Fairyland
“There is such a place as fairyland – but only children can find the way to it. And they do not know that it is fairyland until they have grown so old that they forget the way. One bitter day, when they seek it and cannot find it, they realize what they have lost;…
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Dead Ringer
Marc Martel has just released a new album and is presently on tour with music from the album entitled, wait for it, Impersonator. Yes, the former Freddie Mercury impersonator has something to say and he says it well. Using just his surname for this new band, he has given us twelve songs about being an…
Continue readingComing Back Home
One of my favourite bands is Downhere. They write great songs with smart lyrics and always challenge their listeners to think about relationships with God and with others. “Coming Back Home” from the Ending is Beginning album is a song about repentance. Here are the lyrics. “Coming Back Home“ (Performed by Downhere) (Listen while you read.) …
Continue readingInland
I discovered a great new album last night: Inland by Jars of Clay. Released in August of 2013, this collection of songs sounds as good as previous albums like Who We Are Instead (2003) or Much Afraid (1997). The lyrics are mysterious, poetic, and haunting. They speak to the condition of every human soul. They…
Continue readingWide Eyed
I have often been intrigued by the words of the song “Wide Eyed” sung by Nicole Nordeman. The lyrics and the melody are beautiful; yet I have often found it difficult to understand what the song writers are trying to say. The lyrics are written below and there is a link you can click to…
Continue readingTennessee
Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb released a short collection of songs (EP) called TN & EP. On that EP is a marvelous song called “Tennessee” (listen to it here). I could not find the lyrics anywhere on the web so I transcribed them myself and checked with McCracken’s staff to confirm a line or two.…
Continue readingIt’s Me Again
In the song, “It’s Me Again,” I have never been quite sure whether Wayne Kirkpatrick is addressing the lyrics to a friend or to God. I suspect that it may be both. Kirkpatrick tends to do this with his songs. Regardless, from my time spent coaching others, and from my own life, I am convinced…
Continue readingFollow-up to Robert Burns Day 2013
One stanza from “To A Louse” by Robert Burns: O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae mony a blunder free us, An’ foolish notion: What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us, An’ ev’n devotion! My English translation: Oh, if only God would…
Continue readingValdy MM-MM-MM-MM
Paul Valdemar Horsdal, known professionally as Valdy, is a Canadian folk musician who has been writing songs and performing for more than forty years. I remember discovering his “Country Man” album in the seventies and the couple of times I saw him in concert I was amazed with how this one man and his guitar…
Continue readingWaiting In The Weeds
The last few days of August always make me think of the lyrics of this song. It is a beautiful masterpiece of lyric and melody on the Eagles Long Road Out of Eden album. It is a song of longing, loneliness and loss. Perhaps it is also an indictment of the music industry and culture…
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