Thoughtful Thrilling Tasteful Tangible Tantalizing Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Monday, February 1, 2010

It's been quite some time since the last Tune Tuesday. I'll blame it on not being able to come up with a "t" word for the title...

Go.

Song: Uprising

Artist: Muse

Album: The Resistance

Here's the video. Push play and read on:

I bought this song about a month ago and then a week later my church band played it one Sunday (and rocked it). I think the message in the song is pretty clear, but something about it being played in church really grabbed me and made me think about it in a new way.

I'm going to use this song as my anthem for my last semester at Winthrop. You'll see why...

The first verse really just describes how the world tries to influence us and control how we act and think. For instance:

They'll try to push drugs to keep us all dumbed down,

And hope that we will never see the truth around...

Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed.

And then to the powerful anthem chorus I love:

They will not force us,

They will stop degrading us,

They will not control us,

And we will be victorious!

When I first heard this song, I thought they=the world and us=my generation. After hearing it in church and reflecting on it in a different way, I thought they=the world, but us=Christians.

Instantly Romans 12:2 came to mind:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The second verse is encouraging basically saying that we can do this together:

If you could flick a switch and open your third eye,

You'd see that we should never be afraid to die...

It's time that the fat cats had a heart attack,

You know that their time's coming to an end,

We have to unify and watch or flag ascend!

Then the strong chorus plays several times until the song ends.

Ever time I listen (and sometimes sing really loudly) to this song, I make that chorus my prayer: that we, as Christians, especially in my generation, will not let the ever-pressuring world force us into doing things we know aren't right or changing who we are, will not get discouraged by the world laughing at our choices, nor will we let them control our actions through fear of the above mentioned things. Through Christ, we will be victorious, as He has already shown us.

So I'm using this song as my anthem as I prepare to leave college, head out into the real world and start fulfilling God's calling on my life. This songs pumps me up to take this [scary] next step. It encourages me.

There's about 20 million others things I could write about this song, but just let this song take on any other meanings to you personally. Share if you want!

End.

Thrilling Tasteful Tangible Tantalizing Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Go.

So, I think I first heard this song when our amazing FCA praise band led it in worship one Tuesday. David Crowder released this song as a single, BUT I just discovered that someone from Charlotte actually wrote it and happens to be the brother of my photography professor I had last semester. His name is John Mark McMillan and click here to get the background on when and why he wrote the song. (I have the David Crowder version below without any intro).

Well, I think this song is pretty self-explanatory, but the lyrics really capture the beauty of our good and great God. I love having this song that allows me to sing it out to Him. So just press play below and reflect on some of the words I took out:



I listened to the song the other day while I was sitting on the beach back home. It was unusually windy and from the very start of the song, I was aware of God’s presence and the beauty He created around me:

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

Love this one!

When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

Oh how He loves us

When I was at the beach, the ocean part overwhelmed me because as far as I could look, all I saw was the big blue sea:

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

I want my heart to do this every time I think of His love. I don’t want to be able to sit still:

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

Done.

Tasteful Tangible Tantalizing Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Everyone’s favorite Tuesday music blogging spot is back! Although I may need some help adding t-words pretty soon. Comment if you’ve got some. To check out some older Tune Tuesday posts, click here.

Go.

Song: Syndicate
Artist: The Fray
Album: The Fray

I’ve put the video down at the bottom, so press play and then read on!

The Fray is one of my top 3 bands. I love the piano infused into the lyrics that somehow can always be interpreted on a spiritual level. And I don’t think this song is any different.

This album was released in February and for now, this is my favorite song on the album. What I did first was look up the word syndicate, it’s only mentioned once in the song. So keep this in mind while listening:

syn⋅di⋅cate : a group of individuals or organizations combined or making a joint effort to undertake some specific duty or carry out specific transactions or negotiations.

I’ll just go ahead and say what I think this song overall is about because then I think the lyrics just fall into place. And this may be a long post, because I think this song is FULL of good stuff.

Much of the new Fray album seems to be about finding the Lord and the struggles of building our faith. Specifically, I think this song is about hardships, battles and doubts Christians face when we have built up that faith.

The thing that we are searching for, Jesus, seems to be so distant and old being over 2000 years old:

Halfway around the world
Lies the one thing that you want
Buried in the ground
Hundred miles down

And that can be frustrating causing doubts or times when we just want to give up even though we are “awakened” to the Truth:

First thing that arises in your mind while you awake
Bending you til you break
Let me hold you now

The chorus is kind of encouraging in that the person speaking seems to have been exactly where the “baby” is at and reassures them that its ok to ask questions and to just hold on to what they believe:

Baby close your eyes
Don't open til the morning light
Baby don't forget
You haven't lost it all yet

We have no idea the love and forgiveness that we are capable of that is shown by Jesus and we may not realize this until we see Him face-to-face:

Don't know what your made of
Til the one thing that you want
To come in with the dawn and suddenly changes

I haven’t quite figured out this line. This is the one mention of syndicate. Any ideas? I’m sure Monday is significant in that it is the day after Sunday. Perhaps the thought that people go to church on Sunday only to return to their same exact lives the next day making no changes after learning on Sunday:

Monday’s syndicate means everyone’s the same
But all we've lost to the flame. Listen to me now

Another line is then added into the chorus. This just reiterates the fact that there is questioning going on, but the one thing we know for sure is our God:

All we know for sure
Is all that we are fighting for

These next few lines are pretty powerful. I think they show that our God is mysterious and that we may never have all the answers (which is a struggle in itself, but also a beautiful thing because it shows how big our God is) even as our relationship with Christ grows and we get closer to Him:

Someday when this is over
We may still have no answer
For now is when I hold her
We are closer
We are closer
We are closer
We are closer

So what do you think? This is of course my interpretation, and I think many of these lines can be interpreted different ways. Some may even think it’s just about a long-distance relationship, but the Fray is always wonderful about putting deep, hard-hitting lyrics embedded into some very pretty music.



End.

Free (and legal) Christian Album

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

I came across this link on Free Christian Music’s blog that advertised a free album, not just one song, but the entire album for free! Woohoo!

So, entire your email and start downloading Wide-eyed and Mystified by Downhere. I was pleasantly surprised. They have a great sound. Here’s a clip of them if you want to to listen to them before you download. Just click here to download.

Enjoy!




(It downloads as a zip file, so just be sure to extract the entire folder just after downloading)

Tangible Tantilizing Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I’m back with the #1 blogging spot on Tuesday…haha right.

Go.

Song: I’m Yours Play the video at the bottom to hear the song!
Artist: Jason Mraz
Album: We sing. We dance. We steal things. (releasing May 2008)

I heard this song for the first time at the Jason Mraz concert last week and fell in love (with the song and Jason Mraz). It has a really cheerful sound and you can’t help but smile when you listen to it.

So Mraz is obviously in love with a girl, big-time in love:

Well you dawned on me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks and I’m tryin to get back
before the cool done run out I’ll be givin it my bestest

And he’s tired of waiting on her:

I won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait I’m sure
there's no need to complicate
our time is short
this is our fate, I’m yours

Then Jason goes on to say he has been pretending to be somebody else, so much that he can’t even see his reflection:

I’ve been spendin' way too long checkin' my tongue in the mirror
and bendin' over backwards just to try to see it clearer
my breath fogged up the glass
and so i drew a new face and laughed

And he’s going to finally start to be himself:

I guess what I’m a sayin' is there ain't no better reason
to rid yourself of vanity and just go with the seasons
it's what we aim to do
our name is our virtue

Jason encourages this girl just to free her mind and enjoy the moment:

look into your heart and you'll find the love love love love
listen to the music of the moment maybe sing with me

Overall, I think Jason is saying stop trying to please everyone else. He’s been spending too much time making sure he looks perfect to this girl. He tried to change himself, doesn’t know who he is anymore (“fogged up the glass, so I drew a new face and laughed”), and that plan didn’t even work. So he’s going to start over, figure out who you is, and enjoy life.

Listen to the song and watch the video:

Official Jason Mraz - I'm Yours video

[via FoxyTunes / Jason Mraz]

Concert Junkie

Saturday, April 19, 2008

I admit it. I am a concert junkie.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

I was raised around music. My dad blaring the oldies station always saying, “Guess who sings this?” The answer always being ‘The Guess Who’ of course. Music continued in my life when I started taking piano lessons in the 2nd grade right until I graduated high school.

So, music has a special place in my heart. I understand it. I live it. I play it. I admire it. I appreciate it. I love it.

So…concerts are just amazing for me. My heart pumps a little faster and I could probably stay and listen forever. Really, I could.

These past two weeks or so, I’ve been to SIX concerts. Wonderful isn’t it? Although #2-4 were at Passion conference, they most certainly count because they all rock and led worship unbelievably. Click on their name to get a little taste of some of their songs:

1. Steve Fee…awesome praise songs. Check him out.
2. David Crowder Band….A-MA-ZING. They played a keytar. Doesn’t get much cooler than that.
3. Chris Tomlin….God of this City, so powerful.
4. Charlie Hall….bald and brilliant
5. Casting Crowns….need I say more
6. Jason Mraz….the only non-Christian singer of the six. But one of my favorites if not my #1. I wrote about one of his songs here and then I got to hear him perform it live just last night!! It was awesome.

The Jason Mraz concert was fun for me. I pretty much know every word to every song, so I sang along. We literally stood for over four hours to watch the concert. I almost couldn’t walk out. It was soooo fun though. He’s such an artist, every string of words that comes out of his mouth are so poetic.

All the concerts I’ve been to have been so different from one another. All the musicians so unique and individual. Here is a list of artists who I’ve seen in concert at some point (don’t judge me on some of these):

PlusOne
Jaci Velasquez
Relient K
Toby Mac
DecembeRadio
Good Charlotte
Simple Plan
3 Doors Down
Alterbridge
The Fray
MuteMath
Blue Man Group
Derek Webb
Florez
Josh Kelly
Former backstreet boy Brian Litrill
Avalon
Shinedown
Third Day
Sanctus Real
Leeland

I hope this list continues to grow and maybe I can put check marks by some of them to say I’ve seen them twice.

One group I absolutely MUST see in concert: Keane. Let me know if hear of them coming within a 300-mile radius of me. I’ll be there.

I would actually love to work within the music industry. I really feel God has given me this passion for a reason. I also know he has given me talents of writing and being creative. So perhaps a little work with marketing or promotions might be in order…YEY for my IMC major!

Here are some pictures from the a few concerts:

The Fray:
Aimee, my concert buddy, and me watching the Fray:

Derek Webb:
Jason Mraz:
Caston Crowns:
David Crowder:

Tantalizing Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Go.

Song: Little House
Artist: The Fray
Album: How to Save a Life

First of all, the piano parts in this song are amazing: Beautiful and serene at the beginning and then to a tenser, anxious tone as the song progresses. Gorgeous.

I don’t even remember listening to this song when I first bought this album, but when I was driving back to Winthrop from home I stumbled across it, and I’m so glad I did! It’s a little more rock-sounding than the rest of the songs on the album, but you’ve got to listen to it! It will definitely move you.

It’s obviously about a girl who is struggling with something and she is trying to fix it all on her own:

She doesn't look, she doesn't see
Opens up for nobody
Figures out, she figures out

Narrow line, she can't decide
Everything short of suicide

Then the quietness of the song ends, and madness happens. It talks about something we maybe did in our past that we can’t let go, we just keep stumbling across it. I think we all have something like that:

Something is scratching it's way out
Something you want to forget about

Maybe we are the only one that knows about the particular situations:

A part of you that'll never show
You're the only one that'll ever know
Take it back when it all began

But, then when the chorus is repeated, it adds a few extra lines and the tone the singer uses really sounds like something scratching to get out, it really is brilliant:

Something is scratching it's way out
Something you want to forget about
No one expects you to get up
All on your own with no one around

Huh…I think they are implying that we are never alone, there is always someone to help us out with a problem and forgive us for what we’ve done. Maybe The Fray didn’t particularly mean God, but that is how I interpret it.

It’s a wonderful feeling that we don’t have to struggle our way through life alone, but instead God is there waiting for us to ask for help and guide us along. We don’t have to suffer and allow things to “scratch” inside of us.

I think this is my new favorite song (at least for this week). It’s short and to the point. Please click the above link and listen.

End.

Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Go.

Song: London Skies
Artist: Jamie Cullum
Album: Catching Tales (this blog was named after it!)

Again, one of my favorite artists: Jamie Cullum, who is British, is an amazing jazz pianist and the lyrics he comes up with are so poetic.

London is known for the rainy, cold, dreary days. Usually, these types of clouds and skies are seen as ugly and yucky.

But Jamie sees past the stereotyped ugly London, and sees the beauty in them.

Will you let me romanticize,
The beauty in our London Skies,
You know the sunlight always shines,
Behind the clouds of London Skies.

Jamie wants us to look beyond what is right in front of us. Looking past the gray clouds and seeing the beauty behind it. Jamie comes across as an optimistic guy and makes me realize I should look at things, whether I think they are ugly or bad or whatever, in a more positive light.

Nothing is certain except everything you know can change,
you worship the sun but now,
can you fall for the rain...

The only thing we know is that things change, so why not see the beauty in everything? I’m going to try and do that more often: appreciate God’s gifts to this world and thank Him for them.

I remember from watching the DVD that came with this CD, that this song was written for Jamie’s girlfriend. She lives in London and to him that makes the city even more beautiful. Romantic.

End.

Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Go.

Song: Won’t Back Down
Artist: Mat Kearney
Album: Nothing Left to Lose

This is a complex song that has a simple meaning; a meaning that we should be reminded of everyday.

I think this song talks about someone who is struggling in life. Maybe even considering suicide:

The longest fight I've seen
Here goes a chance I know
Cashing in on all my chips
Let all my ships come fly
These days, a little bit longer than the last…

But for someone reason, this person was given another chance to live:

And all of your ways, a little bit stronger than the past
And your light, found my bottle in the night
Kept me in this fight and gave me second life…

And because of this new view and excitement of life, is recharged and ready to stand strong, find their purpose, and make a difference:

And I won't back down
I won't turn around and around
And I won't back down
Doesn't matter what comes crashing down
I'm still gonna stand on solid ground.

Kearney ends the song with Hallelujah, praising God, for this new outlook.

I love Mat Kearney’s songs because he so artfully tells of God’s huge and majestic powers. I’m sure I’ll touch on some more of his songs.

End.

Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

I think I’ll add a new T-word each Tuesday…we’ll see how long that lasts. Comment with any t-words, I’m sure I’ll run out soon.

Go.

Song: Life is Wonderful
Artist: Jason Mraz
Album: Mr. A-Z

This is probably one of my favorite albums, if not #1. And Jason Mraz has been a favorite of mine for quite a few years. Mraz’s brilliant writing skills, wit, humor, and obvious musical abilities are incredible and show wonderfully on this CD.

“Life is Wonderful” is the first track on the CD and Mraz uses his elegant voice to express common thought-provoking questions, like which came first the chicken or the egg…

It takes an egg to make a hen
It takes a hen to make an egg
There is no end to what I'm saying

But then lead into new questions that get the listener to think outside of the box…

And it takes no time to fall in love
But it takes you years to know what love is
It takes some fears to make you trust
It takes those tears to make it rust
It takes the dust to have it polished

I had to listen over and over to those last three lines, but the meaning is inspiring.

In this song, Mraz moves smoothly across musical styles to represent just what the lyrics state—life can be a string of turns and twists and highs and lows; but in the end, life is wonderful.

Mraz uses the technique of different musical styles throughout the whole CD with a touch of opera, love ballads, insane piano solos, 70’s vibe, bluesy, Latin, and even a classic sound like the Beatles. All of these styles and “Life is Wonderful” convey a common theme, that life is complex, full of emotions, joy, and pain, but in the end is wonderful.

End.

Tune Tuesday #1

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Welcome to the first Tune Tuesday. You like the alliteration right? I just love it.

So, basically, I love music, all types, all forms, so I’m just going to highlight one of my favorite songs every Tuesday. It’s intended to encourage you to check the band out, look at the lyrics a little closer, or just listen to the song because it’s good (I know it’s good because I like it and all things I like are good, if not great). :)

I hope you enjoy and please leave any comments on the songs; I’d love to hear what you think!

Go

Song: Nothing in My Way
Band: Keane
Album: Under the Iron Sea

The British band Keane is one of my favorites, ever. I adore how they have no guitar and use the classical piano to create such modern music. They had a few big hits last year with “Somewhere Only We Know” and “Sunshine” and I fell in love with them.

“Nothing in My Way” has a kicking beat created with the hammering on the piano that will encourage you to work out in the gym like you never thought possible. The optimistic sound will prompt and encourage you to actually say and believe:

"It's just another day, nothing in my way."

I think the song is actually about two people who were together, but weren’t happy and wouldn’t acknowledge that they weren’t happy. So don’t be in denial and let things fall apart, there’s nothing in your way…get going.

(For complete lyrics, see a video, or listen to the song, just click the name of the song at the top).

End