Larry Norman flies home

Larry Norman died yesterday morning (Sun Feb 24/08) at 60 yrs. In a post to his website last week he made this comment:

"I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home."

In my teen years (1970s) he had a great influence through his music but also the way he chose to function outside Christendom Christianity. A couple years ago my brother Tim and I were sitting around campfire and worked our way through the Larry Norman songbook, singing and playing and reminiscing. Larry used to play in Kingston and Napanee pretty regularly over the years.

His album "Only visiting this planet" (1972) produced by George Martin (Beatles) was voted 'best contemporary christian album of all time' by CCM magazine -- even tho Larry probably gagged at being cited in CCM. Drew Marshall interviewed him here in 2005.

thanks Larry for asking: "why should the devil have all the good music?"

Comments

[david s]

Seriously,where would we be without Larry Norman? The patron saint of all who have been 'shot down' for following Jesus.

[jollybeggar]

i was fourteen years old and had just returned from a camp where a kid name pete banks had stirred my curiosity, citing the lyric 'sipping whiskey from a paper cup- you drown your sorrows til you can't stand up' as being by the same guy that wrote 'i wish we'd all been ready' (a big youth group favourite.)

i went down to the christian record store in kamloops (it was called 'the real thing' and sported a rather suspiciously coca-cola-esque logo on the sign) to see if they had any of this guy's stuff. the church lady behind the counter hesitantly put needle to vinyl and the opening guitar statement of 'the rock that doesn't roll' clumsily broke the silence until the first full band shot and a rather barbaric 'wooh!' challenged the wall that had, up until that point, separated my faith and my aesthetics.

no one has ever been able to rebuild that pallisade...

the fact that only three years later i heard the call of God to a life of ministry during the song 'one way' at a show he did at the orpheum in vancouver is just part of the impact of this guy's loaves and fish upon my own terrestrial visit.

[Dan]

I think it was Martha Rorabeck asking me to play the guitar for this new song she wanted to sing --"the outlaw"-- (c.1975)that first clicked for me.

[Loreli]

J-M is mourning the loss of Larry himself. It has inspired a new blog... www.xanga.com/backtracks.