Kyrie Eleison: Lord have mercy on many fronts

The phrase Kyrie Eleison has had a few different meanings in my life, from radio hits to church, and a joke that became funnier as the years went on.

Awhile back I attended a community church service where the choir led the congregation in a song called “Kyrie” and it took me back 30 years.

What’s next?
Mr. Mister had burst onto the music scene in the fall of 1985 with “Broken Wings”, a smoldering single off their “Welcome to the Real World Album”, punctuated with some good bass. It went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 before the end of the year.

Music fans wondered what was next.

The answer was a catchy tune that went to number one as well, but was not as easy to understand as “Broken Wings”.

It was simply called, “Kyrie”.

Not a lot of listeners really knew what the words in the chorus meant:

"Kyrie Eleison, down the road that I must travel;

"Kyrie Eleison, through the darkness of the night;

"Kyrie Eleison, where I’m going, will you follow?;

"Kyrie Eleison, on a highway in the light”.

Initially, I thought it was “Kyrie lays on” like someone is laying on the road and through the darkness, but that didn’t make sense.

So what were they saying? It took my friend David Perlich to fill me in.

What does that mean?
We were talking about music one day and I mentioned this song.

“You know what that means?” he asked. I did not.

“Lord have mercy,” he responded. “You know, like in church.”

We had gone to Catholic school together and attended a lot of masses. There is a portion of the service that goes: “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.”

“Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison”, David said. It was “Lord have mercy, Christ have Mercy, Lord have mercy” in Greek.

It all made sense to me. I just wondered if that meant Mr. Mister was a Christian band.

It would take more than 30 years to find out, but the website www.songfacts.com reveals they were not a Christian band, but lead singer Richard Page did consider the song a prayer. He got a lot of power out of being still and realizing what he’s doing is insignificant compared to the universe.

“Kyrie” went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, hitting the top of the charts in March of 1986. It also appeared in an episode of “Miami Vice”.

Good luck
After I found out what the phrase meant, I started writing it on the back of exams and assignments at school, as kind of a good luck charm. It’s funny, I still had not seen the phrase, so I wrote it, “Kyrie Elaison”.

When I went to university, I continued the tradition. My first midterm was in History 200, fall of 1987. I had met my dear friend Chris Jesswein earlier that first term. We had History 200 together, and that experience helped forge our friendship. Our exam was in a small seminar room, not our regular classroom, and it was being administered by a teaching assistant name Garry Strangways, who was not our professor.

While we waited for Garry to give us the test, he handed out exam booklets for us to write in our name, date, ID number and other particulars.

Then Chris said, “Before every test, I write, ‘We who are about to fail salute you’.” It was a reference to what Roman gladiators said.

I told him about “Kyrie Elaison”.

So, we each wrote both phrases on the back of our exam booklet.

We got our exams back a few weeks later, with a surprise.

“We who are about to fail salute you” had written underneath it, “We who are about to mark salute you”.

Under “Kyrie Elaison” was written “Kyrie Eleison.”

Hmm, I thought, now I know how to spell it.

Heard it on the radio
In the spring of 1986, me and some friends used to go to the YMCA in Lethbridge on Friday nights to play racquetball, basketball, and use the other facilities. It was called “Teen night” and we had full access to the place from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. for one dollar.

One of my friends, also named Dave, had recorded a live version of “Kyrie” off the radio. There was a stereo wired into the Y’s gym, so he plugged his tape in. I recall vividly shooting baskets to that version of “Kyrie” several times because that tape was on auto replay.

That night, as most Friday nights, we cruised the strip in Lethbridge, mainly Mayor Magrath Drive. Dave, his younger brother Doug, and I, just pinned “Kyrie” on his truck radio as we belted out the lyrics out the truck window cruising down Mayor Magrath. It was a story Doug told several times thereafter at school.

Coming to town
That spring of 1986, I also got a job at a greenhouse. It was run by a couple about the same age as my parents, and their three sons who were all about 10 years older than me.

The one son, Bob, was a real B.S.’er. He loved music, and always had a ghetto blaster playing while we worked. We heard Mr. Mister was coming to the Sportsplex in Lethbridge.

Bob started to tell me he, and some buddies, were going to pull off this huge prank. They were going to get to the Sportsplex before the band, and pretend to be the band fooling the fans in the process. He said they were going to rent a limo in advance of the concert to do that. A few weeks later he even said he got his new perm (it was the ‘80s after all) for the prank.

Well the concert came and went and no prank.

He was all talk.

Parting thoughts
The other day I had Google play “Kyrie”, so I could listen to it in the comfort of my kitchen. It wasn’t too long before I was belting out the words like I was 16 again, playing drums in the air and even a bit of air guitar.

It is just one of those songs that you can’t help signing to.

It conjures up such great memories of a great time in my life.

And, as it turns out, it had a special meaning that, at this age, I appreciate much more than I ever could as a teenager.