90 - You've Come to Journeys End

The final song.

It has been a journey my friends.  I hope you have enjoyed it!

This song has been picked out and waiting for this day for almost 3 months.  And now it's here.  It seemed a fitting song all things considered.  At least for me.

It's a song that carried me off to sleep countless hundreds of times.  It is ethereal, haunting, and beautiful.  It was the last song in the last film of an incredible trilogy.  The movies defied all my expectations.  Well, most of them.  And this song was the perfect way to wrap out the franchise.

Song 90/Day 90        "Into the West" sung by Annie Lennox from the Academy Award Winning* motion picture soundtrack, The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King.

*The Oscar was for this song: music and lyrics by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox

This song comforts me and brings tears to my eyes at the same time.  It's a bittersweet lullaby.

In it are words used in the film when Gandalf tells Pippin what happens when they die.  It's beautiful imagery taken in part from the final chapter of Tolkien's book.  The song was written as a lament from Galadriel.  And with that in mind it's even more enchanting as Cate Blanchette's performance as that figure is stunning and breathtaking.

This song just chills me in the most positive of ways, down to my core.  I love falling asleep to it.  It's not a song I think that can just be listened to for "fun."  At least not for me.  There is a weight and responsibility that comes with it.  Almost like someone carrying an ember to the next village in a time when fire was the gold men longed for.

The simplicity of the music in this song, the horns, and her voice just thrill the mind.

I couldn't think of a better song to say farewell to this series, and the season I love so much.  It's cold, damp, and wet out as I write this.  But this song kindles the fire of hope and "what is to come" in my heart and mind.

Hope fades
Into the world of night
Through shadows falling
Out of memory and time
Don't say: "We have come now to the end"
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again
And you'll be here in my arms
Just sleeping

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

89 - 'Cause Holy Cow, I Love Your Eyes

It's the penultimate song!

It has been quite a ride doing this series.  But it has been fun for me, and I hope you've come across some songs you might not have heard before.  If more came out of this, all the better!  I won't be posting on this particular title every day anymore.  But I'll try to get at least one a week of somesort here.  I've got two others that I write. 

One is a movie/comic book/music/whatever review called Critical Masses.  The other is a blog on discipleship at the oh so cleverly named M28 Discipleship Blog.  I'm not the only contributor there, but I do a lot of the heavy lifting.  There are links to them over---------------->here

under the title of "Go Here."

Enough self promotion...on to the music!

This song comes from, what I have to consider my favorite band, Elbow.  I have posted several of their songs on this list, and I could have posted a lot more.  You can click the HERE to read the first song post with them, and how I "discovered" their music.

Song 89        "One Day Like This" from Elbow and their album The Seldom Seen Kid

This song starts off with some beautiful strings and grows and develops from there into a big sweeping declaration of hope.  At least that's what it does for me.  And you should know by now what hope means to me.  If not, let's just say it is one of the forces that move me every day.  Not a specific hope, just pure unadulterated hope.  It might not always show...or be on my sleeve, but give me a moment and it'll come back to the surface.

'Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see the light
Yeah, lying with you half awake
Stumbling over what to say
Well, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day

It's easy to get caught in the rut of life.  The routine of everyday.  Waking up.  Going to work.  Probably a job you don't get excited about.  Or at least the excitement has gone.  Maybe your relationships are the same.  Stale.  Boring.  Tired.  But guess what.  A lot of that stuff is up to you.  At least how you see it.

If you see your life through a grimy window, and realize it's a dirty room covered in dust and cobwebs...well, guess who cleans it?  Yeah, you.  Take the advice of this song...

So throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year would see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One day like this a year would see me right

Think about that.  One day a year will set that guy right.  Wouldn't that be great!?  To have such an awesome day, that you're so charged and filled you make it 365 days.  I know that seems impossible, and maybe it is.  But I tell you what, you can make a choice every morning to not let the grime, dust, and cobwebs back in.

I don't mean that in some hippie-dippy way that you just need to have a positive outlook or anything like that.  Sure, stuff will come a long that is disappointing and frustrating.  Like not realizing your car has a switch for parking lights that stay on when the keys are removed, and you disconnect your battery cable for 3 weeks until you remember to google search your problem...realizing all you had to do was hit an oh-so-obvoius-it's hidden-button.  Or something serious like cancer.

You have a choice.  You can react slightly poorly like I did with my car.  Or with grace and dignity like I've seen people approach cancer.  I'm sure they have their moments of fear and breakdown..even if just inside.  But we choose how we move on.  We can let these things define us, or shape us.

It might seem subtle, but there is a difference.  Defining means that's the end.  There is this limited extent of who we are.  Or we can be shaped.  Moulded into something different, but similar.

Okay, I'm going to leave it at that.  I'm putting my soapbox away.

Go, listen to the music.  Enjoy.  And throw those curtains as wide as you can!!!  (Just be dressed!)

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

88 - That's Why I Hold

This band is coming in a close second favorite of mine.  If their future releases continue to blow me away they may take the lead at some point.  For now, they are contentedly at number two.

I've given a lot of love to their new album since this series started.  But I haven't doted on their first release as much as I thought I would have.

Song 88
        "After the Storm" from Mumford & Sons on their first album, Sigh No More

This song is one of the stand out songs for me on a stand out album.  I mean, just about every song on both of their albums is amazing, but this one continues to stay with me.  Again, this song is just ripe with hope.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

I can't get enough hope.  I know I sound like a broken record.  So be it.

Another thing about this song I love is the build up, like the rise to the hero accomplishing his task at the end of a story.  Shivers man.  Shivers.

I see a dark barren wood.  Someone, maybe me, maybe not, has to cross it.  And they push through.  It's dark, cold, damp and ugly.  No life.  It takes a long time.  And there is a storm that sets in.  Cold, biting rain and steady wind.  When it clears, they have reached the other side of the woods and there is a clean white valley of snow, and a little house down in the bottom, with lights glowing and an inviting fire sending smoke out the chimney.  Go for it.

I don't know what else to say about them.  I've said a lot.  Their music gets under my skin, and into my heart.  It moves me. Challenges me.  Even encourages me.  I hope it can do the same for you.  Or maybe it'll send you asking questions that lead you to those things.

Either way, go for it!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

87 - Wanna Touch Things I Don't Feel

I heard this song for the first time 10 years ago on one of Disney's last "hand drawn" movies.  The poor movie didn't do so well.  But I liked it.  I like the classic version of the story better, but their sci-fi interpretation wasn't too bad.

Personally, the TNT version with a young Christian Bale and Charlton Heston is my favorite.  Oh, right  I'm talking about the movie Treasure Planet.

I was here in PA for Thanksgiving in 2002.  I was not my best self in those days.  I didn't want to be there.  So when my age old friend Shawn invited me to see this move, I leaped at the chance to go out.  That, and I always enjoy going to the movies with that guy.  Lots of memories in that activity for us.  So, there we were out to the movies at the now extinct AMC Camp Hill Mall 2 screen theater, in late November, seeing this movie.  It would be a few months before this song really hit me though.

Song 87
        "I'm Still Here" by Johhny Reznik from the soundtrack to Treasure Planet

What I love about this song, and how it related to me then, is that it's from the perspective of this kid trying to find himself.  Who he really is.  I was struggling and searching at that time.  Well, maybe not searching, but not really sure what type of person I wanted to be.  I know that sounds silly, but there it is.  It would be a few years of wandering and confusion, or denying (since deep down I knew.)  And oddly, this song is one that has stuck with me, and acts as a type of ground wire when I feel like I'm ready to drift off again.

I really enjoy these lyrics:

And you see the things they never see
All you wanted, I could be
Now you know me, and I'm not afraid
And I wanna tell you who I am
Can you help me be a man?
They can't break me
As long as I know who I am

I might not know every thing about myself.  I know I've got a lot to work on, to change and grow.  But despite that a lot of people might look at my life, where I'm at now, as being...well, whatever, I'm happy.  I know there are other things out there, things I will get to, and do.  But it's okay to not have a detailed plan.  Live life today, and be smart about tomorrow.

I  don't have myself tied into this idea of "what I want to be," anymore.  I'm moderately good at a few things, have insight or experience in other things that make me just smart enough to be dangerous, but more than anything I know there is a lot I don't know, and don't understand. 

But I know who I am.

Some days, I'm better at being me than others...but we all have those.  And every day, I learn something new about myself.  Or try to teach myself something new.  Or find something new to love and appreciate.

grace, peace + hope-Jesse

86 - No Place

This song is a real gut wrencher for me.

It comes from that wonderful show, Lost.  This particular song comes from the end of Season 4, which is one of my favorite seasons.  I won't spoil it in case you have yet to watch the show, but it is beyond perfect for the moments it is played over.  And like many great musical moments from that show, it's done with no dialogue, because the music carries the emotion of the scene.  I get misty when ever I see that scene or listen to the song.

And not just because of the show.

Two years ago, after deciding I was going to leave Illinois I had a good long conversation with my friend Steve.  He was the first person I spoke the words out loud to about moving.  It was New Years Eve, and we were planning the nights activities for the Bin.

After that conversation at Wendy's, I got in my car and started up my iPod.  And this is the song that greeted me...

Song 86
        "There's No Place Like Home" from Lost Season 4, by Michael Giacchino

I'm not ashamed to say I was full on weeping by the time the track was over.  Deciding to leave Plainfield/Joliet was a thing.  There had been so much healing for me there, wonderful friendships, and a good bit of growth, emotionally, spiritually, financially.  It was knowing that I would be saying so-long to a lot of amazing people who still continue to impact my life today.  I so want to list your names but it would fill up this post and my mind not being fully awake would probably miss someone.  Like Eddie.

This song takes me to that moment, and the day we loaded up the moving truck, and pulled out of Joliet.  It would have been a far more difficult task if not for my friend Jess traveling with me.

Also, there is a whole odd connection in my mind to my life and the show Lost.  You can read about that over here.  So this song pulls very strongly at me.

The reason it's here on this list, is well, I just plain like it.  The soft piano at the beginning and gentle swells into the strings are very Autumnal.  It's forlorn, but hopeful and beautiful.  It carries sadness and delight.  The end is just a new beginning that hasn't taken root yet.

All that, and I just have to add, Home is not a specific location.  At least not for me.  They say home is where your heart is, well, then I have homes all over the world.  And I love visiting every one of them.  Some I haven't even been to.   Yet.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

84/85 - Now I Am Under All/Is that Bridge Getting Built

This first song is from an artist that was here much earlier in the list.  So the set up for how I came across this song isn't new.  But this particular song is a sweet calm spot in the chaos that is going on today.

Song 84
        "Never Let Me Go" from Florence + the Machine's album Ceremonials

It's a grand sweeping song that just has a hymn quality to it.  I'm not quite sure what the song is about.  A lot of her songs seem to have some darker tinged meanings that I either don't get or don't accept.  Doesn't make the song any less moving or powerful.

Just as in the earlier song posted, Heartlines, her vocals are the most moving part of the songs.  And on this one there is a haunting and calming sound to her words.

It's a great song for a day like today.  Just to step back from all the chaos of life, the hustle of the Christmas season (which kills the holiday if you ask me,) and the tragedy in Connecticut.  Find someone you care about, give them a hug, and let them know you'll never let them go.

--

 Another repeat band.

This song, is not as somber as the previous one.  But this song just inspires me to keep going.  And I don't mean keep going as in living, but to keep working on stuff, not to give up, and not to despair. 

Odd, maybe, for a song titled....

Song 85
        "Lost In My Mind" from the self-titled The Head and the Heart

I don't know that it is about this song, but it's just got this 'keep moving, don't quit' drive to it for me.  It's light, musically speaking, meaning it's not over mixed and over effected.  It just gives me the sense of a train roaring through the landscape taking someone on to a new home, a new adventure, a new life.

The train races through woods, and across snow speckled fields, and cold grey skies.  Maybe they are rushing home for Christmas.  Who knows!  That's the fun thing about music.  It can take your mind almost anywhere, depending on who is doing the listening.

So there it is.  Enjoy!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

83 - The Tyranny of Days

This first song comes from an artist I was introduced to by my good friend Jess, who I've mentioned with various positive adjectives in previous posts.  We were discussing the song "How He Loves" and she told me about the original artist, then gave me a CD of his.

Once again I'm incredibly thankful for her recommendation because he's brilliant and the music is moving.

Song 83
        "Economy" from the album Economy by John Mark McMillan

This is an incredible song about hope and redemption.  And if you've been reading all along, you know what hope means to me.  I'm not going to get into the lyrics on this one.  Go listen to the song on youtube, or better yet go buy it.  It's great musically and lyrically.

The Autumn effect seems really obvious to me today, in the final days of the season.  The lyrics describe a barren existence.  Much like the life of the trees and other flora in this season.  As Winter draws nigh, the nights are longer, and the cold is really taking hold...there needs to be something to lift our heads to.

Just like in life.  We get to those cold barren places, and they are necessary for growth to begin again.  But to be able to lift your head up and see something, rather some one ready raise you up.  It's moving stuff.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

82 - We Must Away Ere Break of Day

This one isn't playing fair.

I've heard it for the most part months ago when a certain movie trailer first hit screens.  Then yesterday, I was thrilled to find it on the score to the film.  So it's the most recently heard song in my list, it's also one that feels the oldest.

And in some ways it is.  The original lyrics were written barely two decades shy of 100 years ago.

But the way this song is done for this movie, makes it feel like an ancient song of a people seeking their homeland.  Well, that's exactly what it is, and that's what gave me chills when I saw the trailer.

Song 82
       "Misty Mountains" from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
                                            - Composed/Orchestrated/Conducted by Howard Shore

I get actual chills when I listen to this song.  The cast did an impressive job at singing it, the gentle music background is wonderful.  There is such longing and history laced in the words, and the performance.  I cannot wait to see it on the screen tomorrow night!

I was excited when the first  trailer for Hobbit came out.  As ran I just got more and more excited.  Then this moment came when Thorin (the lead dwarf) begins to sing with this deep rumbling voice.  Then some of the other 12 dwarves stand, and join in the song until they are all in.

It just moved me.  And the whole Autumn  thing should be obvious now.  Autumn, adventure/fantasy, and the fact that this sends shivers of wanderlust and heartache down my spine and to my heart just compounds it all.

Also, Howard Shore has to be one of the most talented composers out there.  I listed all the things he does, because I was told years ago that it was rare that a "Hollywood" composer would do all of that.  Especially for three massive movies, now six.  Between The Lord of the Rings and now the Hobbit Trilogy.

Go enjoy.  Also, I really like the "Blunt the Knives" as sung by the Dwarf Cast on this album as well.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

81 - On and On We Sing

So here it is.  The final 10.

I'm sure I'm going to love whatever respect I might have...if any...with today's band.

Let me just say up front, it's not Nickelback.

The day is almost gone, so I won't take too long with this one.

Song 81
        "Stand Here with Me" from the album Weathered by Creed

Say what you will about Creed.  But they were pretty popular about 10 years ago.  Or so.  This song may not be the achievement of a career or anything, but there is something basic and pure in the lyrics that I love.

You always reached out to me and helped me believe
All those memories we share
I will cherish every one of them
The truth of it is there's a right way to live
And you showed me
So now you live on in the words of a song
You're a melody

Some memories of friends, and who then encouraged you to be can be brought back to your mind with the music and words of a song like this.  That's what this song does for me.  It reminds me of one of my best friends from high school.  She was a constant friend and encouragement.  Pushing me to become the best version of myself.

Thanks 'Jo.'

I'm still working on that.  Will be for the foreseeable future.

There have been other friends like that over the years too.  So, that's it.  This song makes me think of the friends who have been encouragement and challengers.  You all rock.

grace, peace + hope-Jesse

80 - The Weary World Rejoices

I'm not a huge fan of Christmas music.

I used to love listening to it from the day after Thanksgiving onward.  Now, I don't want to listen but for maybe a week or two before.  And then, mixed in with other styles too.

However, there are several songs that are just powerful and moving.  Most of them are the older ones.  Today I'm featuring my one and only carol.  Mainly because I love the lyrics to this song, and because the artist's voice just sounds wonderful on this cold, foggy, rainy late Autumn day.

Song 80
        "O Holy Night" by Emmy Rossum on her Carol of the Bells EP

The words in this song are just so moving.  They never quite struck me until last year and they had me on my knees, as the lyrics declare.

Long lay the world 
In sin and error pining
Till He appeared 
And the soul felt its worth 

A thrill of hope,
The weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks 
A new glorious morn

The line, "and the soul felt its worth."  I mean...think about that.

The soul....felt...it's worth.

That just floors me.  I don't really know what else to say about this song.  I know there are hundreds of versions, by dozens of different artists etc...but this version just gets me.  Rossum's voice first struck me in Phantom of the Opera in 2004, and again when I found her solo album.  Then a few years ago the Christmas album hit and I really enjoyed all of it.  But when I listened to this version again last year it just hit me in the heart.

Enjoy!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

79 - We're All Dumb & Jaded

Seventy nine.  The year I was born.  So we're going back...way back to 1998.

I got really confused about this song.  I thought I heard a DJ on the radio say this one was on the album for the movie Armageddon.  Yes, I like that movie.  Still.  And some of you did too when it came out, otherwise it wouldn't have made so much money.  So don't give me any Michael Bay grief.  I've come to grips with that hack now...but then...it was a different world.

So this song, I must have misunderstood that DJ on the radio.  There was a song from this band on the album, but not this song.  However it was this song that lead me to the band, who have become long time favorites.

Song 79
        "4 AM" from Our Lady Peace on their album Clumsy

This song remains my all-time favorite from this band.  It was one of the first things to awaken forgiveness in my heart toward my father, and repairing that broken relationship.  It would take a few more years, but I can firmly say that this song was a catalyst.  Not just forgiveness from me, but acknowledging that I too, needed to be forgiven for my part.

Then there is just the song itself.  It's this gut wrenching ballad from a man who didn't let someone know he loved them.  I've read it was based on a dream that lead singer Raine Maida about his father.  It's a potent song, and his voice is so unique and I had never heard anything like it before, or since really."

Sometimes it's the simplest of things, in the song :a phone call - for me: a song and a movie, that crash reality and consequences upon us:

I never thought I would forget this hate
then a phone call made me realize
I'm wrong

Then the chorus just drives the emotions home

If I don't make it known that
I've loved you all along
just like the sunny days that
we ignore because
we're all dumb & jaded
and I hope to God I figure out
what's wrong

 That's my song and I'm sticking to it.  Enjoy!


grace, peace + hope-Jesse

78 - So Tear Me Open, Pour Me Out

I  remember hearing this song sometime in my senior year at Cedar Cliff High School.  I was beginning to branch out my musical tastes, and feeling odd about liking this band.  But this song just did something for me.

For many die hard fans this album was a betrayal.  For others it was fresh and exciting to see this band do something a little different.  Personally, I don't think the album as a whole is that different in sound/style from the previous album.  The big difference?

The band members cut their hair.

Song 78
        "Until It Sleeps" from Metallica's album Load

The song is said to be written with James Hetfield's mother in mind.  Her struggle with cancer.  Or it's about anger.  I guess it's one of those songs that could be about anything.  For me it's about the grip of sin, selfishness, and greed on an individual's life.

Just like the curse, just like the stray
You feed it once, and now it stays

It's the addicts downward spiral.  You give in once, it gets easier and easier until you can't exist with out that thing.  This theme seems to grip me more when I watch the video for this song, which has versions of Hieronymus Bosch's paintings brought to life by actors.

I tell you what, his art work, freaks me right out of my gourd.

The video is quite powerful.  Look his art up before watching the video if you don't already know his work.  Otherwise seeing it in the video might give you the wrong idea.  Look up:  Garden of Earthly Delights, Adam & Eve from "Haywain" and Ecce Homo, which is a Christ image.

All that said, I love this song.  For me it carries a purging fire to it.  Meaning, when I listen to it, I feel like I am confessing and just sloughing off all the stuff that makes me feel grimy.  Sometimes I need that.

This song really connects to Autumn for me because of it's heavier sound.  It throws itself late into the season, when the trees are  barren and the threat of snow is becoming too familiar.  It's not a happy song, it's not a light song.  But for me, it's necessary to have this here.

Also, I remember one distinct drive to Kansas from Missouri for Thanksgiving at my buddy Erik's house.  Not the drive itself, but that we listened to this song.  I remember listening as we pulled my Aerostar into his driveway and getting out from that 3+ hour drive.  Ah, Kansas at Thanksgiving.  Those were good years.  Josh, Erik, and I and Erik's friend from home Nate.  We went camping, shooting, hooked up our own network and played Delta Forces, or various Playstation/Sega Saturn or other game systems."

Good times.


grace, peace + hope-Jesse

77 - It's So PC It's Killing Me

Have you ever listened to a song for years and years and then realized you've never really heard it?

That's me.  Today. Er, last night anyway, when I wrote this.

How can I listen to a song for almost TWO Decades, and never know the lyrics?  Today's song is just that song.  I've always like the sound, and that's kinda the whole point of this song.  I feel kinda like a hypocrite.  But now, so many years later, it makes me really love this song.

I remember hearing it at some point in my high school years.  Anywhere from it's release in '94 and my graduation in the Spring of '97.  But the song itself has a very Autumnal feel to it.  Especially the bitterness, or supposed bitterness.

Song 77
        "Hook" from Blues Traveler's album Four

This song just kinda entered my world in the mid '90s.  And it's always been there.  I kinda got the seasoning of the song but never fully tasted the full flavor.  And when I read the words tonight, it was like a stiff punch to the gut.

It was awesome.

Kinda like realizing the song Ironic is only ironic because none of the situations described in the song are ironic.  Yeah.

I mean in Hook the whole little fast sung stuff in the last third of the song is just...amazing:

What you're doing to me this MTV is not for free
It's so PC it's killing me
So desperately I sing to thee
Of love
Sure but also of rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can't keep these feelings on the shelf
I've tried well no in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I've got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I'll do as I'll decide and let it ride until I've died
And only then shall I abide this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute diddys
I wanna bust all your balloons
I wanna burn all your cities to the ground

 Alright.  The sounds of this song paint a story for me, of this group of musicians just hanging out in a house in the woods, just messing around and singing and playing.  And the harmonica really sells the season for me.  It's mid season, lots of color, but the air is starting to bite and chill through casual layers.

That's what I feel and see.  And then the whole intent of the lyrics just slap me in the face like a giant wet noodle or something.

And I am challenged and content at the same time.

Yeah.


grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

76 - Lost Was the Child

This is the only song on this list that comes in completely a cappella.

I don't remember when I heard this song for the first time.  I'm not even sure how I came across the band.  They weren't in my life.  Then they were.  I do know it was sometime between 2004-05.  Cause I was in my human guinea pig phase.  Man I miss those days.  Good ol' Bio-Kinetics.

Made a good group of friends during that time.  We've kinda lost touch in the 7-8 years, occasionally facebookery happens though.  So, to that crew that used to do study after study together, even to the point we hung out outside of that place...I miss you guys.  You all hold a dear place in my heart.

That said, I remember having the latest album (at the time) from this band.  It wasn't the one today's song was on.  But it lead me to it.  I had recently purchased it one weekend going into the lab/dorms for a study.

So...

Song 76
        "Grace of God Go I" from Flogging Molly on their album Swagger

This song just grabs my ears with the first notes.  Dave King just belts this song out with raw passion and verve.

It is insanely simple and short.  Three short verses.  This one particularly stands out to me.

Down beside where the riverbed sleeps
Is a man not knowin' what he should feel
Mocked by the wave that beats the waters edge
There for the Grace Of God Go I

There is something in songs like this, or what Thorin sings in the trailer for The Hobbit, that seems to be strongly affixed to their heritage.  In this case, Irish.

It seems to come from their very being.  Not just lyrics on a page.

It moves me.  It makes me long for something to belong that much to my heart.  And I know I have a few of those things.  Writing.  Stories.  My heritage, being also Irish.  And probably the strongest and hardest to deal with currently, is my love/passion for Africa and her people.  I long to be there.

This song just makes it come to sharp focus.

I'll get there, for longer durations than I've been so far.  But in good time.  Not my time.

Anyway...I'm rambling.

Take a listen to this song, and more from Flogging Molly, great band!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

75 - There is Nothing in This Life But Mist

This song I just heard on Monday.

It comes from the animated film, Secret of Kells, or it's original title, Brendan et le secret de Kells

I've had this movie for a few years now, and never took the time to watch it until now.  And it just really moved me.  The animation is beautiful.  It took a while to get what they were doing with some of it, with the Celtic designs and all.

It's a heavy tale of a boy becoming a man, and the dangers of the world, or being secluded from the world.  At one point in the story the titular Brendan is locked up.  His wild forest friend, Aisling, comes to his aid.  She sings this hauntingly beautiful song simply titled

Song 75
        "Aisling Song" from the Brendan Et Le Secret De Kells soundtrack

 The lyrics are a blend of Gaelic and English.  Pangur Ban is a cat that she enlists to help.

You must go where I cannot,
Pangur Ban Pangur Ban,
Nil sa saol seo ach ceo,
Is ni bheimid beo,
ach seal beag gearr.
Pangur Ban Pangur Ban,
Nil sa saol seo ach ceo,
Is ni bheimid beo,
ach seal beag gearr.

Literal Translation:(from Secret of Kells Wiki)

You must go where I cannot,
Pangur Ban Pangur Ban,
There is nothing in this life but mist,
And we are not alive,
but for a little short spell.
Pangur Ban Pangur Ban,
There is nothing in this life but mist,
And we are not alive,
but for a little short spell.

The scene is actually a little disturbing to me.  There has always been a disease when something is changed into something else, especially when they aren't expecting it.  The cat, is transformed into a misty apparition and sent to free Brendan.  It's haunting and chillingly beautiful.  But it just unnerves me.

Still, it is quite fitting a song and movie for the season.  I suggest a listen and viewing of the movie.

Go, discover the secret!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

74 - Cut

I came to this song because of a Jeep commercial.

In the Fall of 2010 Jeep started a series of commercials about being American made, blah blah blah.  And they used this really driving twangy song.

I don't usually hold to twangy stuff.  But this one caught my attention.  I liked it so I looked it up.  A few weeks later I saw a trailer for the remake of True Grit.  I really liked what I was seeing.  I thought, "That song I looked up from the Jeep commercial would work great with this movie!"  About 2 seconds later that very song started playing in the trailer.

I felt like I had super powers, or was just some kind of marketing genius.

Guess we will never know.

Song 74
        "God's Gonna Cut You Down" from Johnny Cash's album American V: A Hundred Highways

Now, to be fair, I didn't get the version I linked.  I got a karaoke version with no lyrics.  I just really like that version.  I can't speak much for the lyric version.  Here is the music only version.


This song just feels Autumn.  Cold and relentless.

I don't have much else to say today.  So....enjoy!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

73 - So Excuse Me Forgetting, but These Things I Do.

The soundtrack to this movie was my soundtrack in the Fall of 2001.  I literally didn't take this CD out of my discman for weeks.  Car, home, work.  It was all I listened to.  The movie hit me so hard, and it was a movie I originally had no interest in seeing.

But, thanks to the persuasive pitch given to me by my friend Tiphany, I eventually went to see it with her and another friend, and was hooked into the mad, heartbreaking triumph that is Moulin Rouge!

I'm not a huge musical fan.  That said, I do have a few on my movie rack. This being one, and it has secured it self as #3 in my top 13 movies.  (Note: Top 13 is reserved for movies that are singular films with no sequel or other franchise connection.  The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and a few other series and The Passion of the Christ, stand at higher ratings than my top 13.)

I fell in love with this movie before the first full scene was over.  Even more so when I learned that Nichole Kidman and Ewan McGregor had sung all their own parts.  (Also, that the Green Fairy, though brief in appearance was Kylie Minogue and her scream was voiced by Rob Zombie...I don't know what that is so important to me...but I just enjoy that tidbit.)

There are so many songs to choose from but the one I'm going with today is, perhaps not the strongest from the album, but it's the one that makes me see Autumn.

Song 73

       "Your Song" sung by Ewan McGregor from the Moulin Rouge! Soundtrack
                           (originally by Elton John and Bernie Taupin) 

Now, I had never heard the original.  But they way the work this song into the movie is fantastic.  Same could be said for just about all the music they use.  There is something amazing about McGregor's performance.  I truly believed he was that character.  There is this endearing innocence and hopefulness in him as he sets out on his journey.  This song comes on early in that journey, and you can see and hear that in his delivery of this song.

He just belts out so much of this song it's hard to believe that it wasn't just spontaneous lyrics coming right out of his heart.

I don't know exactly what it is about this song that makes me think about Fall, but it's grand and epic and full of hope and romance.  So I guess that's what makes me think of Autumn.  Cause all those things work best in this season.  For me anyway.

It's certainly a more up beat and light song compared to the last few.  So enjoy!  Go watch the movie.  It's chaotic and different, but it might just be something you fall in love with too!


grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

71/72 - A Song That Will Linger/Take Me Deeper Now

Another dynamic duo day...and quite late in the day.

This first song came from a movie.  Well, I came to it because of a movie.  Last week I posted about Cameron Crowe's movie, We Bought a Zoo that mainly featured music by Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi.

Crowe is known for choosing excellent music for his movies.  And I first really noticed that in Elizabethtown.  I know it got horrible reviews from critics, but I love this movie.  Perhaps it was the timing of when I saw it to where I was in life.  It just really struck me.

It was my first year living in the Chicago area.  I only knew a few people.  My housemates primarily.  (Congrats to them, they just had their first child, a beautiful little girl the other day!)  It was early days living there and hadn't really taken root in my church/work places yet.

I had picked this movie up cheap, and watched it.  It really struck a chord in me.  And after watching it a second time later the same week I looked for the music.  It's a great soundtrack.  One song leaped at me more than the rest.

Song 71
        "Hard Times" by Eastmountainsouth

In writing this post, I've now discovered that this song is a version of a "parlor song" from 1854, by Stephen Foster.  The content certainly fits that era.  And, sadly, it could easily fit in today as well.  It's not the happiest of songs, but it is beautiful.

Starting out with light instruments, and carried mainly by the duo's vocals.  It has an almost magical blending in their voices.  It almost feels as if one person is singing with two voices.  I also think this particular song opened my heart up to "folk" ish music, and bridged the gap that I would eventually cross to enjoy the likes of Mumford & Sons, Elbow, and more.

The tone, and feel, and era that this song suggests (especially now that I know it's origins) really takes me into the darkest parts of this season.  Like a cold, wet forest in late November.  Maybe ice on the ground and your breath clinging heavily to the still air.  Not a lot of sound drifting about.  Just cold, still, and grey.

This song just hits hard as it's tittle suggests hard times.  The lyrics are moving and powerful.  It describes a longing for better days, and for the difficulties to cease.  It something I think many of us can relate too.  Maybe on different levels, and for different reasons, but there it is.  This line has always haunted me...

Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.

Take a listen, and check out the both Elizabtethtown albums!

--

This next tune comes to us all the way from the last year of the 20th century.  Or for you commoners 2000.

I was still in college, and washing dishes in "the caf" at Evangel.  I had hear one song from this album and went straight out to buy it.  Downloading wasn't really a "thing" then.  Well, not legally anyway.  I remember hauling in a mini cd player so I could listen to this album repeatedly while I worked.  Several song's really hit me, and this one in particular.

Song 72

        "Everything" from the debut album No Name Face by Lifehouse

I'm not going to launch into who this song is directed at definitively.  It could interpreted as a song about God as easily as it could be about a girlfriend/wife/whatever.  That's the thing about releasing something into the world, is that everyone will take their own view on it, regardless of your intentions for it.

Ultimately, it's about someone who cannot deny the presence of someone in their life.  And that someone saying that just being together is the best thing possible.

It's a beautiful song however you want to hear it.  And it's sweeping build from mellow instruments to the huge climax later in the song is just moving.  The strings are what really pull me into Autumn on this song.  I love the sound of cellos and violins.  I'm not sure what is in this, but I think I hear them in it.  And the cello really pulls me into Autumn.  It just has that deep woodsy voice that seems like an ancient tree telling stories from a different era.

With that, I leave you for today.  What's left of it!

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse