Day 18 - Stuck in a moment

Michael Hutchence was the co-founder, lead singer and lyricist of the Australian rock band INXS. The band sold over 50 million records worldwide, making them one of Australia's highest-selling music acts of all time. Hits such as Need You Tonight, Mystify, New Sensation and Suicide Blonde are still popular records on 80’s radio stations today.

Michael Hutchence got the reputation of being something of the wild man of rock n roll over some of his behaviour and antics. In the early 1990’s he suffered an accident which left him with quite severe head injuries, and that led to periods of depression, increased levels of aggression and an occasional drug habit. On 22 November 1997, at the age of 37, Michael Hutchence was found dead in his room at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Sydney. The cause of death was recorded as suicide.

The lead singer of U2, Bono, forged an unlikely friendship with Michael Hutchence throughout the 1990’s. They met on numerous occasions and would talk at length about life’s problems and struggles.

As U2 prepared their 2000 Album All That You Can’t Leave Behind, Bono wrote the lyrics to a song inspired by the tragic death of Michael Hutchence. The song is written in the form of an argument about suicide in which Bono tries to convince Hutchence of the act's foolishness. Bono characterised the song as a fight between friends, which he felt guilty for never having with Hutchence. Bono later wrote of the song: "It's a row between mates. You're kinda trying to wake them up out of an idea. In my case it's a row I didn't have while he was alive. I feel the biggest respect I could pay to him was not to write some stupid soppy song, so I wrote a really tough, nasty little number, slapping him around the head. And I'm sorry, but that's how it came out of me."

There are many of us who get stuck in a moment that is hard to get out of. Sometimes not even friends can shift us and get us free. Our best hope of being able to turn round is from God. I love that repentance, such a major theme of the season of Lent, can be described as a turning round. The Lexham Bible Dictionary defines it like this: “Repentance” refers to an event in which an individual attains a divinely provided new understanding of their behaviour and feels compelled to change that behaviour and begin a new relationship with God.

May Lent be a time when we continually discover a new relationship with God and praise him for his goodness and love.

I'm not afraid of anything in this world

There's nothing you can throw at me that I haven't already heard

I'm just trying to find a decent melody

A song that I can sing in my own company

I never thought you were a fool, but darling, look at you

You gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight

These tears are going nowhere baby

You've got to get yourself together

You've got stuck in a moment and now you can't get out of it

Don't say that later will be better

Now you're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

And if, and if the night runs over

And if, the day won't last

And if your way should falter

Along this stony paths

It's just a moment, this time will pass

Songwriters: Paul David Hewson / Adam Clayton / Larry Mullen / Dave Evans

©Polygram Int. Music Publishing

Neil Chappell