Songs About Redemption

Here's the first installment in what will hopefully be a long and ongoing series of posts consisting entirely of faith-based songs centered around a single theme. First up, songs about redemption. With the first priority being to feature high-quality songs, I also made a special effort to explore a wide variety of genres here, including gospel, pop, Christian contemporary, Southern gospel, rock, praise and worship, and even one rap song. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  JJ Heller  ~  "Redemption"

2)  Johnny Cash  ~  "Redemption"

3)  Israel Houghton ft. Michael Gungor & Aaron Lindsey  ~  "Sing Redemption's Song"

4)  The Hoppers  ~  "Let The Redeemed Say So"

5)  Nicole C. Mullen  ~  "Redeemer"

6)  Charlotte Church  ~  "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer"

7)  Hannah McClure ft. William Matthews  ~  "God Of The Redeemed"

8)  Hezekiah Walker  ~  "Let The Redeemed"

9)  Gaither Homecoming ft. Squire Parsons, Karen Peck, & Guy Penrod  ~  "Redeemed"

10)  Casting Crowns  ~  "Blessed Redeemer"

11)  Planetshakers  ~  "Redeemer"

12)  Hillsong Live  ~  "We The Redeemed"

13)  Bushwick Bill  ~  "Testimony Of Redemption"

14)  Steven Curtis Chapman  ~  "My Redeemer Is Faithful And True"

15)  Michael English  ~  "Feels Like Redemption"

16)  Gaither Homecoming ft. Allison Durham Speer  ~  "He's Worthy (Song Of The Redeemed)"

17)  Matthew Smith  ~  "Redeemed, Restored, Forgiven"

18)  Myron Butler & Levi  ~  "Redeemed"

19)  Greater Vision  ~  "Since I Have Been Redeemed"

20)  Parachute Band  ~  "The Redeemed"

21)  Jessy Dixon  ~  "I Am Redeemed"

22)  Big Daddy Weave  ~  "Redeemed"

23)  Legacy Five  ~  "I Stand Redeemed"

24)  Hillsong Church  ~  "My Redeemer Lives"

25)  The Cathedrals  ~  "Redemption Draweth Nigh"

BONUS TRACK:  Gaither Homecoming ft. Vestal Goodman  ~  "There Is A Fountain"  (This one doesn't have any form of the word "redemption" in its title, but was one of the first to come to mind for me when I thought about the theme of redemption.)

Songs With European Capitals In Their Titles

This post started out as a challenge to myself to find songs with the capital city of each country in Europe in their titles. I failed in that effort (not all of Europe's nations are represented here), but I was able to find quite a few of them. And the resulting songs are not too shabby. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Counting Crows  ~  "On A Tuesday In Amsterdam Long Ago"

2)  Nana Mouskouri  ~  "The White Rose Of Athens"

3)  Neil Young  ~  "After Berlin"

4)  Luna  ~  "23 Minutes In Brussels"

5)  Jazzy Jo  ~  "A Night In Bucharest"

6)  George Ezra  ~  "Budapest"

7)  Vienna Teng  ~  "Copenhagen (Let Me Go)"

8)  The High Kings  ~  "The Rocky Road To Dublin"

9)  The National Parks  ~  "Helsinki"

10)  Emerson, Lake, & Palmer  ~  "The Great Gates Of Kiev"

11)  The Wave Pictures  ~  "Lisbon"

12)  Heather Nova  ~  "London Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do)"

13)  Kevin Devine  ~  "Luxembourg"

14)  Shakira  ~  "Te Dejo Madrid"

15)  Michael Jackson  ~  "Stranger In Moscow"

16)  The Wooden Sky  ~  "Oslo"  (NOTE: The song ends around the 3:00 mark; the rest is just blah-blah-blah interview stuff.)

17)  Caro Emerald  ~  "Paris"

18)  Blaenavon  ~  "Prague"

19)  Brolin  ~  "Reykjavik"

20)  The Weepies  ~  "Riga Girls"

21)  Morcheeba  ~  "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day"

22)  Watsky ft. Raquel Rodriguez  ~  "Sarajevo"

23)  blink-182  ~  "Stockholm Syndrome"

24)  Billy Joel  ~  "Vienna"

25)  Sharon Van Etten  ~  "Warsaw"

"Dim" Songs

Here are those "Dim" songs I told you about yesterday. Enjoy?  ~  JH

1)  Francesca Battistelli  ~  "Strangely Dim"

2)  The Waiting  ~ "Never Dim"

3)  Donna Summer  ~  "Dim All The Lights"

4)  Johann Johannsson  ~  "The Sun's Gone Dim And The Sky's Black"

5)  Dwight Yoakam  ~  "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)"

6)  Urbandub  ~  "Dim The Headlights"

7)  Miri Ben-Ari  ~  "Dim The Lights!"

8)  Greenwheel  ~  "Dim Halo"

9)  Grafa & Bobo ft. Pechenkata  ~  "Dim Da Me Niama"

10)  Family  ~  "Dim"

11)  Umphrey's McGee  ~  "Dim Sun"

12)  Absolutely Free  ~  "My Dim Age"

13)  Cold Specks  ~  "When The City Lights Dim"

14)  Deadbolt Zen  ~  "Dim Days"

15)  Blackshield  ~  "Dim"

16)  Goose Rincon  ~  "Dim Thoughts"

17)  Chapel Hill  ~  "When The Lights Begin To Dim"

18)  Glass Oaks ft. Becca Mancari  ~  "Dim Coal Night"

19)  Winston Reedy  ~  "Dim The Lights"

20)  Buriers  ~  "Dim Half Light"

"Bright" Songs

Yay, another "Opposites" music post! Oh, goody, goody, gumdrops! Here's a collection of "Bright" songs. Next time, some "Dim" ones. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Echosmith  ~  "Bright"

2)  The Used  ~  "Together Burning Bright"

3)  Shinedown  ~  "Burning Bright"

4)  Switchfoot  ~  "Burn Out Bright"

5)  Rebelution  ~  "Bright Side Of Life"

6)  Matchbox Twenty  ~  "Bright Lights"

7)  Cloud Cult  ~  "You'll Be Bright"

8)  Placebo  ~  "Bright Lights"

9)  Cee Lo Green & Daryl Hall  ~  "Bright Lights, Bigger City"

10)  Garbage  ~  "Big Bright World"

11)  The Killers  ~  "Mr. Brightside"

12)  Sara Bareilles  ~  "Bright Lights And Cityscapes"

13)  Vanessa Williams  ~  "Star Bright"

14)  Natalie Grant  ~  "Burn Bright (You Were Made To Shine)"

15)  Underoath  ~  "Too Bright To See, Too Loud To Hear"

16)  Casey Abrams ft. Orchestra Of People  ~  "Great Bright Morning"  (This is simply gorgeous!)

17)  Alison Krauss & Union Station  ~  "Heaven's Bright Shore"

18)  Timbuk 3  ~  "The Future's So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)"

19)  Gary Clark, Jr.  ~  "Bright Lights"

20)  Jackson Browne & Eagles  ~  "Your Bright Baby Blues"

Songs About Teachers

I almost forgot to post this one. Today is National Teacher's Day. In honor of that, here's a small collection of songs about Teachers. Sort of. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Jethro Tull  ~  "Teacher"

2)  Lynyrd Skynyrd  ~  "Good Teacher"

3)  ABBA  ~  "When I Kissed The Teacher"  (These days, that'll get you suspended and get the teacher fired!)

4)  Rufus Wainwright  ~  "The Art Teacher"

5)  Big Country  ~  "The Teacher"

6)  Van Halen  ~  "Hot For Teacher"  (Yeah, I went there…sorry, teacher friends.)

7)  Paul Simon  ~  "The Teacher"

8)  George Michael  ~  "One More Try"

9)  Bend Sinister  ~  "Teacher"

10)  Courtni Starr  ~  "Charlie Brown Teacher"

11)  NC.A  ~  "My Student Teacher"  (If you don't speak Korean – like I don't – I'll summarize: She's in love with her teacher. Surprise, surprise!)

12)  Slick Rick  ~  "Teacher, Teacher"

13)  The Police  ~  "Don't Stand So Close To Me"  (Yet another teacher-student romance? Yep.)

14)  Pink Floyd  ~  "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2"  (Apparently, Pink Floyd thinks you teachers are unnecessary and education is irrelevant.)

15)  Mötley Crüe  ~  "Smokin' In The Boys' Room"  (This one might be a bit of a stretch…)

10 "Awful" Songs

I'd like to tell you that this small collection of "Awful" songs consists entirely of songs which live up to their titles. But, in fact, none of the songs actually qualifies as awful. They range from halfway-decent to just-plain-weird to downright-clever. Enjoy?  ~  JH

1)  Osibisa  ~  "The Coffee Song (They've Got An Awful Lot Of Coffee In Brazil)"

2)  Ray Stevens  ~  "Erik The Awful"

3)  The Almost  ~  "Awful Direction"

4)  Darryl Worley  ~  "Awful Beautiful Life"

5)  From Indian Lakes  ~  "Awful Things"

6)  Hole  ~  "Awful"

7)  Hurriganes  ~  "An Awful Crime"

8)  Frank Sinatra & Betty Garrett  ~  "You're Awful"

9)  Jackson Scott  ~  "That Awful Sound"

10)  Handsome Handsome  ~  "Awful Truth"