“They're powerful, those songs. At times they've been my only way back, the only door out of the dark, bad places the black dog calls home.” -Johnny Cash
I'm laying awake on this Easter night thinking of Jesus' sacrifice and the meaning behind Easter. There is a song I listen to every Easter that reminds me of Jesus' love and helps me not get too caught up in the commercial side of Easter that I thought I should share. It's called "New Again" by Brad Paisley and Sara Evans and is one of the most moving songs I have ever heard due to the innocence of Sara's voice and the love in Brad's voice. What really gets me about this song is the love evident in Mary/Jesus' relationship. It's sung in a very unique way and it's extremely powerful to hear the points of view of both Jesus and Mary. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do.
Happy Easter.
(P.S: Brad and Sara wrote this song together. Pretty impressive.)
This
guy just keeps getting better. Tim
McGraw is having a major comeback and I LOVE IT. His latest CD, Two Lanes of Freedom,
is one of the best country albums I’ve heard in a while, but I’ll admit that I
was apprehensive about it at first. To
be completely honest, I died a little bit inside when I heard “Truck Yeah” for
the first time. Now, it’s grown on me a
bit since then, but my first listen was not pretty. Snippets of some of Tim’s earlier and
incredible songs (i.e. “The Cowboy In Me”, “Drugs or Jesus”, “I’ve Got Friends
That Do”) kept playing over and over in my head as I heard "Truck Yeah" and a horrible
feeling of dread came over me as I tried to accept that the old Tim we all know
and love might forever be a thing of the past.
Then he
released “One of Those Nights” and an old forgotten feeling of hope started to
creep up inside of me. Yet, I still
didn’t let myself believe that Tim’s new stuff could rival his past hits.
But then something glorious happened.
Tim released Two Lanes of Freedom and
busted back into the New Country scene with vengeance. I’m telling ya, this CD is rockin’. Between the beautiful ballads, a collaboration
with Taylor Swift AND Keith Urban, fantastic story telling, and just some fun,
roll-down-your-windows-and-jam songs, Tim has totally stepped up his game. And it’s awesome.
One of my favorite songs from this album is
“Annie I Owe You A Dance”. If I ever
forget why I love country music, I’ll just listen to this song and be reminded
of how unique and honest the genre is. It
starts off with just Tim and a piano, which is sort of rare for a country song
and tells a really cute story that may not make you cry, but will probably garner
some sort of sad smile by the time he says, “Annie, thanks for the dance”. It’s definitely bitter sweet but in the best
possible way.
Since I’m
sure you are innately interested, I’ll give you a short life bio of
myself. I know, just what you wanted. I moved to Illinois when I was six and lived
there until my family moved to North Carolina this past summer. I was sixteen. Now you may be thinking of how difficult it
must have been for me to be uprooted right in the middle of high school and
move to a state in which I know absolutely no one and start living an entirely
new life. If this is what you’re
thinking you'd be absolutely… wrong.
You’d be completely wrong.
Sorry.
Ever since I was little I’ve wanted
to move to the South, specifically North Carolina (this probably sprang from
the unhealthy amount of Nicholas Sparks books I devoured as a kid) and after my
sophomore year my family decided to make the move. A lot of people don’t understand why we would
want to move from the great city of Chicago to the quaint town of Mooresville,
NC. Well, I’ll let you in on a little
secret about Chicago. It’s cold. Ok, that’s not really a secret but Chicago is
ridiculously cold and gray for ¾ of the year. We put up with it for 10 years, but finally
we couldn’t take it anymore. So, much to
my excitement, we packed up our lives and headed to the South.
Pretty much what I looked like the whole drive down.
I have no regrets about moving but I’d be lying (and a
heartless monster) if I said I didn’t miss my friends from Chicago. I’ve known them for as long as I can remember
and their influence has shaped me into the person I am today. I came across David Nail’s Grammy nominated
song “Turning Home” shortly after we left Illinois and the lyrics really moved me. The person in the song has moved away from home
but constantly reminisces about the people who impacted his life and all of the
fun he had while growing up. The memories
that he sings of, such as passing family owned stores and going to gas stations,
are very simple and are probably things that he never gave a second thought to
while growing up. Yet, after being away
for a while he thinks of these things fondly, with a sense of nostalgia. This is something that really spoke to
me.
David
nails the vocals of this song (Lame puns
FTW) and he sings with such conviction and passion. I love how the intensity of the song builds with every verse until it
comes to a dramatic conclusion with “I don’t know no love like the first love/when I think about the best times/she’s the
one I think of”. Ahh so, so good.
What did y'all think of the song? Did it hit home for anyone? Let me know!
While my sister was home for Christmas
break she suggested that we go see Les Miserables. I told her I’d go with her mostly because I was
looking forward to stuffing my face with 500 calories of buttery goodness, yet what
happened to me in that theatre was a total surprise. I was completely blown away by the whole
production and sat with my mouth gaping like an idiot the whole time. I was so blown away by everybody’s
performance that my bag of popcorn was still full by the time I left the
theatre-and trust me, that never happens.
I picked up the book in Target the
other day and have been reading it nonstop (side note: the quality of my school
work has plummeted). While I was reading
about Jean Valjean’s conversion Rascal Flatts’ new single, “Changed” came on
the radio and I got to thinking about how well that song connected with
Valjean’s story. My mind kept wandering and
I wondered how many other country songs could have been included in the movie if
director Tom Hooper had made the rash decision to change the setting from 19th
century France to the current land of cut offs, farms, and pick up trucks. This is where my mind led me:
“Look Down” ……becomes……. “Folsom
Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash
The lonesome and seemingly hopeless
life of a prisoner has always been a very common theme in country music. Everybody from Jimmie Rodgers to Blake Shelton has performed songs about prison.
Tim McGraw recently joined the prison crew with his song “Number 37405”
on his most recent album, “Two Lanes of Freedom” (which I highly recommend
checking out, by the way- it’s one of his best!).
But perhaps no one has been able to effectively
describe the life of a prisoner in a song better than The Man in Black himself,
Johnny Cash- which is kinda weird because his song about prison has become much
more popular than songs from artists who actually did some hard time behind
bars (we’re looking at you, Merle). Contrary
to popular belief, Johnny Cash was never actually incarcerated and his song
“Folsom Prison Blues” was inspired more by his time in the US Army than any
personal experience behind bars. But nobody would ever guess that based on the
emotion Cash puts into his song. “Look
Down” and “Folsom Prison Blues” both express feelings shared by almost all
prisoners: anger, hopelessness, sadness,
regret, and longing.
“Valjean’s Soliloquy” ……becomes…. “Changed”
by Rascal Flatts
Valjean’s
Soliloquy is by far one of my favorite scenes in the movie and the waterworks started
coming (not for the last time) while watching it. Jean Valjean has just been released from
prison but is far from being spiritually free because of an unshakable darkness
inside of him. He has been shown
nothing but hatred since being released and returns to evil due to his anger
and frustration with humanity. When a
bishop shows him an amount of mercy and love that he has never before known,
Valjean is overwhelmed with guilt, remorse, and shame for all the wrongdoings
he has done and vows to be a good, loving man for the rest of his life. This is where Rascal Flatts’ song comes into
play. Redemption, reconciliation, and renewal
are the major themes in this extremely refreshing song from Rascal Flatts.
“I Dreamed A
Dream” …becomes…. “If I Can Dream” by Elvis
Presley (Kinda…)
Alright, this one is the biggy. The big daddy. The big cheese. “I Dreamed A Dream” has become a staple for
Les Miserables, and rightly so. Anyone
who wasn’t moved at least a little bit by Anne Hathaway’s performance is
probably the same person who watches Home
Alone and roots for Marv and Harry (the wet bandits, if you will).
When I
first started brainstorming country songs to replace “I Dreamed A Dream” I
immediately thought of the song “If I Can Dream” by the one and only, Mr. Elvis
Presley. Both songs talk about dreaming
for a better world while at the same time kind of losing all hope in humanity. However, I was listening to Jason Aldean’s new album, Night Train, the other day and I heard his song “Black Tears” for the first time. The dark tone of the song immediately grabbed
me and the lyrics reminded me of Fauntine’s story for obvious reasons. So heck, why don’t you just listen to both
songs because they are both amazing and you will fall in love. Mkay, thanks :)
“Castle On a Cloud” ……becomes…..
“Queen Maybelline” by The Band Perry
Believe it or not, there are not a whole lot of songs these
days being sung by abandoned children who are forced to live with a physco
creep as a mother and Borat as a father.
But there are quite a few songs about children with a bad home situation
who fantasize of going to another place where they are loved and
appreciated.
A good example of a song
like this is “Concrete Angel” by Martina McBride, a hauntingly beautiful
song about a young girl who is so often abused by her mother that she ends up
getting killed. The chorus of Martina’s
song works sooo well with “Castle On a Cloud”
(“Through the wind and the rain/She stands hard as a stone/In a world
that she can’t rise above/But her dreams/Give her wings/And she flies to a
place/Where she’s loved”), but since the two songs have such different endings,
I thought “Queen Maybelline” by The Band Perry would be a little more
appropriate. This song is a bonus track
from their self-titled CD and is unsurprisingly awesome.
An invisible
girl in a cruel, cruel world
Still
can't find some peace
When she
flies out of her mind
To a
beautiful place with sunny skies
She's free
when she dreams
She's Queen Maybelline.
“On My Own” ….becomes….. “Liar” by Eden’s Edge
Being in
love with your best friend while they are completely and utterly oblivious and
usually in love with someone else is a pretty popular theme in music in
general, but especially in country music.
Songs like Teardrops on My Guitar
by Taylor Swift and Winner At A Losing Game by Rascal Flatts popped into my head but
the song that really makes me think of Eponine is “Liar” by Eden’s Edge.
Eden’s Edge is a relatively new band from Arkansas but I think they’re
going to be big one day. Really big. Their harmonies are amazing, the songwriting
is fantastic, and Hannah’s voice is so innocent and beautiful that it makes me
want to cry sometimes (Is that weird?
Probably.).
I think this song
fits best with Les Mis because Eponine tries really hard to be happy for Marius
and Cossette while simultaneously hoping with every fiber of her being that
Marius will open his eyes and realize that she loves him.
You may think this is irrelevant to the rest of the blog. You are wrong. Aaron Tveit is always relevant. Always.
What do you guys think of this list? Can you think of any other songs that could've made the list? Let me know!
