Song of the Week: Leslie (Sam) Phillips' "The Turning"

This is an intriguing song, from Leslie (a.k.a "Sam") Phillips' 1987 project The Turning. It was produced by T-Bone Burnett, who went on to produce and collaborate with Counting Crows and The Wallflowers, among many other musicians. Phillips and Burnett later married.

In her days as a Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) artist, she had several songs break into the top 10 for that genre. Her label back then wanted to promote her as "the Christian Cyndi Lauper," but The Turning became her last project in the CCM world, and I lost track of her. Getting ready for this post, I discovered that she has stayed busy but remains largely unknown. As Jeffrey Overstreet put it: "Her songs have been the soundtracks for films, her catchy pop hooks have been the barbs of commercials, and her smooth harmonies have supplied the interludes for a popular television series. And yet today, she remains undiscovered.” She even played Jeremy Irons’ mute girlfriend in Die Hard With A Vengeance and was nominated for a Grammy in 1995 (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance) for the song "Circle of Fire."

Back to the featured song. The title track for The Turning is a prayer: Acknowledging that the world is not always a friendly place to the Christian faith, she asks God: "When it turns on me, don't let it turn me."

It's not the first time such a concern has been put into lyrics. In 1757, pastor and composer Robert Robinson said the same thing:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love
Take my heart, O take and seal it
Seal it for thy courts above.

It's been reported that Robinson eventually drifted into a place where his doubts overwhelmed his faith. God forbid the same should happen--or has happened--to Phillips.

It's a worthwhile prayer to lift up these 20 years later. Here's "The Turning"--

The turning
From light to shadows
From burning to indifference
The turning
Of heart to granite
Of steel hopes to molten fear

And when it turns on me
Don't let it turn me

The turning
Of admiration to obsession
Of caring to control
The turning
Of shouts to whispers
Of warm and full to grey and hollow

And when it turns on me
Don't let it turn me

For more information, check out The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sam Phillips. The site seems to have been taken down, but it's cached here. Also, Jeffrey Overstreet has some things at his site, LookingCloser.org.
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The player for the featured "Song of the Week" can be found on the upper right corner of the weblog for one week.