In my book, miracles become miracles when we choose to have faith in them. If I can quote from Second-Hand Lions:

Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love… true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.

We can debate whether things are true or not, but perspective is everything. What we believe is up to us. Just as long as when we are called to teach, we teach the doctrine, and not our own beliefs.

Okay, how about this: My wife’s acestory comes from the same town Robert Plant is from. Therefore he must have some connection to the Church. Right?

(Tongue firmly in cheek)

They both seem to descend from the song, “Cry Me a River” written by the Scottish singer Davy Graham around 1959.

That’s an interesting observation, since “Cry Me a River” is a song that Robert Cundick was likely to have been familiar with (not to mentioned Jimmy Page and Robert Plant). Note, however, that Graham didn’t write “Cry Me a River”; it was written by Arthur Hamilton in 1953, and was intended as a ‘torch’ song for Ella Fitzgerald in a film role. It was recorded and released several times in the late 50s and the 60s. On the other hand, I really don’t hear many melodic similarities between “Cry Me a River” and “Stairway to Lasting Joy”. And, by the way, “Cry Me a River” definitely has lyrics, which have nothing to do with either “Stairway to Heaven” or “Stairway to Lasting Joy”.

By the way, lest anyone be confused, my post above was written tongue firmly in cheek. I don’t think that “Stairway to Heaven” was in any way influenced by “Stairway to Lasting Joy”, any more than I think that the Book of Mormon was influenced by The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian, in spite of the extensive parallels between the two works. I’m just poking fun, though this time indirectly, at the various efforts to explain the Book of Mormon by citing potential parallels and influences in other works, since I find those efforts profoundly flawed and unconvincing.

Plus, it was a fun post to write. ..bruce..

I can see the similarities between some of the guitar riffs from “Cry me a River” in Stairway to heaven. I don’t think there are any lyrics though, so, that can only muddle the connection between the two stairways. Very interesting topic.

This is a total threadjack, but I saw the post on “Adventures in Mormonism” about the correlation between Stairway to Heaven and “Stairway to Lasting Joy,” and your comment (hence this odd post.) They both seem to descend from the song, “Cry Me a River” written by the Scottish singer Davy Graham around 1959. A youtube clip, from 1959, can be found here.

Comment by djinn — January 28, 2009 @ 1:23 pm

At the risk of slowing that spread: “Moderately slow, smoothly (in the style of a folk song)” — do you suppose that there could be a common folksong at the base of both versions, maybe a Welsh one that the LZ boys knew, and one that Robert Cundick may have heard during his mission? I haven’t got the slightest idea of how anybody would go about researching that.

Thanks for the nice plug, too. {blushing}