A week ago, I was exploring some of Istanbul, behind the hotel we were staying in. A band was setting up for a street performance: Two guys drumming, a bass player, and two saxophones. They proceeded to put out some of the most energetic music I’d heard in a long time–very cool sound.
I’m not convinced that the video above is nearly as cool as what I heard that day, but if you care for more, you can start your hunt here.
This song from Chris Tomlin’s latest album has been stuck in my ears (in a good way) the last few days…
I open my mouth and You speak for me.
You move the mountains and roll back the sea.
I will not afraid.
I will never be ashamed,
For You are with me.
You are with me.
I’ve seen enough to know,
That You’re my only hope.
I don’t want to go,
If You’re not with me.
We open our hands and You reach for us.
You are the motion of the universe.
All right, the same Andrew Peterson album I just mentioned has one of my other favourite “Christmas” songs too. Oddly enough, it isn’t actually sung by Andrew either. (Sorry Andrew, don’t read too much into that.)
This one’s sung by Derek Webb, and it’s been on me since I posted back HERE apparently. The video below is a “raw-er” version than the polished CD track, but it’ll get you the basics.
Deliver Us
Our enemy, our captor is no Pharaoh on the Nile.
Our toil is neither mud nor brick nor sand.
Our ankles bear no callouses from chains,
Yet Lord, we’re bound.
Imprisoned here, we dwell in our own land.Deliver us, deliver us.
Oh Yahweh, hear our cry,
And gather us beneath Your wings tonight.Our sins,they are more numerous than all the lambs we slay.
These shackles, they were made with our own hands.
Our toil is our atonement and our freedom Yours to give.
So Yahweh, break Your silence if You can.‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem
How often I have longed
To gather you beneath My gentle wings.’
This has been one of my favourite Christmas songs the past couple years. It’s from an Andrew Peterson album called “Behold the Lamb of God”; the song’s titled “Labour of Love”.
It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David’s town
And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother’s hand to hold
It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David’s town
In the middle of the night
So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move
It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love
So we got on a cleaning kick last night. We plowed through our CD’s and cassettes (Yes, we still had some of those around!) But before giving away some of these beauties, I’m putting them on my computer so I can still listen to a few favourites of a decade (and century) gone by.
Today, I’m loading them up… and it struck me…
This song USED to be awesome! Something has moved. I’m pretty sure the signal of that disc is burned in with a laser, so it’s not that. So either I got less cool or that music lost a step. Let’s not debate that question here, shall we?
So come on. Let’s open up. Who made your list of “used to sound cool” music recently?
Mine: A great band named Plankeye, whose albums grabbed me by the throat in my college years. Today? I can likely pass these blessings on to someone else.