Deathbed... a song to die for

Relient K is a great group that, in my opinion, is very unappreciated and quite under-rated.

Led by singer Matt Thiessen, the band has alot of spunk and humor in their music. If you want to laugh along with some great songs, listen to Thunder Cats and May the Horse Be With You.

However, the group took a turn for the serious with their song Deathbed.

The song is very long, and outlines a life filled with honest problems and critical mistakes, but it's wrapped up in a less-than-pretty, albeit realistic, bow towards the end when Jon Foreman, the lead singer of the band Switchfoot, comes in like a heralding angel.

The last 6 stanzas of this song bring me to tears every time I hear/sing it. I don't know that I can pick a favorite of those stanzas, but I'll say my favorite line is this:
"For I am love... I am love... I, I am love."

I really think that this song is one of the most well-written, well-produced, well-sung songs of our decade.

Yes, if you haven't caught on by now, Relient K is a christian-affiliated group and though some of their songs have no really obvious ties to religion, that is all this song Deathbed is about.

Having said that, if you are not a religious person, don't let it dissuade you and if you are religious, then I know that you'll appreciate the song, maybe as much as I do.

Listen to it and read the lyrics and I think you'll agree that this song is to die for:

I can smell the death on the sheets, covering me
I can't believe this is the end

But this is my deathbed, I lie here alone
If I close my eyes tonight, I know I'll be home

The year is 1941
I was 8 years old and far, far too young
To know that the stories of battles and glory
Was a tale, a kind mother made up for a son

You see, dad was a traveling preacher
Teaching the words of the teacher
Mother had sworn he went off to the war
And died there with honor, somewhere on a beach there

But he left once, to never return
Which taught me that I should unlearn
Whatever I thought a father should be
I abandoned that thought like he abandoned me

By '47, I was fourteen
I'd acquired a taste for liquor and nicotine
I smoked until I threw up, yet I still lit 'em up
For thirty more years, like a machine

So right there you have it, that one filthy habit
Is what got me where I am today

I can smell the death on the sheets, covering me
I can't believe this is the end
I can hear the sad memories still haunting me
So many things I'd do again

But this is my deathbed, I lie here alone
If I close my eyes tonight, I know I'll be home

Got married on my 21st
Eight months before my wife would give birth
It's easier to be sure you love someone
When a father inquires with the barrel of a gun

The union was far from harmonious
No two people could've been more alone than us
The years would go by and she'd love someone else
And I realized I hadn't been loved yet myself

From there, it's your typical spiel
Yeah, if life was a highway, I was drunk at the wheel
I was helpin' the loose ends all fall apart
Yeah, I swear I was destined to fail and fail from the start

I bowled about 6 times a week
A bottle of Beam kept the memories from me
Our marriage had taken a 7-10 split
And along with my pride, the ex-wife took the kids

I can smell the death on the sheets, covering me
I can't believe this is the end
I can hear those sad memories still haunting me
So many things I'd do again

But this is my deathbed, I lie here alone
If I close my eyes tonight, I know I'll be home

I was so scared of Jesus but he sought me out
Like the cancer in my lungs, it's killing me now
And I've given up hope on the days I have left
But I cling to the hope of my life in the next

Well, then Jesus showed up, said, "Before we go up
I thought that we might reminisce
See one night in your life, when you've turned out the lights
You asked for and prayed for my forgiveness"

You cried, wolf, the tears, they soaked your fur
The blood dripped from your fangs, you said, "What have I done?"
You loved that lamb with every sinful bone
And there you wept alone, your heart was so contrite

You said, "Jesus, please forgive me of my crimes
Sanctify this withered heart of mine
Stay with me until my life is through
And on that day, please take me home with you"

I can smell the death on the sheets, covering me
I can't believe this is the end
I can hear you whisper to me, "It's time to leave
You'll never be lonely again"

But this was my deathbed, I died there alone
When I closed my eyes tonight, you carried me home

[Jon Foreman] I am the way, follow me and take my hand
And I am the truth, embrace me and you'll understand
And I am the light and for me, you'll live again
[Matt Thiessen] For I am love, I am love, I, I am love

Pop in Education

** CAUTION: not my usual post!!! **

As some may know, I am a music education major as well as a journalism one.

I am also a huge fan of using pop music in education.

I know that the majority of middle and high school students don't enjoy classical music. That's okay... I don't love it, either.

A good way to reach those kids and influence them through music is by using popular music in the classroom.

My father was a band director for 27 years and for his last 8 years or so, he's been teaching a class called "The History of Rock 'N Roll". Basically, it covers music covering the span from blues and it's transformation and evolution to rock. Through that class, I know my father reached students that otherwise wouldn't have gotten farther than a middle school general music class.

I also think that teachers should branch out in their band and choir classes and use more modern literature.
For example, I know that one of the reasons I love pep band is because we play fun, popular music.

It's important for kids to realize that music isn't just about classical or baroque or romantic; it's about making art and doing something to make the world more beautiful.

I'm at a PAYPHONE... but not really...haha

Who uses payphones these days, you ask?
...Apparantly, Maroon 5!

The song is about the guy that has no change to call home because he changed so much for a girl.

The lyrics tell the story of the guy that wishes that the girl would give them another chance.

However, towards the end of the song (before Wiz Khalifa chimes in), the lyrics explain that "even the sun sets in paradise".

Speaking of Wiz Khalifa, I must say that I really am not a huge fan of rap in a song like this.
Having said that, he does add to the overall artistry of this.

I think my favorite line is this:

"If 'Happy Ever Afters' did exist, I would still be holding you like this."

----------------------------------------------------

Here are the lyrics that are pretty great, in my opinion:

I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?

Yeah, I, I know it's hard to remember,
The people we used to be...
It's even harder to picture,
That you're not here next to me.
You say it's too late to make it,
But is it too late to try?
And in our time that you wasted


All of our bridges burned down
I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise

I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever After" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of it.
One more stupid love song, I'll be sick

Oh, you turned your back on tomorrow
'Cause you forgot yesterday.
I gave you my love to borrow,
But you just gave it away.
You can't expect me to be fine,
I don't expect you to care
I know I've said it before,

But all of my bridges burned down
I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise

I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever After" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of it.
One more stupid love song, I'll be sick
Now I'm at a payphone

[Wiz Khalifa:]
Man, f*** that s***
I'll be out spending all this money
While you're sitting round wondering
Why it wasn't you who came up from nothing,
Made it from the bottom
Now when you see me I'm stunning,
And all of my cars start with a push of a button
Telling me the chances I blew up
Or whatever you call it,
Switch the number to my phone
So you never could call it,
Don't need my name on my shirt,
You can tell it I'm ballin.
Swish, what a shame could have got picked
Had a really good game but you missed your last shot
So you talk about who you see at the top
Or what you could have saw but sad to say it's over for.
Phantom pulled up valet open doors
Wiz like go away, got what you was looking for
Now it's me who they want, so you can go and take
that little piece of s*** with you.

I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?
If "Happy Ever After" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of it.
One more stupid love song, I'll be sick
Now I'm at a payphone...

My "Castle on a Cloud"

“Castle on a Cloud” was pretty close to my feeling about an excursion I went on. For those that don’t know, I was in Salzburg, Austria from May 27 to June 30. I went to the Hohensalzburg fortress… a CASTLE!

I’ve been having so much fun that it feels like I’m on Cloud 9 and I went to a castle… GET IT?! … okay that was a cheesy segway, but oh well…

“Castle on a Cloud” is a song from the musical Les Miserables. The little girl, Cosette, is singing about her safe place, which is a castle on a cloud that she dreams about.

“There is a castle on a cloud,

I like to go there in my dreams.

Aren’t any floors for me to sweep,

Not in my castle on a cloud.”

Cosette is living at an inn with the innkeeper’s family. Her mother, Fantine, has to work and if Fantine’s employers knew she had a daughter, she’d be fired. So the innkeeper’s wife lets Fantine pay her a certain amount of money to take care of Cosette. But the family makes Cosette work all the time. Sweeping floors is her job and the innkeeper’s wife and the innkeeper himself yell at her all the time.

The story is sad, at least in the beginning, but if you’ve never heard the music, or seen the musical, you need to check out Les Miserables. You won't regret it.

Hallelujah

"Well I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music, do you?"


This song, originally by Leonard Cohen, and covered by K.D. Lang and most recently by Kate Voegele, is an amazing song. It's raw and beautiful. The lyrics are simple and understandable and relatable.

I think this is my favorite song for music's sake. What I mean by that is it's the epitomy of what beautiful music is, in the simplest form. It's just a guitar and a voice and the words that draw you in.

"It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift," the tone painting always gets me... it's so pretty.

I think my favorite line, the line that brings me back every time I move away from loving this song is:
"Love is not a victory march, it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah..."


If you've never heard this song, drop everything right now and go this this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k29JxVCKBBM&ob=av2e
It's worth hearing Kate Voegele sing this wonderful song. =D

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I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Broody's Mix!

Until recently, I didn't understand something that I'd always wished I did. In the musical West Side Story, the main guy, Tony, sings a song, "Maria", and just explains how much he loves the name of the woman he loves.

"Maria, say it loud and there's music playing, say it soft and it's almost like praying."

Having said that, I will say this:
I've fallen for a guy all over again.

I used to know for sure that I loved him, but we never dated and when he started dating someone else, we grew apart and I ended up losing one of my best friends.

Recently, I was able to reconnect with him and I feel whole again. I'd grown to not notice the hole in my heart that was left empty when we stopped talking, but now that he's back in my life, I can't believe I ever survived without him in my life.

He's my conscience and my mentor and my confidante and though it wasn't always the same for him, now I feel like we are that for each other.

He's been going through a really tough time, and knowing me, rather than offering words or hugs though I've done that before, I found myself offering up songs to listen to; albums and songs I know he will like and will make him happy, I'll tell him to listen to and he actually does!

I can't tell you if they made him feel better like they do for me, but I like to think so.

Rather than lyrics to include on this post, I'm going to just put Broody's Mix on here... maybe it'll work for you, too!

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Broody's Mix:


1) Zero by Hawk Nelson
2) When It Comes by Tyler Hilton
3) I Don't Wanna Be by Gavin DeGraw
4) Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby) by Jack's Mannequin
5) 23 by Jimmy Eat World
6) Who Am I Fooling by Alexz Johnson
7) Amnesia by MoZella
8) The Lonely September by Plain White Ts
9) Vulnerable by Secondhand Serenade
10) Playing Favorites by The Starting Line
11) Livin' On a Prayer by Stellar Kart
12) Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin
13) Hello by Hawk Nelson
14) Picture Perfect  by Tyler Hilton
15)When the Stars Go Blue by Bethany Joy Galeotti and Tyler Hilton
16) Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional

Favorite on DWTS?!

I know that most people know I love Gavin DeGraw almost as much as I love Taylor Swift. I also know that if you haven't checked out Dancing with the Stars this season, then you are MISSING OUT!

Gavin is one of the many great stars dancing this season. And I love Gavin, but everyone knows he's more singer/piano player than dancer. The past 2 shows, he's been "in jeopardy" and I was so worried I wouldn't get to see him dance again. Luckily, he was spared and now, I want everyone to vote for him for next week.

He is currently on his Sweeter tour, so Karina, his partner and teacher, has been on the road with him. From the clips shown, it looks like Gavin is working so hard. And he has come leaps and bounds over the span of the last couple weeks.

I hope everyone will vote for him! Support the star that's an amazing singer/songwriter and watch to see if you made a difference.

The Sadness of (a) Last Kiss...

I feel like I may be beating a dead horse with all the promotion of Taylor Swift (I should be getting paid for all the advertising I do for her), but I can't stress enough just how much I love her MUSIC AND LYRICS!

I've said that her newest album out is Speak Now and I finally had enough money to buy it and now that I have, it's all I listen to (I just put it on repeat on my iTunes).

I really love "Mean", and "Speak Now" and I love the official music video for "Sparks Fly"... it's aw-mazing!

However, my newest love by her is "Last Kiss". I CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD! (Not that I want to...)

As sad as it is, it's beautiful in its sadness. It makes me want to cry because it's so sad, but its idea is so beautiful and she sings it so well and heartfelt that I just can't help but cry.

"You told me you loved me, so why did you go away?"

AND

"All that I know is I don't know, how to be something you miss."

AND

"How you'd kiss me when I was in the middle of saying something, There's not a day I don't miss those rude interruptions."

AND

"And I'll keep up with our old friends just to ask them how you are, Hope it's nice where you are."

The chorus is probably the most heart-wrenching words I've heard sung:

"I never thought we'd have a last kiss, Never imagined we'd end like this, Your name, forever the name on my lips."

If you don't listen to this song, you are depriving yourself of an experience that music so rarely creates: Empathy.

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I still remember the look on your face
Been through the darkness at 1:58
The words that you whispered for just us to know
You told me you loved me so why did you go away, go away

I do recall now the smell of the rain
Fresh on the pavement, I ran off the plane
That July 9th the beat of your heart
It jumps through your shirt, I can still feel your arms

But now I'll go sit on the floor wearing your clothes
All that I know is I don't know
How to be something you miss

Never thought we'd have a last kiss
Never imagined we'd end like this
Your name, forever the name on my lips

I do remember the swing of your step
The life of the party, you're showing off again
And I roll my eyes and then you pulled me in
I'm not much for dancing but for you did

Because I loved your handshake, meeting my father
I love how you walk with your hands in your pockets
How you'd kiss me when I was in the middle of saying something
There's not a day I don't miss those rude interruptions

And I'll go, sit on the floor wearing your clothes
All that I know is I don't know
How to be something you miss

Never thought we'd have a last kiss
Never imagined we'd end like this
Your name, forever the name on my lips, ohh

So I'll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep
And I'll feel you forget me like I use to feel you breathe
And I'll keep up with our old friends just to ask them how you are
Hope it's nice where you are

And I hope the sun shines and it's a beautiful day
And something reminds you, you wish you had stayed
We can plan for a change in weather and time
I never planned on you changing your mind

So, I'll go, sit on the floor wearing your clothes
All that I know is I don't know
How to be something you miss

I never thought we'd ever last kiss
Never imagined we'd end like this
Your name, forever the name on my lips
Just like our last kiss, forever the name on my lips
Forever the name on my lips, just like our last