About That Song…

"Psalm 73 (My God's Enough)" by BarlowGirl from Another Journal Entry

2008-03-24T21:25:00.002-04:00

"I've had enough of living life for only me, and reaching just for the things that keep destroying me!" I can't count how many times I've thanked God for this song over the past few weeks. Chock-full of Scriptural encouragement, it's a rock rendition of Psalm 73. The narrator envies people in the world around him, but then he is reminded that "in the end, only You have what I need" (quote

Headache

2008-03-17T21:46:00.001-04:00

Means no post tonight. Sorry, folks. Though I know no one out there probably cares…

My Apologies

2008-03-14T20:44:00.002-04:00

I was planning to do a post today, but that was before I pulled a ten-hour day, today. Long story short: I'm a full-time proofreader. (Yes, in the job that's getting laid off.) One fast proofer has left, and another is away on vacation. Suffice to say that my department's having a hard time keeping up with the newsletter load, right now…

"(I Hate) Everything About You" by Three Days Grace from Three Days Grace

2008-03-10T21:56:00.000-04:00

"Only when I stop to think about it… I hate everything about you; why do I love you? Like several songs by the Canadian band Three Days Grace, this one can make you think, That's so stup— Well… Huh. At first glance, the yelling that "I hate everything about you" but love you anyway seems really silly. But on second thought and consideration of the song, several people I know and I find it "

"Falling inside the Black" by Skillet from Comatose

2008-03-05T07:33:00.000-05:00

"Falling in the black, slipping through the cracks, falling to the depths—can I ever go back?!" Another of my favorite songs by Skillet that vies with "Whispers in the Dark" for top favorite, "Falling inside the Black" declares the perspective of someone who's wandered away from Christ (or, at least, has gotten a wee bit depressed), and is pleading with God to pull 'em back up. If you're a

"Whispers in the Dark" by Skillet from Comatose

2008-03-03T20:04:00.000-05:00

"Despite the lies that you're makin', your love is mine for the takin'. My love is just waitin' to turn your tears to roses." This might be my favorite song by Skillet—or at least my favorite song that appears on their 2006 album Comatose. Nice electronic guitar use. The song overall has an electronic tone (including the vocals, like Amy Lee at the beginning of the Evanescence song "

"Rebirthing" by Skillet from Comatose

2008-02-29T16:34:00.001-05:00

"For the first time now, I come alive somehow!" and realize yes, there are Christian hard rock bands that suit the minor key tonality that I like. Within seconds of playing this song, I think Have I heard this, before? No… Yes… No… And finally, at the chorus Yes! I do know this song! And lo and behold, I found out that several songs that I've liked are by this band. What a refreshing

Aaack!

2008-02-29T16:31:00.000-05:00

"Here I am, once again"—back, and hopefully for the long haul. Please accept my apologies, everyone. Illness + a new eyestrain-causing job + 9-hour days, 6 days per week at work once my eyes got used to it means my e-mail has barely been checked in the past six weeks, much less anything else. Nonetheless, due to my new proofreading job, I've found some new songs to review! My schedule will

Yikes!

2008-02-06T06:25:00.000-05:00

Again, I'm terribly sorry for the long unintended haitus! Please forgive it; Lord willing, I'll be back with a new schedule sometime soon. *sighs* Life. Please accept my apology.

Eeeek.

2008-01-26T09:15:00.001-05:00

Well, one of my browser problems has evidently fixed itself. If it doesn't return, reviews should be coming back on Monday. See you then!

Ulgh, Sorry...

2008-01-14T06:29:00.000-05:00

Browser problems still going, so I may not be able to get a post in, today. My apologies.

My Apologies

2008-01-11T19:55:00.000-05:00

My apologies for the lack of posts. I'm having some browser difficulties. For some reason, my web browser (Safari) has stopped being able to access some sites overnight. One, it automatically quits, and the other, it refuses to admit that I have the proper software to view it. If anyone has any insight into what might have caused this, I'd appreciate his input. Thank you.

"Youth of the Nation" by P.O.D. from Satellite

2008-01-07T08:42:00.000-05:00

"We are, we are [we are] the youth of the nation," may repeat as the chorus, but it's on purpose in this song comparable to Superchic[k]'s "Hero." (It came out about the same time on Satellite, in 2002.) The verses explore lives of today's commonly depressed youth and what comes of it. The first verse starts with a boy's tale of going to school like he did every day and getting killed in a

"Good Behavior" by Plumb from Chaotic Resolve

2008-01-04T10:04:00.001-05:00

"I'm sick of feeling like a traitor—is this the price for good behavior?" Tiffany Arbuckle Lee, stage name "Plumb," pulls emotions into this song and could almost (but not quite) be mistaken for Amy Lee (who Plumb actually influenced). Plumb's third album was coming out when Evanescence launched its first. A gentle albeit synthesized beginning switches to a harder metal element. (Plumb's

"The Bird and the Worm" by The Used from Lies for the Liars

2008-01-02T13:29:00.001-05:00

Okay, I admit—found this song from the Moonlight episode "Arrested Development," when Mick's getting beaten up by the 16 going-on-200 vampire. First Moonlight episode I saw, and I liked it enough to try another episode or two, which got me hooked on the rest. This single from The Used's third studio album Lies for the Liars is evidently one of their cleaner ones. (Evidently the band doesn't

"If Everyone Cared" by Nickelback from All the Right Reasons

2007-12-31T10:45:00.000-05:00

"If everyone shared and swallowed their pride then we'd see the day when nobody died" sums up this song's message and pinpoints a Christian's hesitation with it. "If Everyone Cared" is the sixth single Nickelback released from its

"Because of You" by Kelly Clarkson from Breakaway

2007-12-28T10:12:00.000-05:00

"Because of you / I find it hard to trust / not only me, but everyone around me…" sums up this song. Kelly Clarkson, with her superb and amazingly flexible and strong vocals, sings the haunting song "Because of You". With the music video, the song's narrator speaks to someone, probably her father, whose use of her as an emotional crutch when she was also hurting has handicapped her. He in his

"Shadow of the Day" by Linkin Park from Minutes to Midnight

2007-12-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

What??!! What did Linkin Park go and make a song that sounded like a CCM song, for? Okay, so it wasn't on purpose, and it has produced a rather soothing song, but something about it—the beat, maybe?—immediately makes me suspect it's a contemporary Christian song. Which it isn't. It also resembles U2's "With or Without You". Chester Bennington's singing even brings memories of a myriad of

"Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's from Every Second Counts

2007-12-24T12:06:00.000-05:00

"Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar" oddly sums up both the song and the situation surrounding it. Originally produced for the album All That We Needed, nothing came of the song originally (or of that album), but then an acoustic version was rereleased early this year on the album Every Second Counts. "Hey There Delilah" ended up on top charts in the U.S. and then the band went

"My Last Breath" by Evanescence from Fallen

2007-12-21T13:14:00.000-05:00

"Can you hear me? Can you feel me in your arms / holding my last breath…" One thing I really like about Evanescence's 2003 album Fallen are all these fun little stories from the perspective of someone dying in a tragedy. (I know, I know—I'm morbid.) I even used the "fade to black" to entitle a fan fiction I wrote taking place in the Jedi Purges. This song's narrator is being held by her

"Secret Number 486" by Younha from The Perfect Day to Say I Love You

2007-12-19T13:34:00.001-05:00

It was only a matter of time, I guess, before I found a foreign singer who sang in foreign languages—in this case, Korean and Japanese. Younha mixes a bit of English in some of her songs; this song uses the line, "You're my secret boy." The album name and song title are therefore translated up above. I understand that "Secret Number 486" is the official English name, though more commonly

"I Am My Own Grandpa" by Ray Stevens on Cracking Up

2007-12-17T22:32:00.000-05:00

"I Am My Own Grandpa" offers a treat for those who like logical loopholes. In this case, it's a legal and logical way to become your own grandfather, apparently taken from a passage by Mark Twain. The song itself was written by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe in 1948. The novelty country song can pull a laugh with its fully legal logical twists as it step-by-step walks through how the poor

"Over the Hills And Far Away" by Nightwish from Over the Hills and Far Away EP

2007-12-14T21:16:00.000-05:00

"He knew, without an alibi, / tomorrow's night would mourn his freedom…" Woo, can you say The Count of Monte Cristo meets, um, militaresque hard rock? (Seriously, if you like that style of music, it's a fun song, as evidenced by all the covers of it! Nightwish's version is only one of five that I can find record of.) Okay, so strictly speaking, the tale's a bit different from Monte Cristo.

"Work" by Jars of Clay from Good Monsters

2007-12-12T20:45:00.000-05:00

"Do you know what I mean when I say, 'I don't want to be alone'?" Yeah, it's a Christian song talking about how hard life can be and how letting yourself drown can sometimes seem to be. ("Now all the demons look like prophets and I'm living out / Every word they speak".) The song narrator is clutching life—er, well, his friends' good company—by his fingertips. The danger comes when he's

"Dark As Love" by Luscious Redhead

2007-12-10T20:15:00.001-05:00

Okay, this song technically hasn't come out yet. I found it in the new CBS series Moonlight (the everyday drama with a vampire PI leaves me bouncing in my seat like no TV show has since I was twelve and watching Star Trek: DS9—and I don't own a TV). Specifically it's the song in the episode "12:04 am" (the one with the cult leader), when the heroine, Beth, walks in to the vampire's office and