College is a great place to foster and develop one’s
cynicism. In light of tragedy and things beyond one’s control, cynicism serves
an important purpose. If offsets the realities of this cruel world by preparing
us to tackle another day. If we linger too long on everything that is wrong
with this planet, we find ways to hasten our exit from it, either consciously or
subconsciously.
I never understood child abuse growing up, but then again,
what is there to understand about it anyway? It’s a topic that grows
exponentially horrid when you have children, and as a person who believes that
we as a species should be better than killing another person in the name of
justice, I falter a bit on the position whenever I hear stories about child
abuse.
In 1987, a New York attorney was arrested after beating his
step-daughter to death. She collapsed
after a blow to the head, and as she lay in the bathroom of the family’s Bronx
apartment, slipping in and out of consciousness from her injuries, her
step-father left her alone without medical attention, occasionally leaving the
home to freebase cocaine.
He lived with a woman for several years, and she was also to
blame for allowing the abuse to continue in the couple’s home. When she
returned home from her job as an editor of children’s books for Random House
one evening, she found the child close to death. The girl had been suffering
for over 10 hours. It was at this time that she finally convinced her abusive
partner that they needed to contact the authorities. The girl later died from
her injuries.
The case gained national prominence, but I remember it for
another reason.
During the trial, a radio station discovered a song recorded
by PowerSource, a contemporary Christian musical group led by Richard Klender.
The group recorded a song called “Dear Mr. Jesus,” a schmaltzy ballad about
child abuse with stunningly bad 80’s production values. The song’s notoriety was
secured when Klender asked 6 year-old Sharon Batts to perform lead vocals on
his new song.
PowerSource released their first and only album Shelter From The Storm in 1986. “Dear
Mr. Jesus” was nestled in the Bedford, Texas’s full length and probably would
have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for the aforementioned child abuse case in
New York City. When some clever disc jockey found it and began playing it
during the trial, listeners called in by the thousands to request it. From
there, it began to spread across the country, where it finally entered the
Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #61 in January 1988.
I remember it being played repeatedly in the Midwest during
the 1987 holiday season. My cynicism took note of the song’s content and the
manner in which Mr. Klender chose to address the topic by enlisting a 6
year-old girl to sing it.
Take a look/listen to this incredible piece of 80’s righteousness
and marvel at how Klender seemed to foreshadow later events about a girl “beaten
black and blue.” The girl narrator is troubled by the news and decides to take
her concerns directly to Jesus, or “Mr. Jesus” as it were.
Taking a clue from George Jones’ classic “He Stopped Loving
Her Today,” Klender saves a money shot for the end of the song, when the little
girl asks Mr. Jesus to look into this topic of child abuse, and to keep a
family secret to himself.
“Please don’t tell my Daddy, that my Mommy hits me too.”
While my cynicism certainly took notice of this forgotten
gem, it was the song’s curious decision to highlight the topic from the
perspective of a 6 year-old girl that stuck with me for almost three decades. I
recently found the song online and have been thoroughly enjoying it in the most
ironic of ways for the past week.
In fact, I have been subjecting the children to this piece
of fine art, causing my daughter to sing the refrain of “Please, don’t let them
hurt your children” over and over, while my son has decided to stick with the “my
Mommy hits me too” line, particularly when his own mom tells him to come in for
the evening.
I also have the song on vinyl, a promotional single that I
acquired from a radio station. When I found it, I used it for a few cassette
mixes, utilizing some production tricks in the process. On the flip side,
Klender conducted an interview with the young Sharon, asking her complicated
questions about abuse and her supposed advocacy concerning the topic. Of
course, her responses were exactly what you would expect from a 6 year-old girl
who had been heavily coached beforehand. There are lots of one-line answers as
well as the expected “child abuse is bad” message. It is exploitation at its
most blatant, but it is exactly what you’d expect from a song that was created
from such obvious heart-tugging that it can potentially cause cardiac arrest.
For my mix tapes, I would let Klender’s introductions and
interview “questions” spin at the normal 45 r.p.m. speed. Then, whenever Sharon
would pause to respond, I would change the speed to 33 r.p.m., causing her
voice to resonate with a creepy, lower pitched voice. To hear Sharon’s innocent
responses under the guise of a middle-age man’s voice was positively stunning.
I wish I would have kept a copy for myself.
Child abuse is certainly no laughing matter. I understand
this completely as a parent. But while my own opinion of this topic can
certainly elicit unchecked rage from within, there’s something inherently wrong
about exploiting a child to address a subject as morally repulsive to begin with.
Jesus, thought I’d take this right to you…
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