So here I sit
Looking at the traffic light.
The red extinguishes the hope that the green ignites.
--Reliant K

I find that I really enjoy well written lyrics. Above is one of my favorite examples. As a matter of fact, I find Reliant K’s music to be far too repetitive, but their writing is so fun I still listen to them pretty often.

We should get jerseys, ‘cause we make a good team.
But yours would be better than mine, ‘cause your out’a my league.

See what I mean? That is just some really good writing!

Along the same lines, I very much enjoy “Trying to Stop Your Leaving” by Derks Bentley because of the word pictures he uses so effectively in that song. The pictures of a song against a train and a pebble against the Rio Grande (which isn’t actually all that Grande, but few people know that) are very apt.

A song which I find to be rather upsetting but is still extremely well written is “Hate Me” by Blue October. The mood created by the use of certain loaded words is awesome. “Cockroaches”, “porno”, and “suicidal” all conjure up images of a dirty apartment with burnt out light bulbs and the smell of throw up. Like I said, it’s not exactly an inspiring song, but it is still very well done.

A song I have recently become a very big fan of is “I Don’t Care” by Apocalyptica. This isn’t so much because of the lyrics (although they still are well written) but because of the way the music could really tell the story without the words. On the surface it’s just a typical screaming break-up song.

If you were dead or still alive
I don’t care, I don’t care.
Just go and leave this all behind
‘Cause I swear (I swear) I don’t care.

Yet in the midst of all this screaming, hatred and banging guitars and drums there is a single violin mournfully carrying the tune. Beneath all the rage of the song writer, buried so deep that he is hardly even aware of it, is a profoundly deep sense of loss. It’s an incredible example of artfully mixing musical styles to create the desired effect.

A favorite of mine for many years has been a song by 張韶涵. I’ve only heard one of her CD’s and the quality was rather inconsistent from one song to the next, but she still did a couple very good ones. One of my favorite lines from the song:

因為花開的聲音
冬天也會遠離

Which could roughly be translated as, “Winter leaves because of the sound of an opening flower.” It doesn’t really come across so well in English (or at least it doesn’t come across so well when I translate it) so just take my word for it that it’s a very well written couple of lines.

Saving the very best for the last: Brave Saint Saturn. If you have not heard anything by this incredible Christian band then you are living a seriously deprived life. One of the most challenging songs about our fallen state is “Heart Still Beats.”

I’m sickened by compassion
Stifled by my limitations
Anesthetic apathy!
Come take the pain away!

BSS does not shy away from hard issues that are very real in the Christian’s life. Anger, hatred, a feeling of being lost or overwhelmed. Their song “Enamel” has some great lines from a guy whose girl left him for a guy in Mexico.

Well I hope you cannot sleep and I hope you cannot smile
And I hope you are burdened with your guilt for quite a while.
I hope you fall in love but I hope your plans are thwarted
I hope that now your back it’s because you were deported!

“Titan” is something straight from a horror movie, except for so many it’s no movie at all. It’s a song about cancer.

DESTROY!
DEVIDE!
THE DARK!
INSIDE!
Titans rushing over me
Giants that are crushing me.

“Estrella” is a heartfelt and moving song about a young Christian who died of a serious medical condition.

He was twenty-five like I was
But he was deaf and slowly going blind
He made my faith seem worthless
The things I hoped were pointless
And he fought to stay
But always dreamed that he could leave this place.

The angels’ wings will cover you tonight
Hallelujah
Press you head against the breast of Christ
Hallelujah

It made me so empty
Collapsing on some dirty bathroom floor
And isn’t just like me
To mourn his passing breath
When he will never suffer anymore?

Of course it’s not all doom and gloom and sad music. “The Sun Also Rises” is an inspiring song and has been one of my theme songs for the past year and a half.

With all the hope that I could beg or borrow
I can’t wait, can’t wait ‘til tomorrow!
I believe! The sun also rises
Dries our tears, bring the blue skies of day.
I believe! The sun also rises
Lighting our paths, driving the darkness away.
So far away! So far away!

Wow…this is becoming a very long post. If you are still reading, congrats! My advice is that you go to amazon.com and download all three Brave Saint Saturn CDs. I’ll just talk about three more: Daylight, Mercenary and Starlings.

Daylight is the story of a space craft that is lost, on the dark side of a moon and out of contact with their base. A newscasters voice tells us “The crew is out of radio contact and at this point there is no way to know if they are alive or dead.” The emptiness of the darkness away from the sun and the isolation away from their base represent a backslidden Christian. When the ship finally comes back into the daylight we hear

U.S.S. Gloria: Houston this is the U.S.S. Gloria.
Good to hear your voice
We are coming out of the eclipse now.
I see the sunlight. It’s beautiful
The sunlight is beautiful.

Jesus Christ, Light of the World
You never did forget me
And when I bled in darkness, You held me
Still held me
When desperate nights I cursed You
You loved me, still loved me
Jesus Christ, You dry the tears
You break my heart of stone
Your words are life
Cut marrow through
The darkness, to the bone
A heart of flesh You gave me
Only You can save me

Savior
Daylight
I am coming home

“Starlings” is a beautiful and heart breaking song about the senselessness of death.

Starling falling to her death,
Piercing copper steals her breath.
See the flutter in her breast,
Starving babies in her nest.
Raise their souls up to the sky,
Why must helpless creatures die?

“Mercenary” is another great song. Using the picture of a boxer who takes money to lose a fight, BSS addresses the issue of compromise in a world that is not always supportive of God’s plans and goals for Christians.

Here’s to your lame award,
Your phony Nobel Prize.
Here’s to the suckers lining up
To see us compromise.
Let’s light a campfire,
We’ll have a sing along,
I’ll burn some bridges,
You’ll bring the crappy songs.

So…yea. I would recommend any of the above songs.