Seven Songs

via LutherPunk

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Just post a note that you've joined in!


"Down to the River to Pray" by The Muses

This song came to me by way of "O Brother Where Art Thou" and it really is just hypnotic. Thanks to the wonders of Yahoo Music Unlimited I was able to browse about a dozen versions, and the one by The Muses suited me best, though the Von Trapp Children do a pretty mean rendition too.


"Box of Spiders" by Drive-by Truckers

This also owes a hat-tip to LutherPunk. I had never heard of the Truckers until he recommended their Pizza Deliverance album, and I've got to say thanks. This is good stuff. This song reminds me of the Dante-esque image of hell offered in Doestoevsky's Crime and Punishment. And how often can you talk about the Drive-by Truckers, Dante and Doestoevsky in the same sentence?


"Rock in a Weary Land" by the Georgia Sea Island Singers

This is an African American spiritual that I was introduced to listening to Craig Koestler's "Genesis to Revelation" lectures. Dr. Koestler's version is pretty inspired, but the Georgia Sea Island Singers probably capture the original intent of the song better. (Click here and scan to 14:35 to hear Dr. Koestler sing it.)


"This Little Light of Mine" by Blind James Campbell and his Nashville Street Band

I heard this on NPR one night, and I was just hooked. Imagine what it would be like if your Sunday school teacher was a master bluesman! This is it.


"Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield

Originally, I didn't intend this list to have such a religious theme to it, but this stuff really is what I'm listening to now. This is another gem gleaned from Yahoo Music. How can Dusty Springfield's other songs be so consistently bad? Even so, her voice has a certain quality such that I probably shouldn't be listening to this during Lent.


"Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam" by Nirvana

With this song I did decide to intentionally run with the religious theme that had emerged, but since that theme was already distorted with "Son of a Preacher Man" I thought it would be fun to let it get really bent.


"Creeping Death" by Metallica

And as long as my religious theme is getting really bent.... For those who don't know, this song is a heavy metal version of the exodus story. It's a perfect illustration of how you can use the Biblical words and still miss the point completely. But it rocks!