Shake it down, shake it down now!

The Commodores

In my last post, I revealed two things: 1. I station-surf in the car and 2. Nearly anything can be a lo divino-ed. (a lo divino: a Spanish phrase meaning “to the divine” or “in a sacred manner” – frequently used to describe a secular work, rewritten with a religious overtone, or a secular topic recast in religious terms using metaphors and symbolism.)

To put these assertions in context, I will tell you that I was talking in that post about hearing the churnin’ BTO song, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet in the context of God and His plans for us. Because it’s true – the whole Bible is full of God and prophets and Jesus and apostles telling us that God’s got amazing plans for our future. Collectively and individually.

Anyway, in our region we have a number of weird radio stations to surf to – including a couple that play a really strange mix of stuff. One of them has this motto: “We play everything” – and they do. It’s kind of a gamble landing on it, though, because you can be bobbing your head to Bob Marley, thrashing with Pearl Jam or cringing to something completely grating like, I don’t know, Escape (The Pina Colada Song).

Anyway, it’s because of these weirdly eclectic playlists that I found myself totally funking out to the Commodores’ Brick House. And yes, I, even I, exercised my right to a lo divino this ode to bodacious feminine pulchritude.

If this confuses you, allow me to put it out there for you. First, the lyrics. (Also feel free to listen to this masterpiece of a funk song here.)

She’s a brick house

She’s mighty, mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out

She’s a brick house

I like a lady stacked and that’s a fact

Ain’t holding nothing back

She’s a brick house

We’re together everybody knows

And this is how the story goes

She knows she got everything

A woman needs to get a man, yeah, yeah

How can she lose with those things she use?

36-24-36, what a winning hand

She’s a brick house

She’s mighty, mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out

She’s a brick house

I like a lady stacked and that’s a fact

Ain’t holding nothing back

She’s a brick house

She’s the one, the only one built like an Amazon

The clothes she wear, her sexy ways

Make an old man wish for younger days, yeah, yeah

She knows she’s built and knows how to please

Sure ‘nuff can knock a strong man to his knees

‘Cause She’s a brick house

She’s mighty, mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out

She’s a brick house

I like a lady stacked and that’s a fact

Ain’t holding nothing back

She’s a brick house

Shake it down, shake it down now

Shake it down, shake it down now

Shake it down, shake it down now

Shake it down, shake it down now

Shake it down, shake it down now

Shake it down, shake it down now

Shake it down, shake it down now

She’s a brick house

She’s mighty, mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out

She’s a brick house

I like a lady stacked and that’s a fact

Ain’t holding nothing back

She’s a brick house

That's right – I'm a brick house!

Many love songs – My Love Explodes and Let My Love Open the Door, for instance – can be easily flipped and taken as a love song from God to us (i.e., the church as the Bride of Christ) and as a “lady stacked” I could hear this song and wallow in the love God has for me – and people of all shapes and sizes. 

Love songs can also to be sung TO God. Like... Maybe I’m Amazed, I Feel Beautiful or Wonderful Tonight... but a song about a woman with all the bricks in the right places? Well, think about Song of Solomon! That’s about sex... and it’s also about God! So can’t this be? 

Kind of like this:

He’s a brick house (mighty fortress, stronghold, etc.) He’s mighty, mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out (Omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient...) I like a God who’s all powerful. He doesn’t do anything halfway.   

He’s with me (Immanuel, God with us) – that’s my story. He knows he’s got everything it takes to save me – He’s perfect. Who can stand against Him?  

He is the one and only God. I wish I had known about His love and grace when I was younger! He knows what I need. Even strong people bow down to Him.

Okay, my version isn’t NEARLY as good as the original, but I’ve yet to hear a purposefully Christian song as funkalicious as Brick House, so what if I “shake it down, shake it down now” to the original and MEAN the stuff in my version, right? That’s a lo divino, baby!