Adele Just Slapped Me In The Face With A Piano.

Oh my goodness.

First of all, God bless iTunes celebrity playlists. I got three songs from Alicia Keys' "Secret Life of Bees" playlist tonight and they are all phenomenal. A little haunting Nina Simone (and I though Feist was the original artist of See-Line Woman. Ha!) and a little Duffy (I want her whole album now!).

But the most astonishing is this girl ADELE. 

Holy. Cow.

Her album is called 19 because she's 19. It should be called 19 and genius. Her voice is a little Norah Jones and a little Amy Winehouse... maybe even a tic Lauryn Hill. But cleaner. Lovelier. Fuller. Heartbreakingly so.

I have not been so surprised by a song since I was driving in my car and first heard John Mayer's "Dreaming With A Broken Heart". Before the song was even over, I started it over just to hear him say "Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone..." again.

Even that was a different kind of move.

This? This... I can't talk about it yet. It's too new. I'm only listening to it the third time in my life as I type this.

Just go to iTunes right now and buy the song "Make You Feel My Love" by ADELE.

Then turn it up and just-- listen. 

So. Beautiful. On so many levels. Just let it hit you where ever you are.

p.s. also, she's apparently the musical guest on SNL this weekend.

Hopefully she'll play this song. I but recommend listening to the song first, without pic or video, no anything. Just music. Go. Now.

*Learned tonight that this song is a actually a Bob Dylan cover. Also, 2 country covers of  it were featured in the movie Hope Floats. Good on all that-- but I still like this one a LOT.

Playlist

I've stumbled into some great music lately.

Love Revolution- Lenny Kravitz
As of right now, I have a few of his singles, but I don't own a Lenny Kravitz album... but i think I'm about to. The pieces I've heard of this one are pretty rockin.

Natalie- FLOREZ
I'm friends with these guys. They're terrific. I like this song so much. It was actually featured during the 5th season of Scrubs. And it's even better because it's not really about what it appears to be about. Clever ones, they are. :)

Sea Breeze & Tyrone Yodels- Tyrone Wells
The first is just a beautiful smooth, shimmery, summery love song. The second is... yodeling. Sexy yodeling. I know, I know. But I'm serious. This man's entire live album is amazing. He is my Marc Broussard of 2008.

Greatest Hits of Journey
Okay they're not new. But they were in my car stereo today and it made me happy. :)

Question- Old 97's
Precious lovesong from the episode of Scrubs where Carla finally accepts Turk's marriage proposal.

Helix Nebula- Anamanaguchi
I don't play video games. But if they made this song into a video game, I sure would play it. The first time I heard this song, it was aural overload. But now, I kind of can't stop listening to it. It's started to make me happy... in a really delightful, hyper-metallic-pixelated sort of way... if that makes any sense.

Remedy- David Crowder
I love 6/8 time. This song is no exception. So full of hope in brokenness. I love it.

Yesterday- switchfoot
Also not new. But completely beautiful if melancholy. Anyone who's ever lost someone they loved will find it has a perfect blend of reflective sadness and hope.

Brave- Nichole Nordeman
Annnnd also not new... but what a great song. My theme song, as of late.

"Good 'ol Rocky Top..."

So... lots of states have unofficial theme songs.

New York- "New York, New York"
Alabama- "Sweet Home Alabama"
Texas- "Deep In The Heart Of Texas"

California's been serenaded by everyone from Tupac to Phantom Planet. One of Ohio's odes got remixed by the entire cast of the Drew Carey show... there are all kinds of unofficial theme songs. They get played at football games, sometimes at concerts too.

I wasn't even aware Tennessee had an Unofficial Theme Song until I moved here and everyone knew the words but me. It was like my first ACU Chapel all over again!

Tennessee's U.T.S. is "Rocky Top"-- and because I haven't heard it my whole life-- I think it's adorable. It's so catchy! And I still find it really novel because I'm fairly sure everyone in Nashville knows the song except me.

UT (TN, not TX-- even though they're both orange and represented by big T's.) uses it as their fight song, and at any major city events, the folks in charge end up playing it over a loudspeaker. The Franklin cloggers practice dancing to it on the steps of city hall, artists cover it at concerts, and anywhere it makes an appearance, *a sing-along ensues.

And I secretly love it. :) Know why?

Eecause every time it comes on, life turns into a musical. Everyone knows the words, and everyone sings along. (Of course after visiting the dueling piano bar this weekend, I've realized that the same thing tends to happen with "Ice Ice Baby" and also any hits by Michael Jackson or Bon Jovi... but Rocky Top still has sort of a wider appeal... in TN at least.)

Anyway, I'm happy my new state at least has a catchy U.T.S.... "Music City" oughta know a thing or two about writing a hook.

*This is not the best or most complete version of the song... but it's how it usually sounds when I hear it. :)

I'm So Over It.

I hate to be negative, but blogging is about sharing your thoughts, and lately, these 5 things, when brought up in conversation, tend to invoke those four little words in bold printed above.

1. Celebrity gossip. I don't care. I especially don't care about Britney Spears. Or Paris Hilton. Or Lindsay Lohan. Maybe if we stopped stalking them and paying so much attention to them, they'd calm the hell down.

2. Red Bull. People are all jacked up on it. But it hasn't been around long enough for us to know whether overconsumption of it will really wear out your heart faster or cause your body to do other weird stuff. I just don't like it. It's just one more thing to be addicted to. (How and when did our nation get so prone to/apathetic about addictions?)

3. Reality TV Shows About Rich People. Boring. Stupid. Overdone. I'm tired of getting sucked in by them and having my life wasted.

4. Slasher Movies. They will always be gross, and they're just getting worse and worse. And it seems regular tv has to get more intense just to keep up with people who get bored when blood and brains aren't being slung everywhere. Fact is, there are real blood and brains of innocent people being slung everywhere in countries all over the world everyday... and we hardly ever even hear about it-- because the news is all caught up with the life and times and uh-ohs of the people from bullet #1. And we (as individuals) subsequently, do nothing to stop it.

5. The overabundance of hip hop music that insults my gender and my intelligence. At the moment, namely "Crank Dat Soulja Boy". If I hear that ridiculous song one more time... nothing will happen. Because it's just on, everywhere, all the time and I can't get away from it.
I hate music that doesn't mean anything. I thought that was the point of music. To convey a message, a mood. To tell a story, to give the listener something to relate to. Not just background noise. Not a soundtrack for mindless drunken gyrating. Mindless gyrating is meaningless. Superfluous words that don't mean anything are meaningless. Idleness is meaningless. Meaninglessness is meaningless.

And depressing.

You know what I hear when "Crank Dat" and everything else like it comes on?

Little boys. (And don't tell me I'm thinking too hard about this-- that's how this crap got popular to begin with. No one thinks about it.) Immature, selfish, egocentric, unfullfilled and unaffirmed little boys, telling each other (and any female who will listen) how pimp and tight and BAMF they are, because no one who loved them ever bothered to tell them that they could be more than that. That they could be heroes, role models, defenders, revolutionaries, with power and influence who gain true respect from everyone-- not just they boys in the street.

It's pathetic. Trendy hip-hop is pathetic. And I hate the stereotype that it sets, encourages and promotes for the Black community nationwide.

I also hate that the Black community (like every other community, mind you) allows a place (BET?) for meaningless garbage like this to flourish, instead of demanding a higher quality of popular music (and film, for that matter. God bless Tyler Perry!). I'm mad that most don't think about it past the surface-- and those that do get blasted for "forgettin where they came from" and "listenin to dat white music". In the meantime, those people doing the accusing settle into the stereotype-- and then get mad with they get profiled.

(sigh)

I know pop & hip-pop will always be around, and much of it will always be mindless and meaningless and overplayed. It has it's place among all the rest of the garbage in the entertainment world, but it just sucks watching the general public turn into media zombies. It sucks to watch people stop caring and start settling for whatever. I'm terrified of numbness, and that's what I get from music like that.

Music associated with the Black community used to mean SO much. Jazz and soul and gospel and RNB & reggae and rap all had purpose, substance. They said something. The music was thick and emotional and controversial-- that's what made it stand out.

Now it feels cheap and mass-manufactured. Probably because it is.

I never want to write anything just to be popular. (Which is probably why I'll never make it in the music business. Which is fine.) I want to write things that have meaning. Things that that share wisdom and experience, things that people can relate to, connect to, be comforted by.

I believe my purpose in life is to spread hope to the hopeless through my own experiences and the experiences of others. To connect people by their similar struggles and remind them that others before them have made it-- and that they will too.

Words that mean nothing, do nothing.

And to quote the man who participated in televisions very first primetime interracial kiss,

"I can't get behind that."

C'mon, c'mon...

Found this from ages ago. Just wanted to do it using my favorite band.

Choose a single band/artist and answer the questions using titles from any of their songs. This is harder than it looks! Only the song TITLES are supposed to answer the questions, not neccessarily the lyrics...

My artist choice: switchfoot

Are you male or female: Concrete Girl

Describe yourself: Learning To Breathe

How do some people feel about you: Living Is Simple

How do you feel about yourself: Awakening

Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend: Amateur Lovers

Describe your current gf/bf/crush: Golden

Describe where you want to be: Edge Of My Seat

Describe what you want to be: Something More

Describe how you live: Dare You To Move

Describe how you love: On Fire

Share a few words of wisdom: This one's really hit me lately...

You've been living life like it's a sequel,
And you're already bored with the plot--
As if the cast and the score
Are more money than before,
But the script and the backdrops are stock.

We've got the rest of our lives to regret
All the words that were said here tonight, but I bet
That the morning, in the morning
You'll find us in bloom...

So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Let's not be our parents...
Oh c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Let's follow this through...
Oh c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Everything's waiting...
We will rise with the wings of the dawn
When everything's new... when everything's new.

Let us rise up like the summer sun,
Let these songs awaken the dawn ,
Let us breathe every breath,
Like a gift to be kept,
Let us breathe it all in till it's gone

We've got the rest of our lives to live out
All these dreams we stayed up tonight talking about--
In the morning,
We'll start hoping,
But nothing to soon...

So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Let's abandon this darkness!
Oh c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Let's follow this through!
So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon--
Everything's waiting...
Well be lit up like fire and gold,
When everything's new...
When everything's new.

BTW, in case I've not mentioned it in awhile...

I LOVE switchfoot.

I want to hang out with switchfoot.

I want to be friends with switchfoot.

Switchfoot is what I want for my birthday. And Christmas. And my ringtone.

If anybody has connections to a job where I can legitimately be paid to follow switchfoot around—please let me know.

Immediately.

I'll move and everything.

Will work for switchfoot.

Switchfoot is also one of those words that gets really weird when you write it too many times.

File: Create New Playlist

Lately, I have rediscovered that there are several songs on my iPod that I have ridiculous, unbridled affection for. Not all of them are particularly noteworthy... some of them are questionable... yet they remain on my list of faves. Just thought I'd share.


Twin Rocks, Oregon- Shawn Mullins

I started with this one because it's definately the most obscure. It's barely even a song-- it's a story that rhymes a little, that's spoken over gentle acoustic guitar, with a little singing on the chorus. But since the very first time I heard it, it's haunted me in the simplest most beautiful way. I love it. It's so unassuming. It's raw. Honest. Lonely. Flawed. A story of searching, a story of strangers, a story of life paused to enjoy one moment of beauty in spite of-- everything.

Next time its raining and you can spare 99 cents... check it out.

Photograph- Nickelback

I know, I know. Your respect for me is just oozing away. I can feel it. But there's something about this song (especially the way it ends) that makes me listen past Chad Kroger's growly ol' voice that always sounds exactly the same-- and if I commit to it for the full 4 minutes... it sort of gets to me. Again, it's a story. You expect that from a country song, but not really from this genre.

Also, I'm very much a reminiscer, and terrible-- terrible-- at saying goodbye. So the whole "hard to say it, time to say it" line is pretty close to home. Say what you want, but I definitely have a little tiny piece of my heart carved out for this one.

Austin- Blake Shelton


Speaking of country... I don't listen to it often. But this is my favorite country song of all time. Again, a whole story, and a good story! in 3.5 minutes. I'm impressed by that. It's typical, it's cheesy-- but I wish I'd written it. I think it's beautiful. And like I said, before, if I let myself commit to it, I can totally be crying by the time it's over. :)





Harder To Breathe- Maroon 5

This is one of my absolute favorite angry songs. It doesn't get old (to me). Lyrically, it's not exactly golden, but the composition of the music and the vocal inflections and the inherent frustration is hard to beat. If I were to fight somebody in real life, and real life happened to be a musical, it's entirely possible it would sound just like this.



Much Afraid- Jars of Clay

I'm a really big lyrics person. And this song-- I've been there. Plenty of times. And the tone, the mood of this song is exactly how it feels to completely give up. In a good way. I don't think this particular Jars of Clay album was very popular-- but I always thought it was just the right kind of melancholy. Again, very honest, very simple, very raw.




In Repair- John Mayer

I have this feeling I'm going to keep repeating myself. But again, it's been a long time since I've found a song that so accurately depicts where I've found myself so many times. John Mayer is very good at the honesty thing... and while I would think his albums would grow progressively less honest-- so far, it's not true. He may very well be a jerk in real life, but his lyrics are memorable and so easy to identify with. I respect that.



Inner City Blues- Marvin Gaye
(though I'm listening to the version covered by Marc Broussard)

So much was happening in the world when this album was recorded. This song is courageous, flustered, and fed up without being obnoxious. It's the "At The End Of The Day" (Les Mis) for the 1970's. Enter key words of this entire post: raw, honest, simple, unapologetic, real. With quiet intensity, it appeals to your humanity and demands your attention.

Hard Times- Eastmountainsouth

All these songs are kinda depressing, yeah? Oh well. I guess when you're depressed is when you most need to know that someone else has been there. Therefore, a lot of times, the songs that soothe you when you're depressed are the ones you hold dear... because they brought you out. I love this song because it sounds like it's from another time. I'm actually-- using it for a project. I'm not going to tell you what it is yet though, because you might try to laugh. Oh, but when it's finished-- if it gets finished-- you won't laugh then. :)

Straight Lines- Silverchair

This is currently my favorite song. I listen to it on repeat. I have a few friends who really liked it the first time they heard it. But I was indifferent. I'm pretty sure the reason they liked it is because at the time, they were there. They identified. I wasn't there yet. I wasn't ready.

But I'm there now. I'm ready now. And so grateful to know I'm not alone here among the other "desperate believers".

For the child in all of us...

"Do be free, and do believe,
Do be stayin on your knees,
What you are is what you do--
So just do be do be!
Do be strong, and do be brave,
Do be love, and do behave,
Do be more, and don't be less,
Do be God's, and do be blessed."

This is a clip from a song from my upcoming children's audiobook (which I am currently editing for sound effects). Besides the princess' first song, this one is totally my favorite. The tuba's a little cheestastic... but I just love it. Wait till you hear it, you will too. :) So cute.

It's a good reminder for grown ups too. :)

Be Thou My Vision

(I actually wrote this back in January... just never posted it.)

Be Thou My Vision is quite possibly the most beautiful song I've ever heard.

Ever.

It does something to me. Music is an easy trigger for me already, but when I listen to this particular song and really sing it, it's—transformational. It's so dramatically beautiful, so intensely personal and passionate and powerful. It's like switching from black and white to color, from an 8trak to an mp3, from McDonalds to Ruth Chris Steakhouse. It strips my relationship with God to its core, divulging the authenticity of our bond; it's proof that He's no lofty, distant father, trying to connect to his stubborn daughter who's trying to figure out life by deciphering His occasional whispers.

No, no-- it is a perfect and passionate epic love story. It may have been originally penned by a man, but it begins with passionate intensity; with the fiery ardor of a young woman who has just been found by the man she's been waiting for her entire life—and she's only seventeen. He is her first and only true love, the very center of her heart and her entire romantic world. She is thrilled by his every word, illuminated by his very presence. Her attention is entirely devoted to him. She covets his affection as if she would die without it and in fact, there is no room in her heart for anything but him. That kind of ardency builds in my heart for God as I sing this. And the intensity increases more with every verse.

(read this slowly)

Be Thou My Vision, oh Lord of my Heart,
Naught be all else to me—save that Thou art!
Thou my best thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Do you feel it? How she's SO incredibly into Him, can't take her eyes from Him, eats up His every word, His every breath. There's such respect, such devotion, such unbridled joy as a result of their relationship. She's so comfortable in His love for her that she makes her affection for Him overwhelmingly, abundantly clear. And it continues, evolving into an even more confident realization of belonging.

Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true word
I ever with thee, and Thou with me, Lord!
Thou my Great Father, and I thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

And now, now she's freakin sold out. For her, there is only Him. He is her sole reason for living. It breaks my own heart that that kind of devotion sounds so ridiculous to me. Because what generally happens when you allow yourself to get that attached to someone? They leave you. They totally let you down and abandon you.

But this is a different story. He has become her everything-- but He's still around. And by some miracle, He's not going anywhere. And that security births within her an otherworldly confidence, a supernatural comfort and strength. She has been claimed eternally. Wow, wow, wow. Unbelievable. Maybe it's different for guys, but ladies, come on—do you not yearn to be eternally claimed?! And I mean it in the freest sense of the word; no chains, no contracts, no "TOKEN SIDEKICK" stamp on your forehead—just a fierce and undying love that will always protect you, always defend you, always involve you in the adventure, always have your best interests at heart and never, never leave?!?!

That's what she's found in Him. That's what she's living. He has never left her, never let her down. I can only imagine the kind of character that's produced by being marinated in a love like that for years and years. Good God, what a woman I would be.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance now and always!
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art.

You can just feel the security, the stability, the unshakable confidence that she is absolutely content in the love of her Lover, and probably absolutely dysfunctional without Him. Fortunately, she never has to be without Him-- not now, not ever. Because by the last verse, she's reaching the end of life, and she's still as devoted as ever. Her raging, mad passion for him has turned to a steady eternal flame; faithful, true, constant and still as ardent as ever. The love is now mature, old and seasoned and impenetrable. It's that ancient couple you see sitting on a bench holding hands in the park. It's a sublimely peaceful life moment, a joyful anticipation of heaven and a sense of completion, of peace with the course of your entire well-purposed life. What a way to go, what a legacy to leave.

High King of Heaven, my victories won,
May I reach heavens joys, bright heaven's sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, oh Ruler of All.

God, I want this. I covet all of it with my deepest heart. To bow before you, like Arwen before Aragorn, and to have you lift my chin back up to meet your gaze, unwilling to be parted from my countenance, unwilling to be away from my side. Love me like that, God. And teach me to be a queen who is eternally infatuated with her King.