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

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

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 

69 - Your Light's Always Shining On

I just can't get away from this band.

Mumford & Sons is a band that just gets under my skin.  In the best possible way.  From the sweeping songs like Babel and Holland Road to the simple ones like today's choice.  There are few bands that really feel like a part of me.  And I know that's an odd thing to say, but the music and lyrics to almost all of their songs resonates deeply with in me.

I am  forever grateful to my boss out in Illinois for sharing them with me.  Thanks Richie!

Song 69

        "Reminder" Mumford & Sons, Babel

I love to sing along with this song in the car.  I don't sing well, so...I just kinda crackle along, but hey, the people riding with me don't seem to mind.  Oh wait, no, that doesn't happen.

This song kinda breaks my heart a little, and sometimes I need that.  But it has this whole upswing of hope, which if you've been reading, is very important to me.  So heartbreaking but hopeful.  Yes please.

Then there is the plea for his love to not fade away, as it is the beacon that leads him.  There are far worse things to follow than love.  I don't hear this song just as a man loving a woman, or a memory of her.  But that love is what he doesn't want to fade.  The ability to love.

Least that's what hear.  Enjoy some lyrical beauty...

A constant reminder of where I can find her
A light that might give up the way
Is all that I'm asking for
without her I'm lost
But my love, don't fade away

 Alright folks, that's it.  Go forth, enjoy.  Share.  Love.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

62/63/64 - Triumverate

This first song was a great one to come across.  I think someone recommended the band, don't remember who, but I remember it was Sept-Dec 2006.  I was living on the front porch of a house in Lockport, IL.  It was finished and and actual room, it was an interesting and fun few months living there while the house was getting built.

This song, and album really struck me.  It was an cool mix of sounds and ideas in one of those 'concept' albums.  It tells a story of a future broken and ravaged by war.  But I really enjoy this song for it's message.  It goes well with the Kinks song I posted recently, Love It All.

Song 62
        "A Little's Enough" from the debut album, We Don't Leave a Whisper, by Angels & Airwaves

This song ties into the whole theme of love this week.  But with another facet.  Check out these lyrics:

Like God himself is coming home to say

I, I can do anything
If you want me here
And I can fix any thing
If you let me near

Then...

The cure is if you let in just a little more love
I promise you this, a little's enough

 The Autumn connection is primarily because of when I first heard it.  But it works well in this season regardless.  There is the driving, building sound and it's infused with hope.  I really enjoy this song.  So, let in a little more love...it's enough.

--


Now, onto the next.  Another wonderful song about love.  A little more somber, but I find more...penetrating.  It just seeps into my bones.  Ugh.  No pun intended...(you'll see when you get to the title)

This is from that band Elbow who I've explained how I came across them much earlier in this series.  So...here is the next song!

Song 63
       "The Bones of You" from Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid

I'm not really sure where the relationship he sings about is.  I mean, is it over?  Is it struggling?  I don't know.  But it's got him hard.  And that line, "I love the bones of you," is just a strong, striking expression.  Which shortly after hearing this song I started watching the Scottish epic Rob Roy, in which his wife says that line to him.

To love some one that much.  To their very bones.  That while they may frustrate or upset you, the love remains.  It's powerful stuff.  But I believe love is a choice, and not just a random emotion that we fall in and out of.  That's to flimsy and fickle.  It doesn't stoke the fires of adventure and history.  It doesn't hold up the ideals that love can conquer all...if it's fleeting and flighty.  (Lots of good F adjectives in there...)

So, take a listen.  It's a good track from a great band.  The long laboring notes and vocals are what relate this to Autumn for me.  Especially this late in the season.  It conjures up images of barren trees, and dry scratching leaves skittering about the ground...but with a purpose in mind and a destination.

--

Lastly.  For today, and this run on love...(and there was much rejoicing in the audience.  yay.)

This song is much more up beat than the previous two.  And the last song on love should be.  Love isn't just a labourious quest.  Full of struggles to understand and be understood.  I think that's a part of it, but love is ultimately a deeper friendship.  It's making someone family by choice.  I think that sometimes means the bond is thicker than blood.  It has to be.

Song 64
        "Best Friend" from the wonderful band Weezer on their album Make Believe

It might be a little cheesy, but in the best possible ways.  This the person making a fool of themselves in public to make the person they love smile.  Not showing off, but sensing what the other needs and going for it with all their heart.

The lyrics are simple and to the point.  Easy and fun, but full of heart and sincerity.

You are such a blessing and I wont be messing
with the one thing that brings light to all of my darkness

You are my best friend
and I love you, and I love you
Yes I do

This is the best kind of love.  Rather, the best kind of love has this as firmly planted foundation.  I'm all for the rush of new romance and all that stuff.  But that is the allure of a new relationship.  It's fun and exciting, but for me...the best part is down the road.  When this becomes the reality. 

It makes me think of that scene in the movie Abyss, when the guy is sleeping and snoring, and the wife just tell him to roll over, and in his sleep he does.  Maybe I'm remembering that wrong, been a while since I saw it.  But that is the scene from that movie that stuck with me more than anything.


Alright folks.  I've kept you far too long.  Go.  Enjoy your Saturday!  (or whatever day you read this!)


grace, peace, + hope
-Jesse

61 - One Step One Prayer

I can't pin down the time I heard this artist for the first time.  I know I was still in high school, 9th or 10th grade at Red Land.

She was (and still is) one of my all time favorite female singers.  She has one of the most unique voices and ways of singing.  And most of her songs are very poetic and full of depth.

This particular song, and album, I didn't pick up (or download) until around Christmas 2008.

Song 61
        "Torch" from the album Flavors of Entanglement by Alanis Morissette

No one sings like Alanis does.  Her odd inflections and emphasis are unique and incredible.  This song instantly jumped at me when I downloaded the album.  The gentle piano intro, the slow build throughout the song.  The music is simply wonderful and calming.

All this week the songs (starting with Song 60) are about love.  While yesterday's was about enduring till the end.  Today's song has a more melancholy flavor.  The title gives it all away.  But there is a tenderness to this song.

The longing and reflection back on what was.  To me, this song sounds more like the person she carried the torch for has passed away.  I don't think that's the actual case, but that is the imagery I get.  That there was something so final to the way things ended that she had no choice but to carry it on before laying it down.

These are the things that I miss
These are not times for the weak of heart
These are the days of raw despondence
And I never dreamed I would have to lay down my torch for you like this

And listening to her list off the things that she does miss.  It near breaks your heart because they are such common and ordinary things.

I miss your smell and your style
And your pure abiding way
Miss your approach to life
And your body in my bed
Miss your take on anything
And the music you would play
Miss cracking up and wrestling
Our debriefs at end of day

It's not the big gestures.  The bold actions and heroic moments.  It's the little things.  The ones that fill up a lifetime.  "miss your take on anything," I mean, that floors me, to just want to know what the other person though about...whatever.

This song moves me.  I never want to experience a loss like this for whatever reason.  But I hope I get the opportunity to love like this.


grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

60 - When the Morning Light Explodes

I'm not ashamed to admit I watch sappy dramatic rom-coms like P.S. - I Love You.  Some of them are like Twinkies (R.I.P.)   Full of air and fluff that you could compact it and fit two more in the same amount of space.  PS is not one of those movies.

But I'm not here to talk about the movie.  If you have a desire, go rent it and enjoy a sweet story about a young woman coming to grips with the loss of her spouse.

In this movie is a song.  One I may have heard at some point, somewhere in time.  It set a fantastic tone for the movie and really captured the emotion the audience needed at that moment.

Song 60
        "Love You 'Till the End" by The Pogues from their last album Pogue Mahone
                                                                                                                                      (chuckles, it's funny if you know what it means...)

What I love about this song, and why it makes me think of Autumn is it's consistency.  It starts off with a simple progression...(not sure if that's the right musical term) that doesn't really change or falter throughout the song.  There is some build and rise to the music, but that opening bit carries the whole song.

Autumn is the steady season to me.  There is a clear marking of the season's progression.  The leaves begin to change, then they fall, the temp drops little by little, night advances sooner and sooner.  And this song does that for me emotionally.  It starts with that guitar, and it never lets up.  Other things are added, but that bit stays the same.

And, as I've said before, Autumn is my romantic season.  Not just for the love stories etc, but that bigger idea of romance.  But this song speaks more about the love part.  And that's okay.  Because love is awesome.  I mean really awesome.  Full of awe.  There is a wonder and mystery to it.  I don't think that should ever leave a romance.  Even 60 years down the road.  You might know each other by the back of your respective hands, but love keep something hidden.

This song is a simple and devoted declaration of love.  To be there in the everyday.  The common.  Till the end.  Not when you give up.  Or decide it's time for a change.  But, 'till the end.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope for that.  Someday.

So, take this song, go for a stroll with your sweetie, child, or pet.  Who ever your affections get showered upon.  Love 'em till the end.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

53 - See I've Got this Woman Here

Once again I return to my go-to show for great music, Chuck.  The creators/writers/whoevers that picked the music for this show just had their stuff together and chose great stuff.  This particular song comes from season 2, episode 2.  A great episode.  Watch it.  I mean the entire series.  Go.  Now.  Enjoy.

Done?  Good, well if you did watch it, there's a strong chance by 90 Songs of Autumn series is over and you've missed the rest of this post while it was fresh.  Hope you like stale donuts.

If you didn't go watch the show...well, kudos on getting the goods fresh, but really, you're missing out on a funny/moving/action filled/romance laden show of awesomeness.  I think Buy More has all season available...if you need something to do later.

Song 53
        "Love It All" from the Kooks album Konk.

There is a huge reason I like this song and why it fits into Autumn for me.  That reason is the book The Black Cauldron, by Lloyd Alexander.  It's the second book in a five book cycle called The Chronicles Prydain.  If you aren't going to watch Chuck...this would be one option for a better use of time.  Seriously.  Read the series.  But this time...after reading my blog.

Why does this song make me think of a high fantasy series of books for children set in ancient Wales inspired landscapes?  I'll tell you why.  In Cauldron, the heroic companions seek out an evil cauldron to destroy it, preventing the creation of undead warriors known as the Cauldron Born.  The primary character, Taran (a young teenager) is accompanied by several friends.  Some old, some new.  One is the wise and learned Adaon.  He is a young man, I take to be in his mid to late twenties, but is an old soul.  He longs to be done with battle and strife and return to his lady fair, and to tend his garden and pursue peaceful things of life.

Adaon says this to Taran at one point:

“There is much to be known, and above all much to be loved, be it the turn of the seasons or the shape of a river pebble. Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.”

The more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts.  I mean, wow!  This has stuck with me since I read this book at the age of 11.  So, for 2/3rds of my life it's been with me.  I constantly think back on it, and try to apply it to my life.

This song, while not as profound, makes me think of this quote.  The, "love it all, love it all, love it all..." just echoes this concept to me.  Keep finding more things to love.  And you will love more.  Like in the Zelda games.  You can increase your life bar by finding pieces of heart.  You get enough and your life meter gets bigger.  In life, the more you find to love, the more capacity for love you'll have.

And the whole Autumn thing...well, that where these books always take me.  It goes with the whole Autumn/Fantasy mindset that is just a part of how my mind works.

So, go!  Watch some Chuck, read some Prydain, or listen to this song, or find something else, but find something new to love and increase your capacity for love (not specifically the romantic kind either people.)  Cause if there is one thing this world needs desperately...it's more love and kindness.

Love it all.  Love it all.  Love.  It.  All.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

25 - Oh Simple Thing, Where Have you Gone?

Due to not feeling well, today's post is late, and quite short.  Tomorrows should be back, up to snuff, as they say.

Does any one really say that any more?

Well, if they don't, I'm taking it back.  So for now, our 25th Song of Autumn...


Song 25/Day 25
        "Somewhere Only We Know" from the album Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

I don't remember when I first came across this song.  I think it was in circulation on MTV, or VH1 or something that showed videos.  I remember thinking it was a bit mellow...and I liked it.  The piano was a nice touch with the other instruments.  Once again, it's another band that I've not explored much at all.

The reason it makes me think of Autumn, is that it still has a vibrancy and life to it, but it's a slower spirited song.  The visuals built into the lyrics are fantastic.  They go right along with many of the other songs I've posted already.  A traveler seeing the land around him.  I really like these lines:

I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

Of course the whole tie to love and dreams (haven't touched too much on dreams yet...) but they really evoke the spirit of this season for me.

So, I'll leave today's quick post at that.  Check the link in the album listing up above.

-Jesse

20 - You're Not the Girl I Used to Know.

Another day another song.  Once again I return to Chuck.  (Told you there would be a lot of songs taken from that show!)  This song is quite a contrast to yesterdays more uplifting and hopeful tune.  It feels very Fallish, however.

Song 20/Day 20

"Goshen" off of the album The Rip Tide by the band Beirut.

I had never heard of this band before seeing the ultimate episode of Chuck.  And by ultimate I mean in the sense of final episode.  Which, I suppose I could have just said that, but I wanted to say ultimate.  So there.  =P

Yes.  I just stuck my digital tongue out at you.

Golly I'm sassy today.

So the song, used in that last episode of what has become one of my favorite shows.  It is quite the melancholy tune.  Like most of the music in chuck, it fits emotionally with the story of that episode.  Even the lyrics, while not 'exactly' what the show was about, have a resonance to some of the things happening.  Particularly these lines:

You're the face in stone, through the land I own.
You never found it home.
You're not the girl I used to know.

How sad is that?  For me, that is saying that in this guys world, this girl is his world.  The face in stone, seems like he's dedicated his life to her, as if she were depicted in sculpture all over his life.  Not in a creepy, 'I love you so much I'm going to sculpt you all the time," but that he shaped his world around her, put her first.  But she never felt at home there.  And now she is no longer the girl he used to know.

I want to know what happened!  What pushed this girl away from this guy?  What is that story?

As it relates to Chuck, it makes perfect sense.  I won't divulge any spoilers, but it's quite fitting and spot on for how Chuck Bartowski would be feeling for his wife/spy partner/best friend, Sarah.

Now, for me, it feels like Fall because of the drums.  The drums feel like rain.  And I love rain.  Even more so in the Fall.  It's cold, and has a bit of bite to it.  The grey skies just amplify the colors of turning trees.

Separate from Chuck, the visuals I get for this song are a guy and girl having an argument/breaking up while driving through a rainy town.  Not a huge city.  But one of those "Main Street USA" places that grew up a little bit.  Spread out, have a few buildings over 3 stories tall.  Lots of parks and nature still about.  The whole time, the girl is distant.  Cold.  Like a part of her is missing.

Like I said, sad.  But not all stories end with, "happily ever after."  It kind of makes me think of the line from the movie "Devil's Own," when Brad Pitt's character Rory says,

Don't look for a happy ending. It's not an American story. It's an Irish one.

 More recently, it reminds me of a perfect backing track for the graphic novel, "12 Reasons Why I Love Her."  Written by Jamie S. Rich and illustrated by Joëlle Jones.  I stumbled across this book at my comic shop one evening.  It was the best random buy I've made in ages. 

Jones' art is captivating, and Rich's storytelling is great.  It's 12 little vignettes into the life of a young couple.  But it's out of sequence, so you don't know where the relationship is at the end of the book.  And Jones' changes up her style a bit between the chapters.  Great stuff, if you can get your hands on it, buy it, download it, or at least check it out of a library or something.


So, go on and check out the book and more importantly, the song!

"Goshen" by Beirut from the album, The Rip Tide.


-Jesse

19 - And I'll be Satisfied Not to Read in Between the Lines

Another day, another awesome song.  Another song brought to my attention because of a movie.  This time, not a trailer song, an actual song from the movie.  It has a really strong connection to the characters and I can see why.

The song is playing the first time they meet.  So it becomes "their song."  I have got to say, I love their first meeting, that is teased out across the whole movie, and the use of this song in it.  The movie I'm speaking (typing?) of is The Five Year Engagement.

I do not recommend this movie for everyone.  It is rated R, so if you feel the urge to watch it, know that it carries a bit of language and sexual innuendos/scenes (no nudity...I think.)  Despite some of the baser elements, the story is quite touching and frustrating.  It struck me more deeply than I anticipated when viewing the trailer.  So after hearing the song in the movie, I went home and downloaded...

Song 19/Day 19

"Sweet Thing" off of the album Astral Weeks by Van Morrison.

Nothing about the movie makes me think of Autumn.  But the song does.  I had heard of Van Morrison for years but never explored the music.  I still haven't ventured beyond this song as of yet...but I will in time.

But there is so much in this song to occupy the mind.  The lyrics are just beautiful poetry.  To me it tells the story about a guy returning to his girl.  For whatever reason they have been apart he's coming to her.  I imagine it's something he's done that has pushed her away.  But she's giving him another chance, and he's happy with that.  Some of the lyrics paint the image that he was read in to things too much, or was suspicious.  When he sings:

Just to dig it all an not to wonder
That's just fine
And I'll be satisfied
Not to read in between the lines

A lot of times you hear it said that "Love is in the air," in the Spring.  For me there's something more romantic in the Autumn.  There's a lot of mystery and wonder.  And isn't that one of the great things about romance?  Sure it can be frustrating, but learning things about each other and discovering what's around that corner of a mind or the next.

That's Fall for me.  In the broader sense of "romantic" more than the former.  There is just something about Autumn that makes me want to take off on an adventure.  This song kind of inspires that too.  It's just a great hopeful song about choosing to be content and loving the moment for what it is.

Take a listen, enjoy, share.

"Sweet Thing" by Van Morrison on the album Astral Weeks

-Jesse

08 - The Less I Give the More I Get Back

The Concept:  Feature a song a day for every day of the most magnificent season of Autumn.  The songs are ones that capture the thoughts/ideas/images/feelings of the season for me. 

It's my "Autumnal Playlist" if you will.
Today's song was one of those happy things I stumbled on because a friend posted a link on the facebook.  (Props to Nina Ferry!)  It was some time in February or March of 2012 when I saw her post/comment about this band called The Civil Wars.  I thought, "What a strange name for a band."  But I listened to the song (can't remember which, possibly the one I'm featuring today,) and just loved it.  It was another one of those that I sampled the album and downloaded the whole thing on the spot.

Song 08/Day 08

Today's Song:  "Poison & Wine," from The Civil Wars debut, Barton Hollow.

While the song entered my life in the damp, wet, and chilly months of late winter, it had me longing for Autumn.  Once again the instruments remind me of falling leaves and rain.  There is this steady, intermittent beat that feels like wiper-blades smacking hard across a windshield.

There is a mournful heart to this song.  Just the lyrics themselves bare the souls of the voices.

him:  You only know what I want you to
her:  I know everything you don't want me to

There is  a dichotomy to love that this song addresses so brutally and beautifully. 

him:  I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
her:  the less I give, the more I get back

The feeling I get when I listen to this song is that of a love that needs to be fought for.  That there is this deep connection between the singers (their "voice" not the actual musicians,) that keep getting block by their own actions.  They want so badly to love each other that they are practically screaming it at each other so loudly that they can't hear the other person.

One of my favorite lines is:

I don't have a choice, but I'd still choose you

 There is something so beautifully committed about that line.  I know it's not about God, but I can't help but feel that's how God feels about us.  That while there is a choice, there is no questioning that his choice will always be for us.

There might be the ability to choose, but the choice will always be made the same way.

I hope to love in that way.  Not just in a relationship, but in life...period.

The final lyrics that really follow me are the words of the chorus,

I don't love you, but I always will

I know it's an enigma, confusing thought...but I love it.  Maybe it's the I don't love you (right now,) but I'm always going to choose you.  I don't know.  That's another reason I love this song.  It's not a clean get away.  It's messy and thick.  Just like life.

And life is worth living.

Enjoy!

So journey down to Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars on iTunes and check out Poison & Wine

-Jesse

03 - But I Know It'll Have to Drown Me

So far I have not been disappointed one bit in what 2012 is bringing to the table for Autumn.  Saturday was nice.  Sunday was gorgeous.  Temps didn't break out of the 60's.  I'm loving it, and really enjoying doing this series on the blog.

So here's the idea.  Feature a song a day for every day of the most magnificent season of Autumn.  The songs are ones that capture the thoughts/ideas/images/feelings of the season for me.  It's my "Autumnal Playlist" if you will.

It's starting to go all Inception on me.  I listen to the song I choose on repeat as I write the post.  And I'm writing this the night before.  Or I have for this one and previous 2.  Then I get to live out the next day...thinking about this song...in Autumn.  It's kinda dream within a dream.  But that's a topic for another day.

Song 03/Day 03

Today's Song: "Heartlines"
by Florence + the Machine from the album Ceremonials

While I have no love for Facebook or The Social Network, I do have it to thank for introducing me to Florence + the Machine.  I don't know if it was an ad on the site, or if a friend had added them as a favorite.  But I saw the image of their first album Lungs in late May 2011.  So I checked it out, bought it.  Much to my surprise...their follow up album came out later that year.  I was already a fan so I just bought it outright.

Both albums continue to grow on me.  I'm sure there will be a few more of their tracks in this series.

"Heartlines," makes a departure from the first two songs I chose in several ways.  First off it features a female as lead vocals in the person of Florence Welch the eponymous Florence of the band name.  (Surprised myself, while not "knowing" the definition of eponymous, I used it correctly.  ish)  Second it begins with a great drum and harp intro.  (Or is it chimes?)  It does have a similarity in that it builds upon itself as it progresses.  Layer upon layer are brought in as Welch croons through the climax of the song.

This song is a bit more epic in feel from the previous entries on the list.  While "Weather to Fly," was reflective and hopeful.  "Fake Empire" carried a youthful disinterest in reality.  "Heartlines," feels more driven and desperate.

Your heart is the only place I call home
I cannot be returned

I like this song cause she seems to have made a choice to love this person, and knows they will choose her in time.  Now the song plays heavy on palmistry imagery.  I'm not a believer in that concept.  That is not what I like about this song.  It bears the concept of following your heart.  That following your heart is usually difficult and challenging.  Ultimately it is about love.

Throughout the song, the lyrics are encouraging someone to

Just keep following
The heartlines on your hand
Keep it up
I know you can 

It takes a different approach to most movies, and shows.  It suggests love is a journey.  That relationships don't simply exist because two people "hook up," at a party.  There is a beautiful messiness to them.

there’s fantasy, there’s fallacy, there’s tumbling stone
Echoes of a city that’s long overgrown

Dreams/hopes.  Lies/Untruths.  Broken foundations.  Perhaps they are just her wishes for who this person would be.  Maybe they are about what happened between them.  The song could really take on a lot of varied meanings.

When I listen to it, I see a woman encouraging the man she loves to keep looking for her.  As if she is trapped somewhere, or they are separated by huge distances, and she wants him to keep going.  To not give up looking for her, as she is not giving up on finding him.  Or maybe they haven't met yet.  And she's saying, "I'm out here, keep looking...I am looking for you."

To me that's what this is really about.  To keep going.  Keep searching.  Cause eventually you'll find what you're looking for.  Keep hoping and don't give up.

It kind of reminds me of the movie, "August Rush."

SPOILERS (click and drag over the blank section below.)

It connects in how the kid follows his heart, music...because he thinks it will take him to his parents.  The mom follows her heart, her son...that she thought died.  The father follows his, which is the mom...only he doesn't know she's a mom.  Following their hearts brings them all eventually to the same place and to each other.

This song feels Fallish to me partially because when I first heard it last Fall, and there is something in the feel and instruments that really take me to the season.  My mind plays images of a movie using this song, or a music video for it.  Lots of interesting stuff that would take this post on and on.

So, follow this link to Heartlines and enjoy Song 03/Day 03, by Florence + the Machine.

-Jesse

Out of Steam?

Sometimes is feels like we get all excited about something for a short period of time and then fizzle out.  Like this whole revolution thing.  Let me assure you, that as far as I am concerned this is just getting started.  I know there are many of you out there who share this idea.

Where are you?

Let us hear from you.  This is not about me.  This is not the Bear Show.  I'm blogging and writing because I have the time and this comes relatively easy to me.  Your story should be heard as well.  Tell us what you are doing.  Not as bragging, but a way to share what God is doing in you.  How he is transforming your life, and how that could be effecting others.

The Church is a community.  A body of believers.  Let's build that body up any way we can.  Some of you may be in other parts of Pennsylvania, or the other side of the country.  Some may even be on the other side of an ocean or two.  We can have community through the web.

Let us encourage one another!

For me today, I will say this.  Temptations.  They jump out at me all the time.  Some are new.  Some are old.  Habits, addictions, attitudes.  Things I thought I had walked away from.  I'd be lying if I said it was getting easier to turn them away.  To not give into them.  And they come everyday.  To buy more stuff that I don't really need.  To go to that website.  To get angry and lash out, or say hurtful things.

It's not easy to refuse them.  But the more I get to know Jesus.  The more time I spend learning the Father's voice.  The easier it is to run to him.  To cling to his words, the Word, and in doing so not give in to the temptations.  It is him who protects.  He is the Shield of Faith that puts out the fiery arrows of the enemy!

Please hear what I'm saying there.  It's not about me.  This is about God's work.  What he does in us when we draw closer to him.  And I for one have a very long way to go.  But his promises are true.  He is good.  He did give us the Comforter to help us and guide us.

When we run out of steam, it's because we're trying to fight sin with our own strength.  And that is like trying to out run a speeding train.  It's impossible.  But with God, all things are possible.  He is our strength.  Our deliverer.  Philippians 4 (12-14)

I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

It doesn't matter if we have everything we need in life, or nothing.  Jesus is who we need more than anything.  And a supportive body of believers doesn't hurt either.  Paul says he knows how to survive, to carry on, but he encourages the Philippians for helping in his difficulty.

So, today, if God is doing something in/through you.  Share it.  With a humble heart to encourage us.  If you are struggling, or going through a difficulty, Share it.  At the very least (which isn't the least at all) we can pray for each other.

Have a day, be a blessing to those around you.

grace, peace + hope
-Bear

When the Stars Fell Like Rain (a poem)

Just an old poem of mine today.  Enjoy!

When the Stars Fell Like Rain

 

I heard the Night sky to me

As a sailor hears the sea

A piercing cry in the stillness of the dark

I stretched out below her

Gazing up at her brilliant form

Her children, the stars, sang out with her

Echoing her song

I let my mind carry me past the homes around me

Past the street lights trying to wash out her glory

In their song I hear the melody of God’s design

As chorus and verse waxed and waned

Harmony and rhyme washed over me

Like waves upon the shore

The song softened

My soul stirred as I’ve not felt before

A ghost of a whisper

The voices continued

Steady and precise

The beat pressed on

Subtly the volume increases

The crescendo bursts forth

A waterfall of joy

Drowned me in its deluge

To the East

Three stars flare and fall

Their voices lifted in praise

To the South

Two stars flung themselves across the horizon

Their song a song of triumph

The Earth joined in the song

The stars fell like rain

A sound the world has never known was heard

God sang to us that night

His love for us in every thing

And the stars fell like rain

Washing over me, cleansing my soul

I cried out in worship to my King

Bowing before His awesome wonders

His love enveloped me

And the stars fell like rain


grace, peace + hope

-Bear

White Man

No big post today.  Just sharing a video for a song I recently heard.  The video is brilliant.

The song is "White Man" by Michael Gungor Band.

Enjoy!

"White Man" Music Video

grace, peace + hope
-Bear

Light the Fuse

Control.  It's an illusion that none of us can seem to separate from reality.  Parents think they have control over their children.  Governments assume they have control over their people.  Religions think they have control over what ever it is they think they have control over.

Ok, so maybe by strict definition they do.  But control can be resisted, removed, rescinded, refuted, reneged, you get the idea.

This is not me supporting anarchy.  I am not anti-control.  Depending on where the reigns of that control rest.  I don't want to get too deep or off course and delve into the semantics and politics of all of that.  What this post and revolution are primarily concerned with is how we conduct ourselves no matter what "control," is over us.

As far as I am concerned, there is only one ultimate source of control.  One authority that will take all our decisions and actions into account.  The choices we make yesterday, today, and tomorrow will be laid out before us some day.  How we handled those choices in regards to that sovereign authority will be our undoing or remaking.

Let me make this perfectly clear.

There is one God.  His name is "I Am."  He sent his only son Jesus to redeem the whole world from death.  He speaks to us, now, today, through his Spirit.  Here and here alone rests the final authority for all life.  For me, that is irrefutable fact.  It is upon that authority that I rest all of what I believe, say and do.

If you are starting to wonder what any of that has to do with this revolution.  I've been alluding to, well here is where they meet.

Those who claim to follow Jesus (I would be among them) as a whole, have been lulled into a crippling illusion that going to a building on Sunday in nice clothing, singing a few songs, putting money in an offering, and spending about an hour and a half together, is what he imagined the Church would be.
 
I will not apologize for thinking we have bastardized his dream.

The Church is not a building.  It is not a program or a pulpit.  The Church does not succeed or fail because of a board of directors or a philandering pastor.  It does not rest in the man made authority of pointy hats, white collars, or tailored suits.

The Church is people.  The guy in the corner of the coffee shop.  The woman across from you on the train.  You.  Me.  The Church succeeds because Jesus is it's authority.  It will grow in the soil full of the best crap.  The Church doesn't fail because Jesus doesn't fail.  (What fails is us, or our expectations.)  It's authority rests in the safest place.  The nail scarred hands of the Messiah.

The Church is so much more than we mortals have restricted it to be.

The revolution is to become the Church Jesus wanted us to be.  To feed the hungry.  Quench the throats of the thirsty.  Make the stranger a guest.  Clothe the naked.  Care for the sick.  Visit the prisoner.  To look after orphans and windows.  To remember his teachings, and make disciples.To love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

It starts inside each of us.

Get on your knees.  Cry out to God.  Ask him to strike the match, and light the fuse.

grace, peace + hope
-Bear