Songs About Praying, Vol. 1

Here begins the first in a four-part series featuring Songs About Praying. Some of the prayers herein are literal, while some are figurative. Some are by Christian artists, and some are by "secular" artists. In other words, these songs completely run the gamut. I hope you will...enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Kesha  ~  “Praying”

2)  Sanctus Real  ~  “Pray”

3)  Duran Duran  ~  “Save A Prayer”

4)  Regina Spektor  ~  “The Prayer Of François Villon”

5)  Blaenavon  ~  “Let’s Pray”

6)  Metal Church  ~  “Watch The Children Pray”

7)  Alison Krauss & Union Station  ~  “A Living Prayer”

8)  Michael Franti & Spearhead  ~  “Pray For Grace”

9)  Ron Sexsmith  ~  “Too Late For Praying”

10)  Nneka  ~  “Pray For You”

11)  Petra  ~  “Prayer”

12)  Rick Astley  ~  “Pray With Me”

13)  Red House Glory  ~  “Pray Now”

14)  Big & Rich  ~  “That’s Why I Pray”

15)  The Katinas  ~  “Praying For You”

16)  Laura Marling  ~  “Pray For Me”

17)  All-4-One  ~  “I Prayed 4 U”

18)  Kodaline  ~  “Pray”

19)  Haelos  ~  “Pray”

20)  Steve Vai  ~  “Whispering A Prayer”

Songs About Hollering

Sometimes you just feel like hollering. (Or yelling, for you folks who aren’t from around here.) For all the times when you just feel like raising your voice in a screaming fashion, there’s these songs. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Spice Girls  ~  “Holler”

2)  Randy Travis & Josh Turner  ~  “Deeper Than The Holler”  (Okay, so this one’s not actually *about* hollering. But it’s such a good song that its exclusion from this post would be a crying shame.)

3)  Honey Mustard  ~  “Holler On”

4)  Marvin Gaye  ~  “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”

5)  Baha Men  ~  “Holla”

6)  Hayes Carll  ~  “Stomp And Holler”

7)  Girls’ Generation  ~  “Holler”  (Because this post – and this blog in general – was suffering a severe deficit of K-Pop songs, there’s this…)

8)  Blue October  ~  “Holler”

9)  Coco Jones  ~  “Holla At The DJ”

10)  The Lost Trailers  ~  “Holler Back”

11)  Social Studies  ~  “Holler Boys”

12)  Taj Mahal  ~  “Strong Man Holler”

13)  Gwen Stefani  ~  “Hollaback Girl”

14)  Johnny Russell  ~  “The Son Of Hickory Holler’s Tramp”  (Nope, not *about* hollering, either. I guess maybe the word “about” in the title of the post should be a bit loosely defined this time around.)

15)  Trin-I-Tee 5:7 ft. J. Moss  ~  “Holla”

16)  John Prine  ~  “Quit Hollerin’ At Me”

17)  Adrienne Young & The Old Faithful  ~  “Hills And Hollers”

18)  Jalen N’Gonda  ~  “Holler (When You Call My Name)”

19)  Dawn and Hawkes  ~  “Holler”

20)  2Pac  ~  “Holler If Ya Hear Me”

21)  European Theater  ~  “The Heart She Hollered”

22)  Dead Sons  ~  “Hollers And The Hymns”

23)  The Shook Twins  ~  “Holler It Down”

24)  Leo “Bud” Welch  ~  “Girl In The Holler”

25)  Rebecca & Fiona  ~  “Holler”  (The Swedes were jealous of the K-Pop entry in this post, so they had to get in on the fun, too. Another Swedish girl group almost made the cut, too, but not enough slots were available.)

Songs About Being Surrounded

You ever feel like you're completely surrounded, with no way of escape? Yeah? These songs totally get that. They've been there. They ARE there. Good luck, Houdini. And enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Chantal Kreviazuk  ~  “Surrounded”

2)  Dream Theater  ~  “Surrounded”

3)  Eisley  ~  “They All Surrounded Me”

4)  Hooray For Earth  ~  “Surrounded By Your Friends”

5)  Echosmith  ~  “Surround You”

6)  The Soundtrack Of Our Lives  ~  “Sister Surround”

7)  Erland & The Shelter  ~  “Surrounded”

8)  BT & Aqualung  ~  “Surrounded”

9)  Julia Holter  ~  “Horns Surrounding Me”

10)  Scott Stapp  ~  “Surround Me”

11)  Delta Rae  ~  “Surrounded”

12)  Erasure  ~  “You Surround Me”

13)  Cilla Black  ~  “Surround Yourself With Sorrow”

14)  Bebo Norman  ~  “You Surround Me”

15)  Craig Finn  ~  “Sarah, I’m Surrounded”

16)  Amon Duul II  ~  “Surrounded By The Stars”

17)  The Chills  ~  “Surrounded”

18)  Ryan Hemsworth ft. Kotomi & DOSS  ~  “Surrounded”

19)  Evermore  ~  “Light Surrounding You”

20)  Charly McClain  ~  “Surround Me With Love”

21)  Julien-K  ~  “Surrounded By Cowards”

22)  Noughts And Exes  ~  “Surrounded”

23)  Geoff Moore  ~  “Surrounded”

24)  The Boxer Rebellion  ~  “We Have This Place Surrounded”

25)  Overtone  ~  “Surrounded”

“Taboo” Songs

Here's a bunch of "Taboo" Songs for your listening pleasure. No, there's nothing to be found here that's prohibited or restricted by social custom. Nothing forbidden, illegal, illicit, unmentionable, or unspeakable, either. Nonetheless, the word "taboo" – which, of course, means what all of the aforementioned terms and phrases describe – does appear in the title of each tune. Enjoy?  ~  JH

1)  September  ~  “Taboo”

2)  Santana ft. Derek Trucks  ~  “Taboo / The Calling”

3)  There Is No Mountain  ~  “Wave Of Taboo”

4)  CocoRosie  ~  “Smokey Taboo”

5)  Karne Murta  ~  “Swingin’ Taboo”

6)  Bloom Twins  ~  “Taboo”

7)  Alena Toymintseva  ~  “Taboo To Love”

8)  Don Omar  ~  “Taboo”

9)  Good Lovelies  ~  “Taboo”

10)  Dinah Shore  ~  “Is It Taboo?”

11)  Arthur Lyman Group  ~  “Taboo”

12)  Hannah Trigwell  ~  “Taboo”

13)  Jimi Sobara  ~  “Taboo”

14)  Emma van Heyn  ~  “Taboo”

15)  White Heart  ~  “No Taboo”

16)  Phy  ~  “Taboo”

17)  Flamingods  ~  “Taboo Groves”

18)  Sade  ~  “The Sweetest Taboo”

19)  Hugh Cornwell  ~  “Totem & Taboo”

20)  Connie Francis  ~  “Taboo”

21)  House Of Wallenberg ft. Ari Up  ~  “Sunshine Taboo”

22)  Sandra  ~  “No Taboo”

23)  Palladium Electric Band  ~  “Taboo”

24)  Tristan Prettyman  ~  “Taboo”

25)  Black Sugar Transmission  ~  “Taboo”

Songs About Pretending

Everyone likes to pretend sometimes. These songs are all about pretending. And they're really good. I'm sure you will...enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  The Platters  ~  “The Great Pretender”

2)  Eric Clapton  ~  “Pretending”

3)  Jackson Browne  ~  “The Pretender”

4)  L7  ~  “Pretend We’re Dead”

5)  Al Jarreau  ~  “Let’s Pretend”

6)  R.E.M.  ~  “World Leader Pretend”

7)  Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie  ~  “Game Of Pretend”

8)  The Drums  ~  “I Can’t Pretend”

9)  Foo Fighters  ~  “The Pretender”

10)  Lights  ~  “Pretend”

11)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Just Pretend”

12)  Raspberries  ~  “Let’s Pretend”

13)  Anouk  ~  “Pretending As Always”

14)  Nat King Cole  ~  “Pretend”

15)  The Mavericks  ~  “Pretend”

16)  Glee Cast  ~  “Pretending”

17)  Uriah Heep  ~  “Sweet Pretender”

18)  Gerry And The Pacemakers  ~  “Pretend”

19)  The Avett Brothers ft. Nicole Atkins  ~  “Pretend Love”

20)  Todd Rundgren  ~  “Pretending To Care”

21)  Dinosaur Jr.  ~  “Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know”

22)  Seinabo Sey  ~  “Pretend”

23)  Bryan White  ~  “So Much For Pretending”

24)  King’s X  ~  “Pretend”

25)  Tom Odell  ~  “Can’t Pretend”

BONUS TRACK:  B.o.B. ft. Hayley Williams  ~  “Airplanes”  (While the word "pretend" doesn't appear anywhere in the title of this song, the whole thing is about pretending "that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars" and that phrase is repeated at least six times in the song, so here it is.)