the group Maroon 5, and singing along with them is Christina Aguilera, and their song “Moves Like Jagger” current top 10 this morning on MATT.
(double)     MOVES LIKE JAGGER / Maroon 5 f/ Christina Aguilera
                                    21 GUNS / Green Day
 
Part 5
            From their latest album “21^st Century Breakdown,” Green Day there, “21 Guns,” from a couple of years ago on MATT.  It is a song with a clever video that contains themes of alienation and politically motivated anger.  “Do you know what’s worth fighting for?” they begin the song, “when it’s not worth dying for?  Does it take your breath away and you feel yourself suffocating?  Does the pain weigh out the pride?  And you look for a place to hide?  Did someone break your heart inside, you’re in ruins.  One, 21 guns, lay down your arms, give up the fight, throw up your arms into the sky.”  They are presenting anger, it seems, and the statement to give it up in spite of the fact that people are shooting at them.  As we look at our theme of responding to a cry for help, when someone is very angry, usually that in itself is a cry for help, and should be responded to in some way.
            We have another triple play for you now from Kelly Clarkson first, then Adele again, and we’ll finish it off with David Guetta.  First to Kelly Clarkson, and a song about the importance of knowing another person in a relationship.  She sings of the lady in a relationship who is letting the other person in that relationship know that she is leaving because he claimed to know her and really doesn’t.  “Mr. Know It All,” she begins her song, “Well, you think you know it all, but you don’t know a thing at all.  Ain’t it something when somebody tells you something ‘bout you, think that they know you more than you do.”  He’s trying to do that to the lady, and so she says: “I ain’t laying down.  You should know that I lead, not follow.  Oh, you think that you know me.  That’s why I’m leaving you lonely, ‘cause you don’t know a thing about me.”  In a sense, every romantic relationship is a cry for help, and he didn’t respond at all to her.  This is Ms. Kelly Clarkson from her album “Stronger,” and “Mr. Know It All” current top 10 on MATT.
(triple)        MR. KNOW IT ALL / Kelly Clarkson
                                    SOMEONE LIKE YOU / Adele
                                    WITHOUT YOU / David Guetta
 
Part 6
            Current music from David Guetta and Usher, from David Guetta’s album “Nothing But the Beat,” “Without You”, and a 10+ category song for a couple of reasons.  Their opening words are: “I can’t win, I can’t reign,” the man in a relationship sings, “I will never win this game without you.  I am lost, I am vain, I will never be the same without you.  I won’t run, I won’t fly, I will never make it by without you.  I can’t rest, I can’t fight, all I need is you and I.”  It can be looked at as a love song, the man in the relationship calling for the other to be with him, but—and this is one reason I consider it to be a 10+ song of meaning—it could be a prayer to a Higher Being.  The other reason is from the excellent video.  The video presents the whole world coming together, saying that everyone needs everyone to make it a good world.  Great message, and fitting into our theme of “Responding to a Cry for Help,” well, how about this: one of the gigantic cries for help is from our world, and everyone should work at truly responding by coming together a little more.  Great song and video to study.
            Before them, we heard a great song from Adele.  It is a 10 category of meaning song for me, the second highest I get, and her song “Someone Like You”.  It deals with a breakup again, and to my mind, exactly how a former love relationship should be treated.  She is a little vindictive to begin with / which is not good, but finally she says: “Never mind, I’ll find someone like you.  I wish nothing but the best for you too.  Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.”  That is an excellent statement.  There is pain there, but it is pain from which the lady in the relationship learned.  There is a tremendous amount of learning happening for the person in the song.  Working with our theme of “Responding to A Cry for Help,” their original relationship may have been that, but it seems that both are healthy enough now—him, moving on, her, wishing him well.
            And we have played our way to another break right now.  We still have another hour of great rock music to go.  In order of appearance, directly in front of us, we have Daughtry, Bon Jovi, Rihanna, Coldplay, The Fray and Katy Perry.  I hope you remain with us.  To break with a thought from Mr. Elbert Hubbard, and a good one it is.  “Positive anything is better than negative nothing.”  Good thought and the type of attitude that we absolutely need if we are going to respond to any cry for help, our theme today.  I’m Fr. Mike Scully, and this is the MATT music network on Mix 103.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 7
            Welcome back to MATT and the top 10 songs of today and the past 30+ years or so.  My name is Fr. Mike Scully, and we are starting hour number 2 of our show this morning, a show that is talking about responding to a cry for help.  Our hope continues to be that you enjoy the music that is part of Mix 103 here every day, and at the same time that you listen to the message which we give you here on MATT, and find in that message some very good guiding thoughts to live by.
            A triple play begins our second hour together, and it comes from Daughtry from the present, Bon Jovi from the past, and Rihanna from the present.  First to Daughtry and his band with current music: “Lessons learned,” the man in a relationship begins the song, “bridges burned to the ground, and it’s too late now to put out the fire, tables turned, and I’m the one who’s burning now.  Well I’m doing alright, ‘til I close my eyes, and then I see your face, and it’s no surprise: just like that, I’m crawling back to you just like you said I would.  I swallow my pride, now, I’m crawling back to you.  I’m out of my head, can’t wait any longer, down on my knees.  I thought I was stronger.”  He had hurt her in the past, he realizes what he has done, and so he is coming back to her, presumably asking for forgiveness, but you’re not sure from the song whether she gives it to him or not.  As we work with the theme of “Responding to A Cry for Help,” he wants her to respond to his cry for help, and it is a tough situation to be in for him.  This is “Crawling Back to You” from Daughtry’s album “Break the Spell” on MATT.
(triple)        CRAWLING BACK TO YOU / Daughtry
                                    HAVE A NICE DAY / Bon Jovi
                                    WE FOUND LOVE / Rihanna
 
Part 8
            Robyn Rihanna Fenty, better known simply as Rihanna, and current top 10 music, “We Found Love” from her album “Talk That Talk” on MATT.  On the album, the lady in the relationship begins the song with the statement of the problem: “It’s like you’re screaming, and no one can hear.  You almost feel ashamed that someone could be that important; that, without them, you feel like nothing.  No one will ever understand how much it hurts.  And when it’s over, you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back so that you could have the good.”  And the lyrics of the song say the same thing a little more poetically: “Yellow diamonds in the light.  Now we’re standing side by side, as your shadow crosses mine, what it takes to come alive.  It’s the way I’m feeling, I just can’t deny, but I’ve gotta let it go.  We found love in a hopeless place.”  She doesn’t explain why she has to let it go, but my guess is that she is crying out for help because of the hurt in her life, and she wants the man in the relationship to respond.
            Before her, we heard from Bon Jovi and the lead song from their album “Have a Nice Day”.  I really like the message and the sound of the song.  “If there’s one thing I hang onto, it gets me through the night,” they sing, “I ain’t gonna do what I don’t want to.  I’m gonna live my life.  Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice, standing on the ledge, show the wind how to fly.  When the world gets in my face, I say, have a nice day.”  That is to say, the person in the song is in charge of his life—he’s gonna live his life, and not depend on someone else.  He sounds a little bit angry, and anger in itself is a cry for help, our theme today.  The way to respond to it usually is to allow the angry person to vent, and all we do is listen.
            Our second triple play of this segment begins with current music from the English group Coldplay.  The song tells the story of a girl who seems to be lost, and then she finds herself.  “When she was just a girl,” they began the song, “she expected the world, but it flew away from her reach, so she ran away in her sleep, dreamed of paradise every time she closed her eyes.”  Interestingly enough, she seems to find that this world really is paradise.  They sing, “So, lying underneath those stormy skies, she said ‘I know the sun must set to rise.  This could be paradise.’”  I really like that message.  Don’t run away from the problems, and say that life is better someplace else.  Life is better right here—this could be paradise, if we want it to be.  When people are running away from the problems as she was in the song, it is usually a cry for help. / The group The Fray and Katy Perry make up this triple play with them, and they start it off, a great song and video to study from their latest album “Mylo Xyloto” (and they said there is no particular meaning of the title), the group is Coldplay, and their song “Paradise”, current music on MATT.
(triple)        PARADISE / Coldplay
                                    HEARTBEAT / The Fray
                                    THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY / Katy Perry
 
Part 9
            MATT presenting Ms. Katy Perry with her current song, “The One That Got Away”, our theme last week when we spoke about “The Things That Should Be Said”.  It is the latest song from her album “Teenage Dream”.  It is a song of a breakup again—so often sung about in these songs, and is sung with particularly poignant words.  It has an excellent video connected with it that I would encourage you to watch on YouTube.  In the song, the woman of the relationship is recalling what the early romance was all about and how she misses it now.  “In another life,” the lady of the relationship sings, “I would be your girl.  We’d keep all our promises, be us against the world.  In another life, I would make you stay so I don’t have to say you were the one that got away.  All this money can’t buy me a time machine.  It can’t replace you with a million rings.  I shoulda told you what you meant to me, ‘cause now I paid the price.”  She has lost him forever, and the video shows that in a striking way.  As we think of “Responding to a Cry for Help,” our theme today, she is crying out for help, but you’re not sure from the song whether he will respond or not.  Good song and video to study.
            Before her, we heard current music from The Fray, and their song “Heartbeat” from their yet to be released album “Scars and Stories”.  They use a phrase that can lead us to an understanding of what love is, I believe.  They sing in the refrain: “If you love somebody, love them all the same.”  They explain it: “You got a fire and it’s burning in the rain; thought it went out, but it’s burning just the same.  And you don’t look back, not for anything, ‘cause if you love someone, you love them all the same.  Oh I feel your heartbeat, and you’re coming around.”  To me, it says that if you love someone, then you have to mean it all the time—love them all the same, they sing.  It fits into our theme this morning easily since you can look at all love relationships to be cries for help in one sense or another, and the way to respond to it is to love each other completely, all the same.
            I really get into these songs because their messages are such that they can help our lives.  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 “Responding to a Cry for Help” with the top 3 songs of meaning of 2009 and the top 3 of our day 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 wants to respond to a cry for help will realize that.  I’m Fr. Mike Scully, listen to these words of wisdom, and then I hope you come back for more.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
 
Part 10
            This is “Message at the Top”, on Mix 103.  Thank you for joining us this morning.  I am Fr. Mike Scully, and our show gives you 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 came from the group Kings of Leon and their song “Use Somebody”, the number 5 song of meaning of 2009.
            And let’s stay in that year and give you the top 3 songs of meaning of 2009 from Pink, The Fray and Nickelback, all three absolutely great songs, as one would guess since MATT made them the top 3 songs of meaning of that year.  First to Pink and a real thought-provoking song.  “I don’t wanna be the girl who laughs the loudest,” she begins her song here, “or the girl who never wants to be alone.  The sun is blinding, I stayed up again.  Oh, I am finding that’s not the way I want my story to end.  I’m safe up high, nothing can touch me, but why do I feel this party’s over?  How do I feel this good sober?”  The key idea is that drinking and getting high is not the way the person in the song wants her story to end, namely having a good time with all kinds of pleasure-seeking that ends in emptiness.  
            My comment on my website www.frmikescully.com is this: “Jesus was as human as you and I are human.  Therefore he experienced pain, and he was able to experience the pleasure of overcoming the pain to feel better.  At one time, when he was tempted, he was hungry, and the tempter suggested to him that he experience the pleasure of being satisfied by doing what he was capable of doing.  Jesus must have considered what the devil said, but rejected it because he knew, and perhaps wanted to teach us, that there was more to life than pleasure.
            “It has been reported that the reason for Pink's song ‘Sober’ came from a party that she hosted, a party in which there was a lot of drinking and fun, but the song becomes philosophical, asking the question in effect: ‘How do I feel good with just me, without anything else to lean on?’  And, in particular, the song deals with the question of why we have to get high in order to feel good.  That is, why is it that we feel good in life only because of some chemical substance that we place in our bodies?
            “It is a good question.  Why can’t we enjoy what God has given us and be happy with who we are and the situation of living?  Yes, there will be moments of pain, but is it not true that we can be happy that we are alive, and it is great to be that way?  It turns out to be the way to live our story well...and the way to end our story.
            “Jesus no doubt wanted to eat the bread that he could have made from the stones, but he chose not to because God's Word was enough for him. As you and I work with what we have in our lives, and want what is pleasurable, perhaps one of our determining thoughts must be that there is more to life than pleasure, and controlling some pleasure might be a way to a better life.”
            In terms of our theme today, the person in the song is crying out for help, and hopefully someone will respond to her.  From her album “Funhouse,” this is Pink, “Sober”, number 3 of all the songs of meaning of 2009 on MATT.
(triple)        SOBER / Pink
                                    YOU FOUND ME / The Fray
                                    IF TODAY WAS YOUR LAST DAY / Nickelback
 
Part 11
            Likewise a 10+ category song of meaning, as you would guess for the number 1 song of meaning of 2009 in MATT’s opinion from Nickelback.  It comes from their CD “Dark Horse” and their song: “If Today Was Your Last Day”.  They sing: “My best friend gave me the best advice.  He said each day’s a gift and not a given right; leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind, and try to take the path less traveled by.  That first step you take is the longest stride.  If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late, could you say goodbye to yesterday?  Would you live each moment like your last, leave old pictures in the past?  Donate every dime you had, if today was your last day?  What if today was your last day?”  His advice: “Do whatever it takes, ‘cause you can’t rewind a moment in this life.  Let nothing stand in your way, ‘cause the hands of time are never on your side.”  Super stuff here, and tying it into our theme today, every one of us is crying for help in one way or another, and if we learn to live well each day that we live, we will be responding to our cries.  Super song.
            Before them, likewise an incredible song that MATT places as a 10+ category song of meaning, at number 2 of all the songs of meaning of 2009, The Fray, from their self-named album, and their song “You Found Me”.  The song says that God is going to find us, and will help us out of the situations that we are in, making us be the type of people that we should be.  They begin their song, “I found God on the corner of First and Amistad, all alone, smoking his last cigarette.  I said, ‘Where you been?’  He said, ‘Ask anything.’” / And so the person in the song asks, “Where were you when everything was falling apart?  All my days were spent by the telephone.  It never rang, and all I needed was a call.”  But, he sings, “Lost and insecure, you found me lyin’ on the floor, surrounded.  Why’d you have to wait?  Where were you?  Just a little late, you found me.”  God will find us, no matter what the circumstances.  In terms of our theme today, the song is humankind’s cry for help, and the faith that God will respond.
            And, coming back to today, January 29, 2012, let’s go to the top 3 songs right now, beginning with number 3 from Mr. Gavin DeGraw.  The man in the relationship is remembering when the lady in the relationship was with him, and it is a good memory, but she is no longer there, and so the song is what happens when there is a recent breakup.  He begins the song, “Dreams—that’s where I have to go to see your beautiful face anymore.  If you ask me how I’m doing, I would say I’m doing just fine.  I would lie and say that you’re not on my mind, but I go out and I sit down at a table set for two, and finally I’m forced to face the truth—no matter what I say, I’m not over you.”  It is a very painful time in the person in the song’s love life, and you’re not sure they will ever be together again.  It is a cry for help from his point of view, our theme today, and you’re not really sure that his fiancée will respond or not—as I say very painful.  From his latest album “Sweeter,” Gavin DeGraw here, number 3 right now on our countdown, “Not Over You” on MATT. 
(double)     3 NOT OVER YOU / Gavin DeGraw
                                    2 STEREO HEARTS / Gym Class Heroes f/ Adam Levine
 
Part 12
            At number 2 today, that was the group Gym Class Heroes and singing with them is Adam Levine of Maroon 5, from Gym Class Heroes’ album “The Papercut Chronciles 2”, and their song “Stereo Hearts” on MATT.  The refrain of their song is this: “My heart’s a stereo.  It beats for you, so listen close, hear my thoughts in every note; make me your radio, and turn me up when you feel low.  The melody was meant for you; just sing along to my stereo.”  I think that they are clever lyrics reflecting a situation in which the man in the relationship experienced some difficult times with past love relationships.  Now, as he sings, “Thought love was dead; now, you’re changing my mind.”  So, a love song that is a pretty good way of saying that he loves his girlfriend.  As we have been saying with these love songs today, often the song is a cry for help, as is the case here.  You’re not sure that she will respond or not, and that is always a very painful situation.
            And the number 1 song for nine weeks in a row is from Ms. Colbie Caillat from her album “All of You” and her song “Brighter Than the Sun”.  It is a happy song of love, a song of how love has affected the woman in the relationship.  “I swear you hit me like a vision,” she sings the thoughts of the lady, “I wasn’t expecting, but who am I to tell fate where it’s supposed to go with it.  Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart.  It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun.  Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky, shining how we want, brighter than the sun.”  So, the great feelings of love, and it is having a profound effect on her.  In this case, as we consider our theme of “Responding to a Cry for Help,” her cry for help in romantic love has been responded to, it seems, and it is a very happy situation.  It’s always good to have happy positive songs to listen to, I believe.
            And there you have it—the top 10 songs of our land as of this date of the last Sunday of January, 2012.  We have looked at our songs from a point of view of people who need help and ask for it.  My wish is that each of us will take the time to listen to people who cry for help.  And if we are the ones who are asking for help—listen to the person that will give it to you.  / My thanks to our 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 producers and sponsors especially Thomas More Prep-Marian High School in Hays, Hays Car and Truck Alignment, and Holy Family Elementary School in Hays.  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 music we play here and some great movies is www.frmikescully.com.  My closing thought for you comes from an American author by the name of Bern Williams: “There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”  If we need help, we can and will find it.  You bet!  Our number 1 song is “Brighter Than the Sun” from Colbie Caillat from her album named “All of You”, and as you listen to it, may I remind you to hold a good thought.  My name is Fr. Mike Scully.  Peace to you, and be good!
1 BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN / Colbie Caillat