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The Spectacle Blog
Back in my earlier days when I was a sportswriter, in one of the five or six times I was around Jack Nicklaus (which isn’t many, but by being limited they were thus more memorable), I remember one time when he commented not on golf but on music. Alas, I can’t remember the scene, but just the comment. It was probably in the men’s grill at the English Turn course he designed in New Orleans, but it may have been as he waited out a rain delay near the Sixth fairway at Congressional in the mid-1990s. Anyway, somehow the subject of Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love of All” came up. It may have been on the radio in the men’s grill in the background — or, for that matter…. now I’m really going to contradict myself, because the more I think of it the more I think I might have seen it on a TV feed at one of those events, so… oh well, it doesn’t matter where I was. What I remember was that Nicklaus smiled and saying something like: “Good song. I like that. Good message for the kids. Teach them self-reliance. Good stuff.”
True enough, especially compared to much of the trash that long has passed for pop/rock lyrics. Even when talking pop culture, Nicklaus has good sense. Whitney Houston was a diva, but even divas occasionally can find the right message (making allowances for not exactly being profound or deep) to go with the right voice. That’s why, in remembering Whitney Houston, we can use the title of a song by a tremendously talented diva of another generation who died in her 40s, Billie Holiday: “God Bless the Child.” R.I.P.
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More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/02/13/of-jack-nicklaus-and-whitney-h
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Steve the accountant| 2.13.12 @ 10:19AM
Amen!
Tina B| 2.13.12 @ 11:50AM
And Amen.
Marie Simmons| 2.13.12 @ 11:53AM
Such a beautiful woman with God given talent.
May she rest in peace in the light of the Lord!!!!
Mick Lee| 2.13.12 @ 1:11PM
As a Christian women who sang in her church as a young girl, she should have been embarrassed by the song's message. The greatest love of all is that of Christ for the world--all men and women. In that truth, when Christ calls us, he calls us to die. Not exactly the mark of making one's greatest love oneself.
Jesus stands by the water and calls us. He does not argue or tell us why. He says only one thing:
"Come, follow me".
Quin| 2.13.12 @ 6:09PM
Just to be clear, the part Nicklaus seemed to be referring to was not the claim that self-love is "the greatest of all," which of course, as a Christian, I don't agree with either, but the "self-reliance" part:
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
...I learned to depend on me
[Chorus:]
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
....
Obviously, this may be reading too much into it, because it was just an offhand comment of Nicklaus'. But to the extent that anyone listens to the lyrics of pop music, the whole song is certainly a much more well-intentioned (even if woolly-headed) piece than most of the Madonna-type smut that usually pollutes the airwaves.....
Bill| 2.13.12 @ 2:04PM
Whitney Houston was no musician, a complete whore.
sipbourbon| 2.13.12 @ 4:24PM
And yet, she could sing circles around you.
David T| 2.13.12 @ 2:40PM
Jack Nicklaus is a decent man, and I'm sure he meant well, but that song is an abomination. It and that other anthem of self-indulgence, "We are the World," should be forever banned from the airwaves.
Cissy| 2.13.12 @ 3:01PM
Both of you should have listened to the words....the greatest love of all is for yourself....really? How self-absorbed and self-focused....works if you're twelve or thirteen and the world does revolve around you.....doesn't make for a very good life though, does it?
Quartermaster| 2.13.12 @ 8:22PM
It is sad to see a woman is still fairly young essentially kill herself. Too many people come out of the Church into the world and find themselves overwhelmed by the temptations that come your way when you are making scads of money and everyone wants you to just have a little fun.
Madonna was a Roman Catholic that did everything she could to show she could be a bad little girl. Beyonce may be the next one. She came out of a Church of God in Christ family that taught her to have more respect for herself than what she shows. Instead she dresses like a streetwalker and prances about the stage singing trash herself.
astorian| 2.13.12 @ 10:36PM
Am I the only one who remembers that "The Greatest Love of All" was originally sung by George Benson, and was the theme of Muhammad Ali's movie autobiography, "The Greatest"?
Since ALi was an egomaniac who always called HIMSELF "The Greatest," the songwriter was given a difficult task: making narcissism sound idealistic!