Sly Stone

I was hit hard by the recent passing of Sly Stone. Harder than I was with the passing of Bowie, Tom Petty, and Chris Squire. So hard that I’ve shed tears every day since Sly’s passing. Really weird. It was so weird that I began to wonder why, and I am now compelled to write about it. I have now watched Sly Lives, the recent documentary directed by Questlove, which has reminded me of Sly Stone’s contributions, both musically and for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sly grew up in the church where he learned to play guitar, piano, bass, and drums, playing 6-7 times a week, including 3-5 times on Sundays. 

“My dad always carried a gun and a Bible. He said, ‘If I could get all the white people and put ‘em on a boat, and it took one more to sink ‘em, I’d get on there my goddamn self.’ I said, ‘Dad, you can’t stay like that. I ain’t gonna let you stay like that.’ So I started letting my friends come over to the house. I didn’t know who was white, who was black. I didn’t know if I had more white friends or more black friends.”

At 13, Sly and his brother and sisters released the single “On The Battlefield”/”Walking in Jesus Name.”

In high school, he joined a band that performed in talent shows. “And some of the black kids got mad at me. And I had to figure out how to kick their a****. I explained to them, ‘This is a talent show, this is my group, we’re gonna always win.’ Anything I was in, if it had to do with music, man, I’d just figure out how to win, that’s all.”

Sly’s band, Sly And The Family Stone, was formed in 1966 and was the first major American rock band to be racially integrated, with both black and white band members.

“Don’t hate the black, don’t hate the white, if you get bitten, just hate the bite.” –Sly Stone on the Ed Sullivan Show in Dec 1968

I am no better, and neither are you

We are the same, whatever we do

You love me, you hate me, you know me, and then

You can’t figure out the bag I’m in

I am everyday people

There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one

That won’t accept the red one, that won’t accept the white one

Different strokes for different folks

And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo

We got to live together (from “Everyday People,” single released late 1968)

Stand, in the end, you′ll still be you

One that’s done all the things you set out to do

Stand, there′s a cross for you to bear

Things to go through if you’re goin’ anywhere

Stand for the things you know are right

It′s the truth that the truth makes them so uptight

Stand, all the things you want are real

You have you to complete and there is no deal (from Stand, single released May 1969)

Don′t call me n*****, whitey

Don’t call me whitey, n***** (from Don’t Call Me N*****, Whitey from album Stand released    May 1969)

Sly says in the documentary that the Black Panthers asked him for $100,000. He says he asked them for a reason and suggests the reason was just because he was black, to which he answered that he had no problem being black.

I think it’s likely that God gave Sly the gift of salvation early in his life, which drove him to write his Christian lyrics, including encouragement to love others without the artificial construct of racism. He was also among the first to include women in his band, another encouragement to love without gender bias.

Yes, Sly allowed fame and fortune to subvert how he knew God wanted him to live and behaved wickedly for many years, hurting not only himself but his family, including his kids and their mothers, and friends, too.

On this side of the Fall, it’s important that we acknowledge both God’s glorifying accomplishments and sins from the same individual. Christian pietists are far too eager to condemn a person, focusing only on their sins, while cancelling out the good that God has done through them. 

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 1 Cor 1:27

 God chose Sly Stone to call the culture to a higher standard. One that doesn’t see skin tone or gender, but only everyday people, called to do the work of love, thus glorifying the Living God.