Monday, November 30, 2009

With Just a Few Lyrics

"Wake up, kids, we've got the dreamer's disease..."
New Radicals, You Get What You Give

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
Semisonic, Closing Time

"I am invincible, as long as I'm alive."
John Mayer, No Such Thing

"I can only imagine..."
MercyMe, I Can Only Imagine


What lyrics speak to you, more than just words?

38 comments:

Terri Tiffany said...

Now I'm going to be thinking about this all day. I have songs I love but the lyrics? I was always bad at them!

Wendy Paine Miller said...

I adore lyrics. I have so many stored in my memory. Sometimes people will say something remotely similar to a lyric and there it goes popping up in my head.
~ Wendy

Rebecca Nazar said...

I love "Feeling Good": "It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for me. And I'm feeling good"--various artist have covered this, most notably Michael Buble.

Ditto to you and everyone.

Kristen Torres-Toro said...

Have you ever heard Misty Edwards and David Brymer's "Restoration"? Or Chris Tomlin's "I Will Rise"? Those songs take me somewhere.

Patti Lacy said...

Oh, my. I would never get in my three pages if I wrote all I want to here.

"I Need You Like a Hurricane" by Jimmy Needham, sang last night AT MY SON'S BAPTISM!!!

I need You like a hurricane
Thunder crashing, wind and rain
To tear my walls down
I’m only Yours now
I need you like a burning flame
A wild fire untamed
To burn these walls down
I’m only Yours now
I’m only Yours now

PRAISE GOD!!!

Susan R. Mills said...

Great songs! I have too many to mention here, but I think I'm going to go get my I-Pod now.

Patti said...

I love lyrics. It's amazing to me that some songs can tell a great story in such a short time.

My favorite: There's no single explanation, there's no central destination.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

"Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel. The full line is "don't give up, 'cause you have friends..."

So true.

Eileen Astels Watson said...

"I will worship while I'm waiting on you Lord." I hold tight to this one.

Cindy R. Wilson said...

I love lyrics and music in general. There's nothing like the perfect song to really speak to your heart.

JLC said...

Right now I have Christmas songs going through my head. Perhaps 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.' Simply because it would be fun to bobsled down our street. :)

scarlethue said...

"Most things I worry about never happen anyway." Tom Petty, Crawling Back to You

Oh, and:

"So scared of getting older, I'm only good at being young. So I play the numbers game to find a way to say that life has just begun." John Mayer, Stop This Train

septembermom said...

I love John Mayer's voice by the way. Songs inspire me all the time. I love "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls. Remember that great line: "You bleed just to know you're alive."

Joanne said...

Oh, so many, my list is endless. Particularly when I hear them live, in concert. Song is such a gift with a universal language reaching us all.

Kathy said...

"I've looked at life from both sides now, from win and lose and still somehow, it's life's illusions I recall, I really don't know life....at all."

Joni Mitchell

Also,
"We can't return we can only look behind from where we came and go round and round and round in the circle game."
Also Joni Mitchell

Jessica Nelson said...

Eeek! I have no clue.

I get lyrics wrong all the time. My husband laughs at me for it. I tend to listen more for mood or for beat....I'm going to have to think about this. :-)

Kathy said...

On a happier note,
my husband and like God Only Knows.

"God only knows what I'd be without you..." etc.

Diane said...

Good variety in your list. Love your new blog photo too. :O)

Jody Hedlund said...

We just watched Sound of Music over our Thanksgiving break. And as I listened to the nuns sing "Climb Every Mountain" I thought about my writing journey and I how true it was (even if it was a bit corny!).

Kathryn Magendie said...

I love the "closing time" lyrics!

Oh, if I could just think of one now and I can't - but I bet one hits me later and I'll go "OH!"

Sande said...

Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And you've told me who I am.
I am yours.

Casting Crowns ... Who Am I

My air right there.

LeSan said...

Oh there are so many. Lyrics are poetry and therefore powerful. Well the good ones are anyway. heheh.
The one I think I would choose most often is Steve Winwood, "When you see a chance, take it." That pretty much says it all for me. In order to live life fully you have to not just see the chances but be willing to take them.

Anonymous said...

What a cool post! When I was actively doing calligraphy, I would take song lyrics and use them to practice writing the different fonts. For some reason, I was always fixated on the song by Prince..."I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain." There are so many more wonderful song lyrics but that one always sticks with me!

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Janna -

Maybe it's the time of the year, but the song, "Mary, Did You Know," is running through my head.

Blessings,
Susan :)

Cassandra Frear said...

This time of year, I am thinking of Handel's Messiah -- the lyrics speak deeply to me.

Ellie Kings said...

I can only imagine is one of my favs too! Can't wait for the day when my lyrics are used as reference for greater inspiration. :)

Tess said...

My novel has quite a bit of old, southern gospel music in it. something about those songs (Amazing Grace, This Little Light of Mine, Onward Christian Soldiers,etc..) really speak to me.

Katie Ganshert said...

I LOVE I Can Only Imagine. I get all teary everytime I hear it. Same with While I'm Waiting. Love both of those!

Janna Leadbetter said...

Terri - I agree. The whole feel of songs stick out to me more than the lyrics themselves.

Wendy - I would have guessed that about you. ;)

Becca - That's a good one.

Kristen - I've heard neither, but will have to check them out!

Patti - That's wonderful! Your heart must be so full.

Susan - I need to get me one o' those. I'm so behind the times with such things.

Patti - I love that! What's it from?

Melanie - I love Peter Gabriel. I'll have to go listen to that one.

Eileen - It sures has deep meaning, doesn't it?

Cindy - Another vote for music in general!

JLC - Take video!

Janna Leadbetter said...

scarlethue - In my opinion, John Mayer's one of the best song writers of our generation.

septembermom - Oh, a girl after my own heart. Love the Goo Goo Dolls!

Joanne - I knew you'd appreciate this post and the thinking that goes along with it. :)

Kathy - A Joni Mitchell fan! I'm not familiar with any of her stuff. Isn't that sad?

Thanks, Diane. :)

Jody - I haven't seen that movie in its entirety in ages, but it's got some great ones. And what a great correlation!

Kat - It's one of my favorite lines! And so apt for a writer, eh?

Sande - I love that last line you posted.

LeSan - That's advice we should all be willing to follow. No regrets.

MichaƩle - Prince! How funny! :) But he's an amazing musician.

Susan, the vocals on that one are incredible.

Cassandra - Important all through the year, isn't it?

That would be so incredible, Ellie.

Tess - Hearing that gives me a whole, warm feel for your book. Love it.

Me too, Katie. It just makes me bawl like a baby.

Debbie said...

Somehow that John Mayer one has always made me chuckle a little! I love his music.

Capri K @ No Whining Allowed said...

Where there is faith, there is a voice calling keep walking, you're not alone in this world. 4 Him

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey... My favorite song to sing to our kids.

All I have needed Thy hand has provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

Tamika: said...

I love lyrics, they tell a story. Songs stir my soul! It reminds me of beautful poetry.

Nadine said...

Love music, love the lyrics! Let's see, a recent one that really spoke to me - Kenny Chesney's I'm Alive

So damn easy to say that life’s so hard
Everybody’s got their share of battle scars
As for me I’d like to thank my lucky stars that
I’m alive, and well

It’d be easy to add up all the pain
And all the dreams you sat and watched go up in flames
Dwell on the wreckage as it smolders in the rain
But not me, I’m alive

And today you know that’s good enough for me
Breathin' in and out's a blessin' can’t you see
Today's the first day of the rest of my life
And I’m alive, and well
I’m alive, and well

Deb Shucka said...

I love your choice of lyrics. I'm not a big listening to music person, silence being my favorite music these days. I really like the new header on your blog.

Natalie said...

Great ones mentioned. Maybe the line in Landslide "Can I sail through the changing ocean tide, can I handle the seasons of my life."

Patti Lacy said...

The lyrics junkie here had to get another fix.
So cool.

I just ADORE country music songs based on that old theory of mama, a train, um, addiction issues, and prison.

A guy tapping on Hank's and Waylon's and Willie's and Merle's shoulder?
Jamey Johnson

High Cost of Living: "That Southern Baptist parking lot was where I'd go to smoke my pot and sit there in my pickup truck and pray. And staring at that giant cross just reminded me that I was lost and it just never seemed to point the way...The high cost of livin' ain't nothin' like the cost of livin' high."

In Color: "If it looks like we were scared to death, like a couple of kids just tryin' to save each other, you should'a seen it in color.

Stars in Alabama: Cause God put stars in Alabama you just can't find in Tennessee. The same ones are waiting on you that taught you how to dream. I know there's big names up in Nashville, and you'll be one before too long, but God put stars in Alabama to help you find your way back home."

Between Jennings and Jones: "And they said that the end of the road I was on was somewhere between Jennings and Jones...now to find me in a record store won't take you long. I'm right there between Jennings and Jones..."

Janna Leadbetter said...

Debbie - He's so witty!

Capri K - I sing You Are My Sunshine to mine, too. Since they were itty babies. :)

Tamika - It is absolutely that.

Nadine - He's a great songwriter, too.

Deb - I have to agree, nothing beats the quiet. While I love music, I'm most content with my thoughts.

Natalie - Who's version do you prefer, Stevie Nicks' or The Dixie Chicks'?

Patti - Because there's such raw truth in songs like that. I think writers of fiction can understand that more than most.